China Southern Airlines Launches New TDMS Data Management System

China Southern Airlines (NYSE: ZNH) (HKSE: 1055), the largest airline in The People's Republic of China, has announces - in partnership with International Business Machines (IBM) China Co. Ltd. - that it today is officially launching the new electrical technical document management system (TDMS).

"Today's announcement is evident of China Southern Airlines' market leadership in the electrification of information management of aircraft maintenance technology in China," said Mr. Yuan Xin-An, Vice President, China Southern Airlines.

It is estimated that - each year - that China Southern Airlines' TDMS may save procurement costs of up to $400,000 (US) for paper and microfilmed documents and up to $1.2 M (US) in annual maintenance costs. 

The aircraft maintenance technical document is the basic data for all aircraft maintenance - whose accuracy, timeliness and adequacy is key to safe daily flight operations. TDMS offers computerized management of the entire lifecycle of related engineering technical documents in the maintenance of an aircraft, including reception/generation, editing/revision, approval, application, version control and document savings. 

China Southern Airlines began its cooperation with IBM on TDMS in 1998 and the project has taken four years to complete, with formal operation in June 2000 and commencement of the Second Stage in June 2000. 

China Southern Airlines' TDMS is divided into five management modules: document management, technical bulletin/engineering instruction, job card, maintenance scheme and implementation of instructions. 

According to Mr. Yuan, the airline's maintenance departments will realize a "total electrical evaluation of version management, editing, publication, web delivery and service announcement, the drafting, auditing and publishing of engineering instruction, job card and maintenance schemes as well as statistics and tracking of implementation of instructions." 

China Southern Airlines can obtain the latest and most accurate maintenance technical standards promptly from TDMS regardless of any physical distances. 

Handbooks are conveniently within access on the Internet for indexing and checking for the contents, greatly facilitating indexing and information retrieval in a handbook or among handbooks. The system not only streamlines the work process improving efficiency but also reduces human error. By virtue of Internet information delivery - high maintenance standards are realized while solving the untimely delivery of maintenance documents and inconsistencies of different versions of paper documents. 

TDMS has been first applied in two aircraft models at China Southern's Guangzhou base and Shenzhen Branch Company and will be extended to all models, branch companies and maintenance bases. 

TDMS has become the infrastructure foundation for aircraft maintenance of China Southern Airlines. It has won first prize in 2001 for Technology Advancement of China Southern Airlines and second prize for Technology Advancement by the National Aviation Administration. 

The largest airline in The People's Republic of China for the past 23 years, China Southern Airlines connects more than 80 cities around the globe. Major business and vacation destinations served in China include: Beijing, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Guilin, Hong Kong, Kunming, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Wuhan and as well as International service, including: Amsterdam, Bangkok, Fukuoka, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Los Angeles, Manila, Melbourne, Osaka, Penang, Phnom Penh, Seoul, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo.