40
AIR TRANSPORT ISSUE 3 – 2014/2015 THE TECH SAVVY TRAVELER PAGE 12 MOBILE EVOLUTION BEACONS, BIOMETRICS, WEARABLES PAGE 17 SMART MOVES AT THE BORDER ABC GATES AND KIOSKS PAGE 26

THE TECH SAVVY TRAVELER - Home | SITA TRANSPORT ISSUE 3 – 2014/2015 THE TECH SAVVY TRAVELER PAGE 12 MOBILE EVOLUTION BEACONS, BIOMETRICS, WEARABLES PAGE 17 SMART MOVES AT THE BORDER

Embed Size (px)

Citation preview

AIR TRANSPORT

ISSUE 3 – 2014/2015

THE TECH SAVVY

TRAVELER PAGE 12

MOBILE EVOLUTION BEACONS, BIOMETRICS, WEARABLES

PAGE 17SMART MOVES AT THE BORDER

ABC GATES AND KIOSKS PAGE 26

INTERVIEW

P 6FIND THE CUTTING EDGE – CRAIG KREEGER, VIRGIN ATLANTIC

Air Transport IT ReviewAir Transport IT Review online and breaking news: www.sita.aero/air-transport-it-review

Publishers: Arthur Calderwood, Susan Brown

Managing Editor: Terence Tucker

Editorial: Gerald Oliver, Paul Brock, Scott Handy

Production Editors: Amarat Raval

Information is subject to change without notice. All trademarks acknowledged. ©SITA 2014/2015

SITA 252-254 Blyth Road, Hayes, Middlesex UB3 1HA, UKTelephone +44 (0)20 8756 8000Enquiries to [email protected]

Printed by: Pureprint, using their environmental print technology. The material is made from mixed sources.

The carbon emissions from this publication equal 1.2 tonnes. The emissions are being continually assessed and reduced, with the remaining emissions offset in a carbon reduction project.

AVAILABLE ON WEB IPAD

ANDROIDFollow us on www.sita.aero/socialhub

INTERVIEW

P 21CREATE THE RIGHT EXPERIENCE – THELLA BOWENS, SAN DIEGO COUNTY REGIONAL AIRPORT AUTHORITY

THE TECH SAVVY TRAVELER

P 12PASSENGERS WELCOME TECHNOLOGY AS IT MAKES A BIG DIFFERENCE TO THEIR TRAVEL EXPERIENCE. THEY’RE READY FOR WEARABLE TECH TOO. SO SAYS THE PASSENGER IT TRENDS SURVEY 2014.

CONTENTS

3ISSUE 3: 2014/2015

FEATURE A networked world – Francesco Violante, CEO, SITA 8

FEATURE A radical advantage – cloud-enabled software 10

FEATURE The real-time journey – empowered travelers 14

FEATURE Mobile evolution – what next? 17

FEATURE The new airport leaders – Dr Pierre Coutu, Head of AMPAP 23

FEATURE Smart moves at the border – automated border control 26

FEATURE Brazil raises the game – IT for the World Cup 29

FEATURE Revolution in the air – the connected aircraft 31

FEATURE Don’t guess the air fare – airline ticket pricing 35

FEATURE Air India’s alliance entry – the role of IT 36

AIR TRANSPORT IT REVIEW4

NEWS

AIR TRANSPORT IT REVIEW4

SITA WINS AIR INDIA AWARD SITA’s CEO Francesco Violante has received an Excellence Award at a landmark event to celebrate the merger of Air India and Indian Airlines prior to entry into the Star Alliance

The award recognizes SITA’s close partnership with Air India, as well as SITA’s contribution to the airline’s transformation – specifically Air India’s Star Alliance entry.

See ‘Air India’s alliance entry’, page 36.

ONAIR TAKES CONNECTIVITY BEYOND THE CABIN

OnAir has taken a major step in bringing connectivity into airline operations with its launch of OnAir Plug.

The new service provides in-flight Internet access for the airline over a secure dedicated wireless network.

REAL-TIMEAirlines can use OnAir Plug to exchange real-time data between cabin crews and the ground, to optimize their Inflight and ground operations.

OnAir Plug is agnostic, neutral and secure: the wireless network can be accessed by any Wi-Fi enabled device and supports all crew member applications.

SMARTWATCH BOARDING Airlines can now offer ultra tech-savvy passengers the option of boarding their flight with a simple flick of the wrist and scan of their Smartwatch.

It’s thanks to a SITA Lab innovation and boarding pass API.

See www.sita.aero/content/SITA-gets-smart-boarding-passes. See also: ‘Mobile evolution,’ page 17.

BEACON BREAKTHROUGH Miami International has become the first airport in the world equipped with a complete and open deployment of beacons.

Available to users via SITA’s Common-Use Beacon Registry, they cover entrances, check-in, gate, baggage claim and valet parking zones throughout the airport.

Each beacon broadcasts an identifier that can be used by airlines, retailers and other partners’ apps to trigger content for passengers or staff.

COMMON-USE REGISTRY “This is a fantastic move and a great model for the industry to follow,” said Jim Peters, SITA Chief Technology Officer.

“By installing the beacons and registering them on the SITA Common-Use Beacon Registry, the airport has set the standard for being truly open and collaborative with its partners.

“Miami has made it easy for airlines, and other partners working at the airport, to take advantage of iBeacon technology and provide information that’s relevant to the passenger’s location or stage of the journey.”

Beacons can also be used for staff notifications and to beam operational information – such as temperature, noise levels and vibrations – throughout the airport to allow efficient operational management.

For more, go to www.developer.aero/beaconregistry See also: ‘Mobile evolution,’ page 17.

WORLD FIRSTLaunch customer for OnAir Plug is Philippine Airlines – the world’s first airline to provide mobile phone, Wi-Fi and wireless in-flight entertainment for passengers.

It now has access to a range of services previously unavailable to crew. OnAir Plug can connect the airline’s point of sale devices, for example, to enable real-time credit card transactions onboard.

E-AIRCRAFTTM

A secure connectivity channel is a major move towards enabling ‘nose-to-tail’ communications for airline operations, as set out in the SITA and OnAir e-AircraftTM program.

See ‘Revolution in the air’, page 31.

ISO14001 FOR SITA SITA’s London Gate UK office has been awarded ISO 14001:2004 (Environmental Management System - EMS) certification by the British Standards Institution.

Applying ISO 14001 helps organizations identify and control their environmental impact and constantly improve environmental performance.

CSR STRATEGY SITA’s Director of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Amber Harrison said: “Achieving certification for our EMS is an important step in our overall CSR strategy, and shows our commitment to being a responsible business.

“We’re working on extending our certification to other SITA offices around the world over the coming year.”

Go to www.sita.aero/csr for more.

AVAILABLEON iPAD &ANDROID

‘AIR TRANSPORT IT REVIEW’ – FOR THE ISSUES THAT MATTERSee the tablet editions of Air Transport IT Review for features and insights across the technology issues that matter to the industry, including solutions and innovations embracing the explosion of mobile devices, cloud, big data, business intelligence, predictive analytics, new generation passenger systems, e-Aircraft, border intelligence, and much more.Search for ‘SITA IT Review’ in the Apple App Store or Google Play.

5ISSUE 1: JANUARY 2012 5ISSUE 3: 2014/2015

WE VALUE YOUR FEEDBACK Please complete our Air Transport IT Review readership survey at:

www.sita.aero/air-transport-it-review

PASSENGER THUMBS UP FOR WEARABLESPassengers are relaxed when it comes to technology in air transport, says the 2014 Passenger IT Trends Survey by SITA and Air Transport World.

The vast majority of them would be comfortable with airline or airport staff using wearable technology, such as smartwatches and glass, to help them on their journey.

PERSONALPassengers want to use technology at every point of the journey, and many already do, the Survey says. It found passengers expressing a desire for more personalization.

At the same time, they have greater expectations of aircraft connectivity, enabling mobile device use in-flight.

See ‘The tech savvy traveler’, page 12.

AIR CHINA’S US$8M FUEL COST CUTSAir China, one of the world’s largest airlines, is set to save around US$8m a year in fuel costs, thanks to payload and live weather update technology from SITA.

Lu Yun-Guo, Senior Manager of Operation Technology, Air China, said: “We started trialing SITA’s FMS (Flight Management System) Wind Uplink service in early 2013 and have already significantly lowered our fuel bills.

“In just six months, we saved close to US$2 million, and that was with implementation across only part of our fleet.

“We anticipate that our annual savings across our entire fleet will be in the region of US$8 million. Crew feedback has been excellent as well.

“I’m proud to say that Air China is the first airline to use this technology in China as part of our continuous innovation efforts.”

LESS BURNWith SITA’s Wind Uplink service, the aircraft’s FMS can constantly analyze weather conditions on the route ahead to determine optimum altitude, fuel burn and arrival-time predictions. This helps reduce fuel consumption.

SITA’s AIRCOM ACARS Services provide the backbone for the automatic Wind Uplink service. SITA has also installed hardware in Air China’s offices to ensure the data provided to the crew is totally under the airline’s supervision.

INDIAN AIRPORTS MODERNIZATION DRIVEMore than 50 million passengers at 25 airports across India can now use common-use self-service technology to check in at the airport quickly and easily.

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) collaborated with SITA to deploy the new SITA technology as part of its ongoing airport modernization program.

Go to www.sita.aero/pressreleases for more.

AIRLINE INNOVATION

AIR TRANSPORT IT REVIEW6

Our innovation is centred on a very simple question that we ask over and over again: ‘How can we make it better?’ Today technology can provide a lot of answers to that question. But technology is not a substitute for customer service. Nor for the way people interact with customers. Technology is an enabler for our people to do better for our customers. Technology has to be great for our people but it also has to be great for our customers. It’s what our customers expect at Virgin Atlantic. So how do we handle innovation?

A LAB FOR GREAT IDEASInnovation is often widely perceived as an ‘Aha!’ moment. But a structure is needed to help drive innovation. If you ask the right question and you have the right people, ideas will result. But it has to be done in an explicit way rather than just removing yourself to sit in a darkened room.

FIND THE CUTTING EDGETHIS YEAR VIRGIN ATLANTIC CELEBRATES ITS 30TH BIRTHDAY. FROM THE OUTSET, WE’VE USED INNOVATION AND DESIGN TO HELP US BAT ABOVE OUR WEIGHT, SAYS CRAIG KREEGER, CEO.

Virgin Atlantic has created an ideas lab, where we bring together a group of people from different departments. They have offered to get involved because they think they have great ideas, so we set them a series of questions and ask them to get together and solve problems. That creates the opportunity for new ideas.

IDENTIFY WHAT DOESN’T WORKBut you must also encourage people to fail. I would be disappointed if fewer than half of our ideas fail – because that means we aren’t pushing the boundary enough.

One of the benefits of having 39 airplanes is that we can try things on a small scale. If they work we can learn from the experience and move on to the next stage. The point is not about the ideas that succeed.

It’s about the 10 ideas that you may never hear of because they didn’t work. We’ll find the ones that do work by trying the ones that don’t. That’s really important.

For example, for our trial with wearable devices (see issue 2 2014), we didn’t just try Google Glass. We also tried a Sony Smart Watch and a phone. We wanted to gauge the effectiveness of the three devices and see what customers’ reactions to interacting with our people using that device would be.

CORE QUESTIONSWe’re not interested in technology for its own sake. The two core questions for us are: how can we help our people give better service to our customers? And how can we give customers the ability to interact with us the way they want to and make their experience better?

7ISSUE 4 : DECEMBER 7ISSUE 3: 2014/2015

We must always ask these questions, because then we’ll probably not fall into the trap of building unnecessary or low value-add technology solutions.

It’s also very easy to waste a lot of money chasing technology ideas. The cost of technology is not as expensive as it used to be, but we’re all investing in more things, so total investment is probably higher. At least you can get a lot more done with the same amount.

DIFFERENTIATIONThe industry has come a long way in the 30 years since Richard Branson founded Virgin Atlantic and we’ll continue to look for ways that we can make things better. There’s no shortage of ideas coming through. Our goal as an airline is to explore those ideas, find the cutting edge and see where we can differentiate ourselves.

At the same time, more than ever we need a collective approach to industry standards so we can design ideas that work in multiple airports across multiple fleet types, connecting itineraries across airlines.

