Sri Lankan airline swaps paper manuals for iPads

Sri Lanka's national carrier announced Wednesday it had jettisoned pilots' bulky paper manuals weighing 84 kilogrammes (184 pounds) in favour of iPads that weigh just 660 grams.

Sri Lankan Airlines said it was the first carrier in Asia to dump the several volumes from the cockpit, including manuals on aircraft operation and emergency procedures as well as navigation charts.

"Sri Lankan has taken the lead in Asia to revolutionise the flight deck... becoming Asia's first airline to fly with iPad EFBs (electronic flight bags)," chairman Nishantha Wickremasinghe said.

Permission for the switch-over to lightweight technology was granted by Sri Lankan air safety regulators.

The carrier, which made a loss of 19 billion rupees ($170 million) last year, operates a fleet of 21 aircraft, including six A340s.

(c) 2012 AFP