KAREN WALKER / CANCÚN
Airport-in-a-Box, a computerised information system, has transformed operations at Mexican airports and is set for more American success
A passenger waiting at Mexico's Cancún Airport can now enjoy a leisurely coffee or margarita while monitoring the status of his flight - the simple things in life best illustrating the difference information technology can bring to air transport.
A couple of years ago, a coffee or margarita stop was difficult to fit in because the passenger had no way of also keeping an eye on his flight - whether it was still scheduled to depart on time, delayed, or if there had been any gate changes. Such information was only available at the gate.
That and more changed at Cancún when privatised Mexican airport authority ASUR began a major upgrade and became the launch customer in the Americas for Sita's airport operations IT system, known as Airport-in-a-Box.
By allowing real-time flight information to be displayed on monitors throughout the airport, including in bars, restaurants and duty-free shops so that passengers are free to spend more time - and money - at Cancún's facilities, Airport-in-a-Box is not just a service improvement for customers, but also a revenue booster for ASUR.
The authority, which has so far invested $10 million in IT to improve the efficiency of Cancún, is now taking the concept to a group level, hooking up the Airport-in-a-Box system installed at Cancún to its other airports in Cozumel, Huatulco, Mérida, Minatitlán, Oaxaca, Tapachula, Veracruz and Villahermosa.
Airport-in-a-Box links all the data and information gathered by an airport so that it can be shared across the system, allowing such items as automated billing of airlines and real-time flight and gate information for passengers.
Network extension
Over the next year, and working under a $4 million follow-on contract from ASUR, Sita will extend the system to the other eight airports, with Cancún remaining the IT hub. By extending the network to all nine of its airports, ASUR additionally will gain a constant overall picture of the group's operations and finances from its Mexico City headquarters.
ASUR chief administrative and financial officer Adolfo Castro says that, since the system was installed, Cancún has seen billing complaints from airlines fall 30-fold - itself another customer service improvement, but also a cost saving as fewer bills need to be corrected and resubmitted. Castro is also confident of the revenue benefits over time. "For example, with the passenger information screens, people can now see if their flight is delayed and can have another cup of coffee at a restaurant. Before, they had to just sit and wait at the gate."
Castro says that, when ASUR set out two years ago to outline its needs for Cancún: "This airport was very different then. There were no information systems, no network, no cabling systems. Everything was very sparse and we had serious problems with counter capacity."
Cancún Airport has been growing 7.4% a year in line with the rapid increase in tourism in the area. The airport now serves 40 airlines - 29 of them international. But two years ago, all of its operations were being handled manually, including boarding pass distribution and airline billing.
The basic lack of any IT at Cancún was in some ways an advantage as the airport set out to transform its operations. Sita's Mexico, Central America and Caribbean representative Carlos Arto explains: "Sita had an opportunity, unique in the airport world, to start from scratch, and this happened at a time when Sita had integrated the technologies into one single solution."
That "single solution" approach was at the top of ASUR's wishlist. More than anything, the organisation was looking for a system that could first transform operations at Cancún, but which could then become the master centre for ASUR's other airports dotted around Mexico.
"That's how we came to Cancún with our Airport-in-a-Box solution - the first sale to a Latin American customer," says Arto. "ASUR had a visionary approach. They wanted one infrastructure to serve all systems. They also had a number of systems that they needed to work together."
These include Sita's check-in system, CUTE, which is linked to the flight-information display system. Among the benefits of this automated check-in system is the ability to process passengers through the airport more quickly. With a faster check-in, there are shorter lines and less demand on limited space in this area of the airport. Passengers also can be given accurate, up-to-date information on their flights as they check in. Passport readers are installed in most check-in desks, so that information can be scanned into the system ahead of a journey.
Billing of airlines - previously done manually - has also become automated and more accurate. ASUR admits that before-and-after comparisons are difficult because previously the authority had no way of measuring the airport's performance in such areas. But now it can track 99.99% of the bills it sends out with complete accuracy. "Our revenues are much better controlled than they were before," says Castro.
Brazil's Infraero airport authority is set to be the next Americas' customer for Airport-in-a-Box. In October, Infraero announced it was awarding Sita a $1.2 million contract to install the solutions at Brasilia Airport. Those solutions, which tie together to make up the "Box" package, will include Sita's AirportCentral operations and management database, AirportVision information display system, and AirportResourceManager automatic scheduling and allocation system for key airport equipment.
Passenger growth
Like Cancún, Brasilia Airport is seeing fast growth, with passenger throughput increasing 18% last year to nearly 7 million. "These new state-of-the-art systems will enable us to maintain our rate of passenger growth in the most efficient and customer-friendly manner," says airport assistant operations director Wagner Mussato.
Infraero controls Brazil's 67 largest airports and runs seven business centres. The privatised organisation says it has almost $400 million earmarked for upgrade investments at several of its airports.
Sita's director of airport sales for the Americas Herve Muller explains the thinking behind Airport-in-a-Box: "The core of Airport-in-a-Box is the database. The idea is to have the right information at the right time. The core database captures all information in real time," he says.
"[Cancún] had isolated information systems that didn't talk to each other. Airport-in-a-Box centralises the information system. It was designed with a group in mind and was first implemented in South Africa with about 10 airports. Everything will be linked to the Cancún system. It gives central control to the whole group from its headquarters in Mexico City. It gives them remote control over invoicing, and managing contracts with airlines."
Muller believes two factors drive airport authorities towards this IT investment. "They can better control their financial situation and they can make their airports more efficient in terms of how they process growing numbers of passengers," he says.
There are two more airport groups in Mexico - GACN and GAP - which each manage eight to 12 airports and are looking at the Sita system. Although their privatisation processes are not as far advanced as ASUR's, in which the government now holds only an 11% stake, their requirements would be similar.
Sita president, the Americas, Dan Ebbinghaus says: "Airport-in-a-Box at its simplest is about integration. It helps airports become more efficient." He believes those efficiencies will become mandatory requirements as airports need to process greater numbers of people while also meeting stricter security regulations.
Travellers, Ebbinghaus believes, will rebel "if they have to allow more than 3h to get through the check-in and security process at an airport - especially in the USA." So Sita is also working with several airport authorities on how IT can help, streamlining cross-border checks of passengers arriving at airports, providing baggage reconciliation technology or biometric identification systems for airport self-service check-in kiosks.
Sita has already secured major IT contracts from immigration authorities in Australia and Canada that allow government agencies to review passenger details ahead of arrival, making the immigration process swifter and easier. Low-risk passengers can be speeded through immigration, while officials can identify in advance those who need further checks or questioning. A major US airport has also signed up this year for a similar system.
Source: Flight International
