Air Transport IT Review Issue 3 2011

Cloud computing a new dawn
The hottest trend in corporate computing will deliver vastly better operational flexibility for air transport
Intelligent airports getting there faster

Changes are underway thanks to the smart use of technology
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Me-centric passengers
The rise of passenger power as digital mobile technology makes its impact
Airline distribution control your destiny

How best to embrace advances in mobile devices, applications and social media?
Air cargo intelligence-led security

We need new approaches to satisfy growing government demands for air cargo security
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Productivity breakthrough workforce mobility

Workforce mobility is happening now. Its No. 3 on the CIO agenda. So how to move forward?
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Issue 3 2011
Specialists in air transport communications and IT solutions
Page 2 SITA Air Transport IT Review | Issue 3 2011
NEWS
ATI Cloud opens for business

Immediate
Airports and airlines adopting DaaS will see an immediate difference in operational agility, efficiency and cost saving. They will be able to provide rapid access to virtual desktops for ground operations staff and partners. The launch of SITA DaaS reaffirms our commitment to building the ATI Cloud, said Francesco Violante, SITA CEO. Based on secure, industry-standard shared infrastructure, it provides the cost and service management advantages of shared infrastructure, with the protection and dependability of a private cloud and the level of performance and reliability required to operate globally. SITA DaaS is now live with over 30 applications client-certified, including the Horizon passenger management system and SITATEX Client, the Type B operational mail application used by 2,300 customers around the world, as well as other third party airline-specific applications. (See page 9.)
Top event tackles gamechanging trends

Attracting around 300 delegates the world over, the 2011 Air Transport IT Summit proved beyond doubt its status as top IT event in the industrys calendar. With a star line up of speaker the events plenary and Industry Insight Sessions tackled wide-ranging topics from the cloud and intelligent airports, to mobility, distribution, security and more. You can find out more in this issue, as well in our download centre. Videos of speakers, delegates, customers and sponsors talking on a wide range of topical industry issues and opportunities can be seen at: http://www.youtube.com/user/ SITAOnline.
Save the date

Mark 20-21 June in your diary for the 2012 Air Transport IT Summit and SITA Annual General Assembly at La Hulpe, Brussels, Belgium.
The first of SITAs air transport community cloud (ATI Cloud) computing services has been launched, just weeks after announcing the underlying infrastructure. SITA Desktop-as-a-Service (DaaS) enables airlines and airports to access applications, programs, processes and data from data centres managed by SITA. Access is possible using any tablet, smartphone or PC without requiring installations on local hardware. Created in partnership with Orange Business Services, the infrastructure will be based on six seamlessly interconnected data centres.
Read about the highlights

Visit our download centre at www.sitasummit.aero for:
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Our special issue of the Air Transport IT Summit Highlights. Read what our CEOs, CIOs and other industry leaders had to say. Presentations, videos and photos. Airline IT Trends Survey video results.
Want to be a speaker?
If youre a senior member of the air transport industry with a strong story to tell the industrys CIOs and other IT professionals, then wed like to hear from you. Were looking for airlines, airports and other air transport organizations to present experiences that would benefit our IT Summit audience. Please send your ideas to terry.tucker@sita.aero
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IT SUMMIT
HIGHLIGHTS
Airlines to spend more on mobile

Airlines carrying around 60% of world passenger traffic have reported an increase in IT and telecommunications spend. They will also invest substantially in passenger mobile services and other transforming technology. These are two findings from the 13th annual Airline IT Trends Survey by SITA and Airline Business. Priority goes to mobile services to support check-in, flight status notifications, electronic boarding passes and travel distribution. Airlines anticipate that 15% of all passengers will use mobile phones to check-in by 2014. This year's survey underlines how travel distribution has become a multi-channel environment with kiosks and social networks joining mobile phones as important emerging sales channels. (See pages 4-5.)
www.sita.aero/air-transport-it-review
Meet the Me-Centrics

Discover their impact on airlines and airports in the Passenger Self-Service Survey 2011. Hear our expert speakers.
Register for our Webcast

http://atwonline.com/webinars To be held on 4th October 2011 11.00 EDT / 17:00 CEST
Mobile priorities
The survey reports that passenger mobile services are set to explode. Over 90% of airlines plan to invest in mobile device-based services for passengers over the next three years.
Air Transport IT Review

Air Transport IT Review online and breaking news: www.sita.aero/air-transport-it-review
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Information is subject to change without notice. All trademarks acknowledged. SITA 2011 Publisher: Quentin Browell Managing Editor: Terence Tucker Editorial: Gerald Oliver, Paul Brock, Scott Handy Production Editor: Amarat Raval Printed by: Pureprint, using their environmental print technology. The material is made from 100% recycled pulp.
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. Where mailed, the packaging is an environmentally friendly oxodegradable material.
www.sita.aero
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NEWS
A first for global mobile data services

SITA has become the world's first global mobile data services provider dedicated to the air transport industry. Through a partnership agreement with Orange Business Services, the deal provides global data connectivity to airlines enabling the secure use of mobile data, machine-to-machine (M2M) and application-to-person (A2P) technologies worldwide. flight bags (EFBs), wireless bag management and mobile passenger applications. Coverage includes in excess of 400 roaming agreements in more than 180 countries. Connectivity has the added advantage of 100% national roaming. The industry is crying out for a global secure network for mobile devices, said Francesco Violante, CEO, SITA. In particular, performance and security are concerns for critical applications such as EFBs which are used to download flight plans and other data for pilots. Our new service offers virtual private network (VPN) tunnels to ensure the security for such M2M data communications. (See also pages 21-23, Workforce mobility.)
One-stop for all

The solution includes all major connectivity technology: wireline, WiFI and cellular (2G/3G). It offers a one-stop-shop covering middleware, managed devices, WiFi connectivity at airports and global 3G data connectivity.
Mobile workforce and EFBs

SITA already provides a mobile workforce solution to airlines that are today embracing mobile data applications such as electronic
Common payment service boosts direct selling

Airlines can now give added strength to their direct channel sales, with the launch of the industry's first next-generation payments platform, Horizon PaymentServices. Through one standardized interface, airlines gain access to multiple payment service providers, acquiring banks and payment schemes. It means greater flexibility and better control over global and local payment methods. SITA is providing Horizon PaymentServices on a community basis, making it available to all airlines whether or not they are existing Horizon users.
Take control
Accepting a broader range of payment types is an effective way for airlines to increase direct sales and drive down distribution costs. Horizon PaymentServices allows airlines access to all standard credit card schemes (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Diners Club, UATP, Discover, JCB) and multiple PSPs such as Wirecard Bank, GlobalCollect, PayPal and PayGate, supporting global and local requirements. Alternative payment methods such as local debit cards, e-wallets, bank direct, and cash options (e.g. Western Union) can also be accessed, improving the ability to make cost-effective direct sales.
Awards confirm leading airport role in Asia Pacific

SITA has been named 2011 Airport IT Solutions Provider of the Year at the Frost & Sullivan Asia Pacific Aerospace & Defence Awards ceremony in Singapore. This is the second time in three years that the company has received a Frost & Sullivan Aerospace & Defence Award. The focus of the award is the use of integrated IT solutions, which play a crucial role in the optimization of airport processes. In particular it recognizes SITAs development of the Intelligent Airport concept (see pages 10-12). Over the past year, SITA has secured a number of major contracts for integrated solutions with airports in the growing Asia Pacific region, including in China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Nepal, Bangladesh, Taiwan and Thailand.
Emerging markets
At the same time, SITA achieved the Emerging Markets Airport IT Service Provider Award for the second year running, also as a result of work on the Intelligent Airport concept. The awards recognize product and service quality across the airport industry in the emerging markets of the Middle East, Africa, Indian subcontinent, Russia/CIS and the Baltic republics.
New Command Centre enables follow-the-sun support

SITAs second Command Centre opens in Singapore in October, following the opening of the companys pioneering Command Centre in Montral in May last year. The new facilities will ensure a smooth, uninterrupted global followthe-sun workflow between Montreal and Singapore. The two Command Centres monitor and manage mission-critical systems, manned 24/7/365 by teams of IT experts with real-time visibility of customer IT and communications systems in use at airports, airlines and governments. They are the worlds only command centres dedicated to the air transport industry.
Proactive management
The SITA Command Centre enables SITA to proactively monitor and manage systems so that issues can be mitigated before they arise, or resolved quickly and efficiently. Its an important next step to achieving SITAs vision of zero downtime.
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SITA Air Transport IT Review | Issue 3 2011
AIRLINE IT TRENDS SURVEY 2011
Upbeat, yet cautious

Most airlines forecast spending increases next year. So says the 2011 Airline IT Trends Survey, as passenger traffic and airline revenues begin to climb. But uncertainty and evasive profitability means caution remains the watchword.
Airline CIOs are moderately upbeat. Even so, their mood is tempered with caution due to squeezed profits, high fuel prices and market uncertainty. Budget forecasts are up, current IT spend is stable. Airline IT operating spend is at 1.8%, as a percentage of 2011 revenue. These are some findings from the latest Airline IT Trends Survey. The optimism it uncovers is partly reflected in the trend towards increased involvement with strategic partners. But its also evident in the large numbers of airlines investing in mobile services for their passengers.
of more self-service options. Progress is steady, but lags behind airlines ambitions. Airlines will need to significantly increase efforts to reach their planned levels by 2014. Growth is expected in the number of passengers using kiosks for check-in. Check-in via Internet, and in particular mobile phones, is predicted to grow fastest. Compared to today, five times more passengers are expected to use mobile check-in by 2014.
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Mobile potential
Mobile services show great potential as one of the lead IT developments, to increase sales and support operational processes such as check-in. Almost nine out of 10 airlines are actively selling or planning to sell tickets on mobile phones by 2014. Five times more passengers are expected to use mobile check-in by the same date. Mobile services top the airline investment priority list, too. The number of airlines planning major investment in mobile services is 40% over last years figure.
About the Airline IT Trends Survey

