PANEL 1: Delivering the promise of an improved passenger travel experience - The Potential of Collaboration at Airports: Optimizing passenger flow and increasing profitability – P.S. Nair, CEO – Corporate, Airport Sector, GMR Airports Limited
India Aviation ICT Forum - P.S. Nair, CEO - Corporate, Airport Sector, GMR Airports Limited
1. The Potential of Collaboration
at Airports:
Optimizing passenger flow & increasing profitability
Presented by : P S Nair
CEO- Corporate
GMR Airports
DELIVERING THE PROMISE OF AN IMPROVED
PASSENGER TRAVEL EXPERIENCE
26th September 2013
Aviation ICT Forum India 2013
Goa
26-27 September 2013
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2. Traffic Growth – Its impact on Infrastructure
• Traffic growth can create serious imbalance between supply and
demand.
• Runway, Airside facilities, PTB, Car Park, … : Scarce & Costly
• Many airports have reached saturation point that causes
bottlenecks in today's air traffic management network.
• Therefore, Optimize the use of resources to meet these constraints
• Challenge : Delivering the promise of an Improved travel
experience/delight & Operating the airport profitably in a highly
regulated environment.
• Innovation and Infusing cost effective technology to achieve
higher throughput assume significance in the above context.
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3. Solution - Collaboration ?
• Key : Collaboration amongst all stakeholders
• Environment : Complex value chain of Aviation Industry
• ACDM
– Encourages Airport Operators, Airlines, Ground Handlers, ATC, Network
Manager Operation Center and AOCC
– To practice a more efficient & transparent cooperation
– To enhance air traffic flow & capacity management at an airport & en-
route
– Ideal platform for such collaboration
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7. Advantages of A-CDM
Airline
1. Reduces fuel costs due to shorter taxi times
and shorter turnaround times.
2. Improved On-Time performance
3. Fewer missed connections for passengers.
Airport
1. Reduced environmental impact, noise and
emissions.
2. Improved punctuality
3. Improved gate/stand planning.
4. Increased capacity & its optimum utilization.
Air Traffic Control
1. More predictable traffic- therefore reduced
work load and strain.
2. Better pre-departure sequence.
3. Better runway throughput.
Ground Handlers
1. Better planning and use of resources,
2. Cost optimization.
3. Improved customer satisfaction.
4. Increased productivity.
A-CDM
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8. A-CDM successfully implemented in US
US Airports: FAA Administered
A-CDM was successfully introduced in the USA to cope with heavy capacity
reductions mainly due to en-route or airport bad weather conditions.
The initiative in the early 1990s called FAA/Airline Data Exchange (FADE),
supported among others by Northwest Airlines, can be seen as the direct
forerunner of what evolved into the US CDM project of to-day.
It was initially tested at San Francisco International Airport, beginning in
January 1998.
Delays during ground delay programs were reduced by 15% during the
experimental period.
Just by being better informed, airlines were able to respond to the restrictions in
a much more efficient manner.
A-CDM was extended to all U.S. airports in September 1998 and is fully
operational today.
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9. A-CDM – EU Scenario
Europe: EUROCONTROL Administered
EUROCONTROL Airport CDM team is responsible for ensuring standardization and
dissemination of best practice of Airport CDM implementation at European airports
A-CDM concept was brought to Europe by experts of IATA
The en-route concept of A-CDM was developed by EUROCONTROL on suggestion by
IATA
EUROCONTROL A-CDM has both developed and trialed a number of A-CDM elements
and is currently proactively encouraging other European airports to implement Airport
CDM locally.
According to the European A-CDM web-site, 30+ European airports have CDM projects
running
With the help of airport stakeholders, the European Airport CDM concept has
matured over the years from a concept into a process that is delivering real
operational benefits.
More and more airports are currently implementing A-CDM and being rewarded by the
proven benefits.
Munich has a truly advanced, complex and operational A-CDM set-up based on the
EUROCONTROL A-CDM requirements which has been in operation without
interruption since 7 June 2007.
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10. How A-CDM has improved the bottom line? – An example
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Source : Airport CDM Cost Benefit Analysis, EUROPEAN ORGANISATION FOR THE SAFETY OF AIR
NAVIGATION - Edition Number : 1.4 ; Edition Date : 11/04/2008
11. How A-CDM has improved the bottom line – An example
Return on Investment
Source : Airport CDM Cost Benefit Analysis, EUROPEAN ORGANISATION FOR THE SAFETY OF AIR
NAVIGATION - Edition Number : 1.4 ; Edition Date : 11/04/2008
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12. CDM at Indian Airports
• GMR is operating two Major airports i.e. Delhi and Hyderabad.
• GMR Airports have taken the maiden initiatives to introduce CDM at
these airports.
• Delhi, IGI Airport is the first airport in India to fully implement A-CDM
live wef 5th June 2013).
• As a result of DA-CDM implementation, punctuality and capacity
management have been greatly improved.
• BIAL has initiated actions for implementing the CDM project.
