Recently, we wrote about the U.S. Air Force's efforts to replace its flight manuals with iPads in order save space and fuel while making life easier for pilots. In a similar move, American Airlines is now implementing the same change on all of its planes.

The airline announced today that it had eliminated all of its paper flight manuals and reference material and went with electronic versions stored on Apple tablets. These materials, which are used by pilots on every trip and typically total more than 3000 pages, took up a considerable amount of space and weighed 35 pounds. As a result of the change, American expects to save 400,000 gallons and $1.2 million of fuel annually.

"Our focus on technological improvement throughout our operation has never been stronger as we continue to build the new American," said Patrick O'Keeffe, American's Vice President of Airline Operations Technology, in a news release. "As the first major commercial airline to successfully complete the Electronic Flight Bag transition across its fleet, we are proud to count this among our other successful programs that provide the tools our people need to perform their duties safely and efficiently."

The airline originally tested the new iPad-based materials on its Boeing 777 and 767 planes. It will now expand the program to its entire fleet, eliminating 24 million pages of paper.

Airlines and the military are just two of the many institutions and organizations that are experiencing efficiency gains and savings by switching from paper materials to electronically stored documents on tablet computers. If you're interested in finding out how your firm can benefit from integrating the iPad 4 or iPad mini into your operations, be sure to check out the PortableOne online store and our business leasing services.