Commissioned annually by SITA and Airline Business magazine, the Airline IT Trends Survey is now in its 13th year. In that time, its become the industrys strategic IT benchmark survey. The responding airlines represent almost 60% of global passenger volumes. An independent research agency undertook the study in the first quarter of 2011. Go to www.sita.aero/airline-survey for more: n Executive summary
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Video presentation of the key findings Purchase information for the full CD
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85% of airlines will have checkin kiosk capabilities by 2014. Kiosks will remain essential to provide self-service in the future. The number of airlines with check-in kiosk capabilities is forecast to rise from 66% to 85% by 2014. Implementations of kiosks for alternative use is increasing in priority, with four times more Flight Transfer Kiosks since 2010. 93% of airlines have or plan to have infrastructure virtualization/service implemented by 2014. Implementation of all virtualization and cloud services has increased, with Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) as the airlines main area of investment. Almost nine out of 10 respondents chose infrastructure virtualization/service in order to achieve better agility and flexibility. Priorities for Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)/software virtualization differ slightly, with 72% of respondents considering it for its potential to lower cost.
If youd like to receive the full results of next years survey for free, register on SITAs website to become a respondent in the 2012 Survey.
opportunities. Still, reducing cost of business operations remains a high priority. Mobile services top the investment priority list.
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Key findings
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83% expect IT budgets to increase or remain the same by 2012. Reflecting the cautious optimism about the 2011 business, airline operational IT and Telecommunications (IT&T) spend has stabilized at 1.8% of revenue. The outlook for 2012 remains positive: 54% of airlines expect IT&T spend to increase in 2012. 91% of airlines to make investments in passenger mobile services. Evidence shows a stronger investment focus on improving customer service and supporting revenue
58% of tickets sold directly by 2014. Airlines are continuing to gain more control of ticket distribution. The proportion of tickets sold via directly controlled channels increased. It means airlines are on track to directly control the majority of ticket sales in the next few years, if present progress is maintained. Ancillary services are primarily sold through airlines own distribution channels. This will remain the main channel but more activity is expected with indirect channels over the coming years.
69% of airlines sell or plan to sell tickets via social media networks by 2014. Mobile phones are set to become a significant sales channel in the future. In addition, airlines plan to extend mobile distribution services to include ticket modification/upgrades and sales of onboard services. Airlines are also looking to add new sales channels. Kiosks and social network sites are the latest addition to a growing channel mix. Early adopters are already integrating social media sites into the sales process. 15% of passengers are expected to use mobile phones for check-in by 2014. Airlines continue to reduce agent-led passenger operations in favour
www.sita.aero
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AIRLINE IT TRENDS SURVEY 2011
Airline IT Trends Survey 2011

See our new video. Search in YouTube for: SITA Online channel Airline IT Trends
8/10
airlines
The rise of social networking. 8/10 airlines reach or plan to reach passengers via social networks by 2014. Social networks are emerging as a new channel to reach passengers, providing opportunities for ticket sales and customer service. Currently, promoting products and services is the main area of focus for airlines.
IT TRENDS IN
NUMBERS
40%
54%
Five times more passengers are expected to use mobile check-in by 2014.
Mobility the big investment area. The number of airlines planning major investment in mobile services is 40% over last years figure.
Almost nine out of 10 airlines are actively selling or planning to sell tickets on mobile phones by 2014.
A positive outlook for the year ahead. Airlines expecting IT&T spend to increase in 2012.
Around 90% of airlines want infrastructure virtualization to achieve better agility and flexibility.
1.8% 90% of revenue

Airline operational IT&T spend has stabilized at 1.8% of revenue. It reflects cautious optimism about their businesses in 2011.
5 TIMES
The big mobility focus In the area of mobility, passenger processing such as check-in, flight status notifications and electronic boarding passes is the main focus. Travel distribution via mobile phones is on the rise too. Meanwhile, upgrades to airline core passenger management and customer relationship systems will receive significant investments over the next three years.
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CLOUD COMPUTING IN AIR TRANSPORT
A new dawn for operational flexibility

Cloud computing is the hottest trend in corporate computing right now and air transport companies have not been slow to grasp the opportunity. The latest figures from the Airline IT Trends Survey indicate that more than 90% of airlines will be using some cloud-based services by 2014.
Such is the buzz that the Cloud dominated proceedings at this years Air Transport IT Summit with over 200 people packing into an Industry Insight Session to explore what cloud computing could do for the industry.
those resources in a reasonably self-service environment. The outcome of this is flexibility. It gives your business agility, he explains. That agility means a business can be much more responsive in the marketplace with technology driven projects able to get started much faster and at lower cost, and therefore lower risk. This ability to make elastic use of IT resources is something Abdul Mutalib Ishak, Vice President of Retail Business & Distribution from Malaysia Airlines has already gained experience in. We foresee real value especially when there are crises. The classic case was the volcanic ash (from an Indonesian volcano) that happened early this year. We had difficulty in getting extra staff to come into the call centre to handle
the increased calls from customers. But by using cloud services we were able to get a new site ready within hours to support the crisis.
maintenance should be done, real-time compliance and allowable supply chain by engineering configuration management rules. There are all kinds of problems that we could solve many that weve been on the cusp of being able to solve for many years.
Huge economies
The second attribute shared IT resources brings huge economies of scale advantages, such as lower unit costs. Its actually pooling computer resources to maximize utilization, says Ouillon. We used to say that a lot of those servers out in the bush are hardly utilized more than 10% of their time. So, you are burning CAPEX, you are burning energy for nothing. He believes the pay-per-use approach of shared cloud services makes it even more attractive for the industry. If you share resources, there is no reason why you should pay for all of them so you are only going to pay for what you use. The outcome is cost savings. But sharing resources brings much more to the table than just cost savings. There is far more collaboration going on today between the different stakeholders and third parties. The Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) area is a case in point. Aircraft mechanics are required to piece together information from multiple parties including manufacturers, airlines, and the spare parts supply chain, to do their job. Jeff Cass, Chief Technology Officer from Mxi Technologies, an MRO software provider, believes cloud computing is the way forward if MRO is to become more efficient. If we have a cloud infrastructure, where the community is all using the same infrastructure and sharing the same information, we can have everybody doing maintenance with accurate information down to what maintenance has been done, what
Cloud excitement
But why is cloud computing creating so much excitement for air transport? Gregory Ouillon, Head of SITAs air transport industry cloud (ATI Cloud) programme points to three key attributes of cloud computing scalability, shared resources, and its service based model. The first, scalability, means IT capabilities can be elastically provisioned both up and down based on actual needs. The assumption is that you can control
From silos to standards

The third attribute that gives cloud computing the edge over the traditional client-server set-up is the service element of the delivery model. Ouillon speaks about the different possibilities Infrastructure as-a-Service, Platform as-a-Service, Desktop as-a-Service, and Software as-a-Service. (See page 9.) We see a big trend to move away from in-house development towards best of breed and off-the-shelf applications, which will be provided in the data centre or as a service. Cass recognizes the trend in MRO operations. Most of the old technology in use today has been built by silos and forces people to piece together information found across a number of disparate systems. Weve been working very hard with our customers to create what we call a standard airline solution. This is the framework for an agreed upon best practice process model for MRO. This Software-as-a-Service approach allows our customers to leverage cloud investments made by each other. No longer are we dealing with implementation projects one airline at a time where everybody has to start from scratch.
The air transport industry is a volatile environment. It needs to deal with disruption like ash clouds and bird flu along with seasonal spikes, routes opening and closing. That all affects costs and the need for IT services.
Gregory Ouillon Head of SITAs Air Transport Industry Cloud (ATI Cloud) programme
Going into the cloud shifts the service management to the experts and allow the customers to focus on their core business.
www.sita.aero
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Download our cloud computing New Frontiers paper

Cloud computing: An opportunity for blue sky thinking at www.sita.aero/new-frontiers-papers
There is no better time for an air transport community cloud to form. We do need a heavyweight worldwide infrastructure that is secure and trusted by all the communities that are going to partake in it.
Jeff Cass Chief Technology Officer, Mxi Technologies
OPINION|COLUMN
The service approach of cloud computing has other advantages. Its about having the skills to maintain that environment, explains Ouillon. This has become more important due to the intensity and complexity of IT use within the industry. New end-user devices, such as kiosks, consumer mobile technologies and staff handhelds, have added to the mix, creating a need for much easier management of devices regardless of location. Underlining the point is the fact that very few airlines are still able to board a flight and process a flight manually if the IT stops working, explains Ouillon. Most IT outages turn into flight cancellations.
It all basically starts from the network. We have a global network that connects this industry today, 17,000 air transport sites, 320 airports, connectivity to aircraft. So basically, we already connect this world.
Malaysia Airlines rings the changes with cloud

By Abdul Mutalib Ishak Vice President, Retail Business & Distribution, Malaysia Airlines*
In September 2010, we started embracing cloud computing for our call centre transformation project, working with SITA Lab (SITAs research and development department). Mobility was the key word. We want our call centre workforce to be mobile. We plan to introduce what we call home agents. These are the people who can work from anywhere, especially from home. Our main aims for the project were to make more money, improve our customer experience, and do things better: more efficiently, at a lower cost. So when we did the Proof of Concept for the project we focused on three key imperatives:
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Speedy computing
Through this core backbone, SITA is able to provide its customers with very high speed connectivity to any device, situated in any location worldwide. The idea is to be only 100 milliseconds away from almost any end user in this industry so that whenever you are going to virtualize a desktop or an application the end user experience and the performance will be as if they were working locally, states Ouillon. Another advantage of the ATI Cloud that Ouillon is keen to emphasize is the rapid provisioning of new servers through the use of a self-service portal. Today, it is early days we take six minutes. But we are looking at less than a minute to have a full server up and running, ready for roll out, explains Ouillon. That level of flexibility can be extended to the desktop, he continues. Using our Desktop as-a-Service you can create hundreds of desktops as a batch in minutes and you can make sure that those desktops will have access to the right set of applications readily available and integrated but can be deployed again in a matter of seconds. (See page 9.)
Community calling
There is broad agreement that an community approach to the cloud makes sense. Could a community cloud help? asks Ishak. My answer would be yes, because as a community platform we can overcome the need for bespoke investment. SITA answered the call in April when it announced the launch of its ATI Cloud for the air transport community. Since then it has signed a partnership agreement with Orange Business Services to build the infrastructure, including six data centres spread over five continents, and launched a Desktop as-a-Service offering. Ouillion sees the decision to launch the ATI Cloud as a natural evolution of what SITA is already doing.
The first was to reduce our end-to-end cost of delivering new business applications, particularly upgrades. To upgrade software for one site and replicate that to hundreds of sites around the world, cloud computing is the easiest method. It also helps us reduce the need for onsite support because we engage local vendors to support our remote offices around the world. And whereas before we would distribute new applications worldwide overnight, we are now looking at hours. Second is to support a new way of working. Mobility is the way forward for us and we want staff to not only have access to our own internal applications, but also third party applications. Our call centre operates 24/7 and we have about 160 agents on the ground. It is a no-office scenario, meaning the agents can be anywhere. We want these people to have access from their own company device or notebook, as well as access from third party devices. We even ask the agents to go to a Starbucks caf and try to operate and support the business from there. Third, and most importantly, the Cloud must have the ability to provide a secure environment as if we are running it in-house. All data must be stored in a secure server infrastructure. Backups and restores are done automatically and only authorized users are allowed to have access to certain data elements, and data can be taken out and saved locally if required.
For the first phase of our project we have focused just on Head Office locations, doing the Proof of Concept in London and Kuala Lumpar. These sites were cut over as of 30 April this year. Moving forward, we plan to do a full pilot with a fully fledged cloud setup, meaning that we do not have heavy IT equipment running at the station. It will be very light, running on centralized clients and include both data and voice. Our plan is to implement towards the end of this year.
* Based on a presentation for Cloud computing in air transport: a new dawn in operational flexibility? an Industry Insight Session at the 2011 Air Transport IT Summit.
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Embracing independent players

But how is the ATI Cloud going to help other software providers like Mxi Technologies? According to Ouillon, independent players are a big part of the future for the ATI Cloud. We estimate theres about 8000 to 10,000 vertical specialized independent software vendors dedicated to air transport today. The community cloud is about collaborating with them so that they can run on the Cloud very easily.
OPINION|COLUMN
Can the Cloud bring MRO into the 21st century?

