Think about an airport. What initial thoughts enter your mind? Incoming aircraft due to be fuelled and provisioned for the impending departure, a huge terminal, information screens, enormous lines, and baggage claim conveyors.
The tight flight schedule at airports includes managing workers, screening passengers, paying attention to every last detail, and much more. Airline operations expedite the procedures and raise the level of customer care.
Airline operations
Let’s start with the core airport operations before learning more about the software. They fall into one of four categories: information management, billing and invoicing, airside operations, and landside operations.
Service to passengers and upkeep of airport terminals, parking lots, and traffic volume circular routes are the key goals of landside operations. Luggage handling and tagging are included in passenger operations.
Resource management and personnel administration are included in terminal airline operations
Airside operations involve safe ground handling practices, runway management, airport traffic control, and aircraft landing and navigation. Billing and invoicing activities cover revenue from both aviation and non-aviation sources.
Information on airport finances may be found in ledger or accounting systems, including airline bills, processing invoices, cash, sales at airport points of sale, employee salaries, etc.
The gathering and dissemination of daily flight information, the storage of periodic and arrival/departure information, and the interaction with airlines are all related to information management.
All of these operations—passenger processing, luggage identification and handling, arrival/departure procedures, departing control systems, information dissemination, and air traffic control—are optimized by airport management systems, as the software for airports is sometimes referred to.
Airport management software modules
The majority of the following modules are often included in airport management systems; however, they are not required.
Every airport has a central database of its own that houses and maintains all pertinent information on daily flights, annual schedules, resources available, and other flight-related data, including billing information and flight costs. One essential component of an airport’s operation is the AODB.
This database is linked to the other airport modules, including the air traffic control and revenue management systems. For different user groups, such as passengers, airport employees, crew, or representatives of particular departments, authorities, commercial partners, or law enforcement, the system can provide varied information. A graphical representation of the data is provided by AODB.
The seasonal schedule is the most crucial data this database contains. For a season, it shows data on commercial aeroplane movements.
Typically, it includes the flight code, the type of plane, the anticipated entry and exit times, any multi-stop flights, the days of the week that the flight is operating, any outlier dates, and other pertinent data.
This data, which is manually input or downloaded, allots resources like check-in counters, air bridges and stands, and arrival or departure gates.
Services for passenger facilitation include luggage handling and tourist processing (check-in, board, border control). Passengers are followed to the bus routes that will take passengers to their flights.
Boarding control and luggage handling are included in arrival procedures:
Border protection
Security services at airports often combine border controls, terminal, and perimeter security. In order for a customs officer to view a passenger’s status, these services need to be integrated with government databases and subject to biometric authentication.
Handling of luggage
A traveler must check luggage before the plane takes off. The journey is recorded and presented from the moment the luggage is loaded until it is delivered to its owner.
A minor travel delay might have serious repercussions. Integrated airline operations might be a better management option than several software programs since the airport is a vast facility that has to track, process, and maintain numerous operations at once.
