A smart device that sends data from ill passengers in airplanes in real-time to medical professionals on the ground could be a game-changer for the way airlines deal with in-flight medical incidents.

Flight diversions are expensive and can be risky. Avoiding unnecessary landings would save the airline industry millions of dollars annually.

Aiber, which has been developed by a medical technology company in Scotland, called MIME Technologies, has the potential to save lives and money.

Anne Roberts, the co-founder & chief executive officer of MIME Technologies explains: "Our technology is designed to help people who are in remote environments where they are away from professional medical care and at 30,000 feet in the air, an aircraft is one of those environments. So, what we do is we design technology to help cabin crew during a medical emergency or a medical event that takes place on board."

The ability to send data from the airplane to medical staff on the ground in real-time could assist the airlines in objectively monitoring whether a passenger's health condition is stable or worsening.

"The beauty with Mime is that it is real-time and should the aircraft have connectivity on board, then we can send that data at that point, enabling the real-time information of the passenger, the real physiology of the passenger to be viewed by a medic on the ground," says Roberts.

Roberts illustrates how the Aiber smart device would be attached to a passenger to monitor their condition.

"The data will record the ECG, now it is not for the cabin crew to read it, it is for clinicians on the ground to make that determination. So, we will send that data straight to doctors on the ground, " says Roberts.

Some older systems require cabin crew to phone medical staff using satellite phones for example, which means the crew member would leave the passenger's side. If crew members use Aiber smart device they can stay by the passenger's side.

"We have a mechanism or feature in Aiber, which allows the crew to communicate in real-time to the ground and for ground medics to review that data and recommend. And this is using digital functionality, so there is no interference of vibration or noise for example that you might get on a headset or phone. That is one of the key changes that we are offering," Roberts says.

According to the International Air Transport Association, a diverted flight could cost an airline in excess of 500,000 US dollars per flight. Major airlines could divert as many as 60 flights in one year for medical reasons. Roberts says Aiber could prevent that in the future: "So, one of the big impacts that Aiber can have to help to reduce those unnecessary diversions."

The Association expects the number of people who travel by plane to more than double in the next 20 years. The four billion people traveling by plane each year is expected to rise to 8.2 billion by 2037. And with people living longer and traveling more frequently this would mean a potential increase in medical events in flight.

Roberts says the Aiber device could be used to monitor fevers on flights. A high temperature is a symptom of the new Coronavirus, Covid-19, which has caused worldwide travel disruptions as countries struggle to contain the spread of the disease, which has infected thousands of people.

"The first thing to say is that the aviation industry takes any communicable disease very seriously and they do issue guidance to traveling passengers and the crew themselves. However, technology like this is useful in that it can pick up any change that the passenger may incur inflight.

"If they have presented to the crew with a fever for example then using Aiber, it will be able to pick if that temperature would change in the passenger if the passenger is deteriorating for example. And, the key thing about this is that it allows procedures to be in place for the crew to take action afterward and also to make good diversion decisions if necessary."

Archie Liggat is a retired commercial and military pilot who is now the Chairman of the UK Civil Air Patrol, a registered charity based in Scotland.

Liggat says reducing diversions of flights would be welcome as there are many risks involved in unplanned landings.

"There are always risks involved in unplanned landings somewhere. Sometimes the diversions are thousands of miles to get to a hospital, which might be suitable. So, there are lots of decisions going on that are very distracting in themselves. And, of course, you have got to be aware of the fact that it inconveniences other passengers enormously and causes a lot of expense for the company if you get that decision wrong - if it isn't something that requires diversion."

Liggat thinks constant data transmission would add objectivity and accuracy to monitoring passengers that have fallen ill in-flight.

"What tends to happen is that the doctor will make an assessment based on the evidence that the cabin crew can glean and once he has made that decision we don't revisit that decision again unless there is a marked change in the way the passenger presents. So..and sometimes it can be a bit too late, maybe a possibility perhaps. We obviously keep a close eye on any passengers that are not well, but it is just a subjective assessment, it is not objective the way this constant data transmission would be."

According to Mime Technologies, the device was developed with the input of two of the world's leading airlines and the company says it has multiple commercial and business jet customers interested in purchasing it.