Ten_technology_advances_that_will_change_air_travel by Paul Langer

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TEN TECHNOLOGY ADVANCES THAT WILL CHANGE AIR TRAVEL

New Frontiers Paper

Specialists in in air air transport transport communications communications and and IT IT solutions solutions Specialists

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Contents

Foreword ...............................................................................................................................................................................4 Introduction ...........................................................................................................................................................................5 Part I – Five advances that will benefit the passenger journey ...........................................................................................6 Mobile devices: A ticket to ride ......................................................................................................................................6 Web 2.0: Changing the face to the customer.................................................................................................................8 NFC: Giving Bluetooth a run for its money .....................................................................................................................9 RFID: A passport to smoother travel ............................................................................................................................10 Biometrics: eyeing the future ........................................................................................................................................11 Part II – Five advances that will improve air transport industry operations .......................................................................12 Service Oriented Architecture (SOA): Driving business agility........................................................................................12 Collaborative Decision Making (CDM): Getting it together.............................................................................................13 Cloud computing: A silver lining for mobility services....................................................................................................14 RFID: Getting ready for take-off....................................................................................................................................15 Virtualization: Powering the next generation data centres.............................................................................................16 Notes and references..........................................................................................................................................................17

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Foreword

Change is a fact of life for the air transport industry, and innovation is often a major driver of that change. As SITA commemorates its 60th anniversary in 2009, we can look back over six decades of major change within our industry. Importantly, we can also look back proudly at our heritage as an innovator in IT and communications during this time, having been at the forefront of many new transforming technologies that have radically improved the way the air transport industry works. In this SITA New Frontiers paper, we look to the future. Written by SITA’s Chief Technology Officer Jim Peters, our paper considers the transforming technologies of today and tomorrow – those information and communication technologies that will change the face of air travel over the next five years. One thing is very clear as we look ahead: the journey for passengers and the operations of the industry will change dramatically. As key technology advances combine with mobile devices, the predicted impact on the business of air transport is massive. In marking SITA’s 60th anniversary, our New Frontiers paper underlines the commitment we continue to have as a company to driving new advances in the air transport industry. In doing this, we are guided by the industry’s need for reduced costs, greater competitiveness, improved profitability and operational performance. We know too the importance of exploiting all engagement models with passengers, as well as exploring new revenue channels while enhancing the passenger experience – making air travel easier, safer and hassle-free. So as we look to the next decade in SITA’s life, as a technology innovator we will continue to invest considerably in R&D, often innovating collaboratively with the industry, to provide next generation technology for the benefit of the entire air transport community.

Francesco Violante Chief Executive Officer SITA

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Introduction

Innovation remains crucial in a competitive marketplace and investment in technology remains a logical consequence. Never more so than in the air transport industry. This paper sets out ten innovative technologies that will advance the business of air travel. The first five are new technologies that in five years will be making the journey simpler and smoother for travellers. By that time, three billion people could be using the global air transport system. Many of them will have spent their whole adult life in the digital age. They will expect information and personalization whenever and wherever they travel. They will want to be always connected. Time will be a scarce resource. The five technologies – mobile devices, Web 2.0, Near Field Communications, RFID and biometrics – will fulfil their needs and expectations. Some are already starting to make an impact. Others will require longer before they become a common feature of travel. But all of them have the potential to improve the passenger’s experience of air travel from the earliest decision of choosing a flight through to transiting the airport and reaching landside at the final destination. The second five technologies are high on the list of those that will deliver greater operational efficiencies. Most will be deeply embedded into the IT fabric of the industry, well hidden from the travelling public, but nevertheless playing an equally important part in the industry’s competitive fight. Open standards are an underlying theme for these technologies – Service Oriented Architecture (SOA), Collaborative Decision Making (CDM), cloud computing, RFID, virtualization – and these standards need to be embraced by the industry if it is to fully realize the benefits. Some of the technologies are connected and will not be deployed in isolation. In particular, there are strong synergies to be had from cloud computing, virtualization and SOA. What is common to all ten technologies? It is the way that they will change the traditional boundaries of an IT department by consigning legacy technologies to the museum. This represents a milestone for the industry, but also a great opportunity. Digital technologies can be a means to revisit the way business is conducted and introduce substantially more efficient processes and workflows. The challenge for the industry is to find a cost-effective model that allows it to benefit from these innovations.

