Ground Zero to Cloud 9

Developments in the aviation sector during the recent past have been in line
with macroeconomic growth, liberalization, and removal of policy barriers. The
surge in the number of airlines, a consequence of the governments open sky
policy and route expansion by airline companies, requires the airports to cope
with growing infrastructure requirements, in terms of both capacity and
standards.

According to market estimates, the total passenger throughput for all
airports in India has grown from 39.03 mn in 1999-2000 to 116.87 mn in 2007-08.
While the international passenger segment has witnessed a CAGR of 14%, the
domestic passenger segment has registered a growth of 22% during this period.
Almost all the airports in India have been facing the effects of increased
passenger traffic and the consequent congestion. The Commonwealth Games in 2010
will once again push up passenger numbers significantly.

Currently, India has 127 airports, including sixteen international airports,
eight customs declared airports, seventy-nine domestic airports, and twenty-four
civil enclaves at the defence airfields, all of which are being managed by
Airports Authority of India (AAI). Traditionally, airport development in the
country has been in the public sector. However, the amendment to AAI Act and
Aircraft Rules in 2004, has enabled private sector investments; 100% Foreign
Direct Investment (FDI) is allowed in setting up of greenfield airports.

The airport sector has attracted considerable private interest. According to
the 11th Plan projections, of the total investment requirement of Rs 30,968
crore, as much as 70% (Rs 21,630 crore) is envisaged by way of private
investment. The PPP route has progressively gained importance and is being used
either for modernization or construction of airports or only for city-side
development at airports.

While the Cochin Airport was the only privately managed airport till the mid
2000s, there are now four more privately managed international airports in
IndiaDelhi, Mumbai, and the two greenfield airports of Hyderabad and Bangalore.
While the Bangalore International Airport (BIAL) was led by Siemens,
infrastructure major GMR played a lead role in the development of IGI Airport
(DIAL) in Delhi and the Hyderabad International Airport (HIAL). The Mumbai
International Airport (MIAL) project has been managed by GVK. More Greenfield
airports at Goa, Navi Mumbai, Pune, Greater Noida and Kannur are being
considered for development.

The government has further identified thirty-five non-metro airports for
development, involving the setting up of terminal buildings, car parks, and
cargo and other airside facilities. The increased number of passengers has
warranted improved customer services and amenities. And the PPP model involving
global infrastructure players, material experts, IT majors has ensured the much
needed modernization of the large airports in India.

Intelligent passenger check-in terminals, biometric ID systems, automated handling systems are some of the technological innovations on Indian airports

Airport Technologies

Todays airports are anything but simple. They contain an incredible variety
of systems, technologies and operations. Most of these are necessary
components of the basic function of the airport, flight operations, while some
are auxiliary or additional, such as commercial activities.

The new enhanced passenger experience in todays new age airports is the
result of immense focus on technology, automation, and emphasis on passenger
satisfaction while improving the operational capability of airlines and ground
handlers in parallel. "Importance of display of flight information, intelligent
check in systems, time saving equipment like scanners and readers for swift
boarding and baggage reconciliation, online feedback systems have all played a
vital role in obtaining high ASQ (Airport Service Quality) ratings," says
Srinadh Prasad, GM IT, HIAL.

Security, check in, boarding, baggage reconciliation, baggage screening,
aircraft docking and guidance, resource allocation, flight information are the
operation critical areas where ITs presence is paramount. "We are seeing the
aviation industry globally focus more on baggage handling and
reconciliationfrom the point of view of both the passenger experience and
security checks," says Sue Carter, Asia pacific VP, Global Commercial
Industries, Unisys.

Over the years, IATA, ICAO as well as AAI have been driving all airports and
stake holders to effectively embrace technology for improved operational
efficiency and reducing costs.

IT at the Capital

Delhi has the countrys busiest international airport in terms of the number
of daily flights, with an average of 680 flights landing each day. After DIAL
took over the IGI Aiport in 2006, it undertook the renovation of the 1A and 1B
terminals. Terminal 1D was opened in February 2009, increasing the departure
capacity of the airport to 10 mn passengers a year.

Currently, the work on the much awaited Terminal 3 is in progress which is
slated to be ready for the Commonwealth Games. Unisys, which has been appointed
as the master SI for the project will design, test and commission the overall
integration of various disparate airport systems that supply information to the
airport community, including airlines, ground handlers, and government agencies
such as Immigration and Customs and franchise operators.

Unisys will also assist DIAL in defining future operational processes to
support its role as a competitive hub airport in the region. "DIAL has really
understood the need to use IT infrastructure to support business
operationsrather then approach it as a pure purchasing-led, cost based
exercise. As a result DIAL has recognized the importance of aligning the
operational processes with the IT systems. As master systems integrator, Unisys
is responsible for developing detailed operational procedures for various
control centers in the airport and to test the IT systems and verify that the
integrated IT platform will meet the requirements," says Carter.

One of the most crucial process carried out by Unisys is the pre-work
modeling using its 3D-Blueprinting platform which is essential to identify the
strategy, processes, supporting applications, IT infrastructureexamining the
full process from buying a ticket through to clearing border control and
boarding the planeto work out how to apply IT in the best way to support the
airport operations.

In addition, Unisys will also prepare the airport for the surge in passenger
traffic and baggage during the Commonwealth Games. Also, DIAL will boast of a
new runway capable of accomodating the worlds largest aircraft, including the
Airbus A380. Unisys plans on focusing on faster passenger processing and baggage
handling to prevent any choke points. "We have focused on the fundamental data
that is used by the various facilities and systems within and around the
airport, ie, by ground handlers, airlines, airport communities and external
agencies.