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13. A plethora of digital technologies to enhance the passenger
experience that can be implemented within a short term
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14. Future technology infusion for optimizing passenger flow and
increasing profitability
Bag Tag : A variety of bag tag solutions are emerging:
• Home-printed bag tags
• Smartphone programmable electronic tags
• Permanent RFID tags
By 2025:
• Permanent bag tags shall stand embedded in all luggage purchased
• A worldwide standard for permanent bag tags will evolve
==============================================
Bag drop : Should be provided at a variety of locations:
• Railway stations
• Hotels
• Other off-airport locations
• Airport car parks
• Central transport interchange
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15. Future feasible technology infusion for optimizing passenger
flow and increasing profitability
Streamlined Security :
• Focus needs to be on the passenger
• Industry needs to develop a security model that is recognizable and familiar
regardless of the airport
• Process should be consistent across all airports to avoid confusion – for
example removing shoes and belts, laptops in or out of bags
• Security zones to incorporate good interior design principles to create
passenger--‐friendly ambience instead of a sterile ‘prison--‐like’ feel
• Streamlined and walk--‐through without unpacking or undressing
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16. Conclusion / Way Forward
• The true power of CDM will unfold when all the inter-related airports also
participate in CDM which will ensure sweating of airport infrastructure to
optimize airport charges as well as benefits to all stakeholders including
Passengers.
• GoI/DGCA to mandate the introduction of CDM in all operational Indian
Airports
– Phase - 1 ---> metro airports
– Phase - 2 ---> other non-metro airports
• Implementation of the short term technology infusion such as GPS tracking,
NFC, etc. for improving passenger flow and throughput of airport
infrastructure will help increase profitability especially of Airlines and the
Airport Operators.
• Agencies like SITA could take the lead and collaborate with Airport Operator,
Airlines, Security, Immigration, Customs etc. and bring out standards that will
help design processes and technologies for improving passenger travel
experience. This will leave scope for increased profitability which will be a win-
win strategy.
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From an Airport Operator’s perspective, delivering the promise of an improved travel experience / delight and still operating the airport profitably in a highly regulated environment is tough.Runway airside facilities including parking stands, PTB, car parks etc. are scarce and costly resources.Therefore, they are to be optimally utilized;especially to meet the constant increase in air traffic.Collaboration and Innovation are the key to improve bottom line.
[Talks about collaboration]As I said, Collaboration amongst all stakeholders is the key to operate efficiently in the complex value chain of aviation industry in general and airport sector in particular.ACDM which encourages Airport Operators, Airlines, Ground Handlers, ATC, Network Manager Operation Center and AOCC to practice a more efficient and transparent cooperation to enhance the air traffic flow and the capacity management at an airport and en-route is the ideal platform for such collaboration
Communication among these entities take place at a different pace and they are not at all in sync. It’s like each entity working in silos. This gives rise to constraints and bottlenecks. Since communication does not happen concurrently, delay occurs in dissemination amongst these agencies which has a cascading effect in terms of service standards and handling costs.
Let us see how the cloud partners are in sync when a CDM airport would like to communicate about the last minute allocation of a gate or a stand to a particular airline.This way of dissemination of information, communication and action helps the entire team to be aware of the real time scenario enabling each stakeholder to act spontaneously at the same time This ensures the cloud partners to be pro-active and gear up for instant action and delivery.
Yet another example that shows information originating from ATC and how this information is disseminated to other cloud partners
Advantages of Airport CDM to various stakeholdersAirlineAirportAir Traffic ControlGround HandlersIn a subsequent slide, I shall explain the cost savings in numerical terms.
A-CDM has been successfully implemented in US
InEuropean Union Airports, 30+ airports have CDM projects running.In fact ACDM concept was brought to Europe by IATA experts.Munich has a truly advanced and fully operational A-CDM functioning since June 2007 which is touted as the role model.
The benefits to the cloud partners and the total costs incurred by each of them for implementing A-CDM are represented in the above graph.The main insight is that costs are very small compared to the benefits.On the benefit side, airspace users i.e. airlines are the biggest beneficiaries, followed by the Airport Operators and the Ground Handlers. ATC recorded the smallest quantifiable benefit ; but the highest qualitative improvements in the work processes.
The graph above illustrates how the cumulative benefits are higher than the cumulative costs from the second year onwards for all the partners.The main insight is that Airport CDM is very beneficial for the overall community with modest costs. Airlines and GH will achieve the Break Even point in year 1 and the Airports and ATC in year 2
The capital's Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGI) has become the first airport in the country to introduce Airport Collaborative Decision Making (A-CDM). The initiative has been jointly taken up by the Air Traffic Control (ATC), the GMR Group-led consortium DIAL and the airlines operating from the airport. Delhi A-CDM was launched on the World Environment Day, 5th June 2013. Themove will help achieve annual savings at IGI Airport of 2500 tons ATF and also leading to 7850 tons of saved CO2 emission by reducing the taxiway time by even a mere one minute per aircraft. In addition, with three operating runways and the upcoming state-of-the art ATC tower, IGI Airport is poised to handle robust air traffic with even betteraccuracy and efficiency."
This slide summarizes usage of different technologies to optimize passenger flow at various phases of a passenger’s journey. These technologies have been successfully infused in various airports around the world. They ensure that passengers have an improved travel experience without compromising on security and at the same time would increase the profitability of stakeholders. These are all technologies that can be implemented in the Indian context in a short term horizon.NFC stands for near field communicationRFID means radio frequency identification. E‑ZPass is an electronic toll-collection system used on most tolled roads, bridges, and tunnels in the northeastern United States, south to North Carolina, and west to Illinois. Lane in Massachusetts (now also branded simply as E-ZPass).QR code (abbreviated from Quick Response Code) is the trademark for a type of matrix barcode (or two-dimensional barcode)
This and the next slide will give an insight of the future & upcoming technologies. It can be safely predicted that Travelling in 2025 will be hassle free, as technology will make the experience of a passenger like a walk in the park.
Come 2020s, the three levels of a security check at airports is going to be : Level -1. “Enhanced” for the closely watched, Level -2. “Normal” for most people and Level -3. “Known traveler” for those who belong to a pre-screening program.
In conclusion I would like to say that for shaping the future together, we all need to collaborate and promote CDM.