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Part I – Five advances that will benefit the passenger journey Mobile devices: A ticket to ride Mobile devices are on the verge of impacting the passenger’s journey to the same extent that the jet engine did 50 years ago. Driving the revolution are two converging trends that will make the business of air travel in the future a lot less situation-specific and far more “anytime, anywhere”. Firstly, new devices on the market, such as the iPhone and Google’s G1, are fast blurring the line between phones and computers, thereby accelerating the acceptance that your mobile device can be the primary access point to online services, replacing the need for a laptop or desktop. Secondly, surveys consistently reveal that 90 percent or more of airline passengers carry a mobile device with them when they travel1, indicating that there are few people who now travel without being connected. Travel companies are responding by deploying new mobile device-based services and applications that will give ‘digital’ passengers of the future access to all their travel needs while on the move rather than from a fixed location. Mobile ticketing, the ability to purchase tickets via a mobile device, is already with us and according to Juniper Research, the mobile handset may become the preferred method for acquiring mainstream tickets within the next three years2. It forecasts that transport-based mobile ticketing will grow from 37.4 million transactions worldwide in 2007 to more than 1.8 billion by 2011. Purchasing airline tickets will make up a significant proportion of these. Passenger acceptance of mobile ticketing comes as the aviation industry is actively pursuing cost reduction strategies that also enhance passenger convenience and reduce the environmental footprint of air travel. Eliminating the paper trail is a step in the right direction and mobile devices will play an important role in making travel paperless that goes beyond ticketing. Early adopter airlines such as AirAsia and IndiGo already allow passengers on some flights to check-in using their mobile phones and by 2010 over 60 percent of airlines will offer the service3. Boarding passes will follow as part of a natural evolution. Juniper Research forecast the airline industry could save US$500 million each year by migrating to mobile boarding passes4.

Mobile devices such as the iPhone and Google’s G1 are fast blurring the line between phones and computers, accelerating the acceptance that the mobile device is becoming the primary access point to online services.

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However, most initiatives currently relate to domestic travel. Stricter security requirements make cross border travel a tougher nut to crack. But airlines, such as US-based Delta, are working with border management agencies to allow 2D barcodes sent to mobile phones to be scanned as boarding passes at airport security checkpoints and then at the gate before boarding. This could pave the way for a model that will make widespread paperless international travel a real possibility. As well as less paper to carry, mobile devices will provide a conduit to receive information while on the move. The 2008 Airline IT Trends Survey indicates that within two years 80 percent of airlines will deliver flight-related information to passengers via SMS. That should not only translate into fewer passengers being late for flights when gates are switched at the last moment, but it will also give passengers greater control over other aspects of their journey, such as re-booking if a follow-on flight has been cancelled. Mobile devices will progressively offer passengers the ability to play a more active role throughout their entire journey — including in the air. Already today, through OnAir for example, it is possible to hold voice and data conversations inflight, which opens up huge possibilities to socialize and carry out tasks as if on the ground. In particular, the ability to remain informed of events in times of disruption, such as flight delays, while airborne, means passengers will be able to communicate about flight re-bookings for follow-on connections with customer-service personnel on the ground, re-schedule appointments, and inform meeters and greeters before the aircraft lands. While the productivity enhancing nature of using mobile devices inflight offers compelling advantages, particularly for business travellers, leisure passengers will have the ability to download and view content, such as music and films, from the Internet while on the move. This makes the flight a much richer and interactive experience than most onboard entertainment systems are able to provide today. The opportunities for inflight content providers are major, whether it is the airline targeting its captive cabin audience, or providers offering inflight entertainment packages. The productivity benefits of inflight mobile devices extend beyond the passenger to the airline’s inflight crews. They gain access to the same operational information that passengers are receiving. They are also able to communicate with groundbased crews using the same mobile technology – dealing with lost baggage or flight transfers, for example – resulting in further operational efficiences. Fears that onboard mobile device usage will prove socially unacceptable appear misplaced. An Air France survey, which tested OnAir’s service, found 80 percent would be happy to see the service deployed across the airline’s entire fleet. This is consistent with the positive experience of passengers reported by other airlines. With inflight mobile device connectivity now moving into the mainstream and with low cost airline Ryanair bringing it to the masses with OnAir’s service, the last piece in the jigsaw for those wanting to stay in touch is now in place. Looking forwards, passengers will come to expect the same level of mobile connectivity inflight as on the ground, connecting to the plane’s inflight entertainment system, and viewing and interacting with information from multiple sources. Increasingly, they will expect to use their mobile devices onboard to smooth their entire journey. However, technical, privacy and political hurdles need to be overcome before your personal mobile device is all you need to take to the airport, but the world of ‘always-connected travel’ is just around the corner.

