SmartLynx merged its three Operations Manuals – Part A into a single manual

SmartLynx Airlines, a globally acknowledged ACMI, cargo, and charter provider, has become one of the first airlines in Europe to merge its Operations Manuals – Part A (OM-A) across all three AOCs into single OM-A. The merger of OM-A has recently been approved by Latvian, Estonian and Maltese competent civil aviation authorities. This step will decrease the time dedicated to administrating the manuals by up to 40% and increase the overall transparency of the manual administration process.

SmartLynx operates a fleet of 69 aircraft under Latvian, Estonian, and Maltese AOCs. Until now, regulations have required the airline to maintain three separate OM-A manuals, one for each AOC, resulting in significant paperwork and the complexity of aligning the manuals. With a single OM-A SmartLynx has reduced the books by 67% and minimized the possibility of any editing errors in the manuals.

SmartLynx Airlines Director of Flight Operations Lasse Bay Hansen: "SmartLynx has consistently strived for full interoperability across all AOCs, which naturally led us to the idea of developing single manuals to optimize the administrative processes. By adopting a single OM-A, we have successfully merged three manuals into one, making our policies, procedures, and guidelines clearer. We are now planning that under the wing of the single OM-A, we will merge the rest of the Operation Manuals as well."

A single OM-A approach is rare among airlines operating under multiple AOCs. This process involves manually reviewing each book, comparing its contents, annotating differences, forms, and organizational structures, and synchronizing them with the relevant library resources. Lasse Bay Hansen comments: “SmartLynx Flight Operations team started the work on the manual merger in September 2023. It took our Team eight months to combine the manual, link it to AirOps, and receive the necessary confirmations.”

The single OM-A has been created to facilitate more effective consulting of the manual, synchronization, commonality, and transparency between three SmartLynx AOCs. With a single OM-A, the common procedures and guidelines, administration, and editing of the manual will be optimized, leading to clearer description of policies and procedures in the future.