How Gatwick Airport has placed technology at the heart of its strategy to improve on-time departure
Improving on-time departure (OTD)
is a goal that is shared by every airport and technological developments are presenting new opportunities to improve efficiency across the board. FTE recently paid a visit to Gatwick Airport, where we caught up with Cathal Corcoran, Chief Information Officer, and Abhi Chacko, Head of IT Commercial & Innovation, to find out how a raft of technologies are being leveraged to optimise OTD.
Corcoran and Chacko are working on numerous projects but one that could have the biggest impact on operations is the use of machine learning and big data to more accurately predict the target off-block time (TOBT). At present, the ability to accurately predict the off-block time at the time of an aircraft’s arrival stands at around 50%. However, working with ConvergentAI, the airport has found that the use of machine learning can increase this accuracy by a further 20%. The technology is being trialled in parallel with real world operations, so Gatwick can compare how it performs versus the traditional human-led approach.
“We want the accuracy to go up to 85% or 90% and we’re confident that it will, because the initial trial was based on the use of only 12 months’ worth of data and limited variables,” Corcoran explained. “As more data is fed into the system including passenger volume, bag volume, allocated stand, aircraft type, destination and weather info, and as we enable the use of historical data dating back a full year or more, the levels of accuracy should naturally start to increase.
“This is probably the thing I’m excited about the most, the reason being if you’re in innovation you want to work on the biggest problems the business has got. The issue we have – being the world’s busiest single-runway airport – is that any time we have any level of disruption, be it inbound or outbound, it has knock-on effects. This can help to overcome that. The Gatwick operations team have already done a huge amount of work to improve OTD by way of optimising people, operational processes and how we work with our Gatwick Family partners. To get after further improvements, now is the right time for advanced technology to play its part.”
Chacko added: “We think you can get about an hour’s worth of advantage if you have this prediction done through machine learning. You can then use that hour to recover from the impact of any potential flight delays.”
Gatwick Airport’s innovation team is also exploring how chat platforms can help to optimise efficiency during the aircraft turnaround process. Around two years ago, Gatwick – an FTE Startup Hub Corporate Partner – launched the Community App, which is a multi-airport app designed for the airport campus workforce. The app, developed by AirportLabs, is now used by more than 10,000 workers across the airport campus. Gatwick is now complementing this by tapping into a WhatsApp-like chat platform for ground staff to communicate during the turn process.
‘Passengers beyond security’
Another initiative that is high up on the list of priorities is what Chacko labelled “passengers beyond security”. This allows staff at the boarding gate to see on their electronic devices which passengers have not yet passed security. This can help to ensure that a flight departs on time if a late-arriving passenger has no chance of making it to the gate in time.
“At the time of closing the flight the boarding agents have a decision to make; whether to delay the flight a bit more to allow time for late passengers to walk to the gate, or to close the flight,” Chacko explained. “This solution will allow them to get real-time information from the security gates so they know how many passengers have crossed the line and who has actually crossed when. If someone crossed the security gate one minute ago and you know you’ll have to wait another 10 minutes for them to walk to the gate, you can decide to close it.”
Corcoran explained that he is “very surprised that very few airports already do this”. “This may seem like a relatively small project but it’s about continuous improvement,” he said.
Bag image query tool
If a passenger misses their flight, there is a chance that they will have checked in a bag that will have to be unloaded, and this is another area that Gatwick is working on. The bag image query tool allows ground handlers to quickly retrieve a photo of a specific bag based on the tag or the passenger name record (PNR). At the moment, this only applies to bags checked in in the self-service bag drop areas. The idea at the heart of the project is to speed up the bag offload process, which in turn contributes to an on-time departure.
“This is pretty simple, but it’s helpful and powerful,” Corcoran said. “We already capture the image of the bag but we don’t do anything with it. If the handler knows the shape, make, size and colour of the bag it makes the offload process much easier and quicker.” He added: “We’re only able to make it available to ground handlers easily because they already have the Community App.”