By Jeff Cass Chief Technology Officer, Mxi Technologies*
Maintenance is a key part of airline operations as well as an inescapable expenditure. With an estimated industry-spend of US$80 billion each year, maintenance represents the third largest cost to operating an airline. It also represents one of the largest costs that the airline has the greatest control over. Using modern enabling technologies such as the Cloud coupled with business process changes, airlines can confidently expect an eight to 12 percent reduction in overall maintenance costs.
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The advantage for end users is that they can access applications that are pre-connected, pre-installed. So it doesnt take months waiting for deployment and testing of an application, and it saves thousands or tens of thousands of dollars in software licences.
Gregory Ouillon Head of SITAs Air Transport Industry Cloud (ATI Cloud) programme
Second, the standardization of service also has to occur. When we begin talking about providing SaaS in a Cloud environment, there has to be a standard approach, rather than the highly customized model most airlines have today.
Something for everyone?

The MRO business landscape is also changing. It is now rare to find a vertically integrated airline that does everything themselves. Complementing this shift is the emergence of the Cloud. This represents an exciting opportunity because the Cloud where the community is all using the same IT infrastructure offers something for everyone:
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Addressing legacy systems

A number of Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) systems in use today are close to 30 years old. Even many of the new or modern systems being deployed are client-server based, dating their technology by at least 15 years. These dated legacy systems often lead to information silos where related data is not shared, or is made redundant across multiple systems. In this environment, system users are required to research and reconcile segregated data rather than focus on the mainstay goal of the organization releasing an airworthy aircraft. Time intensive information gathering represents one of the biggest areas of airline inefficiency that can be significantly improved by looking at the maintenance organization holistically. A single-source system for all maintenance information dramatically improves efficiencies by enabling improved, informed, and confident decision making.
The Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) will benefit from return-on-experience information, which will feed back into improved products for the community. Fleet managers will have infrastructure and information to make forecast plans, budgets, and cost lines for bidding work. The improved control and visibility will lead to better decision making. Airline operators will benefit from reduced barriers to implementation because there are now other parties taking on some of the risk in terms of scale and burden of the overall architecture needed for the Software-as-a-Service. MRO service providers will now have access to all the data that is being generated by aircraft and the work that needs to be done.
The ability of the Cloud to offer software on a subscription basis and avoid long and complex installation projects is central to Casss thinking as well. As a software vendor this is the dream model. It reduces barriers and time to implement and gives us a repeatable, recurring, and predictable revenue stream. This is what every business strives for.
Chasm
What currently exists is a large chasm that needs to be bridged and the Cloud is going to be a big enabler for closing this gap. However, for this to happen requires two changes.
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First, there needs to be some commoditization and consolidation of software products. The industry has to boil down to a few leaders that can then go forward and establish a standard product as the basis for MRO Software-as-a-Service (SaaS). This necessary consolidation is already starting to take place and there are far fewer MRO software providers today than there were even five years ago.
At Mxi Technologies we are actively working with our customers to create a standard airline SaaS solution based on a best-practice process model for MRO. However, there are still challenges. We have to tackle multi-tenancy and gateways to share information in and out for multiple subscribers, but a community cloud infrastructure that can link all the constituent players in MRO is a major step forward in realizing measurable efficiency gains.
* Based on a presentation for Cloud computing in air transport: a new dawn in operational flexibility? an Industry Insight Session at the 2011 Air Transport IT Summit.
www.sita.aero
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DESKTOP-AS-A-SERVICE
Desktops in the cloud

An effective desktop environment offers maximum flexibility, minimum complexity, complete security and savings, with prices based on what you use. Welcome to desktop in the cloud set to revolutionize ways of working in the air transport industry.
The airlines VP of Retail and Distribution, Abdul Mutalib Ishak is struck by the services responsiveness. It will allow us to manage some of our business challenges, such as setting up a virtual call centre, opening or moving offices and enabling temporary users in the event of a crisis. (See page 7.)
citing savings by reducing their IT stock and licences. Most are going through tech refresh of desktops too, moving to Windows 7, which is providing an opportunity to scrutinize their ways of working. Estimates based on discussions with some airlines put improvements in Total Cost of Ownership for desktop at in the 20-30% range.
30 Apps and rising!

Airlines signing up to the service will find more than 30 client-certified applications already live. Many more applications are set to be added in the months ahead, from SITA as well as third party applications from air transport industry and other independent software vendors. The cloud as a metaphor for the network has been common practice for anyone dealing with the telecoms industry. So has the notion of transferring applications from the desktop to the network. Its made particular sense for SITA, founded on the principle of sharing managed services. But closing the gap between idea and practice has meant considerable investment and research into networks, servers, storage, applications and services. That effort turned the vision of cloud computing for air transport into a reality, with the announcement by SITA and Orange Business Services this year to jointly build a global, high performance, managed air transport cloud computing infrastructure. Hot on its heels came the launch of SITAs Desktop-as-a-Service (DaaS) in June 2011. (See page 2.) The first of SITAs air transport community cloud (ATI Cloud) computing services, it means industry players can rapidly access applications, software, processes and data from central data centres managed by SITA.
Self-service portal
Key to DaaS and the ATI Cloud is the SITA On Demand Portal, a comprehensive self-service and orchestration platform, allowing users to manage and control IT resources dynamically and to automate routine tasks. Most importantly, it allows nearinstant, secure provisioning of services, with on-demand activation and charging mechanisms, enabling an airline to make the best use of its global resources, when and where needed.
Cope with the unexpected

The eruption of Icelands Mt Eyjafjallajokull in 2010 provides the clearest possible rationale for DaaS. Striving to keep customers informed, some airlines moved to social media. Should Eyjafjallajokull or any other event cause similar chaos in the future, airlines subscribing to DaaS will be able to create or redeploy hundreds of new users such as ticket agents and give them instant access to key applications. By giving access to virtual desktops to ground operations staff and partners, they are able to quickly adapt resources to manage route expansion or contraction, flight disruptions or traffic spikes effectively and at lower cost. Whats more, operators and other staff are not restricted to using PCs: they can access applications in the Cloud using their home desktop, a thin client,
Costs down
Savings from DaaS will come from the utmost flexibility in business operations, with the ability to enhance employee productivity and processes. But many airlines are also
Infrastructure-as-a-Service, only 100 milliseconds away

Server infrastructure swallows money and resource. Airports and airlines know that only too well because of the proliferation of physical servers at almost every remote site. Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) from SITAs ATI Cloud will provide scalable virtual hosting in SITAs six regional data centres on five continents and a global spread of airport-based virtual data centres. Launch date is set for end of Q3. As with DaaS, this subscription-based service delivers scalable and on-demand computing resources. It will allow air transport industry organizations to design and manage their own virtual servers. With a 100 millisecond latency it feels like having the server in their own offices. High level security, high performance, low total cost of ownership, lower management costs, green IT credentials, and rapid reaction to changing requirements there are plenty of benefits underpinning IaaS. But perhaps best of all, it offers the agility to be already connected to your SITA network (MPLS, Internet) with both privacy and redundancy.
On the horizon a marketplace for industry software

As the ATI Cloud rolls out further, SITA will create a broader Software-as-a-Service marketplace. Targeting those who need specific air transport industry apps, this will address airlines, airports, airframers, ground handlers and governments. Through a portal that includes distribution, licensing and integration capabilities, the service will enable end-users to receive apps quickly and easily from Independent Software Vendors, airlines, airports and SITA. Go to www.aticloud.aero for more, including first-hand accounts of early users.
Adoption
Over 75% of airlines plan to implement DaaS by 2014, according to the 2011 Airline IT Trends Survey. Malaysia Airlines is a forerunner.
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THE INTELLIGENT AIRPORT
Getting there faster

A hot topic in the air transport industry, the concept of an intelligent airport is not new. But changes are underway. The smart use of technology within the airport environment looks set to improve both operations and the passenger experience.
While the vision of an intelligent airport makes a lot of business sense there are few airports today that tick all the necessary boxes, says Ilya Gutlin, VP Airports, SITA. He believes that could change with the convergence of airport technology trends.
The intelligent airport vision has been around for a number of years, but I think with the movement in a number of technologies that vision is evolving.
Ilya Gutlin VP Airports, SITA
But theres more than just systems integration issues holding back the vision. Theres also a lack of communication at the human level between the different parties such as airports, ground handlers, and airlines. This leads to operational inefficiencies, higher costs, and customer and passenger dissatisfaction, says Gutlin. Overcoming these challenges is critical to achieving the intelligent airport vision. From a technology viewpoint it requires overlaying the basic IT infrastructure systems of the airport with integrated operational efficiency technologies. Then topping it off with a set of business intelligence techniques to optimize the airport operations.
OPINION|COLUMN
Smart thinking: Zurich International Airport

By Andrea Baroni Head of Operations, Zurich International Airport*
The use of Collaborative Decision Making (CDM) produced a paradigm shift in thinking at Zurich International Airport that propelled us from worst-in-class to bestin-class, over a few years. Following the bankruptcy of Swissair in 2002, we had lost close to 30% of our passengers and ranked last among the 27 biggest European airports, in terms of punctuality and quality. This was the catalyst for us to create a new Airport Operations Control Centre in 2003, called the Airport Steering Centre, which brought together the important partners of the airport to manage daily operations.
The intelligent airport encompasses four main elements:

