The Requirements
Airports are continually challenged to maintain efficient operations while also containing or reducing costs. This requires well-coordinated planning and management involving several stakeholders that are responsible for providing services. A further complication is that plans are disrupted by events such as early or late arrivals of flights, equipment malfunctions, maintenance activities, severe weather, and communication failures.
Faced with these challenges, along with increasing passenger volumes, airport operations managers are seeking trusted data in the form of real-time performance indicators, asset status information, effective data sharing and collaboration between stakeholders, reduced manual effort for monitoring operations, and a structured and automated approach to handling events.
One approach to address the sharing of information and collaboration was to establish a centralized Airport Operations Centre (APOC) where representatives from various stakeholders are co-located. With the right processes in place, this enables quick decisions without extended phone calls and alignment loops, resulting in improved efficiency, but it is a costly exercise. Smaller airports also have multiple stakeholders, all of whom can benefit from improved collaboration but have not had the budget nor sufficient resources to establish an APOC.
The Solution
With digitalization, many elements of airport operations can be managed virtually with effective access to systems and visibility of operations. Eliminating the physical constraints of an APOC enables more stakeholders to participate and cooperate in a highly cost-effective manner while still realizing the benefits of an APOC.
The AMORPH.aero Virtual Control Room (VCR) solution is cloud-based and offers a comprehensive set of functionalities to meet the challenges and address the requirements outlined above.
Shared access to information is provided through a real-time dashboard, which is configured to display key operations, assets, and performance data to all participating stakeholders.
From the high-level dashboard, users can drill down to more detailed data in the respective sections. Users can also access additional modules, including Event Management and real-time Airside and Terminal map displays.
Solution Features
- Secure access with multi-factor authentication and user-level access controls
- Online Platform with a summary of Key Performance Indicators vs targets
- Automated alerting when KPI targets are exceeded
- Real-time incident and event status
- Terminal map with real-time status of key infrastructures such as elevators, escalators, and conveyors
- Airside map with stand occupancy and aircraft status
- Event Management with workflow capability
- Live, local weather information
- Automated notification for weather state changes
- Event timeline replays and reporting
- Baggage system monitoring and auto-alerting of alarms/faults
- Automatic generation of post-operations reports
- Short-term passenger flow prediction
- Resource requirement forecasts
- Passenger flow scenario planning
Solution Benefits
- Cloud-based configurable solution enables quick and agile deployment saving time and delivering early results
- Shared situational awareness enables effective collaboration and improved operational efficiency
- Automated alerting and reporting reduce manual effort, saving time, reducing staff workload, and enabling timely responses to avoid or reduce disruptions
- Structured event management enables consistent and timely responses
- Passenger flow prediction and scenario planning enable proactive responses to avoid congestion at processing points
- Resource requirement forecasts enable more informed allocation of resources that lead to cost savings
- The Virtual Control Room enables staff to work remotely when required, ensuring greater availability, flexibility, improved staff experience and cost savings
- All the benefits of an APOC without the cost!