Resistance to new ideas from long-serving staff is holding back airports from instituting IT solutions to solve many of the problems facing them, according to an Amadeus report prepared by consultants Frost & Sullivan.
A report, “Strengthening the airport value proposition,” states the IT necessary to make beneficial changes in the way airlines and airports operate already exists; what must evolve is the culture of airport management.
“An awful lot of people in airports have always worked there,” Frost & Sullivan director of consulting & digital transformation Alexander Michael told ATW in London. “They’re just used to doing things in a certain way. That creates a certain resistance to change.”
Additionally, Michael said, IT departments should be at the center of an airport’s operations, focusing on strategy.
“A CIO, instead of focusing on keeping the lights on and running systems,” should be able to look at measures to improve the airport’s functionality and suggest those improvements to other C-level executives.
At the heart of improving operational efficiency and cutting costs is collaborative decision-making, sharing information between partners rather than hoarding it in “silos,” according to the report.
One example of this, Amadeus head of airport IT John Jarrell said, is earlier notification to an airport that an incoming flight is delayed. That would allow an airport not to hold a gate open for a flight that was running perhaps two hours late, freeing it up for another service.
Another example could be found at Copenhagen Airport, Jarrell said, where Amadeus provided the stand and gate allocation system. By supplying the airport with more information, its managers could make more informed decisions on where to park aircraft. If, for example, it was known that passengers on an incoming flight had a tight connection to an onward service, the Amadeus system could propose parking the two aircraft close together at the terminal, easing the situation for passengers who would not have to run to a distant section of the building.
However, the report accepts that if there is market demand for a certain airport, airlines will compromise on all other factors, including the IT environment.
Alan Dron alandron@adepteditorial.com
