MOBILE APP

We streamlined critical information for Republic Airways' flight crew.

Republic Airways needed to unlock legacy software information and make it available to their 4,000 pilots and flight attendants on the go.

Collage of application page examples in mobile device frames

Client

Services

UX Audit
Innovation Sprint
UI Design
Dashboard Design
Site Architecture
Product Design
User Research & Testing

Overview

The airline industry is notoriously difficult. Airlines face stiff competition with slim margins, and employ a workforce that is largely remote, under stress, and in constant motion. In order to stand out and improve the lives of their crew, the airline came to DeveloperTown to better understand what challenges their crew members faced and where technology could help.

“In my 20 years of experience, this is the one IT project that has had the quickest success in the shortest amount of time.”

- MATT KOSCAL, REPUBLIC AIRWAYS CHIEF ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER

The Challenge

We conducted over 200 hours of interviews with employees across the company to understand the complex problems they faced from multiple perspectives. Ultimately, many of their challenges came down to getting and providing information crucial to their day-to-day business. Seeing the latest scheduling changes, understanding flights details, and getting crew member contact information often meant rushing to a secure “crew room” that may be far from where they needed to be next.

These challenges and others added up, impacting not only crew members’ efficiency but their quality of life as well. In an industry where top talent is tough to keep, this client knew they had to take significant steps to stand out, and dedicated this project to making crew members’ lives easier.

Collage of mobile application page examples

Our Approach

Helping our client find impactful solutions meant working closely with multiple stakeholders—the executive team, IT staff, crew members, external vendors, and others. By understanding how potential solutions impacted multiple areas of the business, we were able to deliver quickly and avoid potential pitfalls down the road.

Based on these objectives, we designed a roadmap focused on a suite of web and mobile applications, prioritized based on business needs and positive crew member impact.

At the core of this strategy was a mobile application that allowed crew members to check their schedules, submit necessary forms, and access critical information in a secure way no matter where they were.

Three Republic Airlines application pages examples in mobile device frames

Solution

Make key information available outside of the crew rooms and without multiple logins.
Improve the efficiency of communications by providing flight crewmembers with information via their preferred communication channel (e.g. text message, phone call, email, etc.).
Enable employees to use technologies to communicate quickly with the ease available to them in their personal life.
Implement processes to guard against overuse or abuse of new communication channels and provide information assurance.

Open new channels for information to flow throughout the airline and its personnel, removing information roadblocks.
Implement features and services that empower employees to solve problems on their own, saving time and resources.
Replace paper forms, streamlining the process of submitting reports reducing the time crewmembers spend on reports while increasing the usability of report information.
Provide compliance information so pilots can quickly understand the impact of schedule changes.