This is key to our future ability as an industry and even as an individual carrier to effectively design solutions for our customers. With the involvement of SITA and IATA and other organizations, I’m optimistic that we can continue to make progress, to the benefit of everyone – and particularly our passengers.

FOR MORESITA LAB innovations www.sita.aero/surveys-reports/sita-lab

“ INNOVATION IS OFTEN WIDELY PERCEIVED AS AN ‘AHA!’ MOMENT. BUT A STRUCTURE IS NEEDED TO HELP DRIVE INNOVATION. IF YOU ASK THE RIGHT QUESTION AND YOU HAVE THE RIGHT PEOPLE, IDEAS WILL RESULT.”

CRAIG KREEGER CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, VIRGIN ATLANTIC AIRWAYS

A NETWORKED WORLD

AIR TRANSPORT INFRASTRUCTURE

UBIQUITOUS CONNECTIVITY, COMBINED WITH DISRUPTIVE TECHNOLOGIES AND BIG DATA, ARE POISED TO HAVE A MAJOR IMPACT ON AIR TRANSPORT OPERATIONS, SAYS FRANCESCO VIOLANTE, CEO, SITA.

TODAY, THERE ARE MORE THAN 7.16 BILLION MOBILE PHONE CONNECTIONS AND 3.64 BILLION UNIQUE SUBSCRIBERS. ABOUT ONE BILLION SMARTPHONES ARE SOLD EACH YEAR.

AIR TRANSPORT IT REVIEW8

APPLE’S NEW IPHONE, WATCH AND NFC

“We are pleased to see this development,” says Jim Peters, SITA’s CTO and Head of SITA Lab.

Read Jim’s blog at www.sita.aero/content/blogs

Everything that can benefit from a connection will have one. Businesses are connecting assets and equipment and getting more data to optimize performance. We’ll also be connected through the things we wear.

SHIFT TO APPSThis has led to a shift from web browsers to mobile apps. We are seeing apps to control everything in our house, as well as apps to control our health. The App for Everything world will complement the Internet of Things.

DATA EXPLOSION The Internet of Things is generating a huge amount of data. This has significant potential business value which is yet to be exploited. The air transport industry needs to be in the forefront of this revolution.

Using ‘big data’ to extract business intelligence will create new data sets to feed and control other connected devices. One result will be

Biometrics are being fully integrated into the passenger journey. Combined with proximity sensing, we can deploy an end-to-end passenger process that is seamless, intuitive and secure.

INDUSTRY OPERATIONSAs technologies converge, the possibilities to impact industry operations expand. Consider the ‘connected aircraft’ and proximity sensing.

Firstly, to unleash the full potential of new generation aircraft, we need a new approach to how everyone works together.

As an industry, we need to take a ‘Nose-to-Tail’ approach – a coherent IT and communications platform integrating both the aircraft cockpit and cabin with ground systems (see page 31).

PROXIMITY SENSINGSecondly, proximity sensing will impact operations. It relies on sensors to detect the presence of nearby objects. Linking airport and airline technology to a passenger’s mobile enables us to build and leverage new data sets that will give unprecedented insights into passenger flow and behavior at the airport.

Using aggregated and anonymous geolocation data, airport operators can keep an eye on passenger flows and adjust operational procedures to smooth out the peaks.

BEACONSFor more personalized communications to passengers, there is the promise of beacon technology. Combined with an app you can trigger context-relevant messages or actions on a smartphone at specific locations.

It might be as simple as a welcome message or a flight status update as a passenger arrives at the airport. It could be a mobile boarding pass on the smartphone at control points.

We are still at the early stages of learning what beacons can do. But the results are encouraging and SITA Lab is working on trials with several airlines and airports. (See page 17).

COLLABORATIONThe convergence of technology trends will keep driving innovation at a faster pace. It will be progressively harder to keep up pace and to identify good innovation from bad.

One of the great strengths of our industry, however, is the readiness to collaborate when it is in everyone’s interests to do so. SITA’s expertise and experience mean we can continue to work with industry players on pilot projects and trials to validate new technologies. We can use this knowledge to develop solutions that capture the benefits.

the ability for the industry to greatly improve disruption management, for example, by linking stakeholders.

WEARABLE TECH Wearable technology is poised to have a big impact. Examples are the successful Google Glass trials that SITA Lab carried out with Virgin Atlantic, as well with Copenhagen Airport, enabling duty managers to improve customer service by getting fast access to passenger details and a range of operational data.

BIOMETRICS We are also starting to see biometrics used in passengers’ consumer devices to authenticate access, but also for passenger processing. One interesting aspect of biometrics is the integration into wearable technology.

SITA Lab is working with technology company Bionym to explore the use of ‘persistent identity’ in the so-called Nymi wristband. It uses your heartbeat like a password and provides authentication with a mobile device such as a smartphone or tablet.

FOR THE FULL ARTICLEGo to www.sita.aero/air-transport-it-review Or read our tablet issue.

9ISSUE 3: 2014/2015

AIR TRANSPORT IT REVIEW10 AIR TRANSPORT IT REVIEW10

AIR TRANSPORT INFRASTRUCTURE: CLOUD-ENABLED SOFTWARE

A RADICAL ADVANTAGE

What do SaaS, IaaS, DaaS and PaaS all have in common? Obvious answer: they’re all part of the parlance of cloud technology – namely, Software-as-a-Service, Infrastructure-as-a-Service, Desktop-as-a-Service and Platform-as-a-Service.

Perhaps less obviously, each in its own way is capable of bringing about radically new ways of working that are particular to the air transport industry’s operations.

We talked to Benoit Verbaere, SITA’s Director of ATI Cloud, about the implications. “The industry’s requirements are unlike many others,” he explains. “The delivery of much-needed industry software through new cloud models is already bringing great advantages and it promises even more.”

CLOUD TAKES CENTER STAGE IN THE WORLD OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND COMMUNICATIONS. IN THE WORLD OF AIR TRANSPORT, IT BRINGS ITS OWN RADICAL ADVANTAGE BY DELIVERING SOFTWARE IN NEW WAYS.

11ISSUE 2: JUNE 2012 11ISSUE 3: 2014/2015

DRIVERSWhat’s clear is that a lot of air transport organizations need much easier entry to markets. Workforces and passengers need mobile solutions. And, given the unpredictable and fast-moving nature of air transport, there’s a massive requirement for responsiveness to market conditions. There’s a big pent up demand for cloud-enabled software, and an opportunity for software suppliers.

BREAKING BARRIERSFor smaller air transport organizations with less capital, lower barriers to entry offer a clear advantage. Thanks to very limited start-up costs, software delivered through the cloud resolves the issue.

It’s good news for Europe, which has the highest number of airline groups of any region with the longest tail of smaller carriers (217 in May 2013). Not far behind is Asia with 189 airline groups, according to the CAPA/Innovata database.

These are key markets for software suppliers to the air transport industry. This is just one of several cases demonstrating the business imperative for cloud-enabled software in the industry.

MOBILITY-FRIENDLYAs air transport embraces mobility, applications and software in the cloud have a huge role to play. For one thing, they’re extremely mobility-friendly. This is a big plus in addressing the

essential day-to-day air transport operational tasks that can be powered by software on a mobile platform.

Maintenance and repair operators, baggage handlers, in-flight crew, and airport ground staff all depend on immediate access to applications and data that’s in the palm of their hands.

Only by using cloud-enabling applications can organizations bring such tools to their employees’ own devices so quickly and at a reduced cost.

RESPOND, FAST! If there’s one clear characteristic of air transport, it’s the industry’s sensitivity to multiple external factors.According to Verbaere, that drives the need to respond quickly to events. It means that flexible software consumption models and scalability are of paramount importance.

“Flexibility in how IT and communications services are priced, charged, and consumed arms air transport with the responsiveness it needs to adapt rapidly to changing factors,” Verbaere says. For airlines, this can be software that’s priced by fleet size or by the number of crew members using it. Only SaaS can provide such flexibility.

MAKING THE MOVESteadily, the industry is making the move to cloud ways of working. For easyJet, IT modernization via the cloud began in 2005, by moving commodity systems to managed services. In 2009, the airline began looking at Microsoft’s Azure.

Since then, easyJet has cloud-enabled other services. They include customer-facing and domain specific applications, among them the consumption via cloud apps for flight planning and seat allocation.

As for the airport sector, London’s Gatwick Airport in 2012 formalized a plan to transfer key elements of its infrastructure and applications into the cloud.

By 2016, the airport plans to move from three data centers to only one. Some of the areas cloud-enabled by Gatwick include employee identity management, internal messaging and file sharing.

The Airline IT Trends Survey figures show that nearly half of the 255 airports surveyed around the world expect to evaluate cloud services through trials over the next three years.

THREE RISKSBut there are risks for air transport as it navigates through the cloud revolution and not all cloud enablers will have the industry-specific focus required to limit challenges during a cloud transformation for a typical air transport service provider.

• Don’t underestimate the importance of pre-connectivity in the air transport industry. Choosing a partner with cloud infrastructure and solutions already connected to a high performance network of airlines and airports brings immense agility.

• Don’t forget that location is everything. Some providers offer limited locations for where applications run and data is stored. Typically air transport employees are all over the globe and have diverse requirements. IT needs to be close to employees to provide consistent performance, guaranteeing service excellence and ensuring global adoption.

• Don’t ignore air transport regulatory standards. You’ll need to effectively secure data. Security is fundamental to a successful cloud transformation, and there’s a requirement for regulatory compliance and adherence to international as well as air transport standards. Different customers should be able to work on separate environments with guaranteed traffic isolation, while not sharing data. A cloud designed specifically for the air transport industry can offer this, with design transparency assured. “With many of its key software applications already in the cloud to meet air transport needs, SITA anticipates a bright future for cloud-enabled software in the industry,” concludes Verbaere.

LONDON’S GATWICK AIRPORT IS A GREAT EXAMPLE OF HOW AIRPORTS CAN GAIN A RADICAL CLOUD ADVANTAGE. IN 2012, GATWICK FORMALIZED A PLAN TO TRANSFER KEY ELEMENTS OF ITS INFRASTRUCTURE AND APPLICATIONS INTO THE CLOUD.

ADVANTAGE CLOUD Cloud is making its mark in delivering software across the many and varied operations of the air transport industry, addressing small and regional airports, air navigation, aircraft operations and more.

FOR MOREFor the full article online, go to www.sita.aero/air-transport-it-review Or read our tablet issue.

INFLIGHT In the air, when onboard connectivity services exist, such as OnAir’s, most passengers will use them.

The majority (56%) want connectivity so that they can use their smartphone, tablet or laptop for in-flight entertainment. Fifty-four percent want to send and receive e-mails and text messages and make and receive phone calls in-flight.

And 45% would use their connected device to purchase food and drinks or browse a virtual duty-free shop, and receive promotions and offers. (See page 14.)

The trend allows airlines the opportunity for continuous engagement with the passenger throughout the flight.

PASSENGER IT TRENDS SURVEY 2014

AIR TRANSPORT IT REVIEW12 AIR TRANSPORT IT REVIEW12 AIR TRANSPORT IT REVIEW12 AIR TRANSPORT IT REVIEW12

THE TECH-SAVVY TRAVELERPASSENGERS WELCOME TECHNOLOGY BECAUSE IT MAKES A BIG DIFFERENCE TO THEIR TRAVEL EXPERIENCE. THEY’RE READY FOR WEARABLE TECH TOO. Travel is better with technology. Passengers want to use it at every point of the journey, and many already do. So says the ninth annual global Passenger IT Trends Survey, which interviewed almost 6,300 passengers across 15 countries worldwide, representing 76% of total global passenger traffic.

Highlighting the growing importance of tech-savvy passengers, the 2014 SITA / Air Transport World survey observes a strong correlation between technology availability and increased passenger satisfaction.

IMPROVEMENTSIt finds that over half of passengers believe online channels have improved the passenger experience in areas such as flight search, as well as reservations and check-in.

Interestingly, it says passengers have no problem with airline or airport staff using wearable technology, such as smartwatches and glass. Nearly 77% of the 6,300 passengers surveyed would be very and quite comfortable with the use of wearable tech by staff to help them on their journey.

CONTROL Nearly all travelers carry a phone, and they’re looking to use them to gain more control over their journeys. More often than not it’s a smartphone loaded with travel apps. Just over four in five passengers have a smartphone and 76% of them use airline apps; 43% say it’s made a definite improvement to their travel.