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End game
Gutlin sees this as the end game. Where the industry is slowly moving to is to use the data available from airports and airlines to be able to make the right decisions at the right time by the right people. This also includes the passengers because they make decisions and those decisions affect the way the airport works. The reason theyre trying to get to it is because this is where you can materially add to your revenues or reduce your cost, he adds. For example, you can take timely decisions even before the actual disruption occurs. That means better forecasting. It means thinking ahead, analyzing in advance. How many staff and how many vehicles do you need at a certain point in time?
Common situational awareness: knowing the location of the assets and resources of all key stakeholders at the airport, including passengers. Collaboration: sharing data between the different stakeholders to improve efficiency and decision making. Business intelligence: predictive analysis for forecasting and mitigating operational risks before they occur. Personalization: the ability to communicate with the passenger one-to-one.
More passengers, more punctuality

By 2004, we had started to see improvements. Passenger figures picked up and punctuality improved as well. This is not normal. Usually, if you have more passengers, punctuality will drop. In 2004, we got our first ever award for Zurich Airport the World Travel Award for Europes leading airport. We now have consistently good quality in Zurich and have won this award ever since, along with others. We are improving all the time, which is very important if we are to grow in the transfer sector. For example, if you lose the bags of a transfer passenger they look for another gateway next time. In 2008 we lost on average 14 bags per 1,000 passengers departed. Today it is six per 1,000 passengers. This figure includes bags left behind due to broken connections.
Unlocking hidden potential

CDM is not only good for the airport. It is also good for our partners. We now have the capacity to handle more movements. For many years our runway capacity remained at 36 for fair weather and 18 in reduced visibility conditions. Today, we are at 40 in good weather and 24 in bad weather. The Minimum Connecting Time (MCT) could be shortened from 50 to 35 minutes, including connections to and from long-haul flights and we have reduced the Minimum Ground Time for an A320 fleet aircraft, including the A321, from 40 to 30 minutes. The ground handlers have benefitted too. They have a much better productivity both in terms of equipment utilization and staff. The success of our improvement programme shows that CDM is very important, because it unlocks the hidden potential of people and organizations, which results in better communication and collaboration.
* Based on a presentation for The Intelligent Airport: getting there faster an Industry Insight Session at the 2011 Air Transport IT Summit.
Holding back the vision

So with technology now ready to step up to the plate will the vision become reality any time soon? Theres still significant work required, explains Gutlin. The systems currently in airports have all been implemented over the last 15 to 20 years. Theyre on different platforms, theyve been implemented by different parties, theyre fragmented. Sometimes they talk to each other, sometimes they don't.
Collaborative decisions
In terms of the technologies that are going to achieve this then Collaborative Decision Making (CDM) tools are high on the list, along with techniques for tracking and location sensing passengers and baggage.
www.sita.aero
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One airport that that has reached the business intelligence layer is Zurich International Airport. Following Swissairs bankruptcy our quality and punctuality were in freefall, admits Andrea Baroni, the airports Head of Operations.
bottleneck, says Baroni. Today we are able to collect and distribute all information very efficiently. The dramatic change in Zurich International Airports performance has not gone unnoticed as testified by numeroius awards. (See Opinion Column.)
OPINION|COLUMN
Dramatic turnaround
By taking over responsibility for managing the operations and quality of services, Zurich was able to turn around the situation. One of its first moves was to introduce collaborative decision making. We put all the important partners in one room and this helped not only with the communication but also with the cooperation. Baroni explains. The airport followed this up by implementing new IT systems to improve the quality and flow of information used to manage the operations. The better the information the less communication you need and in an operations control centre. Communication is always the
Right direction
However, Zurich is the exception rather than the rule. Most airports have not reached the business intelligence level but are at what Gutlin terms the second layer, where efficiency systems, such as self-service and workforce mobility solutions, are being introduced. This is your ability to process passengers, to process baggage, to get your staff empowered faster or quicker with a lot less cost, and reduce the turnaround times, he says. Nevertheless, Gutlin is confident that other will follow Zurichs lead. I cannot say that the industry is there yet but this is the way the industry is moving.
Going with the flow

By Robert Cook Managing Director, Blackstone Gates*
Customers matter. Its an old mantra, but its going to be even more relevant going forward. Social networking is transforming the way passengers get to express their view of the airport experience. Traditional industry measures, such as Airport Service Quality surveys, show how well youve done over the past year. But the reality today is that customers give immediate feedback on performance through websites, such as eezeer.com. So the airport and the airline are being rated up to the hour, up to the minute, on services.
Demands for seamless travel

From the studies we have carried out, its clear from customers that they expect seamless travel. The fact that passengers now have channels to give constant evaluations is putting airports and airlines under greater pressure to deliver.
Technology watchlist
Our studies show that airports are using or trialling a wide number of different technologies to help passenger flows through the terminal, but four really stand out.
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There are 970 million people in the world using social networks and they all communicate their view of who you are and what youre doing to them on a fairly regular basis. Youre being judged on a daily basis by these very people.
Robert Cook Managing Director, Blackstone Gates
The first is Bluetooth. Bluetooth is prominent, because its fairly inexpensive, without the need for a lot of infrastructure. Primarily, this technology is being used in security and immigration, but Ive also been involved in a couple of pilot programmes related to proximity marketing and retail. The second is the 2D barcode. This has been a mandated exercise from an airline perspective, so it makes sense to consider other uses for it along the passenger journey. For example, a couple of airports use it for passenger tracking. Manchester Airport uses it in Terminal Two effectively to scan the barcode through the whole passenger flow process, and they get very accurate data. The third technology to keep an eye on is data analytics. Its being deployed in security but is starting to find its way into some of the key management areas of airports. It's also starting to find its way into retail applications. The fourth technology to watch is mobile technology. Just in the US market there are nearly 60 million business travellers who have selected mobile devices as their primary communication channel. So worldwide, this is going to be the way that airports communicate directly with their customers.
Download our Intelligent Airport New Frontiers paper

The Intelligent Airport: Unleashing the potential at www.sita.aero/new-frontiers-papers
If an airport charges for WiFi access then it risks losing this connection to the customer and its revenue potential as a sales channel because customers are going to use their cellular connection instead to get information. These technologies, and others now being looked at, will require business intelligence tools to be overlaid. These will be key technologies that connect the dots and achieve the goals in passenger flow management for the future.
* Based on a presentation for The Intelligent Airport: getting there faster an Industry Insight Session at the 2011 Air Transport IT Summit.
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Partners in progress
Airports are very much in partnership with airlines. Those partnerships may be stronger in one location than another. However, if were all facing the issue of total passenger experience and a shift in power to passengers, partnership is crucial to our collective success.
By Antoine Rostworowski Director Business Development, Aroports de Montral
Information needs value

Business intelligence sounds good, but as more of these systems are deployed in our airports, what do we do with all the information? We began two years ago to organize existing databases to help build better operational planning tools and better reporting for airport planning. We also decided to plan deployments of displays of wait times to passengers.
Montreal Trudeau Airport is a medium-size airport, with a good mix of international, domestic and trans-border traffic. About 60% of passengers check-in through self-service, compared to an industry target of 80% by 2020, with roughly 60% web and 20% kiosk. So were doing well and we think its as a result of the partnerships we have been building with our airlines. Were also making a lot of progress with self-tagging, which is available through all kiosks. When we started in 2004, laws did not permit selftagging in North America. However, we worked with SITA to allay concerns and we were the first in the world to deploy self-tagging on CUSS kiosks, in co-operation with Air Canada and USAir. Now bag-tagging is being deployed worldwide, with pilots finally taking place in the US.
Partnership across the airport is critical, so that data exchange is achieved. For many, this remains a major issue.
Whats check-in? Advancing standards
The key should not be who owns the data, but how to control, secure and distribute it. An Airport Council International (ACI) working group has been working on ACRIS (Airport Community Recommended Information Services) as a potential technical recommendation to facilitate the exchange of information. IATA has started to participate, but I believe there need to be more talks on that issue. At Montreal Trudeau Airport we are feeding a new data warehouse with information for trans-border, domestic and international baggage sortation systems, as well as boarding pass scanning and eventually the security check point scanning. We are planning to include CUSS information and hope then to be able to feed every system through either the passenger operational database or the airside operational database, and to be able to link in to an airlines departure control system. In terms of airport planning, we need to move increasingly to a situation where staff are only dealing with the 20% exceptions. That may seem obvious, but it is not the norm. Related to that, we keep talking about web check-in, kiosk check-in and mobile check-in. But what is considered to be check-in today? Should it be when you buy a ticket? Or when you check-in on the web? Perhaps when you check-in via your mobile while in the taxi; or when you print your boarding pass and bag tag or when you drop your bag? The notion of check-in has become largely irrelevant. So how should we plan for these changes? Should we expect to see kiosks mostly used for printing of bag tags, vouchers and other documentation? will need to be adapted for different kinds of technologies and baggage handling. From a passenger process and check-in point of view, airports are mainly becoming large generic baggage drop-off areas.
More data and cooperation

There is no doubt that we are going to see more technologies offering more choices to passengers. But the end result will be more and more data, which brings us right back to how we work together, to organize data to improve operational and business efficiencies for everyone. A great many airports work hand in hand with airlines. This is no longer an optional approach. As the passenger increasingly takes control partnership is the only option. Based on a presentation to the 2011 SITA Air Transport IT Summit. Go to www.sitasummit.aero. See also SITAs New Frontiers paper The Intelligent Airport Unleashing the Potential at www.sita.aero/new-frontierspapers
Passenger flow
Weve also developed a solution that uses the passengers 2D barcode boarding pass to confirm their location at the airport and to allow for US Customs virtual inspection of checked baggage in our preclearance facility. If a passenger is missing at boarding, we can offer the tools for airlines to identify the last read point of the passengers boarding pass just by looking through the BRS search system. From the perspective of managing passenger flow, it makes a big difference.
Baggage drop-off
Passengers can do most of their own self-service process outside of the airport. So while the notion of check-in might be disappearing, baggage drop off becomes even more important. Airport processes
www.sita.aero
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ME-CENTRIC PASSENGERS
Its all about me...

