Excerpts of my interview during the 2014 Airlines IT Show in London. These words have more than 6 years but continue to be very actual and relevant:
“Passengers are looking for a more active role in the IROPS process. Airlines typical try to include a customer-centric approach in IROPS resolutions, using not only the more classical approaches (phone contact, SMS messages, email and service desks), but also, social networks like Facebook. (…)
However, there is space for improvement and IT has an important role here. It is not an easy task and the main challenges are related with the integration of information and the quality and accuracy of data. (…)
Passengers are one element in the equation. Ideally, airlines also need to look at disruptions in terms of aircraft and crew and be able to bring teams together. The ability to automate IROPS responses starts with flexibility in the PSS, but for a multidimensional solution you have to be able to add in other systems – operational systems, cost information, loyalty, baggage systems and more. Research into tools that simultaneously consider the three dimensions of flight/aircraft, crew and passengers is growing, and my own PhD work is an example of that (MASDIMA). (…)
Airlines have been investing in BI to help make decisions from an operational point of view – and specifically, to improve its customer-centric vision of IROPS. Castro predicts the airlines will increasingly use BI techniques to improve customer satisfaction. He says technically airlines already have ways to predict potential disruptions and their impact, but a key area will be to improve future operations planning – for example aircraft and crew rosters – using historic data. This “requires a more integrated approach between the phase of planning and scheduling, otherwise, the different optimisation objectives of each phase will not be considered properly. Another thing is to do that in real-time or almost real-time, especially when we envision IROPS systems with a high degree of automation and autonomy. “I believe airlines and software vendors still have a long way to go regarding this aspect.”
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