Key benefits of mobile devices Passengers

Industry

Access to travel services on the move

Cheaper per passenger processing than desk service

Less paper – tickets, boarding pass, visa

Reduced need for IT infrastructure at airports

Less queuing – automated processing

Personalized customer service – one-to-one CRM

Access to contextual information

Reduced congestion in airport terminals

Greater control and convenience

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Web 2.0: Changing the face to the customer One of the great sociological changes gripping the world today is the Web 2.0 transformation. Web 2.0 is largely about people-generated content5, or social media, and it has the potential to have a dramatic impact on how businesses and people relate to one another. The way passengers choose and book their air travel in the future will be a part of that change. For the leisure market in particular, air travel will stop being about places and prices, but more about living experiences and sharing journeys through blogs and photos with families, friends and fellow travellers. Take a family that are countryagnostic. They just want a four-star hotel near a beach. This is a problem for conventional IT systems on travel websites, which often go by date and location first, which means the search for the holiday comes down to how much time the customer has available to keep re-running modified search parameters. By making it faster, easier and more cost-effective to provide real-time content from diverse sources, Web 2.0 technologies meet travellers’ demands for greater information and personalization. For example, when a customer makes a booking, the airline website can extract the passenger’s preferences recorded in its frequent flyer programme and combine it with external content, such as that from TripAdvisor, indicating activities and events at a given destination. Hotels, restaurants and tourist attractions can be overlaid on a Google map or linked to Google Maps Street View to go on a virtual sightseeing tour. Other services needed to enrich the passenger’s itinerary and buy items for the journey can be suggested and placed just a click away. Furthermore, passengers could select an option to post their itineraries to social networking sites, such as Facebook, LinkedIn, TripIt or Dopplr, so that family, friends and business contacts can plan to meet-up or share travel tips. A distant scenario? easyJet has announced that it will redesign its website using Web 2.0 technologies to allow customers to plan complete holiday itineraries rather than just book flights. The airline calculates that 40 percent of visitors to the site know when and where they are travelling. To retain the remaining 60 percent, it wants to move its website away from a simple flight booking engine and turn it into a travel planning destination by incorporating external applications such as Microsoft Virtual Earth to let customers explore their destination in detail. Other companies are embracing Web 2.0 technologies, a trend called Enterprise 2.0. By 2013 companies around the world will spend US$4.6 billion on such tools, according to Forrester Research6. This is just the start. As the competition to capture customers becomes tougher, airlines and other travel sites will need to embrace Web 2.0 to deepen consumer relationships and drive sales. Their websites will be the first point of contact for most customers, but products, price and delivery will be less of a differentiator, while experience and usability will become increasingly important. Good user experience means increased loyalty and returning site visitors; and if they like what they see, they will tell their friends. The result will be a paradigm shift in the industry with its influence permeating beyond airline customers to other travel sectors and even into the operations of the travel provider. In an example of Web 2.0 technology reaping real-world benefits today, a major airline's flight crew has chosen to use Facebook to manage their schedules. As research company Gartner says, "the failure to consider the impact of social enhancement technology on the performance of the enterprise is a big mistake."

Key benefits of Web 2.0 technologies Passengers

Industry

Access to relevant information

Improve ‘stickability’ of website

One-stop shop for all travel needs

Increased loyalty/customer retention

Enhanced networking opportunities Deeper customer relationships More personalized service

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Higher ancillary revenues

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NFC: Giving Bluetooth a run for its money Near Field Communication or NFC, is a short-range high frequency wireless communication technology that enables the simple and fast exchange of data between devices over about a 10 centimetre (around 4 inches) distance. The technology is fast becoming a standard feature of contactless cards and mobile phones. The technology is also intelligent, secure and interactive. That makes it particularly interesting to the air transport industry. The vast majority of passengers carry a mobile device and/or frequent flyer cards when they travel. If those are NFCenabled, it opens up numerous possibilities to provide electronic services that can simplify and deliver a richer experience to travellers, while reducing the amount of paper and plastic cards that passengers need to carry for their journey. In particular, the technology will broaden the usefulness of mobile devices, making them an indispensable tool for travellers. Analyst firm Juniper Research forecasts that 700 million subscribers worldwide will have phones with NFC capabilities by 20137. In the future, passengers may only need to carry their mobile device with embedded NFC technology to take their flight. The ticket can be purchased online and sent to the mobile phone; check-in can then be made while on the way to the airport. Biometric border controls verify the passenger’s identity and a simple wave of the phone across a wireless reader at the gate validates the stored e-boarding card enabling the passenger to walk directly onto the aircraft. The usefulness of NFC to passengers will evolve further. NFC-enabled contactless cards or mobile phones can be turned into e-wallets, making small purchases, such as airport car park charges or duty free purchases, a possibility. Passengers will also be able to use the embedded technology as an access card to areas such as airport lounges, simply by waving the card or phone over a wireless reader. Similarly, placing the phone near an NFC tag embedded at information points around the airport will also enable passengers to remain informed of their flight status without recourse to finding the nearest flight display screen. Parts of this vision are already becoming a reality particularly in technologically advanced countries such as South Korea, where contactless transactions with mobile phones are well established. Passengers flying from Seoul's Incheon airport on international flights with Korean Air and Asiana Airlines can purchase air tickets and check-in with their mobile phones. NFC is often seen as a substitution for the more mature Bluetooth and it is true both are short-range communication technologies which have recently been integrated into mobile phones. The significant advantage of NFC over Bluetooth is its shorter set-up time, which can be under a tenth of a second, while its shorter range and use of a dynamic algorithm to generate a unique ID for each transfer in a non-sequential code also provides a degree of security. Additionally, NFC can work when one of the devices is not powered by a battery (e.g. on a phone that may be turned off, a contactless smart credit card, a smart poster, etc.). The short-range wireless connectivity makes it ideal for use in crowded airport terminals for location-based personalized loyalty, coupon and promotion programmes. An NFC enabled card or phone can read an NFC tag embedded into interactive advertising offering nearby promotional opportunities as the passenger transits the airport lounges. Currently, use of NFC technology is mainly at the trial stage in many countries. However, with telecom bodies, such as the NFC Forum and European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) promoting global standards, interest from within the industry is gaining momentum.