By integrating applications that share data we can help clear the choke
points within the airport. Also, bigger airplanes mean that larger groups hit
the airport at any one time which creates a challenge to process them in a way
that is not an ordeal for the passenger. We have modelled all the business
operations that support a passenger moving through DIAL.  From that we are able
to identify choke points and look at how to capture and integrate passenger and
related data in a way that will help streamline processing channels," explains
Carter.

Wipro Infotech too has signed a 10-year outsourcing deal with DIAL to provide
IT infrastructure and services. The outsourcing engagement includes delivering
business IT alignment for DIAL by combining airport solutions with governance,
process excellence and integrated service delivery. An important element of the
outsourcing agreement is to deliver highly available airport IT operations. The
scope spans systems and applications across the core operations, support systems
and operations centers for the airport.

"Another important element of the engagement is to set-up an innovation hub
for process improvements and identifying various mechanisms for revenue
generation through IT enablement," says UG Krishna, General Manager, ECTI
Vertical, Wipro. In addition, Wipro and DIAL have formed a JV named Wipro
Airport IT Services Limited. Wipro would hold 74% in the JV and DIAL will hold
26% stake. The JV would be the innovation partner for DIAL and will focus on
emerging business models and technologies for airports. It will also build
competencies in airport specific applications.

"This JV will essentially channelize capabilities both from Wipro and DIAL.
Skills for Airport specific applications and systems such as passenger
processing systems will reside in the JV and will be available for clients in
India and other countries. Initially, the focus would be on technology transfer
between the current team and the JV to ensure business as usual. As we achieve
greater penetration, enhanced customer service would be the key driver and
systems and technology would be deployed to ensure a world class experience for
travellers," explains Krishna.

Down South

Another prominent player in the airport operations space is Siemens. It
subsidiary, Siemens IT Solutions and Systems (SIS) has been a strategic
consultant, process architect and system integrator for modernization projects
such as Delhi, as well as  for Greenfield airports like Hyderabad and Bangalore.
At these airports, SIS has adopted a superior new approach to integration (See
case study on BIAL).

One outstanding feature of the BIAL which is unique in India is the
completely integrated Airport Operations Control Center (AOCC), which brings
together the airport operators, security forces, customs, immigration, police,
air traffic control (ATC), ground handlers, fuel suppliers and in-flight
catering, all in one control room. It has also set up an Airport Systems
Laboratory (ASL) in Bengaluru, which serves as a virtual airport and a test bed
for many of SISs solutions deployed at BIAL. Siemens has also partnered with
RESA for check-in solutions, HP for automation, SAP for billing and back end
processing.

"If you compare BIAL to all the airports in India, the level of integration
of IT and airport systems is unmatched and is the single biggest achievement.
All airport systems till date have been functioning in islands and silos. Our
landmark integration called AIP has helped achieve this degree of integration,"
says AS Viswanathan, global head, mobility, SIS. "The most important challenge
that we faced as SI was to work with partners both in a lab environment as well
as on-site, considering the project is a Greenfield project," added Viswanathan.

Siemens, along with GMR, has also deployed similar highly integrated airport
systems at Hyderabad International Airport (HIAL). GMR Airports have brought in
the worlds best practices like common user check-in, automated resource
allocation, automatic baggage reconciliation, intelligent security surveillance,
all the while integrating the entire airport community using SOA. Global
expertise from partners like RESA, ARINC, SITA, UFIS, Honeywell, IER,
Vanderlande, Siemens, Safegate, etc, have been put together to achieve the
distinction.

Adoption of IT has been given such diligence that even retail and commercial
information is captured live and analyzed. Technology is also wisely used to
capture passenger feedback online and act through an automated process," says
Srinadh. He also adds that some of the sophisticated airport systems deployed at
HIAL include AOCC, CUTE (Common User Terminal Equipment), CUSS (Common User Self
Service) , BRS (Baggage Reconciliation System), LDCS (Local Departure Control
System), VDGS (Visual Docking Guidance System), Automated Airport Resource
Management, etc. "A robust and secure Campus LAN, highly intelligent and
effective middleware for integration, implementation of high availability
solutions for all services backed up 24/7 high skilled manning played a vital
role in HIALs success story. Future emphasis of HIAL vests in business
intelligence, logistics management, fuel management among others," says Srinadh.

HIAL is also one of the most environmental friendly airports and has bagged
the Center for Asia Pacific Aviations (CAPA) newly instituted award in the
category, "Best Airport Environmental Performance of the Year".

"The entire passenger experience has no doubt become highly automated right
from check-in, smarter boarding passes, passenger screening, bio-metric security
measures, intelligent baggage reconciliation, etc. But IT is still an
underutilized resource at the airports and there lies a lot of scope. Even in
advanced countries, most of the systems are developed as island systems rather
than integrated ones. Integrated IT systems, which are scalable and which
encompass various technologies are the need of the hour," concludes Viswanathan.

Airports like Delhi, Hyderabad and Bangalore have IT infrastructure that is
integrated and provides a high level of transparency. Furthermore, some of these
airports have developed in-house innovation laboratories to test future airport
systems. Adoption of similar IT concepts in the expansion phases of the Mumbai,
Chennai, Cochin and Kolkata airports will really take airport infrastructure in
India to the next level.

Priya Kekre

priyak@cybermedia.co.in