Airport operations management is more complicated than it has ever been. Nonetheless, airport consultants must effectively manage all aspects of airport operations, from ground handling, passenger services, aircraft operations, and air traffic control. With the ever-evolving aviation industry, monitoring everything inside an airport has become more difficult.
Airport consultants and operators can benefit from airport management software because it increases their insight into all airport processes and activities. This makes it easier for them to run airport operations daily. When properly implemented, airport operations software can have several benefits, including increased efficiency and reduced operational costs.
What are Airport Operations?
Airport operations refer to the myriad of activities carried out to ensure the smooth running of the airport. Successful airport operations aim to give passengers a streamlined experience by coordinating their efforts to maximise efficiency, cost-effectiveness, safety, and customer satisfaction.
Airport operations are generally classified into:
- Ground operations: aimed to maintain well-functioning terminals, parking spaces, and traffic circles for the convenience of passengers and other clients.
- Airside operations: consist of the safe landing and navigation of aeroplanes, airport traffic control, ground handling safety, and runway management.
- Billing and invoicing operations cover both aviation and nonaviation income. Modern accounting systems are often in place to manage airport finances, including flight billing, invoicing, cash, and sales within the airport, including POS and employee payroll.
- Information management: involves connecting with airlines, collecting and sharing daily flight information, and storing seasonal and arrival/departure data.
If airports didn’t have an operations management system in modern times, there would be many delayed flights, sloppy security checks, and general anarchy. The goal of an airport operation management system is to make all these operations as efficient as possible.
How Does Airport Operations Management Software Help Optimise Costs?
Airports need to focus on reducing their expenses as much as possible to stay competitive and provide passengers with the highest level of service. With the help of an airport management system, airports not only optimise costs but also streamline processes and ensure the highest level of safety, security and customer service. Here are some ways in which airport operations software helps airports optimise costs.
1. Improved Efficiency
Airport operations system helps automate the mundane tasks associated with running an airport’s day-to-day activities, such as monitoring flight paths within a certain area, baggage handling and check-in, or automatically transmitting aircraft movement using trip data.
Automation of this kind not only improves overall system efficiency but also reduces the price of labour. This is because people are no longer required to supervise the processing of massive volumes of data about aircraft traffic patterns or the number of passengers entering and exiting a given airport.
2. Data-Driven Decision-Making
Airport operations management software helps operators optimise their costs through data-driven decision-making. By leveraging the power of data-driven insights, airport operators can better understand their operational costs and make better decisions on reducing them.
For example, the software can help airport operators track aircraft maintenance and identify areas where maintenance costs can be reduced. This can lower the monetary outlay required for repairs, upkeep, and other operating expenses.
3. Prevent Costly Confusion
An airport is essentially a small city inside the larger metropolis it serves. This makes excellent sense given the multifaceted nature of airports in terms of users (airlines, ground support, passengers, aircraft crews, etc.). In light of this, it is of the utmost importance to ensure every aspect of the airport operations is streamlined and error-free.
A breakdown in airport operations can lead to missed flights, stalled security checks, and widespread confusion. The consequence of which is increased operational costs and, worse still, financial losses. Thanks to airport operations management software, airports can run efficiently without wasting money or causing passengers any inconvenience.
4. Improved Customer Satisfaction
Airport operations management software also helps improve customer satisfaction, providing real-time information about flights and their destinations and an intuitive and user-friendly interface for customers. This helps to reduce waiting times and enhance customer service and experience. The outcome is happier consumers, who are likelier to return and recommend the business to others. As airport capacity increases, costs incurred per individual passenger decrease, thereby optimising operational costs.
Conclusion
Airport operations management software is a powerful and comprehensive solution to optimising airport costs, efficiency, and safety. It can also reduce the time and effort required to manage the airport’s operations. Ultimately, the software provides a comprehensive range of analytics and reporting capabilities, which helps improve the overall efficiency of the airport’s operations.