NEW SERVICES “As new technologies such as wearable tech and NFC become commonplace in consumer devices, they present a great opportunity for airlines and airports to engage directly with their passengers to provide efficient services throughout the journey,” says SITA’s Chief Executive Officer Francesco Violante.

Tech-savvy passengers are keen to grasp this ‘great opportunity’. They’re strongly interested in newer mobile services and more personalization.

WISH LIST Passengers have clear views about what new technology will make a big difference to their travel experience.

SEE ALSO:

Top of the wish list is making it easier to compare air fares: 54% think it should be a priority investment.

While some travel markets are well served by flight comparison websites, passengers elsewhere find airline by airline comparisons a time consuming process.

Coming next in the top three priority wish list are: real-time information and in-flight Wi-Fi.

DISRUPTIONMore than half of passengers want real-time personalized alerts about any delays sent directly to their phones in the event of travel disruption.

Personalization expectations figure largely, with most passengers also expecting personalized re-arrangements, with automatic rebooking. A significant percentage (45%) of them would expect to have access to self-service options via a mobile or a kiosk.

DOWNLOAD AND VIEW

Passenger IT Trends Survey and Webinar www.sita.aero/content/passenger-it-trends- survey-2014

PASSENGER IT TRENDS SURVEY 2014

Better real-time flight information

In-flight wireless services

PASSENGERS WANT MORE INVESTMENT IN TECHNOLOGY

Better comparability of airline fares

54% 52%

52%

PASSENGER SENTIMENT TODAY

ADDICTION TO MOBILE

of passengerswould use airport maps & directions

NEW MOBILE SERVICE

57%of passengers travel with three devices

MY DEVICE...MY SERVICE

MY ALERT

THE MOBILE TRAVELER

MY ENTERTAINMENT IN-FLIGHT

BRING MY OWN DEVICE

of passengers carry a device97%

SATISFACTION

% of passengers very/quite satisfied with their travel

experience

78%

expect calls to their mobile

53%If travel disruption

occurs

56%

54%

45%

My entertainment

Mycommunications

Mypurchases

35%

36%

41%

Would Definitely use

Maybe

expect smartphone app notifications

53%

% of passengers who suggest investment

in travel

POSITIVES

53%

Website Smartphone

43%

% of passengers who used the technology indicate a ‘definite improvement’ to their travel

© SITA I www.sita.aero/surveys I @sitaonline I #SITAInsights

% of passengers who would use the service in-flight

13ISSUE 2: JUNE 2012 13ISSUE 2: JUNE 2012 13ISSUE 4 : DECEMBER 13ISSUE 3: 2014/2015

THE TECH-SAVVY TRAVELER

“ AS NEW TECHNOLOGIES SUCH AS WEARABLE TECH AND NFC BECOME COMMONPLACE IN CONSUMER DEVICES, THEY PRESENT A GREAT OPPORTUNITY FOR AIRLINES AND AIRPORTS TO ENGAGE DIRECTLY WITH THEIR PASSENGERS TO PROVIDE EFFICIENT SERVICES THROUGHOUT THE JOURNEY.”

FRANCESCO VIOLANTE CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, SITA

“We strive to connect with our customers through every phase of the journey, giving them the power to choose self-service options, to receive real-time information and to take greater control of their travel,” adds Brown.

ENGAGEMENT Across the industry, the number of touchpoints is increasing all the time, offering new opportunities for distribution and passenger services. As a result, the rules of engagement with the customer and the level of personalization in real-time are changing as passenger services systems enable knowledge of the customer and increased personalization.

One example is SITA’s mobile app iTravel®. While driving revenues and improving customer service, it empowers passengers to take more control of their journey,

AIR TRANSPORT IT REVIEW14 AIR TRANSPORT IT REVIEW14 AIR TRANSPORT IT REVIEW14 AIR TRANSPORT IT REVIEW14

THE REAL-TIME JOURNEYTRAVELERS WANT TO BE EMPOWERED ALONG EVERY STEP OF THE JOURNEY, IN REAL-TIME, BOTH ON THE GROUND AND IN FLIGHT.

If there’s one thing that’s underlined in the new Passenger IT Trends Survey, it’s that passengers want real-time information to empower them along their travels.

The trend is driving airlines and airports to focus investments on the availability in real-time of a whole host of information through multiple self-service channels to streamline the journey even further.

CUSTOMER-CENTEREDOne airline forging the way, American Airlines, is investing in what it sees as customer-centered innovations to help ease travel, personalization and connectedness.

“At the end of the day, regardless of what industry we’re in, be it airports or airlines, we want our customers to have a great travel experience,” explains Susanna Brown, Managing

Director of Operations Technologies at American Airlines. “For us, that means worry-free travel. Our investments and innovations have been playing a significant role in this arena, including a focus on mobile.”

CONTROL On their day of travel, American Airlines’ passengers get access to a range of services to speed up their journey – from flight updates sent to mobile devices in real-time, to mobile boarding passes.

The airline offers self-service kiosks in all major airports, while self-bag tagging stations at over 330 kiosks across multiple airports further assist the process. With 10 million downloads to date, American Airlines’ mobile app provides intuitive and fast access to mobile boarding passes, flight details, terminal maps and other information.

PASSENGER IT TRENDS

15ISSUE 1: JANUARY 2012 15ISSUE 4 : DECEMBER 15ISSUE 4 : DECEMBER 15ISSUE 3: 2014/2015

“ WE STRIVE TO CONNECT WITH OUR CUSTOMERS THROUGH EVERY PHASE OF THE JOURNEY, GIVING THEM THE POWER TO CHOOSE SELF-SERVICE OPTIONS, TO RECEIVE REAL-TIME INFORMATION AND TO TAKE GREATER CONTROL OF THEIR TRAVEL.”

SUSANNA BROWN MANAGING DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS TECHNOLOGIES, AMERICAN AIRLINES

passenger services mobile app integrates seamlessly with the distribution strategy,” says Allison O’Neill, VP Passenger Solutions, SITA.

“It needs to work in unison with internal processes and deliver a consistent experience across all customer touchpoints. That means seamless integration with the Passenger Services System (PSS).

Based on seamless integration with SITA’s Horizon PSS, iTravel handles complex airline business rules and processes. The result is a

tackling key steps along the way and featuring content-aware passenger updates.

iTravel allows individual or combinations of services to be incorporated, so that passengers can book and pay for flights, check-in, and check airline as well as flight information.

DISTRIBUTIONFor any mobile solution, being an integral part of the distribution picture is an essential feature. “What’s critical is that an airline’s

set of rich features with relevant and accurate data for the passenger.

“These are iTravel principles,” says O’Neill, “allowing individual or combinations of services to be incorporated within the app.”

IT TRENDSEchoing the new SITA Passenger IT Trends Survey, the 2014 Airline IT Trends Survey cites new services being deployed to give passengers more information and more control.

Over the next three years, flight status updates will be universally available; baggage notifications will be provided by more than two thirds of airlines; and recovery options will be proactively offered by almost three-quarters of airlines.

EASE OF USE Yet the Airline IT Trends Survey makes it clear that more can be done to increase passenger use of airline mobile apps.

AIR TRANSPORT IT REVIEW16 AIR TRANSPORT IT REVIEW16

PASSENGER IT TRENDS

In particular, enhancements are needed such as integration with other mobile services, location-based services and increased personalization (see ‘Mobile evolution’).

FLY ONLINE On the topic of in-flight mobile services, the voice of passengers is loud and clear. Connectivity across the journey must encompass services at 35,000 feet.

This too is being keenly addressed by American Airlines. Brown again: “About 60% of aircraft in the US are Wi-Fi-enabled, while 90% of the American/US Airways fleet is Wi-Fi enabled.

“The point is, onboard connectivity enables people to continue with their business as they do on the ground. It’s been an area of considerable investment for American Airlines – and continues to be so,” she adds.

Fellow US airline JetBlue embraced in-flight travel on its first flight out of JFK in 2000, providing passengers with free, live TV, as we heard in our interview with Eash Sundaram, Executive Vice-President and CIO of JetBlue (see issue 2, 2014).

BE SOCIALNowhere will empowered travelers see more change in this decade than in the very real-time experience of social media. “The critical

point to remember,” continues American’s Brown, “is that you have to be very responsive – and you need listening tools to be able to do that.

“Social media doesn’t fit with most organizational matrices. It’s horizontal – touching on media, communications, operations, technology and other areas. We’ve formed a social media governance board to provide a management umbrella at an executive level.”

ENGAGE FAST“Travelers think fast, they move fast, they communicate fast – and we have to engage fast,” she adds. “One of our customers wrote: ‘On a recent trip home from Dallas Fort Worth to New Orleans, I was very impressed with your social media team. They were very responsive to me.

“‘I have no status on America Airlines, but that personal touch from your airline meant so much that I am now contemplating doing a status match with AA and perhaps flying your airline with a little more frequency.’

“The genie of social media is out of the lamp and will never return,” concludes Brown. “We have to celebrate that fact that the connected traveler is helping us create a better experience for everyone.”

OPINION

SOCIAL MEDIA: PART OF YOUR BUSINESSToday’s travelers are empowered and we have to deal with them differently. Social media is no longer an afterthought of marketing. It’s integral to the airline business and that’s how we’ve got to think about it. By Shashank Nigam, CEO, Simpliflying.

For the full article online, go to www.sita.aero/air-transport-it-review Or read our tablet issue.

AIRLINES ARE RECOGNIZING THE POTENTIAL VALUE OF CONNECTING WITH TRAVELERS ON THEIR TERMS. ANCILLARY SALES THROUGH MOBILES ARE EXPECTED TO INCREASE FIVEFOLD FROM A LOW BASE TO 11.6% OF TOTAL ANCILLARY SALES BY 2017.

CONNECTED Regardless of standards or quality of data about individual passengers, the connected traveler is here, agrees Shashank Nigam, CEO of SimpliFlying.

“And guess what. Their decision to fly your airline, to stay in your hotel, to use your airport is actually influenced in real-time by what people say on social media.”

Recent research by Pew into how Generation Y (born since the mid-80s) are developing as adults in the US makes it clear they’re different from earlier generations in their use of technology .

That difference will become more marked as Generation Y moves into middle age and a newer generation takes the stage. For the air transport industry this is essential knowledge.

TUNED INWhat’s clear is that connected travelers are giving thought to how technology can make travel simpler, less stressful and more enjoyable. And they expect the airlines and airports they use to be there, tuned in, turned on and ready to go, in real-time.

FOR THE FULL ARTICLEGo to www.sita.aero/air-transport-it-review Or read our tablet issue.

FOR MOREPassenger IT Trends Survey Airline IT Trends Surveywww.sita.aero/surveys

17ISSUE 2: JUNE 2012 17ISSUE 3: 2014/2015

PASSENGER IT TRENDS

MOBILE EVOLUTIONWITH MOBILE HIGH ON THE INDUSTRY’S INVESTMENT AGENDA, WHAT’S NEXT FOR AIR TRANSPORT?

Airlines were predicting an increase to 9% of passengers within three years, yet four years later we find the global level of mobile check-in has yet to pass the 5% mark.

But averages can be deceiving. Across the industry some airlines have been very successful in moving passengers onto mobile check-in. In particular, the low-cost carrier sector is seeing much higher usage of mobile check-in among their passengers, with a sector global average of 8.6%.

APP DESIGNIt could be that the first generation of mobile apps released by airlines were not sufficiently engaging to take passengers from alternative options.

Such has been the transformational impact of smartphones on people’s everyday lives it’s surprising to reflect that they’ve only been widely available for about six years, following the launch of the iPhone in 2007.

Recent results from the Passenger IT Trends Survey indicate 81% of passengers carry a smartphone when they travel, while the 2014 Airline IT Trends Survey shows that mobile features high on the investment agenda of airlines.

ADOPTIONSo why has adoption of mobile services not been as fast as the industry expected? Mobile check-in was introduced by airlines very quickly – today almost 70% of airlines offer mobile check-in. In 2010, passenger usage of mobile check-in was just 1%.

“Most people would rather forget their wallet than phone,” suggests Phillip Easter, Director, Mobile Apps and Wearables, American Airlines.

