Ready for take-off?How smart technology and innovative connectivity are transforming air travel

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All transport and travel companies have the same main aim: Getting people from A to B as reliably, safely and cost-effectively as possible.

But doing this in an ever-changing, increasingly competitive – and often unstable – global marketplace is becoming more and more difficult.

On top of the need to respond quickly to changing geo-political factors and industry consolidation, operators also have to deal with the impact of new technologies and growing consumer expectations.

And all of this is pushing traditional systems and processes to their limit.

Companies wrestling with out-of-date working practices need to find ways to bring in new technology in order to work smarter, move quicker and deliver a better service.

It can seem very daunting, but a lot of the ingredients are already in place. The key is to bring them all together.

This paper outlines some of the common issues the airline sector faces and highlights how smart technology and innovative connectivity could help not only to overcome current problems, but to open the door to new opportunities.

The sky is no longer the limit

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The air travel industry is hugely competitive and profit margins are thin. Making changes to improve efficiency and cut costs are essential but can be difficult to implement while dealing with day-to-day challenges.

Geo-political factorsAviation has made the world a much smaller and more connected place. But as airlines move and expand into new areas, geo-political changes can have a huge impact on the  business.

Airline operators need to find more efficient and effective ways to deal with the impact of changing routes, spinning operations up or down in tricky locations and connecting staff in new areas. Not to mention how to respond in the event of a crisis.

The imminent aviation hub The Middle-East is emerging as the cynosure of the airlines sector worldwide, and growth in air passenger and air cargo traffic in the Middle-East between 2012 and 2032 is likely to outperform all other regions.

The ever-changing marketplace The aviation marketplace is not for the faint-hearted. Industry consolidation is a way of life and a daily challenge, as businesses struggle with the impact of new mergers, takeovers and subsidiary operations.

This changing marketplace means that companies have to be able to quickly and easily set up and close down alliances as and when required, while meshing operations and ensuring security across previously disparate systems.

The rise of the low cost carrier model LCCs already account for almost 25% of the worldwide market and are increasingly expanding globally, as well as encouraging more first-time flyers.

An evolving alliance landscape With prohibitions on full cross-border airline mergers in many jurisdictions, alliances are increasing. This is enabling carriers to save costs through co-location, joint procurement and sharing IT systems.

New partnership models are evolving that includes buying equity stakes in other airlines and offering customers more choice through improved networks and enhanced frequent flyer benefits.

Aviation trends and challenges

Looking east for new growth driversAsia-Pacific and the Middle-East accounted for 90% of the air traffic growth in the second half of 2014 and are emerging as next aviation growth propellers. This is being driven by economic growth, a growing middle-class, rising tourism and migration, and the emergence of low-cost carriers. In contrast, traditionally large markets, such as the U.S. and Europe continue to have a relatively flat air

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Customer experienceThis is the age of the consumer and people expect a hassle-free end–to-end experience each and every time. Mobile technology is helping to make this a reality – by pushing the relevant information and processes out to people and putting them in control. It’s helping smooth every aspect of the journey, from booking, travelling to the airport, checking-in, through the airport to boarding and disembarkation.

Meeting these new expectations means having – and providing – access to the right information in the right format at the right time, regardless of device and location. And that requires joined-up systems behind the scenes.

Safety and securityGoing by air is still the safest way to travel. But high profile incidents colour public perceptions and show that there is always room for improvement.

The physical security of passengers and service personnel in the airport must also be addressed. And with multiple layers of interdependent systems including CCTV surveillance, security guards, protective barriers, locks, access control protocols, biometrics and many others there’s a lot to consider. Cyber security in an increasingly digital world is also high on the agenda as the risks become more apparent.

Dealing with disruption Whether it’s weather, terrorism, power outages or industrial action, a significant trend in the aviation ecosystem management is how to deal with disruptions, as it can mean the difference between making a profit or a loss for an airline. Seamlessly connected information at the fingertips of decision-makers will determine whether a disruption goes from a minor hiccup to a major outage.

