All Nippon Airlines has announced it will outfit all of it’s 2,500 crew members with iPads as of early 2013: http://bit.ly/13ZFp2C

ANA Group, Japan’s largest airline group, today announces that it is to equip all of its approximately 2,500 flight crew with an iPad, in addition to the already equipped cabin crew. The move, which will involve ANA producing electronic versions of the flight manual, is part of ANA’s Corporate Strategy for FY2012-13 to support corporate structural reform to drive high-quality operations and cost efficiencies. ANA will trial the iPad amongst 300 crew members for three months from September 2012. The iPads will be rolled out for all flight and crew members from February 2013.

As ANA looks to achieve its ambition of becoming Asia’s number one airline, it sees three key benefits of introducing the iPad for all flight and crew members:

Supporting High-Quality Operations
The iPads will allow flight crews access weather and other flight-related information latest data wherever they are. They will enable flight crew to choose the route and altitude with the least turbulence, and to help ensure operations run on-time.

Conserving Fuel
The iPads will help constant access to the latest passenger reservation information and cargo volume information, thereby promoting optimization of fuel loading to each flight.

Improving Internal Procedures
Paperless manuals will reduce printing costs and streamline the process of distributing and updating manuals that can run to several thousand pages over the course of the year. The iPads will also allow ANA to provide voice and video-based training and educational materials, facilitating more effective knowledge acquisition and supporting the maintenance and improvement of each individual flight crew member’s skill levels.

Related posts:

1. ANA Fleet Gets Early iPad Xmas
2. ANA Announces OnAir WiFi for 2013
3. ANA and Connexion by Boeing Sign Mobile Internet Services Agreement
4. Web Surfing from Tokyo to New York
5. In-flight Wireless Slowly Taking Off

Some sage advise when entering new turf; Stop, Look and Listen.. it’s also good to secure a local guide. Japan is the cradle of mobile civilization – we been been dedicated to this space since 2001 – trust our archives here offer some useful material.

Domestic activities continue to set the pace, and sharp players are looking at global markets. We have hard-earned industry expertise and trusted network of contacts with access to advanced intell. and potential deal flow. Need a lift.. Ok, buckle-up!