US FBO chain Sheltair Aviation has adopted the IBM Environmental Intelligence Suite (EIS) to support its FBO operations network-wide, bringing weather and climate insights to the nation's largest privately-owned aviation network. This addition provides the power of artificial intelligence to help improve responsiveness to critical weather and changing environmental conditions, helping Sheltair support safety and service for the company's employees, guests and on-site aircraft.

Sheltair has continuously invested in further developing its uncompromising safety culture. The company, which has earned IS-BAH and NATA Safety First certifications at all of its bases, continues to make strides to maximise safe environments to support its operations while implementing processes to serve the company's guests proactively.

"Safety is more than a practice at Sheltair; it's who we are," says director of safety and training Bobby Cavetti. "Implementing the capabilities of the IBM Environmental Intelligence Suite allows us to better prepare and mitigate climate related risks, minimise aircraft movements and further enable our operational resiliency.”

The IBM EIS leverages weather data from IBM plus advanced geospatial analytics and innovations from IBM Research. Sheltair can use this technology to help proactively plan for potential disruptive environmental conditions, flooding and even air quality, while also receiving alerts when detected.

The alerting capabilities from EIS can be used by customer service, ramp line personnel, FBO managers and safety managers. For example, the system can alert teams on ramp lightning when detected, helping them decide when to stop fueling and when to resume operations. Additionally, forecasts and alerts on severe weather conditions could help prevent damage to aircraft on the tarmac by alerting flight operators of approaching inclement weather ahead of time.

This technology can also provide insights into weather conditions that can potentially cause operational changes and disruptions while prioritising mitigation and response efforts via APIs, dashboards, maps and alerts.

“Weather and climate insights are crucial in the aviation industry, and the adoption of AI-powered technology can help advance Sheltair's commitment to safety and service even further,” says vice president, IBM AI applications Joe Berti. “The capabilities can allow Sheltair to provide employees and customers with improved decision-making during flight planning, on the ramp and in the cockpit.”