Internet of Things
The Internet of Things (IoT) is another big theme, and Gatwick is tapping into the power of IoT and sensors in an effort to realise efficiencies in a variety of areas. Plans are in place to install sensors across the airport to measure everything from seat occupancy to temperature and noise levels, but there are many operational use cases. These include knowing in real time when aircraft fuelling has started and stopped, when the ground power for an aircraft was turned on or off, when an aircraft engine is running and when it’s not, and when a bag is placed on a conveyor belt, for instance. Gatwick is looking at introducing a turn tool, which will integrate this sensor data to give real-time visibility of the turn process to the relevant stakeholders.
The airport is currently looking at LoRaWAN, which is appealing because of the low number of base stations needed and its wide-reaching radius. “The use cases to begin with aren’t very sexy – ‘is the bin overflowing?’ or ‘is the buggy where it needs to be?’ – but the benefit of starting with these is you prove out the concept before you start to get into the more critical use cases related to the aircraft turn process. That’s where this can make a big difference,” Corcoran said.
The list of technology-focused projects that can help improve OTD goes on and extends to the introduction of “soft radio”, which enables communication through Gatwick Airport Limited’s digital radio system from any location worldwide and essentially enables staff to use a smartphone as a radio. Furthermore, real-time queuing information is now available on staff handsets which is particularly useful during times of disruption, drones are being explored for foreign object debris (FOD) detection and runway inspection, and Amazon Alexa use cases for the ground operations team are being explored.
Clearly, Corcoran and Chacko are leaving no stone unturned in their efforts to establish just how far technology can go to help improve efficiency. While improving OTD is a shared goal for airports around the world, few, if any, can be doing more than Gatwick in this space.
Gatwick Airport CIO Cathal Corcoran was named #4 on the 2017 FTE Airport Innovation Power List. In addition to all of the initiatives mentioned above, FTE is aware of a number of other unique, technology-focused projects that Gatwick is currently working on, all of which will be considered during the judging process for this year’s Power List. Keep your eyes peeled for the 2018 Airport Innovation Power List and please get in touch if you know of a forward-thinking C-level airport innovator who should be in our thinking.
source : https://tinyurl.com/y9sxnxrw
Star Alliance hails new Digital Services Platform
Star Alliance has launched a new Digital Services Platform (DSP),
aimed at helping member carriers share data when customers are travelling with several airlines.
The alliance said that the longer-term aim of the platform is to “allow customers to use any member airline’s website or mobile application to obtain all the information they need for travel on several Star Alliance member airlines”.
Examples given of future use across the alliance include:
- Seat selection for an entire flight at the time of ticket reservation, for journeys where more than member carrier is operating flights. United Airlines was the first to launch this service on February 2, allowing an eligible customer to select a seat on, for instance, a Singapore Airlines flight booked via united.com or the United app.
- Baggage tracking on journeys including more than one Star Alliance carrier. Lufthansa is already using the DSP technology to track bags via the Star Alliance Baggage Hub, which “collects relevant baggage information from a wide-range of sources and makes it available to all member carriers included in a passenger’s itinerary”.
Commenting on the new platform Star Alliance CEO Jeffrey Goh said:
“Most frequent travellers have a ‘home airline’ in our network and would prefer to control their entire travel experience through a single app or website.
“We are therefore working to create central capabilities that can be shared for use by our individual members.”
The alliance said that DSP was part of a wider strategy to “place the customer at the centre of its activities” – for example by the end of this year member carrier FFO websites will allow customers to check flight availability and book redemption seats online for flights operated by all 28 Star Alliance member airlines.
source :https://tinyurl.com/y8z5z63t
Emirates boss urges airlines to brace for digital transformation
Emirates Airline president Sir Tim Clark warned of disruptive changes in the airline industry that new technologies are going to bring in the near future, saying that airlines must put data and technology at the centre of their business. For years, the Emirates boss has been eager to bring his company into a modern digital landscape and now he has his sights set on blockchain technology.
