Airport Management for the 21st Century

8/6/2019 Airport Management for the 21st Century

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AIRPORT MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS FOR THE 21 st CENTURY

INTRODUCTION

For most businesses today’s challenges lie in the ability to respond to the growingrequirements of the many departments for operational, statistical and financial information.

More and more A irports and Air Traffic Control Units are reassessing their “InformationTechnology Strategy “ and how to support their mission critical issues of the 1990’s and toensure that they have in place solutions that will carry them well into the 21 st century.

Many Airports and ATC Units have already moved towards open systems where informationcan be accessed and shared across a multitude of disparate hardware systems, operatingsystems and networks.

Senior management realise that in order that the different departments contained within anairport to work in harmony, they must link and integrate their resources, people, equipment,facilities and information across the airport’s local or wide area network and where necessaryon the web.

TYPICAL AIRPORT MANAGEME NT SYSTEM

ATC Handling Agent Apron Control

Over Fight Cash Aeron autical OtherBilling Invoicing Invoicing Invoicing

FIDS/BIDS Staff Information Reports Schedule

Fig. 1

Figure 1 shows a typical airport management system with information flowing betweensystems via a central database connected to the airport LAN or WAN. The systems can be from one supplier or can be disparate systems from different suppliers. Simple trigger functions outside of the database are used to trigger functions betwee n thedifferent functions. For instance the landing time entered by ATC automatically triggerslanded on the flight information display system. Triggers can be inside or outside the database. Triggers outside of the database givecomplete system independence and allows upgrades from many different sources.

There are many departments on an airport that want to have information supplied in realtime. Some of these are discussed below: -

Data Base

Ledgers



Air Traffic Control

In any air traffic environment data flowing in and out is normally via the AFTN. Thiscomprises of flight plans and information on flights that the unit is handling, such as slot timerequests, delays etc. Typically, the required information can be entered in ICAO format and UTC and can containthe following information: -

Aircraft Registration Runway Used Actual Time of Landing and Departure Number of Circuits Number and Type of Approaches New Estimates of Arrival and Departure New Flight Information

Aircraft registrations are required so that the aircra ft type can be retrieved from the databaseand this information can be used for correct allocation of stands/air -bridges, aeronauticalbilling on weight of aircraft etc.

Runway used creates statistical information and assists with the planning of runwaymaintenance.

Actual time of landing and departure can be used for aeronautical billing of parking and canbe used to trigger an update to the flight information status.

Number of circuits and approaches are used for aeronautical billing and statistical p urposes.

A major point to bear in mind with the way is that the airlines/handling agents are also beingupdated on estimates of arrival and departure. Therefore it has to be agreed by all the party’sconcerned on who will be responsible for the updating t he information.

Airlines and handling agents know of new flight information and if both parties’ have theability to create new flights then a minute difference in time can create two flights instead ofthe one.

ATC information can be used to create mandatory statistics required by some Governmentagencies such as the National Air traffic Service (NATS) who use the information for planningpurposes and in some case for airspace usage.

ATC Billing

Information entered in ICAO format and UTC and consists of the following information: -

Aircraft Registration Point of Entry into Air Space Point of Departure of Air Space Airport Point of Departure and/or Landing Times at the Different Points of Entry or Departure

Aircraft registration is entered so that the aircraft type and weight can be used in thecalculation of the fee.

Airport of origin/destination or point of entry and exit are used in the calculation of the fee.

Times are entered if entry and exit time in the FIR forms part of the billing calculatio n.



Airline/Handling Agents

Information can be entered by an airline or handling agent will normally be in IATA format inlocal time or UTC. Information entered can consist of the following: -

Block On/Off Times Passenger and Freight Information Check -In Desk Opening and Closing Departure Gate Opening and Closing New Flight Details (If not entered by ATC) New Estimates of Arrival and Departure Times (If not entered by ATC) Seasonal Schedule Information

Block on and off times can be used by the aeronauti cal billing system to calculate parkingtime. Another usage is for statistical information on the time it take aircraft types to taxi ontostand from landing and off stand to departure.

Passenger and freight information can be used to calculate aeronautical charges and producestatistical information for load factor analysis.

Check -In opening and closing can be used for triggering the flight information display systemstatus remarks and by the aeronautical billing system.

Departure gate opening and closi ng can be used for triggering the flight information displaysystem and by the aeronautical billing system.

Seasonal schedule information can be entered and produces the daily mayfly information,which in turn is the basis of the daily flight information display information.

Apron Handling Information can be entered in either ICAO or IATA in local time or UTC.

Stand Allocation Block On/Off (If not entered by the airline/handling agent) First Bag Last Bag Times Ground Services Supplied to the Aircraft

Allocation of stands by aircraft type can be displayed to ATC who can direct the aircraft to thecorrect stand/air -bridge without having to contact ATC by radio or telephone.

First and last bag times can be entered so that statistical information can be ob tained againstthe published IATA unloading times. This can assist in the apron equipment and man powerplanning.

Ground services can be entered so that these items can be calculated and invoiced by theaeronautical billing system.

An interface can be provided to a specialist stand allocation system which assists in workingout stand allocation. This can be a two -way interface; both entering and importing backupdated stand allocation information.



Flight Information Display System

This system is really the front end to an airport management system. It displays informationto the public in a format selected by the airport. The displays are made up by the informationbeing entered or by interface or triggered from other systems.

