Vistair, the fast-growing Bristol-based airline safety software specialist, has landed a major deal with AirAsia, one of the world’s leading low-cost carriers. The agreement is the latest in a series of key contract wins by Vistair which has made its safety management system SafetyNet the global market-leader.
Multi-award-winning AirAsia, led by high-profile businessman Tony Fernandes, has also adopted Vistair’s auditing and compliance product QualityNet.
Both will now be rolled out for use in AirAsia’s entire fleet of Airbus A320 and A330s and across all its affiliate airlines including Thai AirAsia, Indonesia AirAsia, AirAsia Japan, AirAsia Philippines and AirAsia X, which total several hundred aircraft.
The agreement also caters for its planned expansion to more than 400 aircraft.
Mr Fernandes, AirAsia group CEO, said: “Our mission is to be the largest low-cost airline in Asia. To achieve this we recognise the need to embrace new technology in order to support our advanced safety strategies while remaining efficient and embracing best practices across the group.
“We have no doubt that Vistair’s innovative and proven solutions will help us achieve our aims as we enter an exciting period of growth in our business.”
With a route network spanning more than 20 countries, AirAsia is a pioneer in the low-cost market and is renowned for using innovative solutions, efficient processes and a passionate approach to business.
Vistair CEO Ian Herbert said these values were also shared by the business he founded more than 20 years ago and which has become the leading innovator in the airline safety software market, working with many of the world’s best-known airlines including Emirates, British Airways, easyJet and Ryanair.
The firm’s pioneering suite of cloud-based e-solutions have been designed and developed alongside aviation professionals, ensuring they deliver the best possible technology at a simple fixed price.
“Part of our philosophy is that, in order to succeed in the modern market, airlines must adopt an ‘open reporting culture’, where employees aren’t afraid to speak up if they think there is an issue, such as a safety concern, within the airline,” said Mr Herbert.
“It speaks volumes about AirAsia’s commitment to safety that they already go out of their way to promote an open environment. People with legitimate safety concerns can raise their fears without risking their livelihoods, and our SafetyNet reporting system for airlines is the perfect tool to bolster and indeed boost that culture further.”
SafetyNet was developed to transform an airline’s approach to safety from a reactive to predictive management style, said Mr Herbert.
“It not only provides the tools to identify risks and mitigate those for future flights, it also provides powerful trend analysis to help airline’s to make crucial safety decisions before incidents ever occur.
“Our QualityNet system, meanwhile, will take AirAsia managers’ auditing and compliance abilities to a whole new level, enhancing decision making and massively boosting overall operational efficiency.”
AirAsia has been awarded the title of World’s Best Low Cost Airline by Skytrax for the past four years.
See the July/August issue of WestBusinessNews magazine for an exclusive interview with Vistair founder Ian Herbert
Plus a full round up of the West aerospace industry's involvement in the Paris Air Show
