How can a nationwide airport operator innovate faster to elevate the passenger experience?
In conversation with Lars Erik Flatner, Head of innovation, business development and architecture at Avinor
For Avinor, the operator of 43 airports across Norway, the aspiration is clear: develop technology more quickly to get an enhanced end-to-end passenger experience and operational capabilities into its airports faster. To achieve it, they chose a co-innovation approach from Amadeus’ Professional Services Suite to evolve custom developments and unlock the full value.
Why have you decided on the co-innovation model?
Speed is the driver. Passengers have become accustomed to iPhones and Netflix; they expect a great tech-enabled experience at the airport too. To deliver against those expectations we need to think less like an airport operator and more like a digital start-up.
We’ve worked with Amadeus to define a development path based around our strategic objectives. The plan is well governed, with decision-making clarity, shared timelines, and accountability. That’s what puts us in a position to behave more like a digital product company. With our new co-innovation process, we gather requirements from across Avinor, prioritize, and assign some of the industry’s brightest minds to work on solving problems. It’s a very different approach to issuing a classic RFP for a technology project that might take several years to deploy – by which time the solution could already be out-of-date.
How are Avinor and Amadeus working together to improve the pace of innovation?
We’ve been an Amadeus customer for many years. Historically, this has meant we bought Amadeus products, like Amadeus Airport Cloud Use Service (ACUS) and its self-service portfolio. While these market-leading systems underpin our operations, we wanted more from our relationship. What if we could bring the skills and knowledge within Amadeus closer to our business and technology challenges? That was the line of thinking that led to the new co-innovation approach.
What does the co-innovation model look like?
Rather than simply consuming products that Amadeus builds, we now play a fundamental role in shaping development. Amadeus dedicates engineers and functional specialists to Avinor and they work with our team to agree on a development plan tailored specifically to our objectives and strategy. It’s about rapid prototyping and delivering impact from technology far more quickly than traditional development cycles allow.
Which areas are the two companies focused on?
We’re working today across several areas - from baggage to passenger processing- with a focus on improving cross vertical initiatives aiming to bring benefits to the different key stakeholders of the airport ecosystem.
Specifically, we are pioneering Amadeus’ data exchange capabilities that make it possible for our airports to share information with airlines and other stakeholders more easily and in a well governed way. Improving the way we exchange information in aviation is a pre-requisite for the next phase of industry progress.
Can you provide any examples from your data exchange work?
We’re examining a wide range of potential use cases for this platform, but a couple come to mind.
We have long struggled to optimally cater to passengers requiring special assistance. We simply do not know if any of the passengers on an arriving flight require a wheelchair, which means one can only be organized after landing. This leads to unacceptable delays when disembarking special assistance passengers, but it also delays turnaround of the aircraft. For me, this is one of the simplest, but most impactful examples of data fragmentation in aviation, and I’m pleased to say that we are close to solving it.
Another area we’re working on is message exchange. Airlines and airports rely on TTY messages (also known as Type B messages) to exchange information. If you are old enough, perhaps you can picture a dot-matrix printer? With Amadeus’ help we’re working on a way for our airports and airline partners to exchange information using modern digital methods, which are set to be faster, better and significantly cheaper.
Why is Amadeus the right partner for your co-innovation?
Amadeus is a unique organization that operates across the entire travel ecosystem. We’re focused on thinking ahead to design and develop entirely new operating approaches. Closer collaboration with our stakeholders is at the heart of this approach, and Amadeus is well placed to help us apply new innovations like AI, cloud and biometrics in a way that works across our ecosystem. That’s why we chose Amadeus as our technology partner, and it’s how we intend to unlock benefits for Avinor and our passengers.
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