DOWNLOAD AND VIEW

Passenger IT Trends Survey and Webinar www.sita.aero/content/passenger-it-trends- survey-2014

AIR TRANSPORT IT REVIEW18 AIR TRANSPORT IT REVIEW18 AIR TRANSPORT IT REVIEW18 AIR TRANSPORT IT REVIEW18

PASSENGER IT TRENDS

“ AIRLINES NEED TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO BEST LEVERAGE ONE-TO-ONE RELATIONSHIPS AND TAILOR A RANGE OF GOODS AND SERVICES. IT’S ALMOST ABOUT CREATING AN INDIVIDUAL SHOP FOR EVERY SINGLE PASSENGER.”

PAUL BEHAN DIRECTOR, PASSENGER, IATA

There was also a tendency for airlines to create the mobile channel by just copying their website – or as Easter puts it, “cut ‘n’ paste dot com”– onto a screen size a magnitude smaller.

HIGH AMBITIONS Today though, airlines have developed a much better grasp of the mobile channel and there’s no longer an expectation that passengers will ‘automatically’ shift their travel interactions to mobile phones in the way they have with other parts of their lives.

But airlines still have high ambitions for the mobile channel. They’re heavily promoting their apps, while making them more usable. New services are also being

added, aimed at better baggage management, reducing passenger frustration in times of disruption and boosting ancillary revenues.

PERSONALIZEBut underpinning it all is the need to personalize services, as we see in the latest Passenger IT Trends Survey (page 12).

Paul Behan, Director, Passenger, IATA thinks it’s the key component if airlines are to boost mobile usage. “Airlines need to figure out how they can best leverage that one-to-one relationship and tailor a range of goods and services. It’s almost about creating an individual shop for every single passenger.”

“And that’s the real trick,” he continues. “Because browsing content on a small form factor is difficult, especially when you’re on the move. It’s about understanding what the content should be for a consumer in a particular circumstance.”

RAPID CHANGEToday, such a level of personalization is rare. But the situation is expected to change rapidly over the next three years, with two-thirds of airlines wanting to provide services based on

OPINION

TEN MINUTES...… From curb to duty free shopping. It’s possible with self-service, says Paul Behan, Director, Passenger, IATA.

In fact, it’s happening at a number of airports today. So it’s a realistic goal. But making that happen is going to depend on adoption of the six time-saving self-service options that make up the Fast Travel program.

For the full article online, go to www.sita.aero/air-transport-it-review Or read our tablet issue.

FALSE IDENTITYCould wearable tech solve the problem?

A new technology that has not even made it into the shops yet could reshape passenger travel in the not too distant future.

The Nymi wristband made by Bionym is still in early prototype stage, but if adopted by consumers in large numbers, it could provide a way to automatically authenticate passengers throughout their journey.

It works using the unique heart rhythm that each person has. When you attach the wristband it reads your ECG (Electro-Cardiogram) and matches it to a stored version in an app on your mobile phone.

AUTHENTICATIONOnce that verification has taken place the wristband can interact with other devices and apps using Bluetooth to carry out tasks securely. Authentication is lost as soon as the wristband is uncoupled and taken off and requires re-authentication to work again, making the device useless if stolen.

SECURE AIR TRAVEL The SITA Lab believes it could have a number of use cases in air travel, particularly for secure passenger processing in areas such as automatic check-in or boarding.

Another potential use could be in providing personalized customer service. The SITA Lab is conducting trials with an application loaded onto tablets used by roving customer service agents.

The app senses the presence of a wristband as it gets closer and pulls up the booking or profile of the wearer, allowing the agent to provide prompt assistance, whether in the airport or in the aircraft cabin.

19ISSUE 2: JUNE 2012 19ISSUE 1 : JANUARY 19ISSUE 4 : DECEMBER 19ISSUE 3: 2014/2015

real-time information and the passenger’s location.

If this happens the value of mobile would increase significantly. The unique features of personalization and location awareness make a smartphone an ideal platform to cross and up sell.

It gives the airlines a way to interact with the customer at every step of the journey by offering the right service at the right time. Yet determining the ‘right time’ is not so simple, unless you can pinpoint accurately the location of the passenger.

BEACONS: MISSING LINK? A breakthrough in this regard is expected by placing beacons that emit a Bluetooth signal around the airport.

When an app on a passenger’s smartphone detects the signal by moving into range of the beacon, it can trigger an action in the app taking account of the passenger’s location. This could include displaying the mobile boarding pass on the phone’s screen on arrival at the gate or a coupon for a discounted drink as the passenger passes a coffee shop.

Jim Peters, SITA CTO, thinks this is just the tip of the iceberg for beacons. “In the airport environment, we see a lot of different use cases.

“For example, when you enter the airport terminal, it could trigger an app to find out the current queue time, the best path through the airport, and the flight status. From this it can tell you the gate and how long it

will take you to get there. I think that’s the killer app.”

Proximity based services, as they are called, using beacons, could be the opportunity that airlines have been waiting for to personalize mobile services for passenger at the airport.

TRIALSAmerican Airlines is one carrier that thinks so, and it’s working with SITA at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport on a pilot program to understand the opportunities.

Airports are also showing great interest in beacons. Miami International Airport is starting a major trial with over 200 beacons throughout its North terminal (see ‘Beacon breakthroughs’).

SHARED APPROACH Peters predicts other service providers at airports will want to start deploying beacons. But that could cause beacon mayhem, he cautions.

“In an airport environment, there’s going to be an issue if the different app owners go to every airport and install their own beacons. The more you put out there, the more they interfere with each other,“ says Peters.

One solution is to deploy a set of beacons at each location and treat them as common-use infrastructure, available to all airport service providers. It is an approach that has the support of ACI and IATA, and Peters believes a community type service makes a lot of sense.

“ BY INSTALLING BEACONS AND REGISTERING THEM ON THE SITA COMMON-USE BEACON REGISTRY, MIAMI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT HAS SET THE STANDARD FOR BEING TRULY OPEN AND COLLABORATIVE WITH ITS PARTNERS.”

JIM PETERS CTO, SITA

BEACON BREAKTHROUGHSWill proximity based services such as beacons give airlines the opportunity to personalize mobile services for passenger at the airport? Who stands to benefit and why?

American Airlines is one carrier that sees opportunities for beacons to change the way things are done. It’s working on a pilot program with SITA at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport in what will be the world’s largest deployment of beacons by an airline.

The beacon pilot will mean passengers receiving up-to-date and relevant information on their mobile devices.

UNDERSTANDINGAmerican’s Director of mobile apps and wearable technology, Phillip Easter believes knowing where a passenger is before sending information enables more effective communication.

“Beacons will help us understand about the moment the passenger is in and provide useful services to their smartphone through our app, based on that moment.

“During the trial the beacons will provide navigation way points. Passengers will see on a map where they are in the airport and where they need to be. We can’t do that today,” he explains.

Miami International Airport, in the meantime, is the first airport in the world to have a complete and open deployment of beacons. There are now beacons registered and available via the SITA Common-Use Beacon Registry.

Covering entrances, sky trains, check-in, gates, baggage claim and valet parking zones, the airport’s beacons can be used by airlines, retailers and other partners’ apps to trigger useful content to passengers or staff.

“Now we invite airlines and our other partners to invent new ways to make the passenger experience at Miami even better,” says Maurice Jenkins, Division Director, Information Systems, Miami International Airport.

BENEFITS “With our beacons, they can now give passengers relevant information on their phones at every point of their journey through our airport.

“Working with SITA has made it easy for us to do this quickly - onsite deployment took just two days. And by using the SITA Registry, it makes it simple for us to collaborate with our partners, both domestic and international, and let them take advantage of this new technology too.

“Airlines that fly to Miami are already working on their apps so passengers will start seeing the benefits very soon.”

For more, go to www.sita.aero/air-transport-it-review Or read our tablet issue.

PASSENGER IT TRENDS

AIR TRANSPORT IT REVIEW20

BEACON REGISTRY “It needs to be formalized but SITA has created a beacon registry where you can register any beacon you’ve deployed or ask for the information to use someone else’s beacons. It will reduce the cost and the complexity by avoiding unnecessary duplication of deployments.

“We’re going to work with the industry to define some standards so that apps work the same in every airport that a passenger passes through,” he says. Peters cites Miami International Airport’s move as a great model to follow. “By installing the beacons and registering them on the SITA Common-Use Beacon Registry, the airport has set the standard for being truly open and collaborative with its partners.

“Miami has made it easy for airlines, and other partners working at the airport, to take advantage of iBeacon technology and provide information that’s relevant to the passenger’s location or stage of the journey.

“And of course, it’s not just for passengers; beacons can be used for staff notifications

and to beam operational information – such as temperature, noise levels and vibrations – from throughout the airport to allow efficient operational management.”

PRIVACYOther concerns that could inhibit passengers from using mobile services are also starting to be addressed, particularly around privacy.

“People are afraid they’re either being tracked or spammed,” says Peters. “But while an app can be set up for tracking, it still requires the person to actively download the app and agree to it. On the spam issue I think it will be self-policing.”

AWARENESSThe ability to personalize interactions with passengers through smartphones based on location doesn’t just mean airlines will be able to boost ancillary sales.

The immediacy that mobile phones bring can also be a huge benefit to airlines in handling unscheduled events, such as a sudden change of gate or wider disruption.

OPINION

PASSBOOK IMPACT“Apple’s Passbook can improve the mobile experience,” says American Airlines’ Director of mobile apps and wearable technology, Phillip Easter.

“At American we embraced it when it launched two years ago. If you do it right, it’s a really nice experience.”

For the full article online, go to www.sita.aero/air-transport-it-review Or read our tablet issue.

The real-time awareness of smartphones gives mobile a unique role to play in solving customer service issues in situations like flight delays or cancellations. By 2017, 92% of airlines will be able to inform passengers in real-time through their mobile should a disruption occur.

The more progressive airlines are aiming to use the mobile channel to go further than just communicating with the passenger in times of disruption by making self-service options, such as rebooking, available through their app.

MOBILE FUTURE?These types of smarter apps – which offer services based on the real-time awareness of the passengers’ needs, their position and what’s happening to their individual journey – are expected to create a more appealing mobile experience for passengers.

The smartphone may then become the indispensable companion for travel that it is in the rest of our lives.

MORE ARTICLES ONLINE

SELF-SERVICE: THE NEXT FRONTIER We’re moving to the next frontier in the self-service revolution, driven by fast-moving technology and passenger expectations.

It used to be that a big new IT challenge came along every 5-10 years. Now a potential revolution seems to appear every year. Witness the arrival of NFC, wearables and proximity sensing, including beacon technology.

And as the latest Passenger IT Trends Survey shows, passengers want to control what they do using their own device. So what are the implications for self-service?

BOARDING PASS EVOLUTIONIn 100 years of commercial flight the boarding pass has evolved from the handwritten to the electronic. It’s now set to benefit from NFC. SITA and partner trials in 2014 saw Air France passengers in Toulouse experience a seamless journey with NFC-based smartphones.

With an NFC experience room set up three years ago, SITA has led the industry in mobile boarding. JetBlue is just one of many airlines who’ve embraced SITA’s Mobile Boarding Pass API, at www.developer.aero

THE SOCIAL JOURNEY It looks like passengers, airlines and airports all have a keen eye on bringing the power of social media to bear across every step of the journey. Asked how often they use social media for real-time flight information services, 31% of respondents to the 2014 Passenger IT Trends Survey said they did so ‘regularly’.

Figures across all SITA’s IT Trends surveys make it clear that social media as a force in travel is continuing to rise, not just for communications but also for industry operations and customer service.

For the full articles online, go to www.sita.aero/air-transport-it-review Or read our tablet issue.

AIRPORT INNOVATION

21ISSUE 3: 2014/2015

CREATE THE RIGHT EXPERIENCE

TECHNOLOGY IS KEY TO A BETTER CUSTOMER JOURNEY, BUT IT MUST BE CONSISTENT AND NOT OVERLOAD THE PASSENGER, SAYS THELLA BOWENS, PRESIDENT AND CEO OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY REGIONAL AIRPORT AUTHORITY.

Can you give us a snapshot of your airport?

We’re an origin and destination airport as opposed to a hub and we’re the busiest single runway airport in the US, serving about 18 million passengers a year. Just over 50% of our passengers use our airport for vacation and leisure travel while just under 50% are business travelers.

Annual passenger growth is on the rise again, as is the case with most major airports in the US. We’re an economic powerhouse for our region. According to the San Diego Tourism Authority, visitors who travel by air to San Diego spend about US$ 2.3 billion in the region each year.

So what’s the role of IT?

