SITA Unveils Revolutionary AI Tool For Elevating Airport Operations to New Heights

Wednesday, April 17, 2024

SITA, a prominent player in the air transport sector, has unveiled its groundbreaking airport management solution, the SITA Airport Operations Total Optimizer, at the 2024 Passenger Terminal Expo in Frankfurt, Germany. The Total Optimizer integrates AI and Total Airport Management principles to comprehensively optimize various airport functions.

In recent years, airports have made strides in optimizing specific functions independently. However, these optimizations often lack synchronization, leading to conflicts among teams, systems, procedures, and KPIs, ultimately compromising overall efficiency and costing airports millions annually.

Modern Airport Operations Centers consider numerous factors when making decisions, yet existing tools typically lack flexibility, hindering dynamic adaptation to changing priorities or conditions within the airport environment. The Total Optimizer empowers airport teams to dynamically adjust the relative priority of key aspects such as operational performance, capacity provisioning, revenue generation, cost efficiency, passenger experience, and sustainability.

“This is one of the biggest innovations yet in the sphere of total airport management,” says Stefan Schaffner, VP of Airports at SITA, citing the platform’s impressive ability to leverage AI and data analytics.

Through a collaborative effort, SITA has diligently examined the obstacles airports encounter in realizing Total Airport Management, working closely with industry leaders such as GTAA. Referencing the importance of valuable industry collaboration, Schaffner says: “We regularly interview our customers and other industry stakeholders to find solutions to the complex challenges they face now and in the future. In this respect, our new SITA Airport Operations Total Optimizer is a giant step forward to addressing the needs of our airport customers of different sizes and from countries the world over.”

The introduction of the SITA Airport Operations Total Optimizer coincides with a period of rapid passenger growth. Addressing this demand necessitates the adoption of smarter digital solutions to enhance efficiencies and streamline operations, while also integrating sustainable business practices throughout the ecosystem. SITA’s 2023 Air Transport IT Insights research underscores the urgency for increased IT investment as a priority for CIOs, alongside continuous digitalization endeavors and a commitment to sustainability goals. Achieving this equilibrium calls for a technology partner deeply engaged in the industry, renowned for leveraging intelligent technologies to develop robust and pertinent airport management solutions.

“SITA offers the expertise and technologies needed to reinvent the processes that will underpin tomorrow’s journey, along with the operations that keep the wheels of our industry in motion,” says SITA Schaffner.

SITA collaborated with Toronto Pearson Airport to implement a prototype of the Total Optimizer, seamlessly integrating it with GTAA’s data sources. GTAA personnel were able to dynamically optimize stand allocation plans by adjusting the relative priorities of various airport functions. The prototype demonstrated potential savings, operational efficiencies, and increased revenues to the Toronto Pearson team.

At this year’s PTE, Toronto Pearson Airport will discuss the challenges they encounter and present their comprehensive strategies to address them. Within their narrative, they will highlight the positive outcomes of the Total Optimizer demonstration and its potential significance in realizing their objectives.

The SITA Airport Operations Total Optimizer represents the latest addition to a suite of robust solutions aimed at optimizing airport operations through the utilization of precise, dependable, shared real-time data. Currently, over 240 airports and 50 off-airport sites utilize SITA’s Airport Management Solution (AMS) and SITA’s Airport-Collaborative Decision-Making (A-CDM).

« Back to Page