On Wednesday, 17 May 2023 at IATA’s Ground Handling Conference (IGHC), Rachel Wesson, Commercial Director; Grant Winter, Head of Commercial; and Chris Foster, Business Growth Manager, were joined by twenty delegates from across the Aviation industry at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC) for Zafire’s informative and interactive session, ‘Rampside power-ups: how the digitalisation of rampside operations is giving industry leaders their competitive edge’.
At this year’s IGHC, our ever-popular Lunchtime Workshop provided an insight into the future of ramp and turnaround management from and for those at the frontline of the Aviation industry. With over 300 years’ collective experience in the room from across the industry and around the world, it was great to see old friends and new faces not just partaking in lively discussions, but also listening intently to our experts sharing their industry expertise and operational experience.
In the course of just over an hour, a lot was crammed in! Group work enabled workshop participants to explore one of three questions relating to digitalisation, automation, and standardisation:
- What ramp processes/workflows could/should be digitalised?
- What ramp tasks could/should be automated?
- What ramp activities could/should be standardised?
After each breakout group’s insights were fed back to the group as a whole, we shared preliminary results from Zafire’s ongoing 2023 Ramp Operations Survey. Next, workshop participants were given an exclusive insight into two real-life case studies featuring FirstRamp, Zafire’s comprehensive Ground Handling software, and two of our exceptional and much-loved customers, WFS and Widerøe. Finally, further comments and questions were taken from the floor before we announced the winner of our workshop prize draw.
What, then, were the key takeaways from all of this collaborative activity and lively debate?
- The opportunities to digitalise, automate, and standardise are almost infinite.
- Digitalisation enables us to harness data and exchange it more efficiently.
- Automation benefits all stakeholders in the Airport community.
- Standardisation improves processes exponentially.
- A significant percentage (26%) of ramp operations and turnaround management is still reliant upon inefficient, paper-based systems.
- The preliminary results of our 2023 Ramp Operations Survey very much reflect and support the discussions which took place in the breakout groups.
- The case studies highlighted the key benefits of FirstRamp for each customer:
- WFS: real-time data and transparency.
- Widerøe: customer service and SLA compliance.
- Simplification is the golden thread that ties digitalisation, automation, and standardisation together.
Whilst it was apparent that each organisation represented in the room was at a different stage in their digitalisation, automation, and standardisation journey with respect to rampside operations and turnaround management, there was a clear consensus about that journey being one that absolutely has to go ahead apace in order for Ground Handlers, Airports, and Airlines to maintain their competitive edge and manage efficiency, cost, and revenue effectively. Furthermore, accurate and trusted data capture of turnaround management and all its associated activities enables Airport communities to expand capacity and throughput as the world moves towards a more collaborative approach to airfield management.
A big thank you to absolutely everyone who took part in our Lunchtime Workshop (including our Key Account Manager, Claire Roberts, for her work behind the scenes on the day)!
To find out more about FirstRamp (Zafire’s comprehensive, cloud-based aircraft turnaround planning, servicing, resource and fleet optimisation, and business intelligence reporting application specifically designed for the management of high volume and time critical tasks) or to schedule a call with a member of the expert team at Zafire, please email Lou Read, or call Lou on +44 (0) 1295 701 810.
