A method for establishing a communication link between an aircraft and a remote central computer system, said method comprising: storing fault data in an aircraft onboard computer system database; placing a transmittable data file containing the fault data into an outgoing queue of a second portion of a communications management function of the aircraft onboard computer system; and characterised by: the second portion of the communications management function determining and keeping track of what communication channels are available for communication between the onboard computer system and a remote central computer system, wherein the second portion of the communications management function includes a configuration file identifying all the desired communication channels the onboard computer system can utilize to communicate with the central computer system and wherein the number and type of communication channels included in the configuration file is application specific and selected by the particular aircraft provider; the second portion of the communications management function automatically selecting at least one desired communication channel type between the onboard computer system and the central computer system from a plurality of available communication channel types included in the configuration file based on expense of the channel and the value of the data file; sending the transmittable data file from the second portion of the communications management function to a first portion of a communications management function of the central computer system, via a secure established link over the automatically selected channel; and storing the fault data in a remote central computer system database so that the fault data in the aircraft onboard computer system database and the fault data in the remote central computer system database are synchronized. storing fault data in an aircraft onboard computer system database; placing a transmittable data file containing the fault data into an outgoing queue of a second portion of a communications management function of the aircraft onboard computer system; and characterised by: the second portion of the communications management function determining and keeping track of what communication channels are available for communication between the onboard computer system and a remote central computer system, wherein the second portion of the communications management function includes a configuration file identifying all the desired communication channels the onboard computer system can utilize to communicate with the central computer system and wherein the number and type of communication channels included in the configuration file is application specific and selected by the particular aircraft provider; the second portion of the communications management function automatically selecting at least one desired communication channel type between the onboard computer system and the central computer system from a plurality of available communication channel types included in the configuration file based on expense of the channel and the value of the data file; sending the transmittable data file from the second portion of the communications management function to a first portion of a communications management function of the central computer system, via a secure established link over the automatically selected channel; and storing the fault data in a remote central computer system database so that the fault data in the aircraft onboard computer system database and the fault data in the remote central computer system database are synchronized. the second portion of the communications management function determining and keeping track of what communication channels are available for communication between the onboard computer system and a remote central computer system, wherein the second portion of the communications management function includes a configuration file identifying all the desired communication channels the onboard computer system can utilize to communicate with the central computer system and wherein the number and type of communication channels included in the configuration file is application specific and selected by the particular aircraft provider; the second portion of the communications management function automatically selecting at least one desired communication channel type between the onboard computer system and the central computer system from a plurality of available communication channel types included in the configuration file based on expense of the channel and the value of the data file; sending the transmittable data file from the second portion of the communications management function to a first portion of a communications management function of the central computer system, via a secure established link over the automatically selected channel; and storing the fault data in a remote central computer system database so that the fault data in the aircraft onboard computer system database and the fault data in the remote central computer system database are synchronized.