Once the preserve of the backroom boffin, today IT is eagerly embraced by a sector anxious to prove its cutting edge.

IT: these days airports, airlines and handlers couldn’t exist without the technology that has come to typify modern life. So, if IT has been the saviour of the industry, what exactly have been its benefits? We look here at a couple of the biggest exponents of IT to see exactly how they have helped to shape the sector.

Amadeus, as a brand, needs little introduction: globally respected and a company that has made its mark through cutting edge technology, it has brought aid to many enterprises within the air transport industry.

Most recently, it started working closely with Southwest Airlines with a view to introducing its Altéa reservations solution to support the carrier’s international service. The upshot of this will see the implementation of Amadeus’ technology that will allow Southwest to operate international flights in 2014. AirTran Airways, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Southwest, currently serves international destinations and so as AirTran international flights make the transition to Southwest, so Amadeus will support Southwest’s international schedules.

The largest airline in the US by domestic passengers, Southwest coincidentally is also the first low cost carrier to have adopted such a sophisticated IT system for managing its operations and sales.

Gary Kelly, Southwest’s Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, recently gave an interview in which he spoke, inter alia, about the coming transition. He said that since 2011 Southwest had made significant progress integrating AirTran.

“We’ve consolidated the AirTran headquarters function into Dallas. We’ve implemented all new aircraft maintenance management technology. We have implemented technology to support multiple fleet types. We’ve, of course, received our single operating certificate from the FAA. We have also, since then, launched conversion lines to move AirTran 737s into the Southwest Airlines livery: that work is underway. We plan to get 11 airplanes converted here in 2012. We made significant changes to AirTran’s revenue management processes and significant changes to AirTran’s flight schedule, including the redeployment of aircraft to new markets – hopefully more lucrative international markets.

“Related to all that, we’ve spent months working on the best international solution for Southwest Airlines.”

Southwest’s technology is all domestic and the announcement that Amadeus had been selected as its reservations technology solution was probably no great surprise.

“It also sets the stage for us to move all of our reservations, the domestic reservations that is, to Amadeus if we choose to. Along those same lines, we see a significant opportunity to serve Houston with international flights out of Houston’s Hobby airport. We have a major campaign underway to obtain the necessary approvals to launch that service in 2015, which is what the Houston airport service would like.”

Gary Kelly went on to mention that Southwest had, in fact, five strategic initiatives lined up, initiatives that would be introduced over a period of time. The Rapid Rewards program and the B737-800 are already underway: the other three comprise the Air Tran integration, fleet modernization and the reservations system replacement.

Gary Kelly was cautious about naming a date for the roll-out of the cross-selling function, saying that it might be a case of codesharing later rather than sooner.

“We have 11 aircraft that we are converting in 2012, and that will have minimal impact to the AirTran network. We will be converting roughly 60-odd aircraft next year, so that’s where we’ll really need the facilitation, if you will, of the codesharing to make that conversion from an AirTran market more rapidly to a Southwest market.”

On the topic of the cutover to the new reservations system, Gary Kelly admitted that it was difficult to predict exactly the outcome in a changing marketplace.

“We’re going to be going through a lot of effort with Amadeus to implement this module, if you want to think about it that way. And if it works well for us, we’ll obviously take a very hard look at domestic (routes). Why go to all this trouble to work with Amadeus with the thought that you’re not going to continue to do business with them in a broader way? So we’re going to – we’re positioned where we can take advantage of that, and if things go well, then, perhaps, that’ll be our decision.”

Would the new system be working side by side the old – or would the two integrate?

“One way or the other, it has to be integrated with the rest of our systems. But I think it’s safe to say that this piece will probably be set aside from our domestic reservation system.”

However, it was stated that there would be a period of time during which Navitaire, which is the AirTran system, and Sabre, the current RES platform and Amadeus, which will be the international platform, are all talking to each other. All that is contemplated within the plan. In the fullness of time there would be just one system running, confirmed Gary Kelly.

The Amadeus Altéa initiative for Southwest Airlines will be implemented in a phased approach: the first phase of the project will see Amadeus support Southwest’s reservations for its international business, which includes implementation of the Reservation and Inventory components of the Altéa solution (domestic reservations will remain on the current Southwest Airlines platform during this phase of implementation). Phase 1 implementation is scheduled to begin in early 2013. Phase 2, should it be activated, will see Southwest Airlines add the Altéa DCS – Customer Management solution for its international operations only. Phase 3 of the contract will mean that in addition to international flights, Amadeus Altéa will support all of Southwest’s domestic business using the three core components of the Altéa platform (Reservations, Inventory and Departure Control Customer Management).