Key benefits of NFC technology Passengers

Industry

Automated processing – check-in, boarding More efficient processing of passengers Less need to carry foreign money/coins

Improved passenger flow

Automated entry to reserved areas

Reduced coin handling

Simple payment method – airport parking, vending machines, duty free

Secure marketing and retail opportunities

Easy access to flight information

New ticket sales channel

Secure access control

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RFID: A passport to smoother travel Radio-frequency identification (RFID) is an automatic identification method, relying on storing and remotely retrieving data using devices called RFID tags or transponders8. While the technology has been around for over 30 years, it has yet to make a major impact on air travel. But for the passenger at least, that is going to change. The technical specifications for RFID passports, or e-passports, as they have become known, were laid down by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as long ago as 2003, but only in the next few years will they start being issued by countries in large numbers. In 2007, 45 million tags were sold for passport use9 but, with the United States and EU countries both now issuing e-passports, that number is expected to significantly increase. The embedded RFID chip in the passport stores basic data, including the passport holder’s name, date and place of birth. The chip, smaller than the width of a human hair and holding only 64K of memory, also has enough room to store biometric data, including digital fingerprints, photos and iris scans. For the passenger, that should translate into a faster passage through airport security, but it also means a more secure air transport system. Nevertheless, no security system is foolproof and RFID passports are no different, although the RFID passport system promises to be far superior to the traditional system. RFID technology also holds the promise to reduce passengers’ number one frustration after flight delays10 by ensuring the tracking of baggage from origin to destination. Mishandled luggage costs the airlines roughly US$4bn globally a year11 and although the industry has rejected RFID technology as a universal solution to tackle lost baggage, it could save the industry as much as US$750m a year if it was fully implemented system-wide. Further out, the technology has huge potential for smoothing the passenger’s journey. Scandinavian Airline Systems (SAS) is trialling RFID to track passenger movements. Volunteer passengers are given a credit-card-sized plastic card that attaches to their clothes. When the passengers move around in the airport, the card sends signals which are captured by antennas, enabling gate staff to see how far a passenger is from the gate and make an informed decision on whether to hold the aircraft if they are going to be late. SAS is not alone. Research indicates nearly 40 percent of airlines are interested in implementing RFID for this purpose12. However, it is not going to be plain sailing for RFID within the industry. There are other competing wireless standards such as Bluetooth and NFC, as well as the much cheaper and mature barcode technology, which is already used extensively in the industry for baggage tagging. The technology also has privacy advocates concerned that the chips, which can be read remotely, could subject travellers to spying and identity theft activities. Nevertheless, RFID has uses for airline and airport operations outside of passenger processing, which should make it a more attractive technology and lead to synergies in areas such as tag purchasing and infrastructure deployment.