Almost two thirds of the global population now has a mobile device. No wonder digital mobile technology is set to change the air transport industry. That change is more than cosmetic. It will drive a shift in power from airports and airlines to passengers.
Industry stakeholders face a radical change be they airports, airlines, ground handlers or other service providers. Its a change thats moving outside their control. Its thanks to the fact that passengers,increasingly, are becoming constantly connected. These passengers have the power to drive change, to set new expectations and to demand new services. For the industrys stakeholders, its imperative that IT strategies embrace their demands and needs. The user is at the centre of information, explains Catherine Mayer, for SITA. He or she is at the centre of searches, at the centre of social networks and at the centre of commerce. This is changing how the passenger sees life. Its creating the me-centric passenger.
The me-centric passenger

So who is this me-centric passenger? It may have started with Generation Y, also known as the Millennium generation, simply because theyre very tech savvy. Theyre used to digital devices and different types of media. But its also cross-generational business travellers and leisure travellers. And it includes a growing middle class with access to more disposable income, as well as senior travellers who are living longer yet want to stay connected with family and friends throughout their journeys. Its impact is multi-faceted. Me-centric passengers want ubiquitous connectivity throughout the journey. They want connectivity between the device and the network, between devices, between their smart phones and kiosks or gate readers.
OPINION|COLUMN
How will me-centric evolve?

By Jack Loop Mobile Entrepreneur Consultant*
Design matters. So what features would you consider when deploying a me-centric application? And why? A me-centric application is about letting you answer simple questions, quickly and easily, and getting answers. Once youve experienced this on mobile, you will not want to go back to doing it the way you did before. Your mobile strategy will be the single greatest touch point for your customers to your brand more than your website, kiosk, agents or even crew. It answers too many questions that people have in each phase of their travel experience to be otherwise. But where is mobile taking the travel industry? There are now more mobile devices, more tablets and smart phones being shifted than PCs. In five years there will be more mobile internet users than PC internet users. Your websites don't look good on a small screen so how are you going to address this? And it's not just smart phones. Its other devices such as e-readers and mp3 players.
Wireless devices will be the primary means of connecting to the Internet for most people worldwide by 2020.
Pew Internet & American Life Project
Data first
The key to the development of successful mobile apps is the provision of data and how you tie that data into applications. You can have the best designers in the world, and the best mobile app developers in the world. But if theres no data available, theres really not much that interface designers can do to help you create that really encouraging me-centric experience. Application programming interfaces (API) are becoming a standard way for app developers to engage. It enables you to get data to all the different platforms that you have to support in the future. Not just your website, but applications on any mobile platform. Its how you power a widget or a Facebook application. Its how developers will easily integrate things like Near Field Communication (NFC) readers and machine-to-machine in your consumer facing apps.
Tap into talent

A word also about HTML5. This is a new web browsing standard. It will enable rich applications of a similar format to those that Apple, Android and other device manufacturers have been publishing in their software development kits. Today, if you decide to grow your own teams to implement a mobile strategy, youll spend a lot of money because the learning curve is so high. This is why an HTML5 approach makes a lot of sense. You or your vendors will be able to find really talented engineers at a much more reasonable cost than trying to write native code.
Re-invent the travel experience

I hope everybody realizes and appreciates what an incredibly innovative time this is in the mobile industry and in technology in general. We can literally reinvent the travel experience for the traveller. In doing so, maybe we can also achieve some of those long-standing self-service goals and benefit from a new sales channel.
* Based on a presentation Me-Centric passengers and their impact on IT strategy an Industry Insight Session at the 2011 Air Transport IT Summit.
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ME-CENTRIC PASSENGERS
OPINION|COLUMN
Questions abound
Competition for the attention of the me-centric passenger is intensifying. Airlines and airports are asking: How can we differentiate our own applications? Do we start tagging passengers? Do we start sending promotions? What sort of information will make us stand out so that we can get their attention? And just because me-centric passengers are doing a lot of processes on their own, continues Mayer, you can be sure that at some stage theyll want to speak to a human. It might be virtually or it might be face to face.
So how do we as stakeholders efficiently and effectively maintain the resources to meet the needs of these on-demand me-centric passengers? Another key question is what data will power the applications? Where will it come from? Will it be accessible? Will it be affordable? The new reality is all about the passenger. Increasingly controlling the entire process, they are driving change and where our industry goes. The impact of the me-centric passenger on technology and technology strategies will be profound and lasting.
People dont travel to an airport...

By ke Halvdanson Director of IT, Swedavia*
Swedavia was formed as a state-owned company in 2010 to run 13 airports around Sweden. Our vision is to bring the world closer, to make Sweden accessible and enable Swedes to experience the world. We want to connect customers, partners and colleagues, to create positive feelings, a good experience and efficient transport. The point is that people dont travel to an airport. They travel to a destination. So the airport is only one of the players in the travel experience. Most of our income comes from non-aviation businesses and we want this business to grow. One way of doing this is to give consumers peace of mind that the airports are working smoothly, so they have more time to do business and spend money within the airport.
Me-centric strategy
We launched a strategy for me-centric passengers. They dont want mass communication. They want to get tailored information or they want information we can deliver. IT infrastructure and operational excellence supports the me-centric passenger and even the workforce. This is also essential because we need to have common processes. We need a more mobile workforce. So we are developing a common backbone for all of our airports. We are extending our reach both on and off airport including train stations, hotels, bus and ferry terminals. We will also be adding more services to our check-in kiosks so you can buy WiFi connections there and other services that are still in the pipeline.
When we ask who the me-centric passenger is, the answer has to be everyone. All 2.8 billion departing passengers last year simply because theyre leveraging digital mobile technology. Airports, airlines, ground handlers and aviation in general must incorporate the me-centric demands.
Catherine Mayer SITA
Airport in your hand

We want to have services wherever we have contact with passengers through the whole travel process. And we started using Twitter and Facebook when our services were hit by the ash cloud because our website and phone lines were too congested. We have developed a mobile programme including news, maps of the airport, parking areas, information about shops, departures and arrivals. There is also space to store your personal flight details so you can get updated information. We are moving to deliver the airport in your hand. Everything related to your travel process should be accessible via the mobile phone, an iPad or other device.
The broader conversation

To meet the expectations of the me-centric passenger, we must think and act differently. Otherwise, they may go somewhere else and we lose a customer. Its as simple as that.
* Based on a presentation Me-Centric passengers and their impact on IT strategy an Industry Insight Session at the 2011 Air Transport IT Summit.
www.sita.aero
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AIRLINE DISTRIBUTION
Control your destiny

Changes are not new in the world of airline distribution. But past changes pale in comparison to the challenges posed by the technology trends of the last 12-18 months. The most significant are mobile devices, applications and social media.
The business success of airlines will depend on how well they exploit the latest technology trends. Amid the many unknowns, one thing is certain: long-term success will not come to those who ignore these trends. In this changing environment, passenger services solutions (PSS) represent the airlines best way to control their own destinies.
Drivers of change
Three trends are fundamental enablers of a new world in which airlines must compete and thrive.
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Mobile devices: Allowing 24/7 connectivity, mobile devices can sense the travellers location, knowing where they are at all times. Creative applications: Easy, streamlined apps provide limitless potential for what can be done on a mobile device. Either now, or in the very near future, everybody that an airline wants to talk to will be accessible through a smart mobile device, says SITAs Ian Ryder, Senior Portfolio Director.
Social travel networks: Mobile devices are a window into the social media space. Passengers use them, not just to plan their own trips, but to interact with others who are doing similar things.
A new battleground
If you search for flights Hong Kong in Google, in addition to the typical results (Kayak, Cathay Pacific, Yahoo Travel, etc), youll now see individual flight information provided by Google.
The information includes departure cities, duration of flights, and airlines. It wont be long until prices start appearing in this information too.
OPINION|COLUMN
How to take control
By Ian Ryder Senior Portfolio Director, SITA*
Technical innovation in the form of mobile devices, applications, and social networks are changing customers behaviour. If an airline doesnt have an iPhone app, Facebook profile or a Twitter feed, it isnt meeting expectations. Nor is it visible to a growing section of the population. To further complicate matters, the cycle of innovation is getting faster and faster. As a result, distribution and services are becoming more and more complex more channels, more aspects to manage, more considerations when deciding prices and seat availability. And all of it is happening in real time. Almost every process the airline is involved in from sales to services is going to be automated and personalized in the near future. So its imperative for the airline to intelligently manage its data. Airlines cant change the trends, but they can maximize their advantages. Passenger Services Solutions (PSS) are a means for doing this. So PSS is more critical than ever. As a strategic asset, airlines need to consider it carefully and invest in it. Its no longer about saving a cent here or there but about making a dollar or ten dollars somewhere else. PSS also represents the best means for the airline to control its distribution. This is critical in our changing world, one in which the changes of the next five years will far eclipse the changes of the previous five. This is why SITA is continuing to invest in next-gen PSS, and why airlines need to pay more attention to the core capabilities of their PSS than ever before.
* Based on a presentation for Is the latest technology heralding a new era in distribution?' an Industry Insight Session at the 2011 Air Transport IT Summit.
Airlines cant change the trends, but they can maximize their advantages. Passenger Services Solutions (PSS) are a means for doing this. So PSS is more critical than ever.
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OPINION|COLUMN
Airlines are curious over whether this is a nightmare scenario for them or a tremendous opportunity. The critical questions for airlines are What is the disruptive effect of these new intermediaries? and How can I respond?
Before you know it, many consumers will be booking flights directly from Google. Once this happens, Google will know where passengers are going, how much they are paying, and what airlines they use. Google will also probably know why the passenger is going, where the passenger is staying, and who else the passenger knows that is also travelling. Googles capacity to keep the passengers journey and profile information, typically the airlines domain, along with understanding the real context of the passengers trip and the ability to aggregate content around that is unprecedented. There is no question that Google is going to be a major player in how travel is booked and managed in the future. Googles recent acquisition of ITA, a flight-search software company, highlights their intent in this area. But theyre not alone. Apple, who have established a reach to the consumer that the average airline can only imagine, is also looking to enter the distribution and passenger handling space with their iTravel patents. Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn may be interested in a slice of the pie as well.
Distribution gets personal