In his latest interview Clark told The Business Insider that there is a “storm” awaiting the industry and if airlines do not make changes to the way they deal with emerging new technologies and digital trends they “will perish”.
“It’s not a question about using advanced technology to increase the way you do your business like ancillary revenue streams because that’s a given,” Clark said. Airlines need to deconstruct their businesses internally and rebuild them on digital platforms, which means including advanced technology as a core element of the business.
Emirates is already doing that and the impact is supposed to be “revolutionary”. According to the airline’s boss, the company has put data and technology at the centre of the business. “There is no compromise on the spend on technology and digital. Data is key – if you don’t embrace data, you will perish,” Clark stated.
Vision for the future
Over the years, the Emirates boss has been outlining a visionary map of the future for airlines, stating that their thinking seems “Jurassic” and urging the airline industry to reshape the way they do things. According to him, digital disruption was “staring them in the face”, warning that airlines ignore it at their own “peril.”
Back in September 2016, at the annual Aviation Festival in London (UK), Clarke discussed how digital disruption will come along and redesign the digital platform, which will streamline what businesses do “by as much as 50 percent.” In his view, which he presented at a panel for Apex, the issue was not just about customer-facing systems, but also the back-of-house systems and the distribution systems.
At the same festival in 2017, Clark reiterated that the way airlines go about assembling the resources, and how they use their back-of-house systems, are going to be completely transformed by digital technology. He stressed that new platforms in which future processes are going to sit will be “fundamental” to the future of the industry which is why “deconstructing and reconstructing” companies in the digital environment is what everybody must do, OpenJaw Technologies reported.
Technology for profit and efficiency
In October, 2015, the Emirates Group announced it will embark on an enterprise-wide transformation strategy, with the goal to make the Emirates and dnata, the air services provider, the leading technology enabled travel experience enterprises.
The aim of the initiative was to place data at the core of the organization. In order to do that, the airline was going to examine new technologies and ideas, everything from big data and predictive analytics to artificial intelligence, machine learning, robotics, crowd sourcing and collaboration.
Clark explained to The Business Insider that technology such as artificial intelligence or robotics can be deployed to reconstruct the enormous amount of processes necessary for operations to work in a manner that would create greater levels of efficiency.
Currently, the airline industry is restricted by the constructs of the many systems in place, and so is the mindset of the workforce. Efficiency for an airline would come through the simplification of the task and the ability to handle more tasks with the same amount of effort.
And, those working in the airline business who think they would lose their jobs by being replaced by an AI or robotics, Clarke says are “wrong, wrong, wrong”. The aviation executive thinks that “As the wealth is created and the systems are improved we will be able to do so much more.”
Revolution by blockchain
Clark has made it clear in recent years that he is keen on the future of blockchain technology. Although today, it is most widely associated with transactions involving cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Emirates boss says that is where his airline sees most potential.
“Blockchain is a revolution within a revolution,” Clarke stated in the interview with The Business Insider. “It is going to transform everything we do and how you and I interact with each other and things around us.”
What is important is not how much money people make by mining bitcoin, but how it is constructed and the many applications it has beyond cryptocurrencies. Blockchain could soon find its way into other sectors such as law enforcement or healthcare.
Clark is most interested in how it can be adapted for use in the airline industry. One such application could be the International Air Transport Association (IATA) Clearing House (ICH) – a platform where international airlines settle up their bills using a variety of currencies.
“In the end, blockchain will drive everything we do in the next five or 10 years. Make no mistake about it,” Clark once told an Apex panel.
source : https://tinyurl.com/ycfvavmu
Hi-tech baggage scanners to be installed at 9 airports
In a bid to enhance passenger convenience at airports, the AAI has placed an order worth over USD 50 million with global leader Smiths Detection for hold-baggage scanners, which will be installed in nine airports across the country.
The in-line baggage screening system means air travellers will no longer have to queue-up near the X-ray machines to scan their baggage before check-in and will also result in smooth passenger flow at these airports.
