Dhaka: Korean Air announced on Friday (Oct. 17) that it has signed an agreement with Airbus to adopt the aircraft manufacturer’s advanced predictive maintenance platform, called Skywise Fleet Performance+ (S.FP+).

The Seoul-based airliner noted that the bilateral agreement was formalized on October 16 during the MRO Europe 2025 conference in London.

The new solution, an upgraded version of Airbus’s data analytics suite, integrates and replaces Korean Air’s existing Skywise Predictive Maintenance+ (SPM+) and Skywise Health Monitoring (SHM) tools.

The move represents a key step in the airline’s long-term digital maintenance strategy as it prepares for fleet expansion and integration with Asiana Airlines.

Designed to maximize aircraft availability and operational reliability, Skywise Fleet Performance+ uses advanced data analytics to identify potential component issues before they occur.

Korean Air has selected the ‘Control’ tier of the platform, which includes features such as pre-departure check support and intelligent troubleshooting tools powered by natural language processing.

“Our data-driven maintenance strategy has proven its value, preventing over 100 potential flight disruptions in 2024 alone,” Korean Air senior official Oh Jong-hoon said.

“This upgrade to Skywise Fleet Performance+ is a strategic step as we prepare to integrate the Asiana fleet, ensuring we maintain the highest levels of operational reliability and efficiency on a larger scale.”

Raymond Lim, head of Customer Services Asia-Pacific at Airbus, said that the cooperation would lead to much better operational reliability.

“This collaboration highlights our shared commitment to innovation, and we are proud to support Korean Air in unlocking new levels of operational reliability through data-driven maintenance,” he said

Founded in 1969, Korean Air is one of the world’s top 20 airlines, carrying more than 23 million passengers in 2024. The airline operates a modern fleet of 163 aircraft, serving 116 cities in 39 countries across five continents.

-B