By Nawal Taneja Industry Author and Professor Emeritus, Ohio State University*
Technology is dramatically changing the behaviour of travellers. Mobility, social networks, self-service, multiple channels; they all contribute to the new era of me-centric passengers that successful airlines need to cater to. Four main factors are driving these technology changes: 1. Step-changing screens. Todays passengers expect a two-way interaction and their fair share of the decision-making. 2. Search engines. Context-based search capability allows passengers to receive information when, where and how they want it its all about personalized discovery. 3. Applications. Thousands of applications give todays passengers access to the information they need to make the right decisions to meet their individual needs. 4. Data sources and locations. With cloud computing, information is available to search engines, applications and users, wherever and whenever they need it. These technologies are changing the way passengers behave. Why cant airlines use the same technologies to change their behaviour to adapt to their customers? To do so, airlines cannot isolate distribution. They have to take a holistic approach that implements integrated functions, quickly and flawlessly. Airlines need to stop being transaction processors and start being solutions providers. They need to do whatever is necessary to meet their customers needs become integrators of value. This requires more complexity it involves managing several functions simultaneously. Its complexity that the successful airline will manage, not avoid. To manage the necessary challenges that come with being solutions providers, airlines require a business model based on information. This includes their passengers behaviour and needs, as well as the products and services to meet those needs.
The CEO, CIO team

All this information, however, will be useless without the right technology to access and harness it. This is where the CEO and CIO come together. The CEO decides the business strategy and the CIO enables that strategy to be implemented in a holistic manner across all functions of the airline smoothly and rapidly.
iStockphoto.com/arakonyunus
Its all about information

This is the future of the airline industry. To prepare for it, airlines should not ask how they can do what theyre currently doing better and cheaper. They should ask if theyre doing the right things. Its all about information and the technology to enable it.
* Based on a presentation for Is the latest technology heralding a new era in distribution? an Industry Insight Session at the 2011 Air Transport IT Summit. Nawal Tanejas new book, The Passenger Has Gone Digital And Mobile: Accessing and Connecting through Information and Technology is available through www.ashgate.com from September 2011.
www.sita.aero
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Critical questions
These new intermediaries will have no problem getting the consumers attention. In fact, they already have it. But where are they going to get their product? Is it going to come from a GDS? From an Expedia? Directly from the airlines? No one knows. Nor does anyone know how these intermediaries are going to make their money in the future. From advertising? The consumer? Quite possibly they each add a lot of value that current distribution players lack. Are they going to shunt traffic away from the travel agencies and the GDS? Are they going to commoditize the airline, so that all the airline does is fly the traveller from Point A to Point B? Or will the airline become a multifaceted retailer? Airlines are curious over whether this is a nightmare scenario for them or a tremendous opportunity. The critical questions for airlines are What is the disruptive effect of these new intermediaries? and How can I respond?
Passenger Services Solutions bring control

The distribution battle of the very near future is going to be over the ownership of the customer and understanding the customer better than anyone else. Traditionally, this battle was fought between travel agencies, GDSs and airlines. The airlines, through innovations such as e-commerce and frequent flyer programmes, more than held their own. But the new guard of intermediaries are masters at gathering and using data, better than airlines or anyone else in the industry. As they start to wield influence, the first repercussion will likely be a consolidation of consumer power, globally. (See Distribution gets personal.)
Through their mobile devices and applications, via social networks and by accessing information on Google, consumers will be able to do a lot more than they currently can and these new abilities will bring power. But to what extent is the balance going to shift between consumers being in control of their journeys and airlines being more flexible but in control of the consumer offer? The answer lies in the realm of passenger services solutions (PSS). PSS is the airlines critical means to stay in control in a changing world. What happens within the GDS, the travel agency or online is largely beyond the airlines control. At best, the airline can influence these interactions; it cant fundamentally control them. But the airline has direct control over its core systems inventory, DCS and so on and over the customers interaction with these systems, whether its through a mobile portal,
a traditional website, or an iPad. With that control, and by building the right capabilities and the right strategy, the airline can optimize its position in this changing world. I would argue a natural response from an airline should be to concentrate on doing the best you can to build your own armoury of information and a holistic understanding of your customers, said Ryder. Then make real-time tailored offers to customers, using smart, powerful inventory and pricing capabilities, with information about individual customers and their value. So, youre not mass marketing any more for a flight from Los Angeles to London. Youre saying for you, Mr Customer, at this time, because I know about your preferences, the device youre using and the fact youre looking for insurance, heres what we are able to offer you.
I would argue a natural response from an airline should be to concentrate on doing the best you can to build your own armoury of information and a holistic understanding of your customers.
Ian Ryder Senior Portfolio Director, SITA
iStockphoto.com/audioundwerbung
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Must dos to take control of your distribution destiny

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Make targeted, persuasive and profitable real-time offers to customers. Differentiate through improved personal service. Allocate products and pricing to distribution channels for optimum profitability. Build a holistic view of customers.
By controlling its own pricing and links to the various channels, the airline can start to optimize its distribution mix. It can decide what products and prices go where, when, and on what terms. All distribution channels have value. No channel is right or wrong in the abstract. But there are right and wrong channels for a particular market, a particular product, and a particular time. To succeed, airlines must be able to influence that mix. Airlines must create holistic views of their customers. Only then can they tailor their services to them, across different channels and devices. This holistic view is also vital for understanding when a customer enters the interaction via one channel only to change downstream. By taking full control of the different touchpoints, and by adapting to the growing number of touchpoints, airlines can better interact with their customers.
OPINION|COLUMN
At the distribution crossroads
By Ian Tunnacliffe Travel Technology Research*
Over the last 10-15 years, airline distribution costs have been slashed in half. They used to account for roughly 20% of gross revenue. Today, distribution accounts for 10% and low-cost carriers have pushed that down even further. to understand ancillary revenues will require a fundamental change in the mindset of their organizations. They will need to become retailers in the same way Apple Computers became a retailer when they opened Apple Stores. This shift from their core business will require airlines to adopt new skill-sets, including product design, pricing, and customer service. It will require more and better data. Most importantly, it will require technology that can handle multichannel distribution across a mix of direct and indirect channels.
Direct versus indirect

The advantages of direct distribution are obvious. Airlines own the customer relationship and get to know their passengers and their data. Its an effective channel for selling seats as well as bundled and unbundled services. It provides an opportunity to sell third-party ancillaries. But its also where the lowyield travellers shop.
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high-yield channel. This will give airlines the best of both worlds: lowering costs by avoiding GDSs and increasing revenue. The problem is that the highest yield passengers book almost exclusively through travel management companies (TMCs) such as American Express. TMCs lack the resources to manage a complex network of airline direct connections. They rely on the GDSs not just financially, but technologically, in their back office systems, for connectivity, and so on. So its in their interest to maintain their relationships with the GDSs. The result is a crossroad: where the TMCs are gatekeepers to the high-end business travellers the airlines sorely need. This is the current challenge, and the current debate. The outcome of which will decide how airlines conduct distribution in the years to come.
* Based on a presentation for Is the latest technology heralding a new era in distribution? an Industry Insight Session at the 2011 Air Transport IT Summit.
Profitability squeeze
Despite these cuts in distribution costs, the airline industry has not become more profitable. Primarily because the very areas that enabled cost-cutting also lowered revenue. Online distribution, while contributing huge savings by avoiding travel agencies and GDS costs, has created a market in which the lowest price becomes the standard price. The result is that airlines have created an environment where half of their distribution is in this transparent marketplace where they cant make enough money selling their seats.
The upside of indirect distribution is the high-yield business traveller. This is where airlines make money at their core business. The downside is that someone else (travel agency, GDS) owns the relationship with the customer.
Retailers with new skill-sets

Many believe that ancillary revenue is going to save the airline industry. Whether its unbundled services or packaged deals or third-party commission earnings, airlines need
Airlines will need to become retailers in the same way Apple Computers became a retailer when they opened Apple Stores.
So, while it is very efficient for selling seats, it is nearly impossible to become a retailer in the indirect channel.
Direct connect to the rescue

American Airlines and others are leading the charge for direct connect solutions. Travel agencies today connect to a GDS for access to a range of airlines. But certain airlines could deploy a direct connection to agencies, enabling them to sell their full range of products in this
www.sita.aero
Page 19
AIR CARGO
Intelligence-led security
From revenue collection to counter-terrorism and security, the growing demands of government agencies worldwide are placing a vital requirement on the air cargo industry for the effective, timely and accurate flow of information. Anything less will seriously compromise the ability to perform the necessary risk analysis without impacting global trade flows.
OPINION|COLUMN
The European Union perspective

By Gordon Wright Policy Officer, European Commission*
After 9/11, the G7 economies asked the World Customs Organization to develop global standards for a cross-border security framework for Customs that would not hinder the free flow of trade. That work was started in 2002 and completed in 2005, with the full involvement of the European Union. Two European pieces of legislation followed (648 and 1875), which introduced the principle that Customs is the lead agency for detection of cross-border terrorism in cargo areas.
The air cargo sector faces multiple threats, says James Fernandez, VP Sales & Marketing at CHAMP Cargosystems. The air logistics chain is a vital part of global trade spanning numerous interdependent organizations. Effective cargo security is a critical issue for passenger, combi, full freighter operations and of course the traditional integrators. However, theres no one size fits all. This is all exacerbated by time sensitivity. The cargo community is already required to provide advanced customs information. But to embrace real threat analysis, that advanced information needs to be enriched substantially. Ultimately, its about providing solutions that allow sensible pragmatic implementations, says Fernandez.
Thats why, first and foremost, investment must be focused, pragmatic and shared, as a community. Exploring the way forward, CHAMP and SITA are asking how the cargo community can leverage experiences from other parts of air transport community, particularly in passenger screening. Second, the distributed and inter-related cargo community works semi-collaboratively, and the level of competition is high. So its hard to achieve a ready flow of information. It follows that when policymakers set out standards and guidelines, says Fernandez, theres the practical reality of how efficiently and quickly we can implement them. Meantime, there has been a huge amount of work to achieve advanced customs information in the EU, US and increasingly worldwide. Thats the first step towards effective risk assessment for counter-terrorism. The next step is to learn lessons from the passenger space and apply them.
Three key elements

There have been three key elements to our work:
n n
An EU risk management framework, in place since December 2006. An authorized economic operator (AEO) programme, which provides traders with facilitation measures in return for their meeting security criteria, in place since January 2008. A requirement for pre-entry and pre-exit safety and security summary declarations, in place since January 2011.
The AEO programme is delivering collateral benefits: a free health check by Customs that looks at business processes, security of goods, security of cargo, loading, unloading, and so on. It improves the predictability of the supply chains because there is less control at the borders. You know that you can meet your time limits for delivery. It is a quality standard that companies can use when they are contracting with other companies.
Data quality
However, we have a problem with data quality. It is making it difficult for the risk analyst to work effectively. There is a particular problem in being able to reach far enough down the supply chains to get the real consignor and consignee. We understand some of the reasons behind it and we are seeking to address it with IATA and other organizations, including freight forwarders. That said, we are seeing a 20% quarter-on-quarter growth in AEO applications. We are also reaching reciprocal agreements with major trading partners who are introducing their own AEO programmes. I expect to see an agreement reached with the US by the end of this year, and with China by 2012-13.
* Based on a presentation for Air cargo security: leveraging the lessons from passenger security an Industry Insight Session at the 2011 Air Transport IT Summit. Gordon Wright has now moved to a post at the United Nations.
Collaborate and learn

