Lufthansa Technik joins ‘AI’ bandwagon with Microsoft

Lufthansa Technik is teaming up with Microsoft to drive forward the use of artificial intelligence (AI). Designed to optimise entire maintenance processes, the approach will significantly improve efficiency or even lead to completely new offers. “We are excited about our collaboration with Microsoft,” said Dr. William Willms, Chief Financial Officer of Lufthansa Technik and responsible for the IT department of the company. “This partnership will allow us to harness the power of AI to solve highly complex challenges, improve our operations, and deliver exceptional value to our customers.” The initiative includes over 50 context-sensitive AI use cases based on Microsoft Azure AI Services and the Microsoft Azure cloud. One of the most impactful use cases is the optimisation of layover planning, which promises to significantly save costs by reducing ground time by five to 10 percent. Florian Deter, Managing Director at Microsoft Germany, said, “AI is the pivotal technology of our time. It not only enables incredible breakthroughs that could hardly have been imagined before. In its development, security and data protection have the highest priority for us and for Lufthansa Technik.” By utilising large language models (LLMs) provided via Azure AI Services and a memory-enabled cognitive architecture, Lufthansa Technik aims to distill knowledge from vast amounts of data, including unstructured data such as work instructions. Much of the information is also hidden in sources such as code, folder structures, images, or charts. To answer complex questions effectively, this knowledge must be made accessible and linked to other data. It will be used to solve tasks autonomously, optimising procedures and disruptively transforming the industry. The collaboration with Microsoft is part of “Digitise the Core”, a comprehensive initiative by Lufthansa Technik to drive forward the digitisation of the company’s core operational processes. For Editorial Inquiries Contact: Editor Matt Driskill at [email protected] For Advertising Inquiries Contact: Head of Sales Kay Rolland at [email protected]