We firmly believe that IT is a key touch point and enabler in the passenger journey. It assumes many forms: the home computer for purchasing tickets, goods and services and even checking in for flights; the self-service kiosk for obtaining boarding passes and managing travel requests with the chosen air carrier and much more.

Technology is used for passenger processing, security, advertising, entertainment and the list goes on.

Almost every entity within the passenger’s journey wants to provide and interact with the passenger using technology of some sort.

The difficulty – besides just trying to influence the passenger to download your app – is to make sure that all of the data across multiple delivery channels is consistent and accurate and capable of being integrated. If the FIDS shows a flight is on schedule but the airline app shows the flight is delayed, which source of data is correct?

AIR TRANSPORT IT REVIEW22

AIRPORT INNOVATION

AIR TRANSPORT IT REVIEW22

“ OVERALL STRATEGY MUST BE CONSIDERED CAREFULLY SO THAT TECHNOLOGY DOES INDEED BECOME AN ENABLER AND NOT JUST AN ADDITIONAL SOURCE OF STRESS.”

THELLA BOWENS PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY REGIONAL AIRPORT AUTHORITY

What’s your view about this?

Overall strategy must be considered carefully when developing new technology offerings for passengers so that technology does indeed become an enabler and not just an additional source of stress. This is not an easy problem to solve and it will take the joint effort of all parties interacting with the passenger along their journey.

For too long, technology in the travel space was viewed as a cost-cutting, process-improving, time-reducing tool. Our goal at San Diego has been to speed up the journey for the passenger, empower them to manage their travel and get them from the curb to the gate or from the gate to the curb quickly.

But what if instead of just speeding up their journey we were able to make their journey more enjoyable? What if we were able to create an experience for the passenger which got them talking about their journey, not just the destination? These are the goals we have for ways technology can work for our passengers.

What’s your approach to IT for passengers?

The idea is to make passengers’ time in our airport both a memorable and easily managed experience. We have added art, unique concessions and experiential elements to the terminal to, hopefully, create a lasting impression.

One idea we’re pursuing is beacon technology. This allows us to create interactions with

passengers to create a unique experience. Need directions to your gate? Beacons can guide you there. Have some time before your flight and looking for a meal? Beacons can offer incentives to various concessions.

There are so many ideas and future challenges that beacons could help us address. They could also help tenants. They could allow us to provide tools for tenants to target advertising messages to passengers who opt in.

For example, concession tenants could identify passengers in their storefronts and make service delivery much more personal. Airlines could identify their passengers and deliver customized information services.

Of course all of this information must be balanced to keep technology from overloading the passenger with too many messages, too much customization and a confusing experience. The challenge is to balance diverse tenant needs with the desired outcome for the passenger experience.

What about the future?

Tomorrow’s possibilities seem endless. But to address the broader issue of the passenger’s journey and future technology challenges and opportunities, we all need to work together.

Of course, the passenger is interested in information and an experience tailored to them. But they don’t want to be overwhelmed by too much information from too many

sources. The real question is, how do we provide a common set of infrastructure and standards that allow each stakeholder the ability to manage their customers’ experience?

We have to think about how to facilitate our common goal – how to use the power of IT to address these challenges in a way that makes business sense, while addressing passenger needs in new and exciting ways.

TECHNOLOGY AS THE ROUTE TO AGILITY AND FUTURE STRENGTH Technology is offering major opportunities to address the three dominant objectives faced by all airports worldwide: passenger satisfaction; commercial and financial success; and operational excellence. But airports have to work to achieve this.

They must become hotbeds of innovation, embrace the latest advances – in mobile, cloud, business intelligence, biometrics and location-based services – if they are to reap the rewards.

Backing that innovation must be an obsession with the basics, particularly in the back office. It’s about embracing the new without breaking the old – and without compromising innovation yet further into the future.

SITA can help airports address this challenge:

• Optimizing the airport infrastructure

• Expanding the physical boundaries with on and off-airport check-in solutions

• Using a fully integrated common use infrastructure

• Better managing resources both fixed and mobile

Maximizing assets and combining this with improved passenger satisfaction ratings and airport rankings, airports become more competitive in attracting and retaining airlines and their other tenants.

For more, go to www.sita.aero/air-transport-it-review Or read our tablet issue.

FOR THE FULL INTERVIEWGo to www.sita.aero/air-transport-it-review Or read our tablet issue.

23ISSUE 3: 2012

AIRPORT MANAGEMENT

23ISSUE 3: 2014/2015

Dr Pierre Coutu is Executive in Charge of AMPAP, on behalf of ICAO and ACI. He is the President of Aviation Strategies International, a specialist in aviation and airport strategic management, and in performance management.

THE NEW AIRPORT LEADERS

“ THE MORE DIVERSITY THE BETTER, FOR CANDIDATES AS WELL AS FOR INSTRUCTORS. NATURALLY, THE VARIETY OF PROFESSIONAL AND CULTURAL PERSPECTIVES GREATLY ADDS TO THE DEPTH OF LEARNING.”

DR PIERRE COUTU HEAD OF AIRPORT MANAGEMENT PROFESSIONAL ACCREDITATION PROGRAMME (AMPAP)

AMPAP IS DEVELOPING A NEW GENERATION OF AIRPORT INDUSTRY PROFESSIONALS AND LEADERS. WE TALK TO ITS HEAD DR PIERRE COUTU.

AIRPORT MANAGEMENT

AIR TRANSPORT IT REVIEW24

“ DEVELOPING PROFESSIONALISM IN AIRPORT MANAGEMENT AND THE NEXT GENERATION OF AIRPORT LEADERS IS A CORE PRIORITY FOR ACI. IN TODAY’S INCREASINGLY COMPLEX AND GLOBAL AIRPORT BUSINESS, AMPAP OFFERS A UNIQUE INTERNATIONAL CONTEXT FOR MANAGERS TO EXPAND THEIR SKILLS, BROADEN THEIR HORIZONS AS WELL AS ACQUIRE AN INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT NETWORK OF KEY PROFESSIONAL CONTACTS THAT WILL SERVE THEM THROUGHOUT THEIR CAREERS.”

ANGELA GITTENS DIRECTOR GENERAL, ACI WORLD

How did AMPAP come about?

The initiative was started thanks to the foresight of ICAO and ACI, and their respective heads in 2007. They based their ideas around two core ICAO principles.

First, international co-operation is the best guarantee of success given the massive collective challenges facing the industry. Second, training must be universally accessible, affordable and timely.

ACI understood that the best investment for a safe, secure and sustainable future was through heightened industry knowledge, relentless exposure to best, shared practice and a constantly growing network of peers across the world. ACI was doing a sound job of representing its members, but the organization saw others providing training and skills development for senior managers. Perhaps they could do it better, with more focus?

ICAO was fulfilling its mandate for creating and requiring the standards that provide safe and secure air transport. But they’d been less successful in creating a standard for minimum levels of competency, particularly in the management of airports.

ICAO and ACI then discussed the project with CEOs at airports of all sizes around the world, before launching AMPAP in 2007.

Was the timing important?

It’s only in the recent past that the concept of an airport as a commercial enterprise has taken hold. Twenty years ago, most were still part of a bureaucracy, such as a Ministry of Aviation. Today it’s vastly different.

The second reason is that, as new global operators invest in airports across borders, they’re inevitably looking for global standards.

So proactive senior managers – more often than not fully supported by their employers – have to consider gaining qualifications that are more specific to this newly energized sector, international in nature, and recognized as a global management standard.

The International Airport Professional (IAP) designation earned by those successfully completing AMPAP courses provides that assurance.

Do IAP graduates become change agents?

Very definitely. Since we ran our first course in 2007, about 425 airport executives have graduated, from all corners of the world. The vast majority

SITA’S AMPAP GRADUATES To date, 13 SITA senior staff have completed the AMPAP programme. Typical of their comments on the value of the programme were these:

“The AMPAP course provides a high-level but thorough view of the daily concerns of airports of any size.” Leila Gaines, SITA Global Services, Americas.

“You learn not only from course material, but through feedback and interaction with high level professionals discussing real-life cases.” Lorenzo Belicchi, SITA Sales Europe.

“The most important element was the range of course participants. This led to wide-ranging discussions based on collective experience and a wide range of perspectives.” Sunil Ankalgi, Senior Manager, Airports, Asia Pacific.

For more, go to www.sita.aero/air-transport-it-review Or read our tablet issue.

Is your IAP Community of Practice for alumni?

That’s right, but it’s not just another alumni association, meeting for an annual dinner and game of golf! It’s a fantastic (and an obvious) way of reinforcing the value of the AMPAP accreditation. It ensures that graduates continue to focus on best practice, and continue to network.

The Community of Practice was launched at the ACI World Airport General Assembly in 2012. Its vision is to be the premier global platform where IAPs can help advance the practice of airport management. It will gradually and increasingly contribute to the thinking and evolution of airport management.

What role has SITA played in AMPAP’s evolution?

SITA has been a major part of AMPAP’s success from the outset. It’s highly respected not only because of financial support as our Premier Sponsor, but because to date SITA has nominated more than 40 of its own senior staff as participants in the programme.

It is mutually reinforcing, because it allows SITA the opportunity to explain at first hand the key role technology has to play.

SITA’s involvement also confirms the value of AMPAP’s core vision. Our global transport system has grown and flourished thanks to international co-operation. We’ve learned that working together is the only valid approach to enabling the cross-fertilization of ideas.

25ISSUE 3: 2014/2015

“ ICAO IS COMMITTED TO ENCOURAGING AND ENRICHING THE KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERTISE OF CURRENT AND FUTURE GENERATIONS OF AVIATION PROFESSIONALS. AMPAP IS A GROUNDBREAKING PROGRAMME INCLUDING A CURRICULUM TO ENSURE A SAFE, SECURE, EFFICIENT AND ENVIRONMENTALLY SUSTAINABLE AIR TRANSPORT SYSTEM. ICAO IS PROUD TO SUPPORT THIS CREATIVE AND UNIQUE VENTURE WITH ACI.”

NANCY GRAHAM DIRECTOR, ICAO AIR NAVIGATION BUREAU

AMPAP SNAPSHOTAs a strategic initiative born from a partnership between ACI and ICAO, the Airport Management Professional Accreditation Programme (AMPAP) was launched in March 2007.

It provides accessible, affordable and universally available specialized management training to the global airports community, leading to the International Airport Professional (IAP) designation.

AMPAP seeks to develop a new generation of airport leaders in all functional areas of the airport business.

For more, go to www.sita.aero/air-transport-it-review Or read our tablet issue.

of those are CEOs/General Managers, deputy CEOs/VPs, or Directors. The balance are executive advisors or section managers.

We’re already seeing job advertisements for senior airport executives stressing a preference for IAP graduates.

And in southwest France, the home of Airbus, the Toulouse Business School recognizes the IAP qualification by discounting both the time and money needed to study for its Aerospace MBA. Other universities are looking to do the same thing.

As with all professional programmes of this sort, the cost of achieving IAP

qualification is a significant investment. Many of the decisions to enrol senior staff are taken by CEOs concerned with succession issues, including top executives who are new hires from a different industry.

Some CEOs have put all of their direct reports through the programme. It’s becoming a statement about the kind of airport business that is being run.

Are you succeeding in your ambition to have a global mix of airports?

Yes, very much so. In absolute numbers, our biggest market is Asia Pacific, with just under half of all programme

candidates (including graduates). Our second biggest market is North America with 19%.

That’s a good and growing trend and reflects not only change within the US and Canada in terms of airport professionalism, but also greater involvement of North American airport companies in other parts of the world.

Participation from Europe is somewhat disappointing, with 13% of candidates. With so much change going on in a crowded sector, we hope to see more. Africa is running at about the same rate (12%) which is encouraging, and Latin America and the Caribbean make up the rest, at 8%.

Investment in the programme is an important strategic development for many developing countries. In the past, many have tended to rely on expatriates from Europe or North America to provide the senior management skills. That is rapidly changing in favour of country nationals.

As for candidates by airport size, the four main sectors (<2m passengers, 2m-10m, 10m-30m, >30m) are pretty much evenly mixed. Again, that would never have been possible 20 years ago.

But today, thanks to advances in technology, including the pay-as-you-go-model provided by SITA, small airports with a handful of flights a week can offer much of the same functionality as the bigger airports. They will have a different perspective on customer service and operational management – but always valid.