“Smiths Detection won the bid to install and integrate high-speed explosives detection systems (EDS) for hold-baggage screening at 11 sites of nine airports across India,” according to a statement from Smiths Detection.
The scanners will be installed at nine airports, including Chennai and Kolkata, it said.
“Smiths Detection is honoured to partner with the AAI — supporting the airports to stay ahead of the evolving threat landscape with a technological solution that is fully- compliant with regulatory requirements,” Jerome de Chassey, general manager of Smiths Detection in India, said.
The CTX 9,800 high-speed explosives detection system can scan 1,800 bags per hour and is certified by the US Transportation Security Administration and the Civil Aviation Administration of China.
London-based Smiths Detection has installed over 4,000 hold-baggage solution units worldwide at some of the world’s 100 largest airports.
source : https://tinyurl.com/y85ycgqj
Security streamlined at airport
THE Hongqiao International Airport has deployed robots and streamlined the security process to ensure passengers get through faster during the Spring Festival travel period.
The robots have been put up at the security counters and remind passengers to leave behind all forbidden items from their carry-on luggage. Each of them has a tray to collect lighters and other banned items.
“An increasing number of passengers, especially seniors or those flying for the first time, tend to carry banned items like homemade sauces, tools and even raw eggs in their carry-on luggage,” said Wu Na, a team leader of the No. 1 security check team at the Hongqiao International Airport. Many of the items are festive gifts, Wu said. They can either go back to the airlines’ counter and put them into the check-in baggage or deposit it at the airport for 30 days without charge, she said.
There are also passengers who forget or lose their identity cards. Wu said the airport police has opened a counter that issues temporary ID cards to these passengers.
Passengers are advised to spare longer time for security check during the travel period.
Under the optimized security check process, six personnel are assigned to every security channel, Wu said. Passengers are checked for their identity cards or passports, bags screened in X-ray machines and a full body check with handheld scanner.
Airlines have begun sharing real-time passengers’ number with the airport authority so that more security channels are opened and more personnel are assigned.
There are about 250 security personnel working at the 40 security channels at the Hongqiao airport. They work in two shifts — from 5am to noon and from noon to midnight.
Passengers have to wait for about 15 minutes to get through the security checks.
Hongqiao is expected to handle 4.4 million passengers during the Spring Festival travel period.
About 738 flights take off and land at the airport every day, carrying 111,500 passengers.
source : https://tinyurl.com/y8odk4b7
UK airports and the passenger demand for wi-fi
Airports in the UK must look to enhance the passenger experience by delivering constant, reliable and secure wi-fi.
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Paul Hinchy, head of transport at WiFi Spark, discusses the importance of wi-fi in airport terminals, which is cited as one of the most important amenities for passengers who expect a fully-connected experience while traveling.
The lines between business and pleasure are becoming increasingly blurred. With ever-changing passenger expectations, airports in the UK must look to enhance the passenger experience by delivering constant, reliable and secure wi-fi.
Public wi-fi has become a part of everyday life and people expect to be able to access the internet whenever they are out and about. There are very few places in the UK where public wi-fi is not available, with many businesses travelers preferring it to the 3G or 4G connections and associated high roaming costs.
Both business travelers and those on personal trips have increasingly become used to a continuously connected experience both at home and at work, and over the past five years this expectation has extended to their travel time.
In UK airports, business passengers consider wi-fi a time-saving necessity that enables them to maintain productivity, compensating for having to travel on long flights or at the weekend.
Similarly, a strong wi-fi connection means that parents can keep children entertained in the departure lounge or keep in touch with relatives ahead of a flight.
Increasing competition from other forms of transport that are already embracing better connectivity means that airports need to better cater for their passengers.
A study by CheapFlights.co.uk has cited London City Airport as the number one airport in the UK for wi-fi connectivity, according to passengers. Newcastle International Airport was named as the best airport to fly from overall.
Holidays were listed as one of the most expensive purchases a consumer can make after buying a house or a car. Airports need to look at ubiquitous connectivity that leverages the convergence of self-service, mobility and collaborative decision making, to help passengers make the most of the airport experience.
