Aviation industry needs to adopt and leverage technology in a big way

—Venky Sanjeeva

Senior Director and Head, Transportation Practice, Unisys India

Technology has been a cornerstone of aviation industry ever since the dawn of aviation—commencing with the conquering of ‘flight’ to becoming a key enabler for communications, business innovation, and business models. With IT being recognized as a business enabler, airline and airport business leaders are trying to strike a balance between investing in technology projects that will deliver long-term returns, and the more immediate pressures to reduce costs and increase revenues. To get more insights on the aviation industry, Dataquest interacted with Venky Sanjeeva, Senior Director and Head, Transportation Practice, Unisys India. Excerpts

Do you think the Indian aviation industry is still behind the other countries when it comes to technology?

The aviation industry in India has seen tremendous growth over the last decade. A number of new players have commenced operations offering both domestic and international services.

In some areas, the aviation industry in India has implemented some of the latest technologies to improve operations and provide better service. For example, at Terminal 3 of the Delhi International Airport, the baggage handling system has advance security features that expedite sorting, screening, and any manual inspections when necessary. Also, many airlines now accept a mobile boarding pass on a passenger’s smartphone, eliminating the need to carry printed passes. Further, notifications of schedule changes are being published in real-time to passengers via text messages and emails. So, we have started to embrace mobile technologies and respond to customer expectations for real-time information updates.

However, India has not yet embraced self-service airport processing such as self-service kiosks for passenger and baggage check-in or home printed bag tags—both designed to improve the passenger experience by reducing check-in time. This is an area where the Indian aviation industry needs to catch-up with the rest of the world.

What are the current challenges in the Indian aviation sector?

High fuel prices, unstable economic conditions, and unplanned disruptions such as labor issues and bad weather are grounding airline efforts to increase profitability. Also, airlines are struggling to increase passenger revenues as increased carrier competition has led to an undifferentiated environment where passengers are fixated on price and schedule.

In such an undifferentiated transaction-driven environment, airlines are increasingly relying on sale of ancillary products and services such as seats with extra leg room, meals, and additional entertainment options to boost airline revenues. However, the Global Distribution System (GDS) and Internet distributors lack the ability to compare and sell these profit-generating products and services.

Also, most reservation and departure control systems used in India were developed many years ago when the industry was focused purely on operations rather than the customer. These systems were not designed for modern business practices. As it can be difficult to enhance the functionality offered by these systems, airlines are limited in the full development of their business initiatives.

To meet the current and future growth in passenger and cargo traffic, our aviation industry needs to adopt and leverage technology in a big way. Specifically, we need to implement systems and solutions that enable customers to make better choices and help airlines better manage passenger re-accommodations during irregular operations.

What are the emerging technologies driving an integrated passenger experience?

As the industry evolves and passengers in India become more aware of specific services that will help enhance their travel experience, there are a number of emerging technologies that can help meet passenger expectations. Globally, airlines are closely following IATA’s New Distribution Capability (NDC) initiative to create an industry standard to provide more choice and transparency for consumers. This initiative is aimed at enabling customers to make informed decisions on price, amenities, and services, regardless of where and from whom they choose to buy their services.

‘Home Printed’ bag tags is another important emerging technology that will enable passengers to print baggage tags at home and drop their bags directly at the ‘Fast Bag Drop’ counter at the airport thereby, avoiding the queues and saving time. In today’s fast paced world, passengers expect to be informed at all times and the ubiquitous mobile device is becoming the medium of choice to send and receive information relating to all aspects of travel. Using mobile devices, customers can not only review/select, book, and board a flight, but now also pay for the services through the same device.

These are some examples of technology providing an integrated experience to airline customers.

How can airports and airlines work together to provide passengers with an integrated set of services that increase revenues, customer satisfaction, and wallet share?

It is evident that aviation in India has entered a phase of development underpinned by huge growth in passenger traffic. This is being recognized by the various governmental bodies and significant investments are being made to modernize our airports by improving the physical and IT infrastructure. Delhi, Mumbai, the new Hyderabad airport and Bengaluru are examples of airports that offer worldclass infrastructure and passenger conveniences.

There is also an initiative to modernize airports at non-metro cities like Mangalore, Pune, and Thiruvananthapuram. This modernization will enable airline and airport systems to interface effectively and offer a seamless experience in areas like fight information and baggage handling, etc. Through modernisation and implementation of advanced systems, airlines and other airport based vendors will have the opportunity to cross sell products and services, thus improving customer satisfaction while improving wallet share. For example, in the event of unplanned layover for passengers, airlines will be able to reserve rooms within the airport through an automated interface sharing passenger information for such reservations.

What is Unisys’ role in transforming the passenger experience in India and globally?

Unisys is a leading provider of passenger reservation and departure control systems to airlines worldwide. Unisys offers advanced technologies and solutions for airlines through its flagship ‘AirCore’ solution which is a modern, flexible suite of solutions that provides a new approach for airline reservations and departure control (reservations, ticketing, check-in, boarding, and load control). AirCore makes customer centricity an operational reality by streamlining and optimizing key customer facing processes and focuses on servicing the customer’s needs.

Unisys developed and implemented the world’s first, home-print bag tag technology used at Billund Airport in Denmark and automated baggage reconciliation systems used to secure and track baggage for airlines at Australian and New Zealand international airports.

In India, Unisys recently completed testing of the core airport operational systems implemented at Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL)’s new Terminal 2 as part of the airport’s modernization program. Unisys also managed and implemented systems integration projects as part of airport modernization programs at Delhi International Airport to prepare for the influx of passengers for the Delhi Commonwealth Games. Elsewhere in Asia, Unisys managed system integration projects at Beijing Capital International Airport (ahead of the Beijing Olympics), Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, and Chengdu Airport in China.

Another important area—cyber security—is critical to ensure both data and physical security. As airlines, airports, and passengers rely more on interconnected technologies and systems, and the sharing of critical data to streamline processes and improve the passenger experience, it is more critical than ever to protect against both malicious attacks and accidental breaches. As airline data moves, it may be stolen. Passenger, flight, baggage, crew, and other data must be protected at all times—only the right personnel should be able to access and manage certain information. The Unisys Stealth Solution Suite is an innovative approach to data and network security that can help airline industry executives secure and protect sensitive information as it is shared across the value chain.