At the end of October it was confirmed that dnata had agreed a deal with airline IT solutions provider Amadeus to implement its Altéa Departure Control – Flight Management product at its centralised load control (CLC) office in Dubai. The contract will cover all Emirates and flydubai domestic and international flights handled by dnata, as well as over 100 other airlines that the handler currently serves.
Altéa Departure Control – Flight Management is a fully automated system for managing the weight and balance of flights. According to Amadeus, the new-generation load control platform enables much greater precision in forecasting future passenger and cargo loads, as well as improving the productivity of load controllers on flights. By assessing the optimal load distribution on each flight, fuel requirements can also be better defined, saving money and increasing potential uplift capacity.
Jon Conway, divisional senior vice president responsible for airport operations at dnata, explains: “We began using Altéa’s Flight Management (FM) system on 2 September. flydubai is our first FM airline customer and we are handling 99.9% of its entire network via our centralised CLC. The system has been performing very well and our colleagues find the user interface intuitive and logical.” It is understood that Emirates services are expected to be handled using the system before the end of this year.
Some of dnata’s customers require the handler to employ their own system for weight and balance, or they may have their own CLC solution. However, dnata works with over 100 airlines that it handles with its own local control systems. “FM offers next-generation technology and I fully expect these carriers to be delighted with our selection of Amadeus,” Conway enthuses.
He observes: “Amadeus’ in-depth experience, vast reach and high level of development will help us gain greater efficiencies through the full automation of our weight and balance system. Furthermore, Altéa Departure Control’s Flight Management enables us to provide our airline customers with significant fuel savings. The system’s community and SaaS (software as a service) elements also allow for greater collaboration with our customers.”
In summary, he informs: “dnata invests heavily in people, equipment, facilities and technology. It would be fair to say that this is a significant investment, but our business case analysis determined it was absolutely the correct decision.”
John Jarrell, head of airport IT at Amadeus, is equally delighted with the contract signing: “We are extremely pleased to continue our airport journey, having signed the world’s fourth-largest ground handler. Amadeus is proud to be part of dnata’s successful growth strategy today and into the future.
“We are certain this will only be the beginning of a fruitful relationship as we work closer together with this important customer to offer further enhancements in ground handling. This agreement enables us to strengthen our foothold globally, alongside our 50 ground handlers currently using our solutions today.”
Phased development
Jarrell explains the process by which dnata came to take up the ground handler variant of the Altéa flight management system. He notes that dnata issued a request for proposals (RfP) some time ago for such a system, connected in large part to its changing needs relating to handling the A380 superjumbo. Amadeus won the RfP in what was a fairly lengthy process, due to some extent to the need for the technology to be able to interface effectively with other systems used by the handler.
Success was built on the benefits of the product and its versatility. “Our service provides some unique things,” he says, “especially in the areas of load control and weight and balance. These all came out in the RfP process. dnata made site visits and they saw our capabilities, together with the increases in productivity that could be made in their CLC.”
Amadeus will continue to support dnata and the system, Jarrell says; “it’s more of a service than a product,” he believes. This latest deal – a “very meaningful one” for the airport IT division of Amadeus – means dnata is amongst the more than numerous ground handlers now employing Amadeus’ flight management solutions whether for the passenger handling (Altéa Departure Control – Customer Management) or the weight and balance variant – or for both.
Further growth
The airport IT business managed by Jarrell has other plans for growth, many of which will be of significant interest to current or potential ground handler customers. The division is building a suite of 17 or more products that target airport authorities and ground handlers (depending on which undertakes a particular task at a given gateway), many of which have already been announced. For example, in autumn this year it was revealed that MAP Handling of France had opted for Amadeus’ contract and billing offering.
Amadeus’ airport IT business has grown strongly – the company only really moved into this space in 2011. Its staff complement allocated to software development work in this market has increased significantly and it is clear that there are still many more product initiatives to be announced and far more development work still to be undertaken.
And it is not just Amadeus that is expanding rapidly – so too is dnata. “Our recent decision to establish a fully approved aircraft line maintenance unit at Dubai International and Dubai World Central (DWC) – Al Maktoum International Airport, is particularly noteworthy,” Conway highlights. “Subject to various regulatory approvals, we hope to be offering full turnaround line maintenance at both airport sites before the end of the year.”
The DWC passenger terminal opened for business as recently as 27 October. “This is just the start of a journey which will end up in a five-runway, multi-terminal airport, handling 160 million passengers per year! As is the case at Dubai International, dnata is the sole ground handler at DWC, so we will be busy ensuring everything is running smoothly at the new airport,” he concludes.