Regional airports are demonstrating their ability to stay ahead of the curve by utilizing wi-fi-powered business intelligence to provide an enhanced wi-fi solution for their passengers.
London City airport offers passengers wi-fi coverage throughout the arrival and departure gates and the terminal buildings, as well as offering private, corporate and public wi-fi access.
A robust wi-fi solution is a business necessity. Coupled with advanced analytics, this enables airports to unlock the value of their wi-fi to create a deep understanding of passenger behavior, with a granular view of their customer demographic.
Real-time data analytics that feed into the airport’s Customer Relationship Management (CRM), coupled with a fully branded and personalized user experience portal, allows for a level of engagement that drives customer satisfaction and loyalty and increases business revenue.
Analytics software enables airports to respond quickly and intelligently to requests or criticism from passengers. It also allows them to anticipate behavior and offer an individual, personalized experience through branded user experience portals, where rewards and loyalty schemes can be made available.
Location analytics dashboards allow airports to view customer movement in real time or within a time period of choice. Airports can see the journeys that their passengers make throughout the airport, allowing them to identify popular locations, movement patterns and categorize journeys within a venue by type.
This permits airports to manage terminals or specific areas more effectively and reduce infrastructure congestion during busy periods. Monitoring heavy traffic areas can also be used to help improve store and fire escape routes, or to better place advertorials to maximize revenue.
There is also a security aspect. Having the ability to monitor passenger movement throughout a terminal means that a sudden mass movement away from one particular spot can help to quickly identify an event, enabling a quick response sent straight to the key areas.
The use of custom analytics modules that can integrate many different data sources can be delivered in accordance with an airport’s bespoke needs. The service provides a better understanding of customer needs in order to improve their experience and increase revenue scope.
The intelligent platform can incorporate several data functions, including analyzing footfall data, social media feeds, survey data, event data, environment data, sales data and any other available data source.
The business and passenger benefits of a fully integrated wi-fi solution for engagement and profitability are apparent and it is plain to see why more and more airports are looking to adopt wi-fi as part of their communications and BI strategies.
By embracing the latest wi-fi technology, airports are able to further enhance the passenger experience. Combined with robust passenger data, airports can gain a real insight into their passengers, allowing them to effectively tailor engagement.
By meeting and exceeding expectations, airports can immediately have a huge impact on the way they are perceived by their most important asset – the passenger.
source: https://tinyurl.com/yd3yq372
Auckland Airport Take to the Streets to Boost City-to-Gate Passenger Experience.
“Faster travel times, acceptable wait times, less passenger stress and a wealth of information that helps the airports and the city to plan resources more effectively. “
Ever-increasing international travel volume is having a serious impact on airports like New Zealand’s Auckland International, which saw over 19 million passengers last year.
The airport is taking the increased passenger flow and logistics issues seriously, using a unique combination of traffic and passenger flow measurement technology. The result? Faster travel times, acceptable wait times, less passenger stress and a wealth of information that helps the airports and the city to plan resources more effectively.
Auckland – a growing hub for travel
Auckland Airport expects to host over 40 million passengers annually by the year 2044. To cope with this increase in passenger load, the airport embarked on a wide-ranging and world first combined passenger-flow and road-traffic measurement project, with the goal of obtaining real-time cohesive view of people movement patterns, to guide daily and long-term operational decisions, maximise capacity and improve flow.
In its build, the airport has opted to aim for sustainability, while ensuring that they will not only have the capacity to handle the extra people, but also the capability to make the passenger journey as smooth and stress-free as possible.
Keeping things flowing
Smooth passenger flow, both in the arrival and departure terminals, and the concession and transit waiting areas, as well as on the roads surrounding the airport, is critical to the successful operation of an airport. Issues with traffic flows can result in delays for passengers, airport staff and airline crew, resulting in disruptions to airport and airline operations.