Southwest’s current IT system is not capable of handling international flights, and so the Altéa system will help to support the airline’s international growth strategy. The Altéa IT system will also allow Southwest to interline and codeshare on its international flights, as well as provide a more personalized customer service. This deal is significant for Amadeus because it concretely demonstrates the suitability of Altéa for supporting low cost carrier sales and operations as well as major network carriers.

Rostering and planning solutions

Back in November 2004, Swissport USA started a project that was designed to significantly improve the resource planning processes at its domestic stations. Up to that time, its various stations had been using internally designed Gantt charts for planning on Excel. In order to improve the efficiency of the planning process, Swissport USA’s initial project involved the implementation of GS Planning.

The idea was to have one person (namely Dorian Mehrotra, Director Centralized Resource Competency Center at Swissport International USA) in the corporate home office using GS Planning to collect flight data, schedules and shifts from the different stations and generating the best possible daily shift demand, which the respective station then used as the basis to manually create an Excel-based

roster.

The pilot station chosen was Miami and subsequently the system was rolled out to Los Angeles. Shortly after this, Swissport’s project team determined that the end result that the stations really needed was not just a Gantt chart with the total daily shift demand but an actual shift schedule. At that point Swissport decided to implement GS Rostering. Los Angeles became the first station that went into production with both systems.

Two years on, Swissport USA’s management came up with the vision of a centralized department located in the corporate home office that would serve the planning and scheduling needs of the various stations. A team of five staff was hired for this purpose.

After receiving GS Planning and GS Rostering training, the team started generating weekly schedules for Swissport’s stations at Washington Dulles International, Chicago O’Hare and John F Kennedy International in the East region; Miami airport in the South; and Los Angeles and San Francisco airports in the West. The success of the initiative most recently led to the addition of Toronto and Vancouver airports in Canada as well. The core planning/rostering team was complemented by the operational staff at each of the stations who, after receiving end-user training, were enabled to deploy the centrally-produced strategic and tactical plans and rosters into the “day-of-operation” environment.

An additional three people were employed for the core team. This has meant that now a team of eight staff take care of planning and scheduling the staff in terms of all ramp-related functions (such as loading, unloading, bag room and cleaning tasks) for eight Swissport US and Canadian stations.

When asked about the additional benefits and the flexibility of GroundStar, Swissport’s Project Manager, Dorian Mehrotra had this to say: “We use GS Planning to generate the GSE requirements as well. Also, and very importantly, we can very easily add and delete flights and re-plan if, for example, we are trying to bid for a new customer.” He adds: “The overall concept has been such a success that Swissport is now looking at the idea of the centralized planning center, the so-called Centralized Resource Competency Center, at other areas in our international network.”

Based on the success of the project in North America, Swissport Americas went on to implement GS RealTime for its large operation in Brazil during the course of 2010.

Things had progressed further by the end of 2011: by that date, the Centralized Resource Competency Center for Swissport Americas had successfully implemented GS RealTime at its two largest Canadian stations, namely Toronto and Vancouver. The same was launched in JFK during the month of June and at the time of writing Swissport is looking at a further roll-out of GS RealTime around the rest of the US stations.

Furthermore, it is now reviewing the introduction of GS RealTime in Brazil at some point during 2012.

Electronic recording facility

The sheer size of North America, and the number of airports it contains, presents both opportunities and challenges to ground handlers. With many operators having a presence at many airports across the region, covering everything from small regional stations to the largest international hubs and a cross section of domestic and international carriers, IT has a crucial rôle to play in ensuring operational efficiency.

Ground handlers working on this scale generate huge amounts of information to be collated and presented to the operation on the day, which are then further gathered and shipped to the corporate office for onward billing, business intelligence and management reporting. Traditionally, much of this has been a costly, manually intensive paper based process. Replacing and enhancing this with the right automated systems has a hugely positive impact, streamlining procedures and ensuring rapid, effective distribution of information.

Several of Damarel’s customers in the region have wholeheartedly embraced this approach and consequently reaped the rewards it brings. By delivering standardized operational systems to all stations, they have adopted a simplified IT strategy that provides immediate access to performance and financial information across the entire network.

