Why ‘the whole is greater than the sum of its parts’ in aviation today

January 30, 2023

4 Min read

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Yann Guillemain

Director Strategy, Airport and Airlines Operations, Amadeus

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‘The whole is greater than the sum of its parts’ – Aristotle

"The whole is greater than the sum of its parts" - Aristotle

This oft-quoted phrase is attributed to the philosopher Aristotle and neatly captures the power of synergies. It might have first been said more than 2,000 years ago but it’s an observation that holds great relevance for today’s aviation industry.

A better aviation experience
We know that when managing flights and delivering for passengers at the airport, several parties must come together to create an excellent experience. Airports, airlines, and their ground handling agents are key players, but so too are restaurant chains, refueling companies and government border agencies. Unfortunately, these partners don’t collaborate sufficiently well today. Typically, each of these organizations work with siloed data and tools, often resulting in delays, inefficiencies and missed opportunities to deliver for passengers.

In short, there are many moving parts, but the industry isn’t yet able to put them all together to deliver more overall value for travelers and the companies involved. At Amadeus we intend to change this situation by providing common platform technology that can be used by all players involved at the airport, including third parties that can contribute to a better aviation experience.

Realizing greater value
We’re well placed to help solve this challenge because Amadeus already provides a number of the IT systems in question. Our airline IT business provides Passenger Service Systems to many airlines across the globe, which hold and manage data on the passengers and their travel plans. Our Departure Control System (DCS) is widely used across the industry, helping agents to undertake critical passenger services at the airport like check-in, baggage and boarding. And our Airport Management Suite (AMS) is used by a growing number of airports to optimize how airlines share resources at the terminal and how flight operations are managed. We’re involved with many of ‘the parts’ and we intend to help the industry realize greater value by putting them together.

As a very simple example, imagine walking to the check-in kiosk and being alerted to the fact there is a long security queue and it’s likely that you’re going to miss boarding. Here the kiosk can use this intelligence to recommend an offer for airport fast-track, so you have peace of mind and time to enjoy the terminal and the services offered.

Or consider the case of disruption, perhaps the best example to substantiate Aristotle’s famous observation. Disruption needs to be treated holistically, based on all the variables that play a role in solving irregular operations. Airlines have tools (often from Amadeus) to automatically reaccommodate passengers on disrupted flights based on passenger priorities, connections and cost. But today this automation doesn’t factor Air Traffic Control slots, ground service considerations or the wider view at the airport. Combining the airline and airport operational logic would reduce both the likelihood and impact of disruption.

Joining forces
Collaboration is ‘the’ key to a better overall aviation experience: hence we are also joining forces with many different providers to make their innovations available as part of our platform. For instance, we’re working withiCoupon so airlines can issue a voucher seamlessly attached to the boarding pass in the event of delay. There will be no need to queue for a paper voucher or download an app. 100% of passengers will have a boarding pass for the flight, and this is all they need to be able to go to the restaurant or lounge to spend the value loaded onto the boarding pass. We’re working withCHOOOSE so airlines, travel sellers and airports can offer both leisure travelers and corporate customers a range of climate solution options, such as carbon removals, carbon offsets and Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), to support climate action. Or working withFlightKeys , so airlines can reduce their fuel consumption in the air, in addition to the savings permitted during taxi and take-off by our Sequence and Flight Management solutions.

Travel is an interconnected experience but it’s not yet an interconnected industry. Problems experienced by travelers at the airport during the recovery have highlighted this longstanding challenge. There are many quick wins that can be achieved through closer airport and airline collaboration, as well as longer-term opportunities for transformation that incorporate travel sellers, hotels and rail. That’s why we’re working with our customers and partners towards a ‘whole’ that’s greater than the sum of its parts.

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