Air cargo security is clearly a global and a cross-border challenge and an issue about information acquisition and sharing. All this, within a very cost-focused community, operating on tight margins and fragile trade lanes.
Page 20
AIR CARGO
Sharing cost
CHAMP and SITA are deeply involved. Its not straightforward: for example, though its requirements may be common, the EU has at least 29 different variations of rules, messaging and interfaces. Ultimately, the industry has a genuine desire for a collaborative approach to work. Moving forwards, the pressing challenge is to glue together the sets of experiences and capabilities in the passenger space, with the realities of air cargo. At the same time, sharing cost and minimizing the need for investment for players in the industry, are of paramount importance.
Human touch
However, while these new standards can use technology to transmit, store and process data, the industry should never lose sight of the human layer, he said. When you have a suspect shipment or a suspect individual, its the instincts and the experience of public servants, of immigration law enforcement customs officials, that can really tell the difference between a hurried business person late for a meeting and a terrorist, says Marten. They may look the same on paper because of the way they paid for tickets and the way they were routed. The same is true on the cargo side. But they are not the same and that is what the human element can detect.
OPINION|COLUMN
IATAs Secure Freight

By Desmond Vertannes Head of Cargo, IATA*
The air cargo alerts of last October have made everybody, particularly regulators, realize that there are gaps in the existing regime and those gaps need to plugged. So what is IATA doing to help? We have a programme called Secure Freight. This takes into account inconsistencies in the provision of secure national programmes around the world. We are discussing how we can work with the authorities to make sure that countries introduce the very robust systems that are recognized by the US.
Government role
Cost is certainly a huge concern to the cargo community. As is the acceptance of global standards by governments. If governments do not follow standards then nothing will happen because airlines will not (be able to) comply, notes Thomas Marten, VP Government & Border Security at SITA. Governments have to find a balance between security and facilitation. This is a global industry. We must have global standards. Those standards, with security declaration, a subset of customs declaration, will form the basis for future air cargo information and an air cargo information processing regime. We must work together as an Industry.
Self-interest and trust

If a global approach can be found, based on self-interest as well as trust within the air cargo community, then IT tools that underpin cargo security can benefit all parties. They can enhance security, identify high-risk travellers and high-risk shipments, facilitate travel and facilitate trade. Given the expectation of a tripling of low-risk travel over the next 10 years, that is crucial. With electronic gateways in place, governments can move goods through their systems more quickly. Taxes and duties can be levied quickly. There is no reason for goods to be held up at the airport. But to succeed, it requires all parties to work together to deliver the right system.
Keep it sterile
In the process, we are helping states become more competitive, to ensure they can introduce better systems that will eliminate bottlenecks, decrease costs, and make their economies more competitive. We all know that the air cargo supply chain has to be secured upstream: it cannot be left at the point of reception. However, once it is secure, you have to keep it sterile. That is the core purpose behind Secure Freight.
This is a global industry. We must have global standards. Those standards, with security declaration, a subset of customs declaration, will form the basis for future air cargo information and an air cargo information processing regime. We must work together as an industry.
Thomas Marten VP Government & Border Security, SITA
Next step
It incorporates the entire supply chain. It is globally relevant. We are not reinventing the wheel. We are taking best practice, embodying that into our programme and saying, this is what works and what is recognized so how can we help states to achieve that? We successfully launched a trial of Secure Freight last year in Malaysia with Emirates, DGF and Intel as partners in the process. That has gone well so far. The next step is to build critical support.
* Based on a presentation for Air cargo security: leveraging the lessons from passenger security an Industry Insight Session at the 2011 Air Transport IT Summit.
www.sita.aero
Page 21
WORKFORCE MOBILITY
A productivity breakthrough
Workforce mobility is happening now. Its already prevalent in the air transport industry. Think aircraft maintenance, boarding control and check-in, and electronic flight bags: 15-25% of airlines have programmes to implement mobile technology in these areas. Another 30-60% will have similar programmes underway by the end of 2012.
The figures come from the 2011 Airline IT Trends Survey (see pages 4-5). According to some industry analysts mobility now ranks third on the CIOs agenda behind cloud computing and virtualization, in that order. Its a big jump from 2010, when mobility ranked sixth, and 2009, when it ranked 12th. So theres no doubt that mobility adoption is gaining ground in air transport. Machine-to-machine (M2M) and mobile data cellular communications, in particular, are seeing robust growth, with high demand for devices, connectivity and applications. M2M alone is forecasted to grow 25.6% annually through 2014. In 2008, there were 47.1 million M2M connections; by 2014, there will be 187.1 million. (See A big industry impact M2M.) to expand rapidly to cope with peak periods, and they need to get passengers checked in as quickly as possible.
The trials are working

Mobile devices effectively provide infrastructure on demand. Airports can tackle queues and open new check-in areas using mobile devices. SITA is currently running trials on this. SITA is also running trials, primarily in Europe, with low-cost carriers, looking at how they board passengers using mobile devices. This is a huge opportunity for auxiliary revenue generation.
Three critical components

1. Mobilized applications. The air transport industry has hundreds, if not thousands, of applications and backend systems. Unfortunately, theyre not ready to be used on mobile devices. This has to change. 2. Wireless (WiFi) and Mobile Data/cellular access. While there is abundant WiFi access available for passengers at airports, what works for the public wont necessarily work for the industry. For workforce mobility to take off in the industry, wireless networks need to support business critical processes with a high degree of reliability and redundancy. Another key success factor for mobility is coverage. Though WiFi networks provide high-speed connectivity in specific locations, they need to be seamlessly combined with Mobile Data services for truly ubiquitous coverage. Crew applications for example must be able to connect across numerous airports often in multiple countries a range that only cellular data networks can provide today.
Industry-wide applications
Mobility applies to all of the air transport industrys business processes, from check-in and maintenance to turnaround management and airport operations. More than 4,000 mobile devices are already provided by SITA just for baggage management.
Whats interesting is that, yes, mobility is a priority, but as soon as you start talking about it, youre discussing business processes and applications for our industry,
Sebastian Fabre SITA Director, Network & Mobility
3. Mobile devices. The general passengers mobile device wont work for industry employees. A baggage handler, for example, wears gloves, so cannot use a typical consumer device. Workforce devices need to be durable and long-lasting. The average lifespan for a consumer cell phone is 18 months. You dont want to retrain your workforce every 18 months on a new device. It needs to be reliable for several years. Mobile technologies can impact dozens of air transport business applications. Two of the biggest are mobile-assisted check-in and electronic flight bags.
If you have 50 people at a gate, you can attach a credit card reader to a mobile device and then identify people with oversize baggage, and charge them on the spot.
Paul Boyle SITA Director, Workforce Mobility Portfolio
Mobile-assisted check-in
Mobile-assisted check-in is probably the No.1 demand in mobility applications in the air transport industry today, says Paul Boyle, SITA Director, Workforce Mobility Portfolio. Quite simply, mobile devices are used to check-in customers or board them. Demand for it is huge in fast-growing countries where airport capacity has reached 100%. These airports need
Another SITA customer is experimenting with putting mobile devices in the cars that pick up premium passengers. On picking up passengers, the driver hands them a mobile device, they select their seat and check themselves in. Boarding passes are printed in the front seat, and the driver hands them to passengers upon arrival at the airport. Mobile-assisted check-in will be a huge application in the coming year, Boyle says. It has a lot of potential, a lot of business benefits, and a very easy business case to justify.
You very quickly leave the technology area. You have to be very careful about how you bridge the two, making sure theyre aligned in order to be successful.
Page 22
WORKFORCE MOBILITY
OPINION|COLUMN
Electronic Flight Bags (EFBs)

Mobile devices will have a major impact on EFBs too. Airlines need to consider more than just connectivity. Pre-flight maintenance, flight operations data, flight operations itself, crew operations and fuelling are also vital considerations. All of these processes can be refined and improved using mobile technologies. Indeed, up to US$300 in savings per flight can be generated just optimizing these areas. Extrapolated over a years time, thats more than US$100,000 per aircraft in operational savings. When building a business case for mobility and EFB, airlines need to consider two key variables: volume and coverage area. EFBs use data intensively: 200-300MB a month, depending on scope. This is very different from asset monitoring, which typically involves very low usage. Coverage areas can be just as variable.
Overcoming obstacles
Putting the technical infrastructure in place to accommodate mobile devices is straightforward enough, especially when augmenting an existing fixed infrastructure. Where most challenges occur is on the human side of the equation. The biggest hurdle in introducing mobility has been getting our business customers engaged in the possibility of what mobile can do, says Martin Smith of Manchester (UK) Airports Group. Managing to have a good conversation with potential business areas about what could be done or having the conversation the other way, understanding what particular needs and issues the business areas have so we can propose solutions is surprisingly difficult. Another obstacle often occurs on the backend once the mobile application is in place. People can be resistant to change. Large bodies of staff, whether on the ground, in handling companies or customer
At the tip of the iceberg

By Martin Smith Director of Group Technology & Innovation, Manchester Airports Group*
Weve been implementing mobile technology at the Manchester Airports Group for the last seven or eight years. We expect mobility to have a huge impact on the way we and other airports operate, touching every aspect of operations.
Track, monitor, advise

