KLM Engineering & Maintenance and Royal Netherlands Aerospace Centre (NLR) have launched a joint venture, NUVEON, for the development of new Augmented Reality (AR) products for MRO (maintenance, repair & overhaul). NUVEON will integrate AR throughout the MRO chain to improve everyday performance in maintenance. The new partnership was signed at the Paris Airshow by Olaf Hoftijzer, Director Training E&M KLM, and Marja Eijkman, Division Manager Aerospace Operations, Royal NLR.

After a successful pilot, KLM E&M and NLR are now developing several maintenance training applications using Hololens AR goggles. The advantages have proven numerous, it makes training more attractive, more effective and more efficient. Trainees are actively involved in the instruction session, get a better insight into how the system works and are better able to put what they have learned into practice. And a virtual aircraft is available any place, any time. In addition to the development of further training applications, applications using combinations of different AR/VR devices are studied, as well as remote access through Maintenance Control Centres (MCC), visualization of complex 3D data and more.

In NUVEON, NLR is developing Augmented Reality applications and didactic concepts, and KLM E&M is delivering the subject matter experts and the commercial activities for the augmented reality technology for MRO aircraft maintenance applications. NUVEON aims to address MRO related companies that seek to improve and make their aircraft and aircraft components more efficient and more effective.

Economic impulse for the NetherlandsOver the past 100 years, the Dutch aviation industry has served as an ambassador and figurehead for the Netherlands in the global community. To this day, our industry continues to give a positive impulse to the economy of the Netherlands. The Dutch pioneering spirit has ensured that many hundreds of millions of people worldwide have been brought together, thanks to the efforts of our founding fathers. As Albert Plesman so aptly put it: “The ocean of the air unites all people.”

Impulse for sustainabilityAt the gathering, presentations were give on the development of international civil aviation and the challenges the Dutch aviation industry faces to keep flying in a smart, sustainable and economically viable manner. Major efforts are required to achieve this, both in the short and long term, which will see the sector pursuing innovations in technology, infrastructure and airspace utilisation.

KLM's first commercial flight between London and Amsterdam was carried out on 17 May 1920.