Key benefits of passenger facing RFID technology Passengers

Industry

Faster border processing

Improved passenger flow from tracking

More secure travelling experience Less mishandled baggage Less lost/late luggage

More secure air transport system

Fewer missed flights

Reduced passenger-related delays

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Biometrics: eyeing the future The long-term growth of airline traffic means moving progressively larger passenger volumes through airport terminals rapidly, without unduly compromising on security and with minimal intrusion. Current processes involve large scale human intervention, but experience shows this can be subject to significant error rates. The answer is to move towards an automated system that incorporates real-time passenger identification. A necessary component will be biometric recognition technology. The term has a number of meanings, but has been broadened in recent years to include the study of methods for uniquely recognizing humans based upon one or more intrinsic physical or behavioural traits. A biometric system can provide two key functions that make it of critical importance to a post 9/11 aviation industry – verification and identification. The technology is already starting to appear, but at the moment it is an exception rather than the rule that it is going to be for future air travellers. Figures published in the 2008 Airport IT Trends Survey indicate that 18 percent of airports worldwide use biometric technology for some part of the passenger journey through the airport. Israel’s Ben Gurion International Airport, for example, has used a biometric system for a couple of years. It handles 15 percent of the airport’s passengers and has reduced waiting times at security checkpoints from hours to just seconds. Bahrain International Airport is also equipped with electronic immigration gates, which allows its citizens to enter and leave the country using automated, biometric immigration procedures. Legislation will be a major driver of biometric adoption for air travel and future electronic border systems will see every passenger being counted in and out of a country. The United States is taking the lead with a programme that requires nonU.S. citizens to provide a biometric identifier in the form of a digital fingerprint when departing the country. The same group of passengers are already required to submit digital fingerprints and a digital photograph for admission into the country. But biometric identification will not just be limited to speeding passengers securely through border management controls. Travellers can also expect the technology to expedite them through the check-in and boarding process. Currently only around two percent of airports use it for this purpose, but within five years this will have increased to over a third of airports13. Airlines eventually expect to use biometrics as an integral part of passenger processing right up to and including boarding. SITA has participated in a biometric pilot programme at Heathrow Airport, which eliminated paper boarding passes, instead using biometrics to identify passengers. Scandinavian Airline Systems (SAS) offers passengers with baggage the option of scanning their index finger rather than showing another form of identification when checking in at the airport. The finger is then scanned again when the passenger boards the aircraft. Ninety-eight percent of passengers reportedly preferred it to traditional check-in. Indicating that the potential goes much further, airport operator BAA uses biometric technology to control passenger access to its international lounge in London Heathrow Airport’s Terminal 1. What is becoming increasingly clear is that for air passengers of the future willing to sacrifice a degree of privacy, biometric technologies can offer faster processing in many aspects of the journey. And that will translate into a lot less queuing and a lot more doing.

Key benefits of biometric technology Passengers

Industry

Faster processing through the airport

More secure air transport system

Less queuing

Streamlined processing

Feeling of greater security

Improved passenger flow

Simple and easy entry to reserved areas

Facilitates secure automated entry systems

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Part II – Five advances that will improve air transport industry operations Service Oriented Architecture (SOA): Driving business agility The use of Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) is on the rise as companies crave more flexibility and better modularity. According to Gartner, SOA will be used in more than 80 percent of new mission-critical operational applications and business processes designed in 201014. SOA has been compared to a Lego® set – a standardized toolkit of pieces that can be put together in countless ways. More technically, Wikipedia defines SOA as separating functions into distinct units, or services, which are made accessible over a network in order that they can be combined and reused in the production of business applications. These services communicate with each other by passing data from one service to another, or by coordinating an activity between two or more services. With SOA, a library of business functionalities can be created to be used over and again to build different applications. That, in turn, leads to faster development times and easier integration, as well as extending the life of legacy mainframe architecture by allowing functionality to be added on the fly rather than requiring time-consuming coding. Its impact within the air transport industry is starting to build. The Airport IT Trends Survey 2008 indicated that over half of airports will have implemented an SOA architecture within 3-5 years, while airlines are also using it as a way to bridge the gap between legacy and digital technologies. For example, Japan Airlines (JAL) uses SOA to integrate Boeing’s maintenance manuals with its own service recommendation. These include the latest shared knowledge and best practices of JAL’s technicians and MRO engineers. This gives JAL engineers better control over technical data and improves the ability to share critical maintenance information. Under SOA, the constituent parts can be easily mixed and matched to deliver new business processes. For example, travel web sites can integrate with online and offline data sources, including databases and partner web sites, to provide new services and a richer experience for online users. Another reason SOA is getting a lot of attention within the air transport industry is thanks to the extremely strong synergies available by combining SOA with Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)-based applications. A 2008 McKinsey survey of enterprise software customers found SaaS and SOA are considered as the two “most important trends” affecting respondents’ businesses15. It can enable software on demand and allow hosting infrastructure to be treated as a cloud with services that can be provisioned and automated on demand. In fact, the combination of SaaS and SOA is now capable of finally opening the way to highly scalable componentized architectures. As sensible as the SOA concept is, it assumes that you are dealing with discrete transactional functions. However, within the airline environment there are also a large number of event-driven processes, such as dispatching fuel trucks when a plane lands or updating the status board for flight arrivals. Integrating ‘flow-oriented’ processes with the discrete box like approach of SOA is a challenge that airlines are now starting to get to grips with, opening the door for the full potential to be extracted.

