Gama Aviation, the global business aviation services company, has received UK Civil Aviation Authority approval to enable flight crews for its G-registered aircraft to use iPads for their flight planning.

Twelve aircraft have moved over to the Electronic Flight Bag (EFB) technology to date, with 22 pilots now trained for their use. The move will enable Gama Aviation’s pilots to significantly improve their operational efficiency - receiving real time updates, reduce costs and save weight versus traditional manual flight deck documents.

The iPads are loaded with Airwatch Secure Content Locker, a cloud-based library publication system which allows crews to download and manage operational flight-deck documents, together with the Jeppesen Mobile FliteDeck e-chart application to access aeronautical arrival and departure information for airports worldwide. It can also be accessed via Class 3 EFB primary flight displays, as featured on Gama Aviation’s Boeing Business Jets. Both applications are backed by AirWatch Mobile Data Management software, enabling Gama Aviation operations to manage data remotely, ensuring that crews are running the most updated version of the applications.

Gama Aviation's Hawker 1000 based at Farnborough.

“The move to paperless technology will provide our crews with important, up to date information quickly and simply. It will also save us considerable time as we will no longer have to manually update hard copy flight manuals,” said Gama Aviation’s Steve Woodfine, Director of Flight Operations.

“Integrating Jeppesen mobile solutions will enable Gama Aviation to reduce pilot workload, increase their operational efficiency and lower costs in an increasingly competitive business environment,” said Ed Winton, Jeppesen Strategic Accounts Manager. “We are delighted to partner with Gama Aviation, now in their 31st year of operations and applaud them in their digital transformation,” added Steve Card, Jeppesen’s Director of Business Aviation Client Management.

With this move to the paperless cockpit, Gama Aviation looks forward to saving on fuel costs, considering that traditional operational manuals weigh upwards of 20kg (40 to 50lbs), compared with the iPad at less than 1kg. All operating manuals, navigation charts, reference handbooks and checklists can be accessed via the device.

Gama Aviation manages a fleet of 80-plus business jets around the world and it plans to implement this latest technology across its European fleet within one year.

“This investment is a terrific step change in technology for Gama Aviation and its flight crew,” said Steve Woodfine. “It means we can easily access valuable information much more speedily while the weight savings are a big advantage in helping reduce fuel burn.

Gama Aviation becomes the second business aviation operator in the UK to receive CAA approval for paperless operations.