Greener Skies: How Digital Retrofits and AI Aim to Reshape Aviation

BERLIN, Germany – June 10, 2026 – The global aerospace industry faces a monumental challenge: how to reconcile sustained growth with an urgent mandate for sustainability. With a vast global fleet of aircraft set to remain in service for decades, the path to greener skies cannot rely solely on the promise of future-generation jets. At the ILA Berlin Air Show, global digital engineering firm Akkodis is showcasing a pragmatic and powerful vision for the present, demonstrating how the potent combination of digital retrofits and artificial intelligence can transform today’s fleets into more efficient, sustainable, and resilient assets.

At the heart of the company's exhibit is a strategy that tackles two of the industry's most pressing issues: fuel consumption and operational downtime. By pairing an innovative, additively manufactured wingtip system with an AI-driven inspection platform, the firm is presenting a holistic blueprint for accelerating technological adoption where it matters most. “The competitiveness of the aerospace industry will depend on how consistently innovations can be scaled and industrialized,” stated Jo Debecker, President & CEO of Akkodis, framing the company's approach. “This ability to efficiently integrate new technologies into existing platforms... will be decisive in the years to come.”

The Retrofit Revolution: A Greener Path for Existing Fleets

A large share of global air traffic will continue to rely on existing aircraft fleets for the foreseeable future. This reality presents a significant hurdle for industry-wide goals like the IATA's commitment to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Akkodis, in partnership with German aerospace specialist pionAERO GmbH, is addressing this challenge head-on with a novel, additively manufactured wingtip system designed for retrofitting.

The project's goal is ambitious yet tangible: to unlock a 2-4% reduction in fuel consumption and CO₂ emissions for existing aircraft. While single-digit percentages may seem modest, in an industry that consumes billions of gallons of fuel annually, such gains represent a monumental environmental and economic impact. These savings are achieved by leveraging advanced aerodynamics to reduce induced drag, a long-established principle in aviation now being hyper-optimized through modern technology.

“The future of aviation will be shaped not only by new aircraft programs, but above all by how quickly innovations can be brought into application,” said Reiner Oldewurtel, Managing Director at Akkodis Germany AS&D GmbH. This philosophy is embodied in the wingtip project. Starting with a digital 1:1 reconstruction of a legacy component, engineers used advanced simulation and re-engineering to simplify the structure and optimize it for additive manufacturing, or 3D printing. This approach dramatically reduces manufacturing complexity and lead times, particularly for the small-to-medium production volumes characteristic of the retrofit market.

From Blueprint to Reality: The Industrialization of Additive Manufacturing

Bringing a 3D-printed structural component to a commercial aircraft is not a simple task. The path is paved with significant technical and regulatory challenges, from ensuring material consistency and performance under extreme conditions to navigating the rigorous certification processes of bodies like EASA and the FAA. Akkodis's approach demonstrates a mature understanding of this landscape.

The wingtip’s development is underpinned by a fully digital engineering methodology. By using simulations and virtual development, the team can assess aerodynamic and structural properties with high precision early in the process, shortening development cycles and enabling more efficient design iterations. This digital-first strategy is crucial for de-risking the project and building the comprehensive data package required for certification.

Furthermore, Akkodis is focused on the industrialization of the final product. The company's expertise extends beyond design to the creation of client-specific turnkey test benches, jigs, tools, and validation systems. This capability is critical for translating an innovative concept into a solution that is reproducible, testable, and ready for scalable deployment across global MRO (Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul) networks. The wingtip, currently undergoing certification, is a powerful case study in how to bridge the gap between a digital design and a flight-worthy, industrialized part.

AI Takes the Watch: Transforming Aircraft Maintenance

Parallel to enhancing the physical aircraft, Akkodis is deploying AI to revolutionize the processes that keep them flying safely. The company is demonstrating its Synergeticon solutions, chief among them an AI-powered system for automated aircraft inspection. This technology addresses a critical bottleneck in airline operations: the time-consuming and labor-intensive process of manually inspecting an aircraft for damage between flights.

The system uses a combination of robotics, high-resolution cameras, and 3D sensors to autonomously scan the aircraft's exterior. Its sophisticated algorithms can automatically detect, localize, and classify damage—such as dents, scratches, or lightning strikes—with a precision that can surpass human capabilities. The findings are compiled into a real-time digital report, complete with exact locations and damage assessments.

The benefits are profound. Industry data suggests such systems can reduce inspection times by over 70%, a massive saving that translates directly into faster turnaround times and increased aircraft availability. By creating a consistent, digital record of an aircraft's condition over time, the technology also lays the groundwork for predictive maintenance, allowing airlines to move from a reactive to a proactive approach to fleet health.

By targeting both the physical efficiency of the aircraft and the digital efficiency of its maintenance, Akkodis is presenting a compelling, two-pronged strategy. This holistic approach recognizes that meaningful progress requires improving not just the assets themselves, but also the complex industrial processes that support them, effectively scaling innovation from the digital drawing board to the real-world runway.