One of the keys to a successful operation is accurate and timely information, ensuring that all departments are kept up to date and ready to meet any potential challenges. Equally, the recording and tracking of all activities to ensure accurate and timely billing is crucial to maintaining a steady cashflow.

“Before the introduction of the FiNDnet Suite, stations were working with what they could get locally, which often meant disparate information sources, such as the airport’s FIDS and telex messages: information was patchy and required manual collation and distribution,” says Paul Bruton, Damarel’s Consultant Sales & Marketing.

It is no exaggeration to say that the introduction of the FiNDnet Operational Database to stations has revolutionized the operational environment by providing a central source of real time information, collated automatically from a number of diverse sources. Real operational awareness has been delivered to all areas, from the Operations Control Centre through to the Crew Room.

With feeds from systems such as the Type-B networks, ATC and in some areas the airlines’ own systems, information is now both timely and accurate, allowing handling teams to focus on and improve service. With an automatic electronic record of all flight activity, this can now simply be made available to the corporate office, removing the historical overheads of preparing and sending these details.

Of course, there is also the supplementary question of establishing and recording all the ancillary services. Historically, for many organizations this involved a great deal of paper, which then required local collation, followed by despatch to the corporate office and a central administration to process it all.

This is where FiNDnet Services comes in. The tool allows handlers to record the services electronically as they happen, either from a PC workstation or mobile device. The immediate electronic capture of all the service details has removed downstream processing overheads and, in some cases, reduced mailing costs by thousands of dollars a month.

That covered the needs at the station’s operational level, but what about the corporate office? The administration of the billing process has traditionally been heavily manual, involving the movement of large quantities of paperwork cross-country to be processed by the central billing section. Further processes were subsequently involved in preparing the invoices for mailing out to customers.

Here, the FiNDnet Automated Billing module has had a huge impact. As the name suggests, this is an automated tool. It receives the operational details from stations electronically, generating the invoices within a matter of minutes and handing off financial details to corporate accounts, all with minimal manual intervention. The tool has allowed clients to reduce significantly the time it takes to get the invoices out, thereby improving revenue flow whilst also significantly cutting the staffing overheads required.

The delivery of the invoices to customers has also improved appreciably with the move from old-style envelopes and postage to full electronic invoicing. The invoices are sent to customers via their preferred medium, whether that is a standard industry eInvoice provider, e-mail attachment or access via a corporate Web portal. As a result, costs are further reduced and speed of payment is improved.

However, it doesn’t end there. FiNDnet Automated Billing, with its seamless automation, provides revenue visibility on a daily basis, allowing cumulative revenues to be monitored against budgets, enabling pre-emptive action to be taken where necessary without having to wait for manual invoices to be produced the end of the month.

Overall, the FiNDnet Suite has allowed Damarel’s clients to achieve significant savings across their business, streamlining many workflows and improving revenue collection, while allowing them to provide better customer service. Damarel looks back on five years’ experience of providing IT solutions to the US and recently implmented the above solution for a major handler there.

The story behind a story of our time: the HeliRoll.

A quarter of a century ago, the FMC Airline Equipment Division (now known as JBT AeroTech GSE) introduced a revolutionary product that would become one of the greatest success stories in the history of airline ground support equipment. The newly released Commander loader, with its modern, clean looking appearance introduced many new enhancements never seen on cargo loaders, including a swing-out power module, extendable operator cab, powered bridge wings – and something dubbed the HeliRoll conveying system. Looking back, of all of the enhancements, arguably the HeliRoll application had the greatest impact and it helped make the Commander the biggest selling cargo loader around the world.

The HeliRoll conveyor system evolved as the result of customer input that demanded a more reliable and efficient method to move containers and pallets on cargo loaders. Up until 1986, most loaders used rubber belts, rubber wheels and cylinder rollers to convey their loads. For the operators, the current loader conveying systems were slow and laborious and it was not uncommon for containers to be manually jostled on the bridge because of the lack of side shifting features. Maintenance on these systems was costly because the rubber belting would suffer cuts from damaged containers and conveying-lifting systems (which were used to side-shift on the rear platform) becoming damaged through the ingress of foreign matter.

Augurs the answer?

FMC duly formed a cross-functional team, comprising staff from its engineering, sales, field service, purchasing and manufacturing sections, to come up with a new loader to replace the JC/PL-2. One of the key areas that they focused on was how material in other industries was conveyed. The idea of HeliRoll conveying came about after one of the team members described an augur system that they had employed whilst growing up on a farm. The augur idea was transformed into a crude model, which showed a lot of promise during testing.