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“Nearly 90 per cent of businesses expect the amount of data transmitted by their networks to increase “somewhat” or “significantly” over the next five years.” Security: The vital element of the internet of things, Forrester, March 2015

The internet of thingsFrom smartphones and tablets to cars and streetlights, smart technology and joined up systems are creating an internet of things (IoT). This is the technology that is empowering consumers, transforming businesses and underpinning smart cities around the world.

Big data

All of these smart gadgets and sensors generate data. Lots of data. The challenge is to find ways to gather, share, analyse and act on the insight that all this new real-time information gives you.

Cloud computing

The spread of connectivity, the computing demands of big data and the need to be able to move quickly – and scale operations up and down as required – has seen many organisations move from traditional communications networks to embrace the power, flexibility and agility of cloud computing.

Beyond the cloudBy leveraging resources that may not be continuously connected to a network such as laptops, smartphones, tablets and sensors, edge computing is pushing the frontier of computing applications, data and services away from centralised nodes, enabling analytics to occur at the source of the data.

IT trends

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Smart technology is transforming the way people live, work, play – and travel. And joined up systems and smart, internet-enabled devices open up a whole world of insight and opportunity.

These are the foundations of new, more efficient ways of working. They can help put the customer at the centre of the operation and ensure a consistently excellent experience each and every time. IT and innovation investments are powering change. The key now is to understand just how powerful these tools can be in this new connected world.

Tapping into the industrial internet of things Data is being generated by almost every aspect of the manufacturing and running of aircraft and the dynamic between airports and passengers. Making sense of and interacting with all of that data to help improve safety, operational efficiency and customer experience is essential.

Sensors and smart internet-enabled devices generate large amounts of operational and real-time data. When it comes to data, it’s all about integration, automation and analytics. All three are essential to convert data into information and insights.

With the right systems in place, airlines can dig into this vast amount of data and use the information to help reduce fuel costs, improve the travel experience and improve operational efficiency.

Extending this to predictive monitoring, and investing in technologies like sensors, processor chips and wi-fi networks, can also help minimise downtime, serve more customers, and increase overall profitability.

How smart technology, connectivity and big data are transforming air travel

A jet engine generates 1TB of data per flight

40 per cent of all data will come from sensors by 2020

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Getting to know your customers betterImproving passenger experience has become the single most important driving force for IT investment for transport operators – with customer-facing technologies like self-service kiosks, internet connectivity, real-time information displays, GPS systems, and contactless payment cards all coming into play.

Organisations are also using social media to better understand their customers, address complaints and improve services. Often, however, integration with other key data sources is lacking – hampering its use.

Understanding an individual customer’s preferences and consumer-related activities is essential to delivering a personalised service. More advanced analytics will help, but technology itself is not enough here; businesses have to rewire the entire organisation to put the customer – and customer service – at the heart of everything they do.

That means capturing data at every single touchpoint — from looking up flights and booking to boarding and in-flight – to get a full picture of a customer’s preferences and expectations. And by pushing this beyond existing loyalty schemes you can get real insights about travel behaviour and choices.

Cutting costs with digitalThe devices that are empowering customers can also unleash the full potential of the business.

Smart technology can help improve efficiency by enabling real-time planning and allocation. While sensors can alert operations centres so that any maintenance can be scheduled while the plane is in the air. Cutting downtime cuts costs – and keeps passengers happy.

The key is being able to see what is happening in real-time to make informed business decisions – and respond instantly. This is where the cloud comes into its own.

By being able to tap into additional computing resources, and flex contact centre support up and down in line with demand, cloud computing can help transform the business and meet the challenges the industry faces.

The Rolls Royce operations centre in Derby analyses data from aircraft engines in flight so that when a plane lands, the airline can replace a faulty engine part before it fails.

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Cloud-based contact centre underpins airline’s first-class service commitment

With the help of BT Inbound Contact, Air China knows that everyone who calls gets a great customer experience on the ground as well as in the air – with an answer in their own language. Being cloud-based, the airline can flex up and down in line with demand and align cost with usage.

“Air China needed to establish a presence in Europe that would be sensitive to local cultural and language requirements.”