FOR THE FULL INTERVIEWGo to www.sita.aero/air-transport-it-review Or read our tablet issue.

AIR TRANSPORT IT REVIEW26

BORDER MANAGEMENT

Look at the math. Over the next 18 years, Airbus forecasts passenger numbers to grow by 4.7% CAGR – from 2.9bn in 2012 to 6.7bn in 2032. Over the same period, the passenger fleet will more than double, from 16,094 aircraft to 33,651.

The top 20 airports by passenger number saw those numbers increase by an average of 5% last year, according to FlightGlobal. The top 10 fastest growing airports saw an increase of 17% in passenger numbers – spread across four continents.

At the same time, the Global Terrorism Database for 2013 reflects a swathe of incidents worldwide, requiring greater vigilance and more stringent measures to ensure the safety of passengers.

STRETCHEDResources are stretched. Passengers want to be secure, they also don’t want security processes to create delays.

Airports and border authorities have to cope with the normal while preparing for the abnormal. They must invest in systems that keep the flow moving at an acceptable rate for passengers, even at

peak times, while ensuring sufficient security in a way that’s cost-effective and functionally efficient.

“We need to get rid of long immigration queues,” comments Dan Ebbinghaus, VP Border Security, SITA. “Given today’s border pressures and tomorrow’s passenger numbers, the problem will escalate fast without action. The current position is unsustainable. But the good news is that work is being done through the co-operation of various parties, including SITA.”

SELF-SERVICE INEVITABILITYMore staffing has significant cost implications, not least in establishment costs, space costs and speed. Moreover, qualified border officers’ time is too precious to spend on the vast low-risk majority – it’s better used dealing with potential risk situations.

In an era when people prefer to manage their own itineraries, self-service border automation, such as automated gates and kiosks, is both the inevitable and the best solution.

SMART MOVES AT THE BORDER AUTOMATED BORDER CONTROL GATES AND KIOSKS WILL HELP REDUCE THE HASSLE OF IMMIGRATION CONTROL, WHILE INCREASING EFFICIENCY.

No wonder borders are under pressure. Air traffic has doubled in the past 15 years and is expected to double again in the next 15. Although shocks such as the 2008 financial crisis had a massive impact at the time, air traffic keeps rebounding.

FOR MORE

www.sita.aero/abc

OPINION

SELF-SERVICE MAKES FOR SATISFIED TRAVELERSAutomated Passport Control (APC) kiosks are making for more satisfied travelers, says Maurice Jenkins, Director of Information Systems and Telecommunications, Miami International Airport.

Innovation is critical to how we satisfy massive increase in customer demand. The introduction of APC kiosks from SITA is a case in point. The kiosks have delivered improvement, thanks to leveraging self-service border technology.

For the full article online, go to www.sita.aero/air-transport-it-review Or read our tablet issue.

27ISSUE 3: 2014/2015

INTEGRATED“Automation plays a significant role in the delivery of a modern, effective, efficient border operation. But we must remember that it’s not the answer on its own. Automation is not just about queue busting, though of course that’s a major objective,” says Ebbinghaus.

“Automation plays a key role in making the immigration process faster and easier as part of an integrated, modern border control effort that embraces biometrics, advance passenger information and other capabilities to rapidly obtain intelligence and insights.

“This helps immigration agencies to increase operational efficiency, while making them more effective at their primary task.”

Consider the perspective of cost per traveler. Automation offers a rapid, reliable system for the vast majority of travelers who pose no concern.

BALANCEDHowever, manual solutions are also needed to deal with the extreme minority and with unexpected glitches. Border agencies need a mix of manual and automated solutions to strike the right balance of security versus traveler facilitation, at the right cost.

“If airports and border agencies can apply the latest in biometric, trusted ID, and self-service technologies,” continues Ebbinghaus, “then we’re en route to resolving the challenge.

“It’s happening now through initiatives such as automated gates and kiosks and the trend will accelerate, driven by the dynamic to improve, as well as by passenger expectation.

“Embracing self-service automation is the smart move to make at the border, as part of an integrated border portfolio.”

“ BORDER AGENCIES NEED A MIX OF MANUAL AND AUTOMATED SOLUTIONS TO STRIKE THE RIGHT BALANCE OF SECURITY VERSUS TRAVELER FACILITATION, AT THE RIGHT COST.”

DAN EBBINGHAUS VP, BORDER SECURITY, SITA

AIR TRANSPORT IT REVIEW28

BORDER MANAGEMENT

AIR TRANSPORT IT REVIEW28

HAPPY PASSENGERS ABC gates and kiosks mean fewer bottlenecks, so travelers experience increased satisfaction with airport services, and airlines avoid costly schedule changes for passengers who might have otherwise missed transfers.

With passengers moving through the airport more quickly, overall capacity is increased, enabling more flights.

Border agency staff can do more with less without compromising security – increasing capacity by as much as 400%. They can devote more resources to higher-risk passengers. They will face fewer travelers made bad-tempered through frustration at long wait times.

ABC GATES OPEN A NEW ERAConsiderable weight for greater automation comes from IATA’s Smart Security initiative. In step with Smart Security, as well as IATA’s Fast Travel program, SITA is delivering an increasing range of self-service solutions. Border management, including automated gates and kiosks, is a prime element.

SITA’s self-service border control kiosks were first seen at Miami International Airport in 2013. Then, in 2014, SITA was first to market with the new Phase III Automated Passport Control (APC) kiosks, working with the Greater Orlando Airport Authority. APC is the US-specific directive to introduce passport control kiosks across the country.

Now, with new Automated Border Control kiosks (ABCKiosks) and updates to the Automated Border Control gates (ABCGates) as part of SITA’s iBorders BorderAutomation product (with the proven impact of APC in the US) it’s only a question of time before travelers, border agencies and airports on all continents benefit from the move to automated self-service border control.

First among those adopting SITA’s new ABC response has been a Caribbean country with the introduction of 15 ABCKiosks. Passenger throughput is expected to increase by close to 60%.

Europe is now also beginning to embrace SITA’s ABCGates to automate the border crossing – starting with a contract with one major airport that has some of the highest traffic volumes on the continent.

MORE ARTICLES ONLINE

USA DRIVE FOR PASSPORT CONTROL KIOSKSThe directive to introduce passport control kiosks across the US has seen SITA’s self-service border solutions embraced by many of the country’s airports, including Miami and Orlando International Airports.

IRISH SELF-SERVICE BORDER GATE TRIALThe Irish Naturalisation & Immigration Service (INIS) has been operating a trial of self-service border control gates at Dublin Airport Terminal 1. The trial is supported in part by SITA who supplied two gates.

THE INDUSTRY’S BORDER SOLUTIONSITA’s iBorders® Border Management solutions have been developed in close cooperation with border agency partners on all continents, as well as airlines, airports and industry groups.

SMART SECURITYIATA’s Smart Security program is founded on delivering an uninterrupted journey from curb to aircraft door. It envisages passengers passing through security checkpoints with minimal interruption, where security resources are allocated based on risk, and where airport amenities can be maximized.

For the full articles online, go to www.sita.aero/air-transport-it-review Or read our tablet issue.

FASTRACK IMMIGRATION, WITH ABCGATESAs airports begin to embrace self-service immigration control technology, the air transport industry will see greatly accelerated arrivals and departures at airports. Using the latest technology, SITA’s Automated Border Control gates (ABCGates) enable thousands of passengers a day to clear customs and immigration at any airport.

SITA’s iBorders BorderAutomation ABCGates quickly confirm that the passenger is the passport holder and is authorized to enter the country. They use the up-to-the-minute biometric technology to verify each passenger through a combination of facial recognition and fingerprints.

REDUCE WAIT TIME, FOCUS ON RISKThis process enables eligible passengers to use self-service facilities, reducing wait times. At the same time, it allows customs and immigration agents to focus their resources on potential high-risk passengers.

A FINE BALANCE“SITA is at the forefront of pioneering solutions in self-service border technology,” says Dave Bakker, President, SITA Europe. “We’re using the latest biometrics to facilitate fast, accurate and secure passenger processing at the border so that airports and governments can reach the fine balance between providing a warm welcome and ensuring a high level of border security.”

SITA is a world leader in providing border control technology. Around 30 governments globally use SITA’s iBorders systems and capabilities to keep their borders secure and transform their border security operations.

MODERN BORDERS“We all want to be able to move from curb to aircraft with as little hassle as possible,” says Ebbinghaus.

“But the reality is that national borders have become areas of great sensitivity and governments rightly want to know who is entering their country, and whether they present a risk.

“Technology is helping square the circle by providing robust automated services that free up the border agent without compromising levels of security. SITA remains at the forefront of these smart solutions, which are rapidly becoming part of the modern approach to border management,” he concludes.

29ISSUE 2: JUNE 2012

SEAMLESS TRAVEL – PASSENGER FLOW

29ISSUE 3: 2014/2015

BRAZIL RAISES THE GAME DESPITE ITS EXIT FROM THE TOURNAMENT, BRAZIL EMERGED FROM THE 2014 FIFA WORLD CUP™ WITH ITS HEAD HELD HIGH.

Technology played a huge role in raising Brazil’s game helping it to cope with record passenger numbers during the 2014 FIFA World Cup™. Brazil welcomed more than one million international visitors – 67% more than expected. Of those, 60% were visiting Brazil for the first time.

From an air transport perspective, the figures were equally impressive. At R$ 8.78bn (c. US$ 3.92bn), the largest investment ever made in Brazil’s air transport infrastructure resulted in a 52% increase in passenger capacity.

Some 16.7m passengers used airport services during the event. On 6 July, a record 548,000 passengers used the airports, more than the 467,000 recorded during the 2014 carnival.

There were 236,000 take-offs and landings over the four weeks, an average of five a minute. And at 7.46%, flight delay rates were lower than the European standard rate and half the international standard rate of 15%.

In the meantime, average baggage reclaim time was just eight minutes for domestic flights and 28 for international flights.

SITA’S WORLD SPORTING EVENTS RECORDSITA has supported the world’s major sporting events for 30 years, including:

• Olympic Games – Los Angeles (1984), Atlanta (1996), Sydney (2000), Athens (2004), Beijing (2008), London (2012), Rio de Janeiro (2016).

• FIFA World CupTM – South Africa (2010), Brazil (2014).

• Formula 1 Grand Prix – Abu Dhabi (annually since 2009).

For more, go to www.sita.aero/content/world-sporting-events

SEAMLESS TRAVEL – PASSENGER FLOW

AIR TRANSPORT IT REVIEW30

“ WE’VE BROUGHT TO OUR NEW TERMINAL BEST-OF-BREED TECHNOLOGY AND PROCESSES TO OFFER A GOOD PASSENGER EXPERIENCE.”

LUIZ EDUARDO RITZMANN CIO, SÃO PAULO-GUARULHOS INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT (GRU)

The country’s largest airport – São Paulo-Guarulhos International Airport (GRU) – was the busiest, with 3.81 million passengers passing through it over the period.

NEW BENCHMARKThe press has quoted Brazil’s Minister of Civil Aviation as saying these “extremely significant figures... smoothly translate into the biggest investment ever made in the area of airport infrastructure in Brazil.”

Referring to data from the 2010 tournament, he cited the fact that three airports in South Africa had a 2.6 million passenger flow. In the same period last year, 15 million passengers went through airports in Brazil, which experienced an 11.2% increase.

“If we were able to reach these standards, there is no reason why we can’t provide this level of service for Brazilians every day,” he said.

TECHNOLOGY-DRIVENEver since the Los Angeles Olympic Games in 1984, SITA’s technology has played a key role in major world sporting events. This year’s FIFA World CupTM was no exception.

The focus once again centered on two core objectives, to help airlines and airports minimize

operational risks during the event and to offer agility in resolving any glitches that upset normal operations.

In Brazil – in addition to services for domestic and international airlines flying to and from the country – SITA provided solutions to 11 airports and host cities.

SELF-SERVICECommon Use Passenger Processing Systems (CUPPS) and Common Use Self-Service (CUSS) proved to be pivotal in enabling smooth passenger flows, even during peak periods. AirportConnect Open kept passengers moving in all locations. At Governador Aluízio Alves International Airport, serving the city of Natal, it was implemented in just one month.

In the meantime, SITA’s support and 24x7 service operations were available to deal with the high levels of passenger traffic in four locations, while Brasília International Airport embraced both BagMessage and AirportHub.

