Aircraft
Airbus’s Embrace of Digitalization Tightens during Covid Crisis
Digital transformation at Airbus’s services division accelerates as pandemic demands more efficient ways of working.
Web-based maintenance tools allow technicians to easily access data while working on an airplane. (Photo: Airbus)
Web-based maintenance tools allow technicians to easily access data while working on an airplane. (Photo: Airbus)

The trend toward so-called digitalization of the global economy has accelerated in the 20 months since the start of the Covid pandemic, and perhaps with no more alacrity than in the aerospace industry. For Airbus, the situation has given rise to what head of customer services Klaus Roewe called a “huge opportunity” in the services arena. Speaking during an Airbus Session webcast with reporters on Thursday, Roewe lamented the interruption to the surge in services revenue that the entire industry expected from 2019, when income totaled $156 billion, to a forecast $200 billion in 2025. But he also welcomed what he called “a lot of good in the bad,” namely the industry’s full embrace of digitalization, which has produced benefits for Airbus throughout its services business.