Davey Chen IT Director, Air China

Virtual contact centre helps deliver own-language service excellence to guests from 37 countries

Facing tremendous growth Etihad opted to virtualise its global contact centres. Now calls collected from 37 different countries are routed to an available agent in one of three locations: Abu Dhabi and Al Ain in the UAE, and Manchester in the UK.

“Experiencing the same feeling of specialness, wherever the caller lands, is paramount. Our contact centres are the voice of Etihad; essential to achieving that.”

Ruth Birkin Head of Global Contact Centres Etihad Airways

Case study snapshots

Air China EtihadManaged service helps assure the safety of crowded skies

With demands on the existing communications network increasing, and without a new approach, the NATS management team knew that risks would escalate. By converging voice, video and data onto a single IP network and having the ability to flex to meet future requirements, we’ve helped give NATS the confidence to focus on its business priorities.

“Different access speeds, all the way up to Gigabit Ethernet, mean we can tailor the service to meet our evolving needs.”

David Hawken General Manager, Engineering Service Delivery, NATS

NATS

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Aviation IT: The journey ahead

For customers

An automated journeySelf-service could reach a point where the whole airport journey can be managed by passengers, cutting queues and freeing up time – with a smaller specialist team on the ground to help with more complex issues. And mobile technology and RFID advances may see the roll out of permanent baggage tags and boarding passes.

For every individualPersonalisation can be taken to a whole new level. Customers want it and with the right technology in place, the combination of smart gadgets, mobility and data analysis will enable airports and airlines to become even more customer centric.

With ‘one for all’ appsApps are a big part of the mobile experience and as then benefits of more joined up data and systems become clear we may see all-in-one apps for everything, from flight research (across all airlines) through check-in to room and car rental.

For the business

Common use processesCommon use services will play a big part in the future. Technologies, such as mobile and CUPPS (Common Use Passenger Processing Systems), will eventually result in passenger processes operating on a common standard. So we’ll see a standard interface adopted across all airlines and, ultimately, a one-stop airport journey, for bag drop and security, and gateless boarding.

Flexible computingBehind the scenes, airlines will be able to tap into huge amounts data to make business and operational decisions. On demand computing systems will be able to analyse this data and provide meaningful insights.

Market agilityThis flexibility will be extended to ramping up (or down) operations in line with demand or changes in the marketplace. Multilingual, global customer support, across all channels, including social media, will help airlines respond more quickly and effectively.

With new opportunitiesAdvances in airport security and baggage technology might help boost retail opportunities in airports – or even transform the whole function of the airport completely, as waiting time is dramatically reduced and passengers can seamlessly proceed from arrival to departure much faster.

All of these initiatives, taken together, have the potential to be much more than the sum of their parts. They will help businesses not only meet current challenges, but also help support new opportunities. Getting the right connectivity in place now could be the foundation for a complete transformation of the way the aviation sector operates.

The organisations who derive the most value from their connections − rather than just connecting the most devices to their networks − will be successful.

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Meeting the challenges of the next few years, and beyond, will require an innovative approach to technology. It’s not just about getting the right technology in place, it’s about the art of connecting – exploiting the potential of new digital trends to deliver stunning business outcomes.

BT and Cisco are at the forefront of this innovation. We’ve been working together for 25 years. And right now, we’re helping make the vision of Smart Cities and connected utilities a reality.

About BT and Cisco

Come and see us Visit our innovation showcase at Adastral Park, Ipswich or come and see us at our showcase in BT Centre, London. Alternatively you can view our virtual showcase online: globalservices.bt.com/virtualshowcase

BT is one of the largest technology investors in the UK, innovating with customers, partners and universities. The company has spent more than £4bn on R&D over the last five years and shares the fruits of that investment with its customers.

Similarly, Cisco is leading the way in the development of the internet of everything, using cutting-edge technology to transform the way we live, work and play – and to drive untapped potential value for businesses.

As well as our significant joint investment in research and development, we’re innovating in cloud, collaboration and network infrastructure – and defining new solutions such as Hybrid Cloud, Hosted Unified Communication Services, Network Functions Virtualisation (NFV) and Software Defined Networks (SDN).

Together, we’ll help you design the future with confidence.

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