Modern airports are complex, convoluted, and cosmopolitan entities that involve a multitude of stakeholders, arduous and often conflicting processes, and comprehensive resources. They face various challenges such as increasing passenger demand, environmental constraints, rising costs, security threats, and competitive pressures.
To overcome these challenges and achieve their strategic goals, airports can leverage the copious amounts of data they generate and consume. However, data also brings its own set of hurdles related to data quality, integration, governance, and security, to name a few. To unlock the full potential of data, airports need to adopt effective and innovative data solutions that can help them efficiently store, organize, and govern data and build models to drive business decision making.
Key Challenges for Airports Regarding Data
Data has been heralded as the fuel of the 21st century economy but poses challenges that are in complete contrast to others such as oil, gas, coal, uranium etc. The key differences are that data is easily available, will only grow with use, and provides almost no controls for proliferation. However, like traditional fuels, it can lead to catastrophic consequences if used without governance frameworks. Key challenges that airports face regarding data are:
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- Data quality: Airports need to ensure that the data they collect, and use is accurate, complete, consistent, and timely. Data quality issues can result from human errors, system failures, data silos, data duplication, corruption, and data loss. Poor data quality can lead to operational inefficiencies, customer dissatisfaction, regulatory compliance risks, and missed business opportunities.
- Data integration: Airports need to integrate data from various sources, such as internal systems, external partners, and third-party providers, to create a holistic and comprehensive view of their operations, customers, and markets. Data integration challenges can arise from data heterogeneity, complexity, large volumes, data velocity, and data privacy. Lack of data integration can lead to information gaps, inconsistent insights, poor collaboration, and suboptimal decisions.
- Data governance: Airports need to establish and enforce policies, standards, roles, and responsibilities for data management, data quality, data security, data privacy, and data ethics. Data governance challenges can stem from poorly defined data ownership and accountability, improper stewardship, and an overall lack of focus on building a data culture and literacy. Inadequate data governance can result in data breaches, misuse, data conflicts, errors, and distrust.
- Data security: Airports need to protect their data from unauthorized access, modification, disclosure, or destruction. Data security challenges can emerge from feeble guardrails to defend against external and internal threats and attacks to data repositories, systemic vulnerabilities, data incidents, and inadequately defined data recovery standards and processes. Compromised data security can cause significant data loss, damage, exposure, theft, and adversely affect organizational reputation.
Data Solutions for Airports
Organizations have historically relied on manual, localized, offline and/or unstructured online methods to collect, sort, store, process, analyze, and share data. These methods have been costly, cumbersome, time consuming and mostly wasteful with limited benefits to the organization. However, modern day data solutions have changed this. Data solutions are software or platforms that enable organizations to easily manage data with the ability to gather and process data from multiple sources in real time and organize the same effectively to glean powerful insights. Data solutions can help businesses improve decision making, enhance customer experience, and optimize operations. Data solutions can also support data governance, security, compliance, and quality.
The schematic below provides leading products from data solution providers that include Microsoft, Google, AWS, Databricks, Snowflake, Informatica, and Collibra
Microsoft offers a comprehensive suite of data solutions that span across cloud, hybrid, and on-premises environments. Through its Microsoft Fabric offering powered by its Copilot program and integrated with the Purview governance solution, Microsoft has aimed to create an end-to-end platform with a common data model and a unified data plane across Microsoft’s cloud services, such as Azure, Dynamics 365, and Microsoft 365.
Google and AWS also provide end to end data solutions but currently lag Microsoft on richness of functionalities across the data spectrum.
Key competitors to the hegemony of the big tech players are DataBricks and Snowflake. The DataBricks Data Intelligence Platform showcases excellence in data science, integration, and big data processing and provisions a seamless unified platform for advanced analytics. Its emphasis on a collaborative environment built on machine learning, self-service, and usability contributes to a compelling user experience that is governed by the Unity Catalog governance offering.
Snowflake leads the warehousing landscape with its cloud-agnostic versatile architecture, flexible pricing, and robust features across data warehousing, processing, and security.
Informatica is a leader in the data integration space with a compelling enterprise-wide governance offering. Collibra provides the most robust governance solution albeit at higher pricing.
Data Solutions to Streamline Airports Operations and Drive Business Growth
Airports are complex and dynamic environments that generate and consume copious amounts of data from various sources such as passengers, airlines, ground handlers, security, weather, and more. Modern day solutions enable airports to harness the power of this data to optimize operations, enhance customer experience, and drive revenue growth.
Operational Efficiency
Data can help airports monitor and optimize their key performance indicators (KPIs), such as on-time performance, baggage handling, security screening, and runway capacity. Using sensors, cameras, scanners, and flight information systems, airports can identify and address operational bottlenecks, improve resource allocation, and enhance coordination among stakeholders. A significant focus of most organizations today is achieving the 2030 sustainable development goals. Energy consumption, waste management, noise levels, and emissions information can facilitate implementation of energy-efficient measures, reduce waste generation, mitigate noise pollution, and offset carbon emissions; hence improving environmental sustainability. Data can help improve airport safety and security through early identification of potential threats, such as cyberattacks, terrorism, and natural disasters, airports can subsequent implementation of preventive and responsive measures.
Customer Satisfaction
Near real time analysis of customer behaviour, preferences, emotions, sentiments, opinions, feedback, and satisfaction levels can serve as crucial building blocks to designing and delivering personalized customer services, such as wayfinding, check-in, boarding and baggage delivery and memorable experiences, such as entertainment, art, culture, and social media. Customer loyalty can be harnessed by identifying and rewarding most valuable customers, such as frequent flyers, premium passengers, and loyal airlines through customized loyalty programs.
Aeronautical Revenue
Air traffic, passenger demand, cargo volumes and other related statistics can enable airports to optimize their pricing strategies and maximize revenue potential. Data on airline performance, preferences, and satisfaction can help airports negotiate competitive and attractive terms and conditions, such as discounts, rebates, and incentives, and enhance their relationship and collaboration with airlines. Through analysis of market trends, opportunities, and gaps, airports can identify and pursue new and emerging markets, such as low-cost carriers, regional airlines, and cargo operators, and increase their connectivity and accessibility.
Non-Aeronautical Revenue
Data can help airports increase their non aeronautical revenue, such as retail, parking, advertising, and real estate. Customer spending patterns, behaviour, and preferences can guide airports to optimize their product mix, pricing, placement, and promotion strategies, and increase their sales and profitability. Data can help airports attract and retain their non aeronautical customers, such as retailers, advertisers, and tenants and enhance their relationship and collaboration with them by offering competitive and attractive terms and conditions, such as rents, commissions, and contracts. Study of market trends, opportunities, and gaps can throw up precious insights on new and emerging sources of non-aeronautical revenue, such as e-commerce, digital media, and smart city projects, and increase their value proposition and differentiation.
Conclusion
Data is a vital asset for airports that can help them overcome challenges and seize opportunities in the dynamic and competitive aviation industry. However, data also requires effective and innovative solutions that can help airports store, organize, govern, build models, and drive business decision making using data. By adopting data platforms, data tools, data frameworks, and data skills, airports can leverage data to streamline their operations and drive their business growth.
By Prasad Nayak, Director