Page 24 - AAA SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2013 Online Magazine

FEATURE IT SYSTEmS

is also using the system, as Kari Pauro,
Manager, Customer Service applications
at Finnair IT says. “Automated check-in
has been well received by our customers,
who just love the easy “nothing-to-do”
solution. After arriving at the airport, the
customer just goes to bag drop or directly
to the gate. The solution is working well
and Finnair is looking forward to further
Altéa enhancements,” he says.

In or out?
With escalating user demand, the advent
of the cloud, the always-on availability of
internet access, and the gradual atrophying
of proprietary systems in favour of open
systems, the majority of airlines now opt to
sign up with an outside IT provider – most Hazem Hussein, EVP, Airline Michael Ibbitson, CIO,
often a specialist in IT aviation. Commercial, Amadeus Asia Pacific London Gatwick Airport
“In recent years there has been a
significant increase in the number of all airlines so users see a common (and traditionally used lower operating costs
airlines outsourcing their IT to external understandable) interface rather a range as a key competitive advantage. To
technology providers such as Amadeus of baffling and different experiences on all meet growing service demands, HKA
rather than developing and maintaining airlines. And there is a cost benefit too. was continuously expanding its internal
their own systems in-house,” says Hazem “In addition to the cost, airlines often systems by deploying more servers and
Hussein, EVP, Airline Commercial, don’t have the in-house expertise required applications. However, the IT architecture
Amadeus Asia Pacific. Hussein maintains to implement the complete overhaul of the was restricted by low flexibility; each
that airlines that cling on to in-house IT systems that is needed,” says Hussein, application had an independent platform,
systems often run them on legacy software pointing to the need for constant updates bringing extra difficulties to system
systems that have severe limitations in to keep abreast of mobile technology management and service expansion.
terms of functionality, security updates and in particular. “That is why they look to Hence, HKA decided to use a Huawei
maintenance. Often based on code written external providers such as Amadeus and FusionCloud desktop cloud solution in a
decades ago, they can become complex and our community platform,” he says. trial deployment for its office system. The
prone to bugs, making it hard for airlines to One more advantage to outsourcing is installation proved a dramatic success,
fund, or add to with upgrades. Hence the that an outsourced system can completely improving the operation and maintenance
move to outsourcing – Amadeus claims it is remove the fixed cost overhead that a efficiency by over 10 times, increasing
used by 58% of oneworld, 60% of Star and dedicated data centre demands. Hussein security and slashing total annual power
52% of Skyteam alliances globally. notes that his company’s solutions are consumption by up to 350,000 kWh.
This outsourcing movement leads to based on a passenger boarded fee, “HKA purchased Huawei’s cloud-
two things. First, more bells and whistles which makes the costs entirely flexible; a desktop technologies to reduce operating
in the IT offerings, as the providers have IT significant bonus in the days of peak avgas. costs, improve work efficiency, and
staff dedicated to nothing other than R&D. One airline faced with such a decision accelerate the implementation of our
Second, a welcome homogeneity across is Hong Kong Airlines (HKA), which ‘Digital Aviation’ development strategy,”

PERcENTAGE POINTS
the day of travel – such as a website, kiosk, mobile, call centre or social 70% 74%
An impressive 80% of travellers aged 18 to 24 use social media, according
to a SITA survey. Not only that, 68% had used self-service check-in on

media. But although they like being connected, they apparently don’t want of passengers of passengers
intrusion. A significant 35% of travellers said they do not want mobile carry smartphones book online
advertising “under any circumstances”.

24 ASIAN AIRLINES & AIRPORTS SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2013 WWW.ASIANAIRLINES-AIRPORTS.COM