Tests with the early model revealed was that it was possible to convey product on a flat surface without the use of lifting mechanisms extending and retracting when the need arose to change the product’s direction. The next task was to identify, or design, components that effectively and efficiently conveyed product. Several items were looked at, including an array of omni-rollers and powered wheels. None of these, though, was effective in performing the required functions of container side-shifting and rotation, two key elements in conveying efficiency. The FMC team came to the conclusion that an optimal system was not available – and that it would be up to them to come up with the solution.

Birth of the legend

What the FMC team came up with was the HeliRoll, a unique wheel cluster, or cluster hub, with six freely rotating rollers, positioned at a 45º angle around the hub’s perimeter. When rotated on a shaft, the HeliRoll exerts a force at an angle of 45º to the axis of the shaft. The HeliRoller clusters are either right handed or left handed and work in unison or against each other to move the loads. For example, when conveying a straight load, the HeliRoll clusters move in the same direction, but when side shifting, they work against each other. For rotation, the HeliRoll clusters are mounted in a specific area that allows four opposing forces to create a circular motion. All conveying operations are performed on a single plane, without the need to extend or retract other components. The HeliRoll base and rollers were constructed of aluminum for long life, to be free of rust and to minimize the wear on containers and pallets.

For the end user, the operator, the system was very simple. The loader was divided into three segments, rear-rear platform, front-rear platform and bridge. One joystick in each segment conveyed the load forwards, backwards and sideways. A rotation switch allowed the load on the rear platform to turn. The conveyor system was augmented by cylinder rollers in areas where side-shifting was not necessary. The final outcome was a conveyor system that was fast, easy to control, totally alive and with no dead spots, thereby eliminating the jostling of containers by the operators. JBT declares that the totally live deck is essential when conveying pallets and containers that may have warped or damaged bottoms.

FMC engineers worked with Commander customers in the field, in order to find ways to enhance the Commander’s revolutionary conveying system. In 1990, after extensive field and laboratory testing, the HeliRoll’s rollers were redesigned with new bushings and a curvature design that optimized the movement of the load when it came into contact with the ULD’s surface. With the improved design, the HeliRoll conveyor system has shown itself to be 100% reliable in the worst environmental conditions.

Gilding the lily

Enhancements were also made for maintenance of the conveyor system. The drive chains now have simple adjusters that can be easily accessed and tightened. In the past, when a HeliRoll needed replacement, the platform deck and shaft had to be removed. Today, when replacing a HeliRoll, the damaged cluster is simply cut off and replaced with a two-piece field kit. This task can be performed in less than one hour from under the raised platform with no need to remove the deck plate or shaft.

Dependability is another key element in the design of the system. Should a HeliRoll cluster become damaged, the system keeps on working, without any interruption to the operation. In fact, depending on the location, several clusters could actually be damaged and the system will still operate, with a minimal loss in efficiency.

This conveying system is not just limited to cargo loaders, though. JBT AeroTech has been very successful in selling HeliRoll transfer decks to air cargo facilities around the world. The transfer decks are integrated with the air cargo facilities’ handling systems at transition points and loading areas, or anywhere where the loads must side-shift or rotate. All JBT AeroTech transfer decks require very little maintenance and do not require any embedding into the warehouse floor surface to accommodate mechanical lifting mechanisms.

Other JBT AeroTech products utilizing the HeliRoll include the CLT-8 loader/transporter for side-shifting on the front platform and optional rear container rotation. Moreover, HeliRolls enable the CPT-7ST transporter to efficiently side load, as well as end load and front load ULD containers and pallets.

The popularity and success of the HeliRoll can be measured by the success of the Commander family of loaders, which comprises four models capable of moving loads ranging from 7 tonnes (15,500 pounds) up to 30 tonnes (66,000 pounds). To date, over 5,300 Commanders have been sold worldwide, making it the most popular cargo loader every built. Without doubt the HeliRoll has been a key element that has enabled the Commander to provide a lower cost of total ownership.

In all, JBT AeroTech estimates that over 1.4m HeliRolls have been installed in Commander CLT-8s, CPT-7STs and transfer decks since 1987. That’s a staggering total. Moreover, to date, approximately 56,000 HeliRolls have been sold through JBT AeroTech’s spare parts sales. On that basis, approximately 96% of all the HeliRolls installed are still in use today. In fact, many of the Commander loaders that have been rebuilt actually returned to service with their original HeliRolls intact.