INTELLIGENTAt GRU Airport SITA provided a broad range of services creating one of a new wave of so-called ‘intelligent airports’ – including the airport’s IT Master Plan and a next generation Airport Management System.

The airport’s Passenger Terminal 3 is regarded as the most important work of airport infrastructure in the country. According to GRU’s CIO, Luiz Eduardo Ritzmann: “We’ve brought to our new terminal best-of-breed technology and processes to offer a good passenger experience.

“Terminal 3 introduces to Brazil the concept of an intelligent and innovative airport that makes use of latest technologies for airport management, e-gates, baggage handling, self-service bag drop and more.”

BORDERS BOLSTERED Efficient border control is just as vital to coping with the huge influx of international visitors during major sporting events. A key step to bolster Brazil’s national borders includes the use of SITA’s iBorders®.

iBorders TravelerData captures information on all arriving and departing international passengers, enabling the security body to have complete Passenger Name Record (PNR) and Advance Passenger Information (API) data from airlines before flight departure.

SITA’s border management solutions, used by around 30 governments across the world, enable governments to strike the best balance between security and smooth passenger management.

SÃO PAULO’S SHOWCASE Two years ago, São Paulo-Guarulhos International Airport (GRU) was processing 33 million people a year with an infrastructure designed for 20 million.

Now, following massive investment in preparation for the 2014 FIFA World CupTM, GRU is able to process over 42 million passengers a year, with responsibility for about 60% of the country’s international traffic.

“Critically, the terminal is a showcase for Brazil of an intelligent and innovative airport embracing latest technologies and supporting GRU’s vision to become a first-class airport,” says Luiz Eduardo Ritzmann, GRU’s CIO.

For the full article online, go to www.sita.aero/air-transport-it-review Or read our tablet issue.

The iBorders TravelerData solution specifically meets the challenge of collecting, collating and utilizing information at the right time and right stage in the process

AIR TRAFFIC Upgrading Brazil’s air traffic management technology became a primary focus too. SITA worked in close in collaboration with the body responsible for developing and implementing new technologies for the Brazilian Air Navigation Service Provider.

SITA was already the provider of Departure Clearance (DCL) and Digital-Automatic Terminal Information Service (D-ATIS) datalink services at Antonio Carlos Jobim International Airport in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo’s GRU Airport.

The project to extend these services to 23 airports across Brazil began in December 2013 for completion in time for the Olympic Games in 2016.

In another initiative, SITA sponsored IATA’s Tactical Operations Portal (ITOP) – a web portal made available to all IATA airline members during the tournament, providing air traffic strategy and tactical daily plans prior to and during the event.

FOR THE FULL ARTICLEGo to www.sita.aero/air-transport-it-review Or read our tablet issue.

CONNECTED AIRCRAFT

31ISSUE 3: 2014/2015

REVOLUTION IN THE AIR

THERE’S A REVOLUTION IN THE AIR. PASSENGERS SEE CONNECTIVITY AS THE NEW ‘IN-FLIGHT MUST-HAVE’. AT THE SAME TIME, THE INDUSTRY FACES CRITICAL CHOICES IN EMBRACING ‘CONNECTED AIRCRAFT’.

MEDIA STATIONS – YOU READ IT HERE FIRST!Every day, the airline industry loads up 100,000 kilos of newspapers and magazines. That’s 150 million copies, and there’s no certainty about how many will be read.

Depending on the location, they may be yesterday’s news. Short-haul passengers probably don’t even get offered the ‘luxury’.

Media is a small but costly extra that’s an accepted part of the traveling package. It costs fuel. And it costs to supply it, clear it away, and dispose of it. Languages are limited, as is choice.

Media Station is an alternative. SITA and strategic partner Orange Business Services have joined forces to produce Media Station, a smart solution able to exploit the fact that 70% of passengers now carry tablets or smartphones. A self-service entertainment kiosk station can deliver content directly to a passenger’s smart device just before they board their plane.

For the full article online, go to www.sita.aero/air-transport-it-review Or read our tablet issue.

CONNECTED AIRCRAFT

AIR TRANSPORT IT REVIEW32

Digital natives are coming of age. They’re the ones who’ve never known a world without the Internet, tablets or smartphones. They expect to be connected at all times: on the ground, and in the air.

Even today’s travelers’ expectations have reached the point where they suffer ‘nomophobia’ – the fear of being out of mobile phone contact.

Over 85% of them report feeling frustrated, angry or anxious with no connectivity. And 37% of them carry three mobile devices. Not one, not two, but three: a laptop, a tablet, and a smartphone.

DRIVING FORCES Little wonder OnAir is seeing ever growing interest in its in-flight mobile connectivity services, as airlines across all regions of the globe strive to deploy its onboard services to keep passengers happy and loyal.

But the driving forces for connected aircraft come from myriad operational points of view too. They’re centered not just on the passenger but also on the IT needs of the crew and cockpit, as well as aircraft health and maintenance.

INDUSTRY APPROACH“Addressing those needs, with the secure data handling in the air and on the ground that they demand, means that we must take an industry approach to enabling aircraft connectivity,” explains Greg Ouillon, who heads up the

“ THE INDUSTRY MUST TAKE THE RIGHT APPROACH TO E-ENABLEMENT NOW. DECISIONS MADE IN THE NEXT TWO TO THREE YEARS WILL DETERMINE THE INFRASTRUCTURE AND SUPPLY CHAIN FOR THE 30 TO 40 YEARS. ”

DAVID STEWART VICE PRESIDENT, ICF INTERNATIONAL

e-AircraftTM program between SITA and OnAir. “If it’s not done in a cohesive way, the ensuing mess will last for over the next decade and a half.

“Some companies may be raising their hands and saying ‘I can do this’, but they’re only addressing one slice of the overall pie – say cockpit or cabin – in isolation. No one apart from SITA and OnAir is addressing it as a whole.”

‘NOSE-TO-TAIL’The talk is about ‘Nose-to Tail’ connectivity – achieving the complex process of aircraft ‘e-enablement’ or ‘digitalization’ for the entire aircraft and across the complete fleet.

That means creating new processes that exploit the data capabilities of new generation aircraft from cockpit to cabin, en route and at the airport – in a coherent, secure and cost-effective way.

“It’s about taking a holistic view of the aircraft overall, enabling pilots to make smart decisions, and aircraft maintenance to improve availability, reduce turnaround times and achieve on-time departures,” says Ouillon. “This is the focus of the SITA-OnAir joint e-Aircraft initiative.”

David Stewart, VP of ICF International, agrees. “A key challenge for airlines, equipment suppliers and manufacturers is to take the right approach to e-enablement now.

“That’s because decisions made today and in the next two to three years will determine the infrastructure and supply chain for the 30 to 40 years that connected aircraft will be flying.”

‘PASSENGER POWER’Back to the passenger perspective, Ouillon adds: The gathering momentum of ‘passenger power’ means that in-flight connectivity will be all about delighting passengers with products and applications, as well as with engagement.”

OnAir’s CEO Ian Dawkins agrees. ”Mobile applications in-flight are becoming

increasingly important. Engagement and personalization for individual travelers are paramount.”

By 2020, in-flight connectivity will be more universal and personalized. It will remember individual likes and dislikes, just as on-the-ground connectivity does.

PERSONAL OnAir Play is a case in point for personalization. Says Dawkins: “Only one hour out of 24 on TV is actually live. No one watches live TV anymore. Our children go to their computers or tablets and download an episode or a season of episodes and

OPINION

33ISSUE 3: 2014/2015

“ SOME COMPANIES MAY BE RAISING THEIR HANDS AND SAYING ‘I CAN DO THIS’, BUT THEY’RE ONLY ADDRESSING ONE SLICE OF THE OVERALL PIE – SAY COCKPIT OR CABIN – IN ISOLATION. SITA AND ONAIR ARE ADDRESSING IT AS A WHOLE.”

GREGORY OUILLON HEAD OF E-AIRCRAFT PROGRAM, SITA

watch it when they feel like. Everything has become ‘on demand’.”

OnAir partnered Philippine Airlines to offer OnAir Play, which provides tailored content to passengers, live, in real-time. This includes video on demand, special event coverage, sports, and so on. If a TV show airs on a Tuesday night, it’s available for upload in-flight on Wednesday morning.

IFE REVOLUTIONDawkins sees it as the start of a revolution that’s going to challenge in-flight entertainment (IFE) suppliers. “The lead time between when new content is released and when it’s available online will disappear,” he says.

“Things like the World Cup or the Olympics – they will be deployed live. But new release movies? New music? They’ll be available on demand. The cost of that will have to be managed.”

‘CREW POWER’As the ‘revolution in the air’ takes place, empowering crew is just as much a part of the equation, with many of them embracing tablets to upload information before takeoff and then using it in-flight.

Crew tablet information services today – such as frequent flyer status, special meal request, and connecting flights – remain limited and static, in terms of capabilities and in the number of airlines offering them. They’re also siloed in different equipment.

E-ENABLING THE FLEET – OPPORTUNITIES ABOUNDWe’re at the beginning of a rapid change in the technologies of aircraft, says David Stewart, Vice President, ICF International.

The rapid ramp-up of new generation aircraft will accelerate the demand for new e-enabled services. There’s huge potential in the areas of flight management, operations control, passenger service and maintenance. Expectations are high. The challenge is there. But the opportunities abound.

For the full article online, go to www.sita.aero/air-transport-it-review Or read our tablet issue.

OPINION

A CONNECTIVITY CONUNDRUMIn-flight connectivity plays a very big part in the passenger experience, says Mary Kirby, Founder and CEO of Kirby Media Group.

But there’s a connectivity conundrum caused by passenger expectations surpassing what’s generally feasible. And as airlines and passengers embrace change, the traditional IFE model will have to change. We’re paying close attention to test cases for the industry.

For the full article online, go to www.sita.aero/air-transport-it-review Or read our tablet issue.

HEAR OUR EXPERTS Go to ‘Air Transport IT Summit 2014’ on: www.youtube.com/sitaonline

CONNECTED AIRCRAFT

AIR TRANSPORT IT REVIEW34

OPINION

THE CONNECTED NATIONSaudia is the only airline in the region offering free Wi-Fi to premium passengers on selected routes, says Abdulrahman Al Fahad, VP Marketing & Product Management, Saudia.

As much as 60% of the Saudi Arabian population is under 30 years of age. And they’re all connected. Everybody is looking at their smartphones and communicating through these devices. Some 50% of Saudis are online – the highest penetration in the world. We have to provide connectivity in the air and on the ground.

For the full article online, go to www.sita.aero/air-transport-it-review Or read our tablet issue.

OPINION

FLIGHT TRACKING – BETTER USE WHAT’S THEREAviation industry task forces are looking into better and proactive aircraft tracking. SITA is playing its part, including provision of a solution using technology already in the aircraft, says Philip Clinch, VP Aircraft Solutions, SITA.

Airline dispatch center systems are generally passive. They depend on reports requested by air traffic control (ATC). But how do we make these systems proactive? These reports do not look for expected aircraft communications and provide alerts in the event they stop. That’s one of the things SITA is going to change.

For the full article online, go to www.sita.aero/air-transport-it-review Or read our tablet issue.

But ever greater tablet universal connectivity beckons. According to Dawkins: “All tablets of tomorrow will be connected in-flight. They will provide real-time information and passengers will demand it.”

With secure, real-time en-route connectivity comes a host of benefits – for both operations and passenger service. Processing time can be reduced from eight days to one. Defects notifications, baggage tracking and possibly emergency telemedicine services will all be commonplace from the in-flight tablet.

So will mobile payments, and because purchases happen in real-time – being checked and verified then and there – 5-7% of fraudulent onboard payments can be removed.

COCKPIT REVOLUTION Tablets are revolutionizing the cockpit too. For both cockpit and cabin the next transformational step is to look to real-time information, to make the data fully interactive and integrated into the back end systems on the ground.

“Only then will they realize the full benefits of connected aircraft, such as far reaching operational benefits in the cockpit, from flight planning to weather updates to aircraft monitoring,” says Ouillon.

“With much better situational awareness, thanks to data from operational control centers or Air Traffic Control, pilots will make smarter decisions about the flight plan. This will be game-changing.”

MAINTENANCEOn the aircraft health and maintenance side, we’ll see major change. New generation aircraft, heavily reliant on connectivity for their operation, require significant software updates. They also generate immense amounts of data that can improve maintenance predictions and on time performance.

