Airlines are drowning in XML data: Can digital documentation tools and AI help them stay afloat?
October 9, 2025
Modern aircraft generate a tidal wave of technical information, and airlines are increasingly expected to swim in it unaided.
For decades, operators could rely on manufacturers to provide ready-formatted PDFs of key manuals, complete with approved layouts and revisions. Now, many OEMs are withdrawing those static files in favour of proprietary XML datasets, pushing the task of turning raw data into usable documentation directly onto the airlines themselves.
XML offers power and flexibility, but for most carriers, it is a mixed blessing. It isn’t an authoring tool; it’s a structured data language. Translating that data into readable, version-controlled manuals requires complex publishing systems, trained specialists, and often external consultants.
For large flag carriers with dedicated technical publications teams, that may be manageable. For mid-sized operators, regional airlines and wet-lease specialists, it is fast becoming an administrative quagmire.
“The XML content from the OEM is just one small slice of what an airline has to manage,” explains Web Manuals chief executive Martin Lidgard. “It might represent only 5% of their overall documentation workload — the rest covers procedures, safety, training, ground handling, and every other aspect of running the airline.”
That imbalance means the biggest documentation burden isn’t the aircraft data itself, but everything that surrounds it. And when different departments use different tools or outsource manual control to consultants, compliance oversight can splinter. The result, Lidgard warns, is “compliance hell” — multiple systems, mismatched versions, and slow updates that can undermine both efficiency and safety.
Digital documentation systems are helping airlines regain control
New digital manual management platforms are bridging the gap between manufacturer data and operational reality. By bringing XML management into the same ecosystem as flight operations, training and safety manuals, airlines can finally view their documentation landscape as a single, interconnected structure rather than a patchwork of files.
That shift matters because documentation is no longer just an administrative exercise. Under modern Safety Management System (SMS) regulations, documentation is integral to how an airline demonstrates continuous improvement and risk management.
“SMS is pushing everyone — from airlines to MROs — to prove continuous improvement,” says Ligard. “That’s only possible if your documentation keeps pace with how you operate.”
Centralised, real-time document control allows airlines to track revisions, flag dependencies, and distribute updates instantly across their network. The gains are practical as well as regulatory: reduced consultant costs, faster implementation of operational changes, and fewer errors caused by outdated information.
For Web Manuals, the addition of XML capability — currently being trialled with customers ahead of a planned Q1 2026 release — reflects the direction of travel for the entire industry.
Lidgard says the company’s new functionality aims to remove that barrier by letting users manage OEM data and their own operational content within a single digital environment. The new module can ingest and edit XML directly, align it with an airline’s procedures, and maintain traceability so that future manufacturer revisions can be integrated automatically.
“We’re now testing full XML authoring and management with a handful of larger customers, and expect to bring it to the broader market early next year,” Lidgard explains. “The goal isn’t to turn everyone into XML experts, but to make sure they can work with the data they’re being given — in the same system where they manage everything else.”
He adds that the shift is not simply about technology, but about maintaining operational control and compliance as documentation demands grow.
“Documentation isn’t just about keeping the aircraft flying, it’s about keeping the organisation compliant,” Lidgard notes. “You can’t run an airline safely without a unified, current set of manuals — and that means having the right systems to handle every format, whether it’s OEM data or internal procedures.”
By embedding XML handling into the same workflow as flight operations, safety and training manuals, the platform aims to give airlines a continuous view of their regulatory footprint, a critical advantage as Safety Management System (SMS) requirements expand across the aviation value chain.
The future of airline manuals: AI tools with human oversight
The next evolution is already taking shape. Artificial intelligence in aviation documentation is being introduced cautiously; not to replace human authorship, but to assist it.
“We’re being careful about how we deploy AI,” says Lidgard. “Our focus is on tools that help standardise language, restructure content, or summarise information — not on letting AI write manuals from scratch.”
The first steps involve secure, on-device AI search and summarisation, allowing users to query vast documentation sets without exposing sensitive data to external servers. Future features, described internally as “AI co-author” functions, will help teams align structure and tone across manuals, reducing ambiguity while keeping final approval firmly in human hands.
That emphasis on oversight reflects a wider caution within aviation. Automation can accelerate workflow, but safety documentation remains a deeply human responsibility. The goal, Lidgard says, is “to make authoring more intelligent, not less accountable.”
For airlines facing tighter budgets and growing regulatory demands, that distinction could prove decisive. The industry may be drowning in data, but the solution isn’t to hand control to algorithms; it’s to build systems that make humans faster, clearer and more consistent.