In summary, it is fair to say that JBT AeroTech’s novel system has played a major rôle in the success of the Commander family of loaders and transfer decks. It has eliminated the dead spots on the conveying surface and has given the operator complete control of the load at all times. HeliRolls have proven to be durable and to require little maintenance. Over the years, there have been several attempts by competitors to duplicate this conveyor system, but so far, none has succeeded.

That fact alone says it all.

Ten years on, Jose Manuel Guzman, Sales & Marketing Manager at Avianca Services, unfolds the story of this Latin American handling enterprise.

In the beginning, there were two aviation companies: Aerolíneas Centrales de Colombia (Aces) and Avianca Airlines. When, in 2002, par merged, it was clear that duplicate ground handling teams were not required. Each airline had its own handling division so logic dictated a centralized ground handling function. A working team of seven Avianca executives led the start up of a Business Unit called Avianca Services, which implemented a business model focused on satisfying other airline customers in the ground handling market in Colombia. They pooled resources with the aim of delivering a consistent service. Early customers included Delta, Mexicana, Copa, Taca, Cubana and Iberia.

Jose takes up the story:

“Since 2002, Avianca Services has seen a sustainable growth, supported by its very active commercial and customer services focus, and has tried to over-deliver in terms of market expectations. Our aim has been to stand out as an excellent independent airline ground handler. Illustrating growth is easy by comparing the number of staff and revenues from other airlines customers from 2002 to 2012. Back in 2002 we had around 120 people and revenues of US$1m; this year the staff number 290 and revenues are forecast to be around US$10m.”

The figures, then, speak for themselves. Avianca is able to supply virtually the whole range of ground services, ranging from passenger services and ramp handling to operational dispatch: in a typical year, more than 16,000 flights are catered for. It almost goes without saying that the handler has enlarged its operation and increased its market share. As Jose notes, “comparing 2011 and 2012, we have experienced a sales increase of nearly 7%.”

A changing canvas

He is aware, though, of the changing face of the industry sector.

“There are major competitors coming to the region,” he says, “and this requires Avianca Services to strengthen its expertise in the provision of services with both warmth and kindness, and continue its research in technology and improvements that contribute to the optimization of time and results for our customers.

“We think that we are facing two main challenges at present: these are the airport facilities in Colombia and our competitors’ business practices. In this latter area, we are seeing, for example, lower prices, which do not always translate into the best service levels. As for airports, the airport facilities across Colombia are being restructured and rebuilt but not at an adequate pace, which in many ways is having a negative impact on our operations. On the other hand, some of our competitors are offering low fares, based on some legal, but not quite orthodox, methods that they have arranged with their employees, which puts them in a better position when it comes the matter of costs.”

Jose reveals that his operation has been pro-active in terms of making the handling operation as green as possible and the reduction of the company’s carbon footprint has been a priority.

“Environmental issues are a must and are a very significant factor for us. We are currently using electric-powered GSE, such as conveyor belts and tow tractors. We are now trying to migrate all our GSE fleet to electric-powered units, endorsing our environmental responsibility whilst trying to counter the high cost of fuel. In short, we are moving towards a greener ramp.”

All of Avianca’s employees are currently receiving a representative part of their Avianca Services Training through AVANCEMOS, which is an on-line training site belonging to Avianca. This, he declares, has made a great impact on his staff. There has been a decrease in the time spent in formal training with a concomitant better training coverage for the employees.

GSE and its importance

“On the other side of the coin, Avianca Services has implemented a yearly renewal program for its GSE. This assists our labor force and ensures that the ground handling service provided to our clients comprises state-of-the-art equipment.

“It is also worth mentioning something about the human resources policies adopted by Avianca Services, which have a very positive effect on our employees insofar as their motivation and health levels are concerned. Of course, this is reflected in the good work, low turnover and the service level commitment we provide to our airline customers. In summary, each of our employees has the benefits of being an airline employee.”

In closing, we asked Jose for a tip or two for anyone reading this who might be thinking of breaking into the ground handling sector. What, in his view, were the key requirements of making an operation work satisfactorily?

“Be responsible with your employees,” says Jose, “and with your clients and with your equipment. All of these require maintenance of some sort to keep you on the right track. A good operation consists of a smooth combination of people, equipment, tools – and heart.”