At Manchester we use mobile technology to track and monitor landside buses. Were in constant communication to ensure theyre running on schedule and to keep abreast of any particular needs or issues, such as extra passengers. At terminal-side, we have the capability to deliver passenger information to their mobile devices via our customer service representatives. Once on campus, we can track and locate passengers anywhere in the airport, through Bluetooth in their mobile phones. This enables us to measure the length of time it takes passengers to move between particular points, and it allows us to identify and alleviate any bottlenecks as quickly and efficiently as possible. We also use mobility to manage our security processes, monitoring checkpoints to maintain the integrity of secure areas.
Stakeholder collaboration
Looking forward, we see mobility as a key enabler of collaboration not just between our own various activities, but between the entire set of activities performed by all stakeholders at the airport. This will be especially useful in the turnaround process, which is good news for everyone in the supply chain and good news, of course, for the passenger.
The biggest hurdle in introducing mobility has been getting our business customers engaged in the possibility of what mobile can do,
Martin Smith Director of Group Technology & Innovation, Manchester Airports Group
Game-changer
On the operational side, there are many areas around the management of our physical assets where mobility will have an increasingly significant impact. We currently have online mobile computer technology in many of our operational vehicles, giving us the ability to transmit up-to-the-minute information, both to the vehicles in the field and from the vehicles back to the fixed infrastructure at the airport. Much more can and will be done in the coming years. It begins with the necessary infrastructure to accommodate mobile devices. Once thats in place, mobility becomes a game-changer for both the customer experience and airport operations. And as airports seek to improve every aspect of their business, mobility will increasingly be a key enabler.
* Based on a presentation for Workforce mobility a breakthrough in productivity, an Industry Insight Session at the 2011 Air Transport IT Summit.
www.sita.aero
Page 23
WORKFORCE MOBILITY
service areas, are often committed to serving customers in ways theyre accustomed to. Transitioning to new ways of working even easier ways takes time and effort. A third challenge is merging numerous mobile solutions into a single solution. This is more economical and serviceable in the long run, and allows for more flexibility moving forward. Its easier and more cost-efficient to add new applications to an existing platform than to keep augmenting different point solutions. Says Boyle: Mobility projects are IT projects, and theyre not without their challenges. But the benefits in terms of increased revenues, higher customer satisfaction or lower costs are significant and we have to bear that in mind.
OPINION|COLUMN
A big industry impact M2M

By Emmanuel Routier Director, International M2M Centre, Orange Business Services
Machine-to-Machine, or M2M, is the ability for machines, devices or objects to communicate with each other in real-time without human intervention. Its happening around us all the time. The streetlamps in your neighbourhood can be managed remotely, enabling optimal on and off status every day. The maintenance status of your car can be communicated real-time to a service centre, taking required preventive actions without your intervention. These are just a couple of examples from the thousands of M2M communications we see every day.
Use cases
Orange Business Services has many use cases that showcase M2M benefits. 1. Tracking behaviour M2M is excellent at monitoring people, objects or data through space and time. SNCB, Belgiums railway system, uses M2M to track its locomotives. SIM cards send up to four to five thousand SMSs per locomotive each day. This enables SNCB to locate any locomotive at any time, enhancing security, safety, route optimization, efficiency, fuel conservation, and quality of service. 2. Process optimization M2M is hugely beneficial for optimizing industrial processes, especially the automated control of closed (self-contained) systems. e.l.m. Leblanc, builder of water boilers, uses SIM cards in its machines to track them for predictive maintenance, spare part management and optimization of fields operations resources. M2M has also allowed e.l.m Leblanc to evolve its business model by charging for its machines based on usage.
Not one size fits all

In the past, air transport CIOs were looking ahead to mobility. Now theyre looking at how they can implement mobility today. Just as other industries have benefitted from it, so the air transport industry stands to gain greatly. The potential upside is huge, but for airlines to realize it, they must align technology with business processes. Mobility is not one size fits all. It must be tailored to fit each enterprises needs.
Drivers of data traffic

M2M data traffic is increasing exponentially, thanks to the adoption of M2M applications by numerous industries. The drivers pushing those industries for such adoption come from the needs for: differentiation, cost decreases in operations and new business models. There are three waves in the take-off of M2M data traffic: the traditional applications around tracking and tracing, mobile payment options, and after sales applications. The second wave is relatively new and relates to regulations, in areas like security (eCalls) and utilities consumption (energy, for example, as well as smart grids, eTolls). Then the third wave is supporting M2M data traffic of the future, consisting mainly of mass consumer applications. The automotive industry leads the field here, along with connected devices, consumer electronics and health devices, for example: the Kindle, TomTom or Coyote devices.
Takeaways
M2M is a reality. The volume is there millions of SIM cards are in place. Industries are increasingly using M2M for its ability to impact many crucial business areas. Orange Business Services has used its M2M connectivity service to address the needs of industries worldwide. We are excited about partnering with SITA to help the air transport industry realize the same benefits of M2M that weve helped other industries achieve.
* Based on a presentation for Workforce mobility a breakthrough in productivity, an Industry Insight Session at the 2011 Air Transport IT Summit.
If you get the technology right and if you get the business process right, you have significant opportunity for benefits.
Paul Boyle SITA Director, Workforce Mobility Portfolio
How does M2M benefit industries?

M2M provides several benefits, primarily:
n n n n
Tracking behaviour. Enabling sensor-driven decisions. Processes optimization (increased efficiency). Resource consumption optimization (context-driven consumption). Compliancy with regulation.
Page 24
NEWS
World-class FIDS spreads to CIS states

Kazakhstans Almaty International Airport has announced a substantial IT upgrade to the more than threemillion passenger airport an important transit point on the route from south-eastern Asia to Europe. The CIS state is the first to adopt SITAs Com-Net Flight Information Display System (FIDS) since Com-Net, the FIDS market leader in North America, was acquired by SITA nine months ago. System. Overall, SITA will provide and maintain 65 CUTE check-in counters and 90 FIDS screens or display points throughout the terminal. Galymzhan Yespayev, Almaty International Airport IT Department chief, said the move is in line with the airports commitment to providing passengers with the best airport technology available. There is nothing more important to passengers checking in or waiting to board than to have steady and constant access to real-time flight status updates. SITAs Com-Net FIDS solution meets our needs perfectly, he said.
WorldTracer goes mobile

To reduce delays of mishandled baggage, WorldTracer baggage tracing can now be used by agents on mobile devices at airports. The new service, SITA WorldTracerWeb Mobile, allows airline staff to help passengers by filing claims in arrival halls, at baggage carousels and in customs areas. Agents can query, in real-time, with a timetable that provides all direct flights and logical connections to any destination worldwide. They can select the best and most efficient routing to reconcile a mishandled bag with its owner.
Real-time flight status vital

SITA will upgrade existing CUTE check-in facilities and improve the boarding process at the airport with its Maestro Departure Control
Dealing with disruption

The trend in the rate of mishandled baggage is downward, but 2010 saw a slight rise due to major disruptions as a result of the Icelandic ash cloud and severe weather.
During such disruptions, SITA WorldTracerWeb Mobile will allow airline staff to move out from behind counters and help passengers at baggage carousels and file baggage claims or quickly forward bags. This eliminates the need to bring any mishandled luggage to a central sorting area, greatly reducing the level of handling and speeding up the re-uniting of bags with their owners.
Taiwan gets first CUSS kiosks

Cathay Pacific, China Airlines, Delta, EVA Airways, Dragonair, KLM or TransAsia Airways from any kiosk.
Less congestion
The flexibility this offers departing passengers ensures the best use of the kiosks, improving efficiency and reducing congestion in the busy terminals. Jimmy Hu, Airport Service Manager of Cathay Pacific and CUTE Club Chairman at Taoyuan International Airport, said: SITA has provided excellent service over the years to the airlines operating at Taoyuan International Airport and now these new common-use kiosks extend that great service. The implementation has gone very smoothly and already our passengers are enjoying the flexibility these easy-to-use CUSS kiosks provide. We look forward to further improvements and advanced passenger services provided by SITA.
Two million milestone reached for ACARS

SITA is now processing two million ACARS messages a day for more than 10,000 user aircraft, airline operations centres, air traffic control, and aircraft and engine manufacturers. The standard cockpit ACARS (Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System) messages are critical to the safety and the operation of the world's aircraft. They are supported by data link processing centres in Montreal and Singapore and an extensive network of over 1,200 VHF ground stations. Taiwans busiest airport, Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, is celebrating the successful introduction of the first common use self-service (CUSS) kiosks in Taiwan. The kiosks enable fast and efficient check-in for its 20 million passengers. Already the new kiosks are proving to be hugely popular with more than 335,000 boarding passes issued in the first four months of usage. The 52 new SITA S3 CUSS kiosks in Terminals 1 and 2 allow passengers to check in for flights on ANA,
Doubling demand
Demand for the SITA service has doubled in five years. New generation aircraft, such as the Airbus A380 and the Boeing 787, still have ACARS systems for flight-critical communications in parallel with new generation electronic flight bags.

Air Transport IT Review Issue 3 2011

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Air Transport IT Review Issue 3 2011

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Cloud computing a new dawn

Intelligent airports getting there faster

Airline distribution control your destiny

Air cargo intelligence-led security

Productivity breakthrough workforce mobility

Specialists in air transport communications and IT solutions

Page 2 SITA Air Transport IT Review | Issue 3 2011

ATI Cloud opens for business

Top event tackles gamechanging trends

Save the date

Read about the highlights

Airlines to spend more on mobile

Meet the Me-Centrics

Register for our Webcast

Air Transport IT Review

A first for global mobile data services

One-stop for all

Mobile workforce and EFBs

Common payment service boosts direct selling

Awards confirm leading airport role in Asia Pacific

New Command Centre enables follow-the-sun support

SITA Air Transport IT Review | Issue 3 2011

AIRLINE IT TRENDS SURVEY 2011

Upbeat, yet cautious

About the Airline IT Trends Survey

AIRLINE IT TRENDS SURVEY 2011

Airline IT Trends Survey 2011

1.8% 90% of revenue

SITA Air Transport IT Review | Issue 3 2011

CLOUD COMPUTING IN AIR TRANSPORT

A new dawn for operational flexibility

From silos to standards

CLOUD COMPUTING IN AIR TRANSPORT

Download our cloud computing New Frontiers paper

Malaysia Airlines rings the changes with cloud

SITA Air Transport IT Review | Issue 3 2011

CLOUD COMPUTING IN AIR TRANSPORT

Embracing independent players

Can the Cloud bring MRO into the 21st century?

Something for everyone?

Addressing legacy systems

Desktops in the cloud

30 Apps and rising!

Cope with the unexpected

Infrastructure-as-a-Service, only 100 milliseconds away

On the horizon a marketplace for industry software

SITA Air Transport IT Review | Issue 3 2011

THE INTELLIGENT AIRPORT

Getting there faster

Smart thinking: Zurich International Airport

The intelligent airport encompasses four main elements:

More passengers, more punctuality

Unlocking hidden potential

Holding back the vision

THE INTELLIGENT AIRPORT

Going with the flow

Demands for seamless travel

Download our Intelligent Airport New Frontiers paper

SITA Air Transport IT Review | Issue 3 2011

THE INTELLIGENT AIRPORT

By Antoine Rostworowski Director Business Development, Aroports de Montral

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