To manage both passenger and traffic flow, Auckland Airport realised they needed to have a bird’s-eye view of the entire system, as well as detailed, up-close analysis of ongoing issues. They also needed a way to quickly act when things start to bottleneck.
The airport already had a mass of intelligence on passenger movement inside the terminals, thanks to their BlipTrack solution; however, they had no real-time intelligence on the road network to and from the airport.
With several traffic monitoring projects in New Zealand, using the same technology, infrastructure consultants Beca was commissioned to extend the solution across the airport’s roading infrastructure. This now provides the airport with a seamless picture of traffic flow information between the airport and Auckland CBD (Central Business District, also called the city center).
How it works
On the Road
Outside the airport, the solution measures traffic flow between the CDB and the airport, providing real-time data on reliability, vehicle counts and travel time.
It provides data about the mix of staff and passengers using the Park and Ride facility, enabling the airport to better understand the performance and regularly review how they can improve their facilities. This information is also analysed to help planning decisions for road network maintenance and infrastructure projects.
The insights, collected using a range of technologies, including radar and WiFi sensors, also helps the New Zealand Traffic Agency (NZTA) to make informed traffic management decisions, and has allowed for the implementation of a number of initiatives to improve the traffic flow to the airport. This includes optimising traffic signal timings, and combined with the recent opening of the new constructed Waterview connection, has resulted in significant travel time cuts to and from the airport from the CBD and West Auckland.
In addition, the real-time and historic BlipTrack data enables NZTA, via their new app RideMate and online, to display live travel times between the CBD and airport, as well as informing about days with high risk of congestion. This enable road users to plan ahead, reducing both the risk of travellers missing their flight and airport employees coming in late for work.
Besides the benefits of real-time reporting, the historical data is used to detect driving time anomalies. Effectively, this means that the solution can pinpoint road sections and intersections where driving times deviate from the norm as a result of construction projects, incidents, roadwork, faulty traffic lights and other factors. With this information at hand, real-time traffic management can take place.
Richard Young, Senior Associate at Beca, says: “The intelligence that BlipTrack is delivering has already proved its value, by providing automated alerts on delays on vulnerable corridors, real-time counts on traffic flows and delays, and intelligence on the origin and destination of vehicle movements into the airport and to terminals and car parks.”
In the airport
Inside the airport, the solution provides metrics on passenger queue times and volume, as well as insight into passenger movement patterns throughout the international and domestic terminals´ departure and arrival processes.
This helps the airport better manage and support resources by focusing on high-demand locations and periods. Likewise, the data directly benefits passengers by displaying wait times at security checkpoints, managing passenger expectations and reducing queue-related stress.
Mark Croudace, Manager – Operations at Auckland International Airport, says: “BlipTrack was a critical investment. The data has provided valuable insight into our operational performance across both our assets and processes. Most importantly, it has enabled us to have meaningful conversations with our key operational stakeholders and vendors, as we collectively seek to improve the passenger experience.”
Changing the face of travel
Numerous other international airports, including Amsterdam Schiphol, Copenhagen, Dublin, Brussels, Bristol and Billund, are following suit. These airports have recognised that comprehensive seamless passenger flow data is indispensable in guiding physical expansion plans, and for streamlining operations to accommodate rapid passenger volume growth, without compromising the passenger experience.
“By having Auckland Airport and Beca working together, and by sharing data between multiple solutions, BlipTrack provides a solution that no other product in the industry can currently reproduce – large-scale, seamless, door-to-door movement management between different modes of transport. And because it´s not only limited to certain areas, it can be considered as one of the first real, tangible steps to true multimodal traffic management,” ends Peter Knudsen, CEO of BLIP Systems.
Besides providing airports around the world with seamless passenger flow data, the solution is employed in optimisation efforts in road traffic applications in Switzerland, Thailand, Canada, the UK, Denmark and Sweden. In recent years, it has been rolled out in ports, train stations, ski resorts, amusement parks, and at events around the world.
Thank you to Christian Bugislaus Carstens for sharing.
source : https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/auckland-airport-take-streets-boost-city-to-gate-carstens/