By 2023, we’ll see 11,500 connected aircraft. And then it accelerates even more. The parameters these new aircraft need are going to drive technology decisions. But to use data in an effective way, the industry needs to make decisions today.

CRITICAL CHOICES NOW“Again it underlines the critical choices to be made for infrastructure, the connectivity of these aircraft to the ground, and the all-important data exchanges,” adds Ouillon.

“It’s important to understand and address the bigger picture. Airlines have multiple aircraft and multiple manufacturers. And those aircraft have multiple engines, as well as multiple systems, IT and suppliers.

“Managing this complexity is a daunting task for the industry. Through its e-Aircraft Program, SITA is demonstrating its community role and adopting a technology agnostic approach to enable the vital data flows in the most efficient, secure and cost-effective way.”

FOR MOREIncluding ‘An industry-wide e-Aircraft Program’ and ‘CrewTablet’Go to www.sita.aero/air-transport-it-review

At a time when consumers can forensically compare one airfare with another, carriers need to be precise about the pricing delivered to the market.

Look at how the price you pay for an airline ticket is made up. First off, there’s the base airfare. To that must be added extra service fees, fuel surcharges, sales taxes, airport facility charges and so on. These additional fees often mount up to being more than the base fare, and this can skew effective marketing of fares by the airline.

BACKWARDS?Problems can arise because up to now airlines typically compare fares with competing carriers using the base or ‘filed’ fare. That ends up bearing little resemblance to the price paid by customers.

To get to that US$599 ‘all in’ promotional fare, they have to work backwards, extracting the additional fees, to determine the fare they file in the distribution systems. In many cases the number must be worked out manually, fudged, or generalized. It gets even more complicated when you take into account multiple origins and destinations and via points.

PASSENGER SYSTEMS – AIRFARE

35ISSUE 3: 2014/2015

DON’T GUESS THE AIR FARE

AIRLINES MUST EMPLOY A LOT OF GUESSWORK TO ARRIVE AT A FINAL SELLING PRICE FOR A TICKET. THAT CAN BE A COSTLY BUSINESS.

CONTROL AGAINAirlines really need to get control back. A new solution due late 2014 will allow just that, through an option available in Airfare Insight. This is SITA’s solution for managing an airline’s fares, enabling strategic pricing, competitive monitoring and pricing responses to competitor activity.

Using an automated tax processing and calculation engine, the Airfare Insight option will process all taxes, fees and charges. It will enable an airline to see and compare the actual selling price that the customer pays, inclusive of taxes, fees and charges.

RIGHT FARESThat means no more guesswork, and a lot less time required to execute fares decisions. The product is ideal for international carriers with more complex itineraries and taxes. Bringing improved accuracy, the new AirFare Insight option means the right fares are distributed at the right time, to the right customer.

ASIA PACIFIC INSIGHTSThe recent successful implementation of Airfare Insight at Philippine Airlines marks the seventh major international airline in Asia to introduce SITA’s innovative fares management software.

Within Asia, it means that almost 40% of all passengers are carried by airlines using fares managed by Airfare Insight*.

Other airlines in the region include Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines, Garuda and Emirates. Outside of Asia, Airfare Insight customers include British Airways and Virgin Atlantic.

*Calculated by passenger numbers in 2013 for all airlines that carried over one million passengers in the regions of Middle East, Central Asia, South Asia, East Asia and Oceania.

FOR THE FULL ARTICLEGo to www.sita.aero/air-transport-it-review Or read our tablet issue.

The initiative takes place against the backdrop of long-term forecasts of future expansion of India’s aviation industry. Today, the country is one of the fastest growing aviation markets in the world. Ranked ninth, it’s expected to move up to third behind the US and China by 2020.

IT will figure largely in that evolution. “Rapid market growth requires the support of innovative technology,” says a CAPA-SITA white paper on Indian aviation.

STRATEGYFor Air India, IT played a prominent role in its quest to join the Star Alliance, becoming a critical part of a growth strategy to raise

NEW GENERATION PASSENGER SYSTEMS

AIR TRANSPORT IT REVIEW36

AIR INDIA’S ALLIANCE ENTRY

IN JOINING THE STAR ALLIANCE IN 2013, AIR INDIA ACHIEVED A MAJOR GOAL AND A MILESTONE FOR THE INDIAN AVIATION INDUSTRY. TECHNOLOGY LAY AT THE CRUX OF THE AIRLINE’S STRATEGY.

the airline’s revenues, as it commits to ‘redefining air travel for its passengers’.

Being a member of the alliance, Air India will offer a global integrated network “beneficial for both sides,” says Rohit Nandan, Air India’s Chairman and Managing Director.

“Membership will greatly facilitate Air India’s ability to achieve its future growth strategy by increasing passenger numbers and network expansion through code share deals with partner airlines.”

As Air India’s network grows, the Ministry of Civil Aviation has granted Air India traffic rights to operate a direct daily flight to Melbourne and Sydney,

“ MEMBERSHIP WILL GREATLY FACILITATE AIR INDIA’S ABILITY TO ACHIEVE ITS FUTURE GROWTH STRATEGY BY INCREASING PASSENGER NUMBERS AND NETWORK EXPANSION THROUGH CODE SHARE DEALS WITH PARTNER AIRLINES.”

ROHIT NANDAN CHAIRMAN AND MANAGING DIRECTOR, AIR INDIA

As the first Indian airline to join a global alliance, Air India’s Star Alliance membership has opened the door to increased business opportunities for the country’s flagship carrier.

37ISSUE 3: 2014/2015

AIR INDIA’S ALLIANCE ENTRY

Australia, as well as flights to Rome, Milan and Moscow – pushing its international destinations up significantly.

SEAMLESS TRAVELIn the words of India’s Civil Aviation Minister, Ashok Gajapathi Raju Pusapati, joining the Star Alliance could increase Air India’s revenues by 4-5%. The minister also cites Air India’s wider reach and access to facilities for members of the world’s biggest grouping of airlines.

Membership offers passengers a seamless travel experience across the Alliance network around the world, besides premium customer recognition and benefits across member airlines. Alliance passengers can earn and burn more frequent flyer mileage points, with code sharing leading to a wider choice of flights and access to over 1,000 lounges.

Today about 13 Star Member Airlines operate at 10 destinations in India and account for a total share of 13% of India’s to and fro market. Air India membership puts the Star Alliance in a stronger position with a share of about 30%.

PAVING THE WAY Paving the way to alliance membership was a commitment to embracing new generation technology – to achieve a complex IT integration and a common code as an alliance entry requirement.

A major task in hand was to merge the codes of the airlines making up the new Air India. So the flight and IATA ticket codes of Air India (098) and Indian Airlines (058) needed to operate as a single airline under the AI (098) common ticket code.

PSS MIGRATIONTo address the challenge Air India migrated to SITA’s Horizon Passenger Services System (PSS), first selecting it in 2010.

The project marked a major step toward the complex migration of Air India’s and Indian Airlines’ IT platforms to the new PSS system following their merger, aligning processes and systems of the two airlines in ramping up to meet Star’s entry requirements. Crucially, Horizon is able to achieve integration of alliances regardless of platform.

The Horizon IT backbone, part of a US$190 million agreement, provides Air India with the core PSS suite, as well as an online booking engine, departure control system, check-in and automated boarding control, a baggage reconciliation system and a frequent flyer system. The frequent flyer program meant building a Star tier system, such as Gold and Silver, to integrate with alliance members.

SMOOTHSeamless integration was a significant milestone towards complete modernization of Air India and a key imperative for Air India’s smooth Star

Alliance entry. SITA’s PSS ensured the exact Star Alliance standards and airline expectations were met, upgrading processes to match those of existing alliance partners.

SITA completed the complex migration of the two separate airlines’ IT platforms to the new PSS in a record 293 days. This included the transfer of more than half a million Passenger Name Records (PNRs) with 99.99% accuracy.

ADVANCED SERVICES“SITA’s cutting-edge technology was instrumental in making the membership possible and will undoubtedly allow us to continue to improve efficiencies and deliver enhanced passenger services,” says Air India’s Nandan. “Our strategic partnership with SITA will go a long way in helping us become a strong global player.”

Today, in addition to catering for airline alliance requirements, the SITA Horizon PSS solution enables Air India to provide its passengers with a more efficient and functionally rich

online booking engine, as well as kiosk check-in and web check-in, along with other advanced passenger services.

The PSS suite of solutions for Air India includes Reservations, Departure Control Services, Ticketing, eCommerce, Loyalty, Fares and Revenue Integrity.

As a single carrier, Air India is now able to leverage the strengths of its passenger systems, resulting in a more competitive, customer-friendly and world class airline with significant improvement in passenger yields.

It is achieving this through flexibility in its ‘Go to Market’ strategy through its PSS, with control over its own ticket distribution and drastically reduced distribution costs.

Air India’s recent focus has been on building the systems required to boost loyalty and to engineer a high degree of customer intimacy, a drive which includes adopting mobile check-in and eventually developing a comprehensive Customer Relationship Management solution.

SITA WINS ACCOLADE AT AIR INDIA DAYTo celebrate the successful merger of Air India and Indian Airlines prior to entry into the Star Alliance, Air India’s celebratory event – ‘Air India Day’ – brought together over 1,000 distinguished attendees, including senior members of the airline, employees, industry partners, eminent artists and sports celebrities.

SITA’s CEO Francesco Violante received an Excellence Award in recognition of SITA’s close partnership with Air India, as well as SITA’s contribution to the airline’s transformation – specifically Air India’s Star Alliance entry.

For the full article online, go to www.sita.aero/air-transport-it-review Or read our tablet issue.

MORE ONLINE

ALLIANCE COMPLIANCEHorizon Passenger Services System: Platform independent and compliant with leading global alliances.

SITA IN INDIAAn active participant in Indian aviation for over 60 years.

FOR THE FULL ARTICLEGo to www.sita.aero/air-transport-it-review Or read our tablet issue.

MEMBER AWARDS

Getting the celebrity treatment in a special ceremony in front of 350 guests at this year’s SITA Annual General Assembly gala dinner were a number of representatives from long-serving SITA members.

Celebrating the 60-years milestone were Alitalia, Deutsche Lufthansa, Egyptair and TAP Portugal. In addition, LATAM was presented with an award for 50-years of membership.

Presenting the awards to the distinguished group was new SITA Council President Jaap Blauw from KLM.

SITA membership is open to any organization whose primary purpose is air transport related. If you’re interested in becoming a SITA member you can find out more at www.sita.aero/membership or contact our membership team directly at [email protected] or telephone +32 2 745 0510.

WHAT’S NEW? PORTFOLIO UPDATESAirportConnect S4 Kiosk was officially launched on 17th September, following its preview at SITA’s Air Transport IT Summit in June. SITA’s new Automated Border Control Kiosks (ABCKiosks) and updated Automated Border Control Gates (ABCGates) – part of iBorders BorderAutomation – provide automated self-service border control and enhance operational efficiency for immigration agencies.

AIR TRANSPORT IT REVIEW38

SITA MEMBER AND CUSTOMER UPDATES

AIR TRANSPORT IT REVIEW38

From L-R: Osama Elsisi (Egyptair), Mario Soares (TAP), Jappe Blaauw, SITA Council President (KLM), Nelson Tapia (LATAM), Alessandro Loddo (Alitalia), and Roland Schuetz (Lufthansa)

To see which members are celebrating a milestone year in 2014 visit www.sita.aero/content/Member-milestone-anniversaries

WHAT’S NEW? CONTRACTS Airfare Insight has been successfully implemented by Philippine Airlines. See ‘Don’t guess the air fare’, page 35. SITA technology is supporting a smooth start at the new Kuala Lumpur terminal, using AirportConnect Open, BagMessage and BagManager. Air France passengers in Toulouse have been able to experience a seamless journey with NFC-based smartphones. Azerbaijan airport is transforming its operations using SITA’s AirportConnect Open, BagManager, WorldTracer Kiosks and AirportResource Manager. Sharjah International Airport has confirmed a five-year renewal of AirportConnect Open. Find out more at www.sita.aero

39ISSUE 1: JANUARY 2012

Co-hosted by

THE IT INDUSTRY EVENT OF THE YEARTHE IT INDUSTRY EVENT OF THE YEAR

THE 2015 AIR TRANSPORTIT SUMMIT16-18 JUNE 2015BRUSSELS