Key impacts of SOA technology Industry Faster application development Software modules re-usable Strong synergies with Software-as-a-Service Flexible and standardized software architecture Eliminates siloed processes Common approach to business problems

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Collaborative Decision Making (CDM): Getting it together The migration of the air transport industry to digital technologies is creating an explosion in the amount of data generated. The challenge is to process and share the information in a way that allows for streamlined and faster decision-making in order to achieve better resource allocation, improved productivity, reduced operating costs and increased punctuality. One approach that holds promise is Collaborative Decision Making (CDM). CDM facilitates decision-making processes by ensuring that a combination of stakeholders – such as airlines, air traffic control, airports and ground-handling organizations – are provided with timely and accurate information, essential for the planning of their operations. For example, accurate estimates of arrival and departure times can improve aircraft handling, apron services, gate management, Air Traffic Control (ATC) and Air Traffic Flow Management. By enabling decision-making based on accurate, shared information, CDM increases predictability in case of unforeseen events or disruption. This is of vital importance. Airlines incorporate expensive buffers into their schedules to absorb this, which could be reduced if they had greater predictability of events. Eurocontrol estimated that cutting five minutes off half of European schedules could be worth some €1 billion a year in better use of resources by airlines and airports16. Along with defined rules, a key tenet of CDM is information exchange. In the past, competitive reasons have limited the willingness of travel-related businesses to share certain information. But the need to cut delays, make better use of existing airspace and improve aircraft operating efficiencies is providing the impetus to bring parties together. Reducing delays is one of the biggest challenges facing the industry. Commercial airline passenger delays in the U.S. amount to approximately US$10 billion in delay costs each year17. Airlines expect the integration of CDM tools to significantly improve on-time performance, aircraft utilization and fuel efficiencies. CDM can support the time-critical business processes of aircraft handling. Europe has been a major driving force behind the use of CDM tools within aviation. Under the project name Single European Sky ATM Research (SESAR), Eurocontrol is working with airports and airlines, as well as the flight crews and Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSPs), to improve Air Traffic Management (ATM) and airport operating efficiencies. A new system has the potential to increase traffic capacity by a factor of three18. CDM is also a key plank of the US Next Generation Air Transport System (ATS) programme. Airlines now share schedule information with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) including flight delays, cancellations and newly created flights. The FAA uses this information to take steps to reduce delays caused by heavy traffic and severe weather. The FAA estimates a new CDM software tool that automatically identifies and then fills unused arrival slots, launched in March 2007, saved an estimated US$27 million for the airlines and 1.1 million delay minutes for air passengers in the first year of its operation19. While use of CDM for providing a high-level system-wide view of regional airspace is gaining traction, there are also opportunities to benefit from its approach at a local level within individual airport environments. Research suggests that within 3-5 years, around half of airports will have made some investment in CDM tools20. The opportunity, and challenge, is to drive for increased integration of computer systems across multiple organizations in order to provide immediacy, accuracy and completeness to the distribution of information.

Key impacts of CDM technology Industry Improved predictability Better decision making Optimized use of existing resources Improved productivity Reduced operating costs Increased punctuality

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Cloud computing: A silver lining for mobility services The phrase ‘cloud computing’ is used to describe the process whereby elements of a company’s computer needs – software applications, processing power or data storage – are provided via the Internet as a service, rather than through an in-house IT system. Cloud computing is not a new idea. Bits of it have been around under various names – utility computing, software-as-aservice, application service providers – for many years. Consumers are already familiar with the idea – millions have Hotmail or Google Mail as their personal e-mail address. Smaller businesses have also had a taste through offerings from companies like Google, Amazon and Salesforce. What is different now are the improvements in Internet infrastructure that mean it will become increasingly feasible to run applications, even business critical ones, over the Internet. In addition, some heavy duty IT vendors – including Hewlett Packard, IBM, Intel and Microsoft – that have themselves reaped cost savings, are lending credence to the trend. To access most cloud computing services all you need is a web browser. Being browser-based takes away the need to be sitting at your desk in the office, so working while on the move or at another fixed location suddenly becomes much easier. This flexibility makes it an increasingly attractive proposition for the air transport industry to use with kiosks and handheld devices. With their highly mobile workforces and widespread operations, airlines can use cloud computing to ensure field workers armed with a digital handheld device – such as a phone, PDA or laptop – have access to the same applications anywhere in the world, ensuring consistent and predictable levels of service for both customers and employees across the whole organization. Similar benefits exist for airport kiosks. Rather than writing a specific application for the kiosk to access services such as check-in, loyalty programmes, or flight information, the kiosk instead loads up a web browser that accesses the same services from the public web portal of the airline. That means installing, upgrading and maintaining the applications on the kiosk is no longer an issue and with the website and kiosks in perfect synch, users get a consistent and familiar experience that should lead to improved usage levels. Proponents of cloud computing argue that it provides a more efficient way of running IT systems. Not only does it dispense with the need to build and manage complicated IT infrastructure, but it allows more to be done with less. There is some evidence for this. Analysis by McKinsey found that 80 percent of computing demand is handled by distributed systems with only 5-30 percent utilization21, indicating wastage is high. For airlines, which are typically heavy users of computer processing power and data storage, it offers a significant opportunity to rationalize their IT facilities. Inevitably there is a lot of hype around cloud computing, and some IT commentators are promoting it as the future of computing within five years. However, there are inhibitors that could slow adoption. One is connectivity, or service continuity. If you lose the Internet connection productivity could suffer and time-critical activities could be compromised, so backup capabilities are vital. Security is a second. Data and tasks disappear into the cloud so strict guarantees covering both privacy and integrity need to be in place. Nevertheless, the increasing use of wireless-delivered applications and services, and a greater acceptance of open standards within the industry, points to a promising future for cloud computing.

