Back to Air Transport IT Review - Issue 2, September 2009

Empowering the airport workforce

Industry Insight: Mobile enablement

Today's airport environment requires workers to access and react to real-time information. But many routine tasks, such as aircraft maintenance and turnaround, remain static, paper-based and inefficient. They are incapable of leveraging the wealth of information locked in air transport industry applications and systems.

Mobile technology can greatly enhance these processes by connecting assets, networks and users to the right information, in the right place, at the right time - resulting in increased productivity and an improved bottom line.

Examples abound

Consider some real life examples today:

A turnaround coordinator notices that the fuel operator is delayed. He tries to contact the service provider via radio, but nobody answers
A person with reduced mobility (PRM) urgently needs agent support to go to the gate and board the plane, but no escort personnel are showing up
A group of passengers has missed a connecting flight. Baggage handlers must try to find the group's information on the paper loadsheet

Such inefficiencies cause roughly 333 days (28.8 million minutes) of aircraft delays in the US alone each year. Between 5-10% of ramp operations workforce time is wasted due to lack of on-time information. And up to 20% of ground-handling revenues are lost because of inaccurate logging of billable events / services.

"Our industry is typical in the sense that we have lots of data about gate allocation and about flights - including what people are doing and which turnaround assets have been allocated," says Sebastien Fabre, Head of Innovation and Planning for SITA Communication Services.

"But this data is usually provided to end users through a paper list. It cannot be updated in real-time, and no one has a complete view of where a particular process stands."

Improvements

But what if the turnaround coordinator could check if a fuel truck has been allocated to his flight, and then locate the truck on an airport map? What if the airport command centre could locate the nearest agent and assign him the task of escorting the PRM? What if baggage handlers could retrieve the list and details of group baggage directly on their handheld devices?

A platform that offers mobile access to applications and context-aware event management for scenarios such as those above, can significantly improve airport operations. These improvements include:

Consistent sharing of information among stakeholders
Pro-active management of issues
Real-time notification and task allocation
Direct access to applications
Complete visibility on information and status for everyone
Information, notification and task allocation according to context

So information can be immediately distributed to relevant agents, duty managers and the command centre. Reports can be generated and viewed at any time. Duty managers can react immediately because they have all the relevant information on time. Alerts can be issued and managed automatically. And miscommunication is reduced as information is transmitted via mobile-device screens.

Mobile Workforce incubator

In 2008, SITA launched a Mobile Workforce incubator to provide a platform for tests in real-life environments. The incubator measured hard and soft business benefits associated with the mobilization of airport processes and applications. These benefits included fuel savings, improvements in operations efficiency and billing accuracy.

Says Fabre: "There are many areas where we can optimize processes, better manage disruptions, and also save on costs. We computed that over three years, you can save several hundred thousand dollars of fuel by mobilizing the management of 50 GPUs."

This year, in partnership with Appear Networks, SITA is implementing the first-ever context-aware mobile platform for the air transport industry. This platform provides common-use access to applications "on demand" over wireless and mobile networks with three airlines in Sweden, Portugal and the Netherlands.

It addresses such issues as information overload and allows airlines, ground handlers and other airport personnel to escape dependence on manual processes, voice-only communications and back-office reporting - all on an unprecedented scale.

Award winning

SITA and Appear's first joint project - the mobile platform currently being deployed with TAP Maintenance & Engineering (M&E), the leading Portuguese airline carrier - won "Best Wireless Broadband Mobility Solution" at the WBI Awards 2009.

The proof-of-concept solution is a three-tiered architecture where existing TAP M&E local systems connect to SITA's mobile platform hosted in Lisbon and Atlanta.

Proof-of-concept exercises such as this one have demonstrated that context-aware infrastructure can improve security and emergency responses, as well as the tracking of assets of all kinds, from individual items of cargo and food trolleys to security equipment and aircraft parts.

Specific areas where proof-of-concept exercises have already been undertaken include aircraft turnaround, maintenance and airport operations mobile resource management.

There is little doubt that by 2012 mobile devices will be a key contributor to efficient ground operations at the airport. The business benefits of this technology are too profound to ignore: improved disruption management leading to faster aircraft turnaround, significant savings of fuel costs, fewer mistakes, better inventory control, and much less paper.

SITA will continue to lead the industry in developing innovative solutions to meet the growing demand in this exciting area.

How to unleash the benefits of mobile enablement

The following recommendations are air transport industry-specific for a successful mobile workforce platform.

Keep small-scale projects simple
Achieve economies of scale
Mobilize business processes rather than applications
Focus on processes with heavy "implied costs" or that are business critical
Leverage context to maximize automation
Integrate other technology enablers (track and trace, etc.)

Want to learn more?

Visit www.sita.aero/whitepapers for:

A new SITA white paper, "Managing the Mobile Workforce", which further explores how context-aware mobile devices boost productivity and efficiency in the air transport industry
Our New Frontiers papers: "Transforming airline operations at airports with handheld devices," and "How mobile technology will enhance passenger travel"