BANGKOK, 25 January 2018: Ever wondered how switched on your local airport is when it comes to adopting the latest digital technology?
In a recent study, released this month, leading technology provider for the travel industry, Amadeus, has checked out what the top priority digital technologies have been so far in the airport domain.
It commissioned Arthur D. Little to interview senior executives at more than 15 major airports worldwide and incorporated views from various industry experts.
According to Amadeus head of airport IT EMEA region, Yannick Beunardeau, research found that big data analytics and cloud computing were consistently highlighted as key digital technologies.
Other digital technologies that have been prioritised by airports in recent years include the Internet of Things (IoT), virtual modelling and simulation, and collaborative smart machines and robots.
Between 38% and 50% of survey respondents confirmed they had recently having either trialled or implemented digital solutions in these areas.
Key findings
Internet of Things-based solutions are well suited to being applied in airport environments, especially where there is a desire to increase process automation and where reliance on existing manual ways of working is high.
They also pave the way toward the attainment of other benefits.
For example, by installing remote sensors on motorised ground services equipment, such as push back tractors, airports can benefit from real time information on asset location and performance (including maintenance needs).
Such applications offer clear benefits for airport resource management and operational resilience. Fixed airport assets that also have a direct bearing on passenger flows and the customer experience, such as lifts and escalators, can also benefit from the application of IoT solutions to improve reliability and availability.
Virtual modelling and simulation
These solutions can help airports more effectively anticipate the impact of different managerial decisions and better allocate human resources, especially at peak times. Since airports are commercial entities and understand the link between a passenger’s experience at security and their propensity to spend at the airport, airports have a vested interest in using these technologies to help them to effectively match passenger flows and airport resources.
Applications of virtual modelling and simulation are not limited to the airport terminal. They can also help airports improve flight management performance, for example by foreseeing the impact of flight delays and making optimal use of runway capacity.
Collaborative smart machines and robots
Already deployed across many airports in pilot form, smart machines and robots are gaining traction as permanent additions to the physical infrastructure of an airport.
Check-in is a typical area for deployment, with robots such as Munich Airport’s Pepper and Watson able to provide customers with clear and consistent information to facilitate their journey through the airport.
Clearly, an airport’s appetite to supplement, augment, or replace labour with machines and robots will be influenced by its cost of labour. It is also affected by prevailing attitudes to technological innovation and adoption among key airport stakeholders and passengers themselves, so it must be seen as context-specific.
Airports of all sizes interviewed for this report stressed the difficulties that can be experienced when attempting to transplant digital concepts into people’s day-to-day roles, especially where airports have developed well-established teams dominated by non-digital roles.
Further details can be found in the Amadeus report, Airport digital transformation: From operational performance to strategic opportunity.
(Source: Amadeus Insights)
