The C-5 System Program Office and the Air Force Rapid Sustainment Office have developed a new partnership with Delta and the Georgia Institute of Technology to share commercial best practices.
The partnership kicked off with an intensive three-day workshop hosted by GTRI, the applied research division of Georgia Tech. Workshop attendees included experts in reliability engineering, maintenance operations, fleet management, software development and predictive maintenance from Delta TechOps, GTRI and the C-5 sustainment enterprise.
The workshop included a deep dive into current C-5 maintenance practices and was the first step in a six-month process to deliver recommendations for modernizing aircraft maintenance and reliability processes across the Air Force, based on Delta’s innovative, robust, and industry-leading operational and maintenance best practices.
“Delta TechOps has a long standing history of supporting various commercial derivative platforms including the C40, C32, and the P-8,” said Jack Arehart, President – MRO Services. “This expansion into helping identify where best commercial practices could be incorporated into U.S. Air Force operations review is exciting.”
The Rapid Sustainment Office was established by the U.S. Secretary of the Air Force to leverage both mature and emerging technology to reduce sustainment costs and improve readiness through collaborations across industry, academia and the federal government.
The C-5 Galaxy platform has 52 aircraft with decades of reliability, maintenance and operational history. This history makes it an ideal candidate for analyzing and identifying the differences between the Air Force and Delta in terms of how collected information is used to inform maintenance decisions.
In addition to Delta’s expertise, GTRI has honed expertise in software development and high performance computing tools, which are essential to designing a modern, analytics-based maintenance program on a large-scale implementation – a benefit that impacts the entire Air Force fleet.
The new collaboration with Delta, C-5 System Program Office and GTRI has already proven beneficial as the trio has used existing agreements and agile contracting principles to award a contract in less than two weeks.
As the largest aviation maintenance group in North America, Delta TechOps provides best-in-class maintenance and repair work for more than 850 Delta aircraft as well as maintenance service to more than 150 other third-party customers, including the U.S. military. As part of these efforts, in late 2018, the airline announced that, through an agreement with Boeing, it would be providing airframe and engine maintenance on the U.S. Navy P-8A Poseidon fleet.
Delta’s support of veterans and active service members
In addition to providing maintenance service to U.S. military aircraft, Delta is committing to supporting active military and veterans.
Delta is committed to invest one percent of its net income into the communities where employees live, work and serve. As part of these annual efforts, Delta supports the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation, Fisher House Foundation, Luke’s Wings, Marine Toys for Tots, Serving Our Troops, the USO and airport military lounges, including the Freedom Center in Detroit and the Minnesota Armed Forces Service Center.
Throughout the year, Delta gives customers an opportunity to support the military by donating miles through SkyWish to Fisher House Foundation Hero Miles and Luke’s Wings, providing air travel to injured, ill or wounded service members and veterans, along with their families. Delta and SkyMiles Members have donated more than 212 million miles to these organizations.
Delta employees can also volunteer as a part of the Honor Guard, a group that meets incoming flights and pays respect to those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for their country or become a member of VEN, the airline’s Veterans Employee Business Resource Group, which serves as a resource for members by fostering a diverse, inclusive workplace aligned with Delta’s core values.