Fig. 2

Figure 2 shows a typical modern flight information display using Internet Explorer as thedisplay medium. Advanced scrolling techniques are used to display code -shared logos, flightnumbers, multi -sector airports and multi -lingual remarks.

Using these advanced display techniques allows code shared logos and flight numbers; multi -sector airport and dual language remarks are can be displayed on the check -in, arrival,departure, departure gate and baggage carousel screens.

It is now possible to trigger the public address system to made multi -lingual flightannouncements in at the same time as the displays are updating.

Staff Management Displays

Displaying information to the staff is a vital part of any management system. With the adventof PCs and LAN/WAN networks it is a simple task to display and update information to airportstaff in real -time in whichever format they wish. Information can also be displayed via theairport web site thus allowing many additional people access to information such as Customsand Excise, I mmigration etc. Gone is the need for the old fashioned small monitor staffdisplays located at strategic locations within the airport. Good information can cut down the amount of radio or telephone calls required by staff tokeep colleagues abreast of chan ging events.



Fig. 3

Figure 3 shows a typical modern internal staff management display on a PC connected via theairport LAN.By the use of advanced techniques additional information can be displayed in a separatewindow by flight. Activation of the window can be via mouse -over technology.

Seasonal Schedule

This forms the basis of all commercial flight movements usually for a season. The movementscan be provisional or confirmed.The information can be entered in manually or by electronic means such as electronic datatransfer, magnetic media or by keying in the information. The scheduled can contain but limited to the following: -

Code Shared Flight Numbers Multi-Sector Airports Aircraft Type Estimated Time Of Arrival Estimated Time of Departure Operational Days Of The Week Exception Dates Allocated Resources Including

Carousels Check -In DesksCheck -In Time Departure Lounges/Gates

Stand/Air -Bridge



Flights can be matched so that if the arriving aircraft is delayed a message can be then give nto the handling agent/airline reminding them that the delay may affect the outbound aircraft

Airport management can then use the data to plan all of their resources and can also formthe basis of a budget by utilising the financial information contained within the financialsystems.

Reports

Information from any system is only as good as the data entered in.

Both printed and on screen reports are a vital management tool that can be used to improveworking practices and to provide information that good business decisions can be made.

Typical reports are as follows: -

Timetable Daily Mayfly Load Factors and Income Reports by: -

Airline Aircraft Registration Route Operator

Aircraft Movements - Hourly ActivityPassenger Movements - Hourly ActivityTraffic Distribution by Airline, Aircraft, Airport This Year to Last Year Comparisons by: -

Total Movements by Movement TypePercentage of Passengers by OperatorAircraft Movement by OperatorOperator Within Route

Traffic Analysis Reports by: -

Total Traffic by Origin/DestinationCommercial & Regular by Origin/DestinationTotal Traffic by Aircraft CategoryCommercial Traffic by AirlineCommercial Traffic by Aircraft Type

Commercial T raffic by Major CityAverage All Up Weight by Airline

Invoicing

Invoicing is the lifeblood of any company and airports are no different. Most modern systemsutilise a special billing engine specifically designed for the airport market place. The aeronautical invoicing system has to incorporate the following: -

Cash Invoicing Credit Invoicing

Cash invoicing should cater for any size of aircraft. Credit invoicing should allow for multi -currency invoicing such as the Euro.



Ledger Systems

Ledger systems should contain all financial information within the: -

Sales Ledger (Accounts Receivable) Purchase Ledger (Accounts Payable) Nominal Ledger (General Ledger)

In addition many systems can be supplied with the fol lowing additional modules: -

Bank Reconciliation Purchase Order Processing Sales Order Processing Stock Control Payroll Fixed Asset Register Human Resources

Conclusions

Airport management systems have the ability to ease the work load of staff and conve y up todate information to the travelling public. It is very important to plan the data flow and todisplay the information in a format that can easily be read and acted upon by the variousdepartments within or external to an airport. As the old saying goes, a picture can speak a thousand words.

The Future

Technology moves along at a never -ending pace.

Already the technology exists to automatically update estimated arrival times, aircraftregistration number, actual landing and take off times, actual block on/off times, groundservices supplied to an aircraft.

Vehicle tagging to display exact location of any vehicle on an airport.

Wireless networking that will allow passengers to access information via their laptopcomputers, their PDAs and their mobile phones from any location within a terminal building.

As the passenger numbers increase, so will the requirement for real time information, both bythe airport staff and the travelling public. Systems installed to -day must have the capacity tocate r for the increase in the never ending requirements for up to date information so that

decisions can be made for the smoother running of any part of the airport business.



BIOGRAPHY

Name R C Goold Position Chairman & Managing Director

Company Airport Information Systems Limited Address 12 Edison Village

Nottingham Science & Technology Park University Boulevard Nottingham, NG7 2RF Great Britain

Telephone (44) (0)115 943 6677 Fax (44) (0)115 922 0924

Email [email protected] Address www.airport -information -systems.com

Rick Goold has over 20 years experience within the airport and aviation industry and startedAirport Information Systems in April 1990. He has consulted and presented papers in many parts of the world on airport related systemsand has also run training courses for IBM in the Asia Pacific Region.

A Fellow of The Institute of Directors and Member of The Royal Aero Club.

Marrie d, with two grown up children Rick relaxes by flying his World War Two BoeingStearman Bi -plane.

PHOTOGRAPH

http://www.airport-information-systems.com/

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Airport Management for the 21st Century