Key impacts of cloud computing Industry Easier deployment of new/upgraded software to users Increased flexibility/scalability to meet peak demands on IT services Reduced need to deploy/manage infrastructure Deliver consistent and predictable access to the same services worldwide Lower capital costs and pay-per-usage only schemes Access to applications and services while on the move

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RFID: Getting ready for take-off Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology is finding its way into more and more operational areas of air transport businesses. The technology enables real-time workflow automation on an event and time-triggered basis. RFID is applicable anytime that a unique identification system is required. The tag can convey information as simple as the location of a bag or the part on a warehouse pallet, or as complex as instructions on how to assemble an airplane. Making a business case for RFID has not been easy, although work by IATA has shown there are industry cost savings to be made in the baggage management area22, even if at the individual company level it is harder to quantify. However, a second wave of adoption within the Maintenance, Repair and Operations (MRO) supply chain, in which use of the technology moves to a higher level beyond just reading information, offers a more compelling proposition. The “track and trace” functionality of RFID tags has always been of real value within MRO operations and with the introduction of RFID-enabled aircraft parts the benefits are much more visible. Barcode readers require line-of-sight access to their tags, which makes it hard to use them in the cramped mechanical and avionics spaces of an aircraft. In some cases, crews even have to use mirrors to see part numbers, which they key in by hand. Plus, barcode reads are only 75 to 80 percent accurate. In contrast, RFID improves mechanics’ productivity by automating and digitalizing their tasks and processes. For example, crews can scan all the parts in a section of the plane in a single sweep. RFID removes human error from the data entry process, and averages better than 99 percent accuracy. In the shop, a mechanic can determine a part’s history even if there is no access to a database, because the information is there in the tag. In addition, the mechanic can write notes to high memory EPC Class 1 Gen 2 compliant RFID tags – a valuable functionality in sharing information between different parties. Two additional benefits will be evident from the data scanned from these tags. Firstly, planning of activities, whether for operations or for maintenance, can be optimized as a function of the availability and history of parts. Secondly, stock levels can be adjusted by improving the engineering rules to take into account the actual use and condition of components. A larger prize awaits the industry if the data encoded on RFID-tagged parts and situational data received from e-enabled aircraft can be intelligently combined; this will provide unprecedented insight for Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), airframers and MRO operations into the reliability of materials and parts through their life cycle. This could lead to leaner production techniques and more efficient sourcing of parts, the benefits of which would eventually flow right along the chain to aircraft operators in the form of lower maintenance costs. There are applications for RFID technologies outside of MRO operations. The industry is built upon and around movable assets – whether aircraft, cargo, bags, or ground-based equipment – so using tags and sensors for tracking can deliver valuable savings in time and money, as well as improving safety and regulatory compliance. For example, between flights, a ground crew can save valuable turnaround time by using hand-held RFID scanners to account for tagged life jackets and emergency equipment, as required by law. IT surveys of airlines and airports23 paint a picture of a technology still awaiting its time, but RFID should not be written off as a distant dream. Many of the barriers to its wider adoption are already being removed. Tags are getting cheaper, standards and regulatory issues are waning, and the wireless and sensor infrastructure that is critical to efficiently extracting the benefits of RFID is increasingly being deployed across airport campuses.

Key impacts of RFID for operational use Industry Operational efficiencies Greater automation – reduced manual input Improved planning and decision making Complete tasks faster and more effectively Improved recording of tasks and events

