Amsterdam Airlines obtains Class I EFB approval

This week Amsterdam Airlines received approval from the Dutch CAA to use the Electronic Flight Bag (EFB) Class I with the full Lufthansa Systems Lido/Flightbag suite in flight. With this approval Amsterdam Airlines is the first Dutch carrier, and most likely even the first European carrier, to receive approval to fly fully paperless this way.

After an intense trail period of about one and a half year the Dutch CAA granted approval for using the Class I Electronic Flight Bag (EFB) on board our A320's.

Jeroen Visser, initiator and project manager for the EFB, says: "With setting up Amsterdam Airlines, we had the vision to fly fully paperless. Main reasons were (and still are of course) being able to respond quickly to customer requests. Also with the EFB we are able to lower our overhead costs which of course translates into better rates to our customers. Beside this we also see the EFB to enhance/improve flight safety: due to the EFB we have a clean uncluttered cockpit environment, documentation which is always up to date, and improved navigational documentation features."

Amsterdam Airlines selected the Lufthansa Sytems EFB software, called Lido/Flightbag. As one of the first Amsterdam Airlines uses the entire Lido/Flightbag suite of Lufthansa Systems. The entire suite consists of:

an electronic flight folder for viewing and annotating briefing packages,
Lido/TakeOff for performance calculations,
the electronic navigation charts Lido/RouteManual for navigational documentation and
an electronic library which contains all Amsterdam Airlines documentation.

According to captain Ruud Bakker, head of Flight Operations, Amsterdam Airlines flight crew needed to get used to flying fully paperless in the start of the operation and rely only on the computer/EFB. "But now our crew really don't want anything else anymore!".

Amsterdam Airlines is proud to be the first to receive EFB approval from the Dutch CAA.