As the pandemic affects travel, Cambodia Airports takes to the cloud

June 30, 2021

4 Min read

Available in other languages

DE EN

Hervé Bonin

General Manager, Phnom Penh International Airport

Share it!

When we embarked on ourjourney to the cloud with Amadeus the objectives were clear – replace our IT infrastructure with a new generation of cloud computing services that would help us scale to meet increasing demand. But when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, we had a decision to make. Delay, cancel or continue with the project?

After careful consideration we decided to continue our move to the cloud. If we’d have been upgrading to a capital-intensive new generation of on-site servers and software at the airport we may have acted differently. It would have been difficult to justify upfront investment as we approached a period of reduced traffic. But with the cloud, we realized the cost model was variable – we pay for IT services based on the amount of business we handle.

Perhaps more importantly, we quickly realized that the new approach to IT could help us respond to the impact of COVID-19. Like many airports, the number and type of airlines offering services from the three international hubs we operate in Cambodia has fluctuated during the pandemic. Some have scaled back operations and others have chosen to begin new services.

The cloud has had a strong impact on both fronts. With a single connection to Amadeus, we’ve been able to access the vast majority of the world’s airlines without having to manage legacy connectivity projects that can take many months to deploy. Instead, a connection is organized by Amadeus in a matter of days and the airline is ready to serve routes to our air-ports located in Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, and Sihanoukville.

Affiliated to France’s

VINCI Airports,

Cambodia Airports is the sole ground handler operating at the three airports and this adds complexity. In fact, no single airline is responsible for more than 7% of passenger movements. The challenge then is being able to add new airlines quickly and simply as well as standardize the Departure Control Systems (DCS) our teams use to serve passengers and handle flights for this diverse group of airlines.

My ground handling colleagues have seen benefits too. Rather than training teams on six or seven different DCSs we’ve been able to serve an increasing number of airlines using Amadeus’ Altéa Departure Control for Ground Handlers. This has delivered consistency of service for passengers whilst simplifying operations.

The IT infrastructure ‘heavy lifting’ we’ve undertaken during the pandemic has all been achieved without any on-site staff. Amadeus teams were able to handle the migration remotely, without the need to travel, which meant we could move forward even during the challenging moments of the crisis. And we’ve laid the foundations for future innovation in passenger services.

Cambodia’s Angkor Archeological Complex is the largest religious structure in the world, and it attracted over two and a half million visitors in 2019. The historic site is served by our airport in Siem Reap and, in peak season, demand places a strain on passenger services.

Now we’re in the cloud the legacy constraints have been removed and we can think differently about this challenge. When the pandemic abates, we have plans to reduce the pressure by shifting check-in and bag-drop services away from the airport to a number of hotels near to the temple city so that passengers can arrive at the terminal ready to pass through security and board the plane.

With the right foundations in place, we’re also well placed to add self-service capabilities and biometric identity technology to automate steps like check-in and boarding, offering passengers a smoother experience. I don’t think we’d be in a position to harness such innovations without having first made the move to the cloud.

Some years ago, many of my industry colleagues would have questioned a decision to run an airport with the cloud. “It’s not reliable enough!”,” What about being able to touch and feel your servers?”, “Cyber security?!”. Well, I think the debate is drawing to a conclusion. It’s already clear that cloud technology has matured to the point where it is superior to what an airport can achieve alone.

Just like our own experience at Cambodia Airports, I’d expect many airports will decide COVID-19 is the catalyst to make the switch.

Contact the Amadeus airport team

TO TOP