Air Canada is Canada's largest airline. Its 234 planes make an averageof 1,600 flights per day, 40 percent of which travel through theairline's Toronto hub. The weakened economy and the aftershocks of the9/11 hijackings have ravaged the North American airline industry, andAir Canada is no exception. From an operational perspective, says VicePresident of IT and CIO Alice Keung, the downturn has forced theairline to look for ways to improve airplane utilization, which meanskeeping planes in the air and off the ground. "With a shorterturnaround time [between flights] you can use the aircraft morefrequently," she says. "This leads both to more profitability andimproved customer service."

The number-one culprit for ground delays is linemaintenanceunscheduled repairs to a plane's equipment, instruments orbody. (That is different than heavy maintenance, in which planes canbe stripped down to the wires. Heavy maintenance is conducted atscheduled intervals in either Calgary, Montreal, Vancouver orWinnipeg.)

Here's how line maintenance works: A pilot or mechanic sends an alertto Torontoby teletype, fax or simply with a note in the plane'slogsaying that a plane needs repairs. When the plane lands in Toronto,mechanics meet it. Or they don't.

Sometimes the mechanics don't get the message, or they don't get ituntil after the plane has left. All too frequently, a mechanic arrivesat the gate only to realize that he has to return to the hangar for apart. So Keung figured that if mechanics had real-time access to themaintenance system, they would be better prepared to service the planewhen it arrived. That would mean faster turnaround.

Keung is a wireless skeptic, but after conversations with otherToronto-area wireless usersincluding the local police force and theToronto Bluejays baseball teamshe concluded that "we needed it whetherwe liked it or not." So last April Air Canada invested $254,000 in apilot project to see whether wireless could in fact improvemaintenance efficiency.