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Virtualization: Powering the next generation data centres Virtualization will headline emerging trends over the coming years as technology providers start focusing on the intelligent design of IT infrastructure and systems. IBM has reduced downtime at Japan Airlines’ MRO operations, for example, by using virtualization. As the IT of airlines and airports become ever more information centric, the need for sustainable IT infrastructure is growing more acute. This is driving the air transport industry to take a harder look at what virtualization can offer. According to the 2008 Airport IT Trends Survey, 45 percent of airports are looking to virtualization within the next two years, and another 19 percent in the next 3-5 years. Traditionally, enterprise applications run on servers in data centres. Often it is a one-to-one relationship – one dedicated server for one application: a common setup that has its benefits, but offers little flexibility and can be inefficient as it leaves the majority of each server's capacity unused. Research by McKinsey found only 6 percent of a server capacity is used on average by those organizations studied, while nearly 30 percent of servers are no longer in use24. This means data centres have several times more physical equipment than they actually need. Virtualization of data centres promises to address these issues by optimizing the use of software, computing hardware and storage, and network infrastructure by sharing server capacity not only across organizations but also across different physical locations. In effect, virtualization allows physically separate computer systems to act as one. So instead of seven machines running at 10 percent utilization, you can run one machine at 70 percent utilization25. This kind of consolidation means savings in hardware should more than offset the cost of the virtualization software. And since there are fewer machines running, there are also savings in power, space, cooling and personnel costs. Server virtualization is already one of the fastest-growing segments of the IT market. Researcher IDC, for instance, estimates that the number of virtual servers deployed will rise by 41 percent annually through to 201026. The ability of virtualization technology to free software from the underlying hardware also means it can be easily moved from one server to another in the event of a hardware crash. The system can be programmed to do this automatically even when the server is residing in a completely different location. This makes it particularly useful for rapid disaster recovery. A second driver for virtualization within the industry will be its green credentials. By dramatically reducing power consumption and thermal output, while also taking up much less space, it will make a significant, although less visible, contribution to reducing the environmental footprint of air transport. The Director General and CEO of IATA, Giovanni Bisignani, identified it as a key area for investment in a keynote speech at the SITA Air Transport IT Summit in 2008. A spin-off from server virtualization which has even greater potential will be desktop virtualization. Managing the myriad of distributed PCs and laptops has become highly complex for IT departments. Desktop virtualization should make it easier, as control of each device is managed through an image version stored in a data centre, eliminating the need to physically visit the device.

Key impacts of virtualization Industry Lower capital costs Greater optimization of existing IT assets Reduced environmental footprint – less CO2 emissions Simpler IT management than a distributed environment Faster disaster recovery potential

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Notes and references

Passenger Self Service Surveys 2007/2008 – SITA

Mobile Ticketing & Coupons: Strategies & Markets 2007-2011' – Juniper Research

Airline IT Trends Survey 2008 – SITA/Airline Business

Mobile Ticketing & Coupons: Strategies & Markets 2007-2011' – Juniper Research

Wikipedia

Source: Forrester press release, 21/4/2008 - Global Enterprise Web 2.0 Market To Reach $4.6 Billion By 2013

Juniper Research press release – 10th September, 2008

Wikipedia

IDTechEx report – ‘RFID Forecasts, Players & Opportunities 2008-2018’

10 Source: 2008 Passenger Self Service Survey – SITA 11 Source: The 2008 Baggage Report – SITA 12 Source: Airline IT Trends Survey 2008, SITA/Airline Business 13 The Airport IT Trends Survey 2008 – SITA/Airline Business/ACI 14 Source: Gartner press release, 25/4/2007 – ‘Gartner Says SOA Will Be Used in More Than 50 Percent of New Mission-Critical Operational Applications and Business Processes Designed in 2007’. 15 Available at www.interop.com/downloads/mckinsey_interop_survey.pdf 16 Eurocontrol Performance Review Report 8, 2004 17 Source: FAA fact sheet released May 22, 2008 18 Source: SESAR Joint Undertaking 2008 presentation available at: http://www.eurocontrol.int/aim/gallery/content/public/events/metatm_2008/S4_Guillermet.pdf 19 Source: FAA fact sheet released May 22, 2008 20 Source: The Airport IT Trends Survey 2008 – SITA/Airline Business/ACI 21 Source: Revolutionizing Data Center Efficiency’ – McKinsey & Company 22 Source: IATA 23 Airline IT Trends Survey 2008, SITA/Airline Business and Airport IT Trends Survey 2008, SITA/Airline Business/ACI 24 Source: Revolutionizing Data Center Efficiency’ – McKinsey & Company 25 Source: “Enterprise Linux.com” 26 Source: IDC press release March 2007

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Notes

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Specialists in air transport communications and IT solutions For further information, please contact SITA by telephone or e-mail: Africa +27 11 5177000 info.africa@sita.aero East & Central Europe +41 22 747 6000 info.east.central.europe@sita.aero Latin America & Caribbean +55 21 2111 5800 info.latin.america.and.caribbean@sita.aero Middle East & Turkey +961 1 657200 info.middle.east.turkey@sita.aero North America +1 770 850 4500 info.northamerica@sita.aero North Asia & Pacific +65 6545 3711 info.north.asiapacific@sita.aero North Europe +44 (0)20 8756 8000 info.northeurope@sita.aero South Asia & India +65 6545 3711 info.south.asia.india@sita.aero South Europe +39 06 965111 info.southeurope@sita.aero

ÂŠ SITA 09-THW-030-2. All trademarks acknowledged. Specifications subject to change without prior notice. This literature provides outline information only and (unless specifically agreed to the contrary by SITA in writing) is not part of any order or contract.