United Continental To Issue 11,000 iPads To Pilots

United Continental To Issue 11,000 iPads To Pilots -United Continental Holdings Inc. (UAL) has begun to provide pilots with Apple Inc. (AAPL) iPad tablets in place of paper flight manuals, making it the latest airline to go high-tech with flight materials.

Distribution of 11,000 iPads began earlier this month, and the airline expects all its pilots to have the gadgets by year end. Each iPad, which weighs less than 1.5 pounds, will replace about 38 pounds of paper operating manuals, navigation charts and other pilot materials.

"The introduction of iPads ensures our pilots have essential and real-time information at their fingertips at all times throughout the flight," said Captain Fred Abbott, United's senior vice president of flight operations.

Earlier this year, Alaska Air Group Inc.'s (ALK) namesake airline said it would issue iPad tablets to its pilots to cut down the weight of required flight documents. The shift to iPads has lately been seen across a wide swath of industries; medical firms, for instance, have passed out thousands of iPads to their sales staff to spruce up pitches to doctors.

The move to iPads comes as United Continental continues to integrate its United Airlines and Continental Airlines, which merged in October. Last month, the company reported its second-quarter profit declined 12% amid higher fuel and integration-related costs.

Shares were recently up 0.5% to $16.83. The stock is down roughly 30% since the start of the year.