The problems airport communities are facing today are manifold. Delays and irregularities block slot capacities and cause passenger complaints. Lack of updated flight data leads to lost income. Uncoordinated operations, divided planning responsibilities, incoherent data, different operational optimisation criteria and inefficient staff deployment mean costly airport operations and sub-optimal management processes.

Information systems have a big role to play here, and IT solutions now available can offer a much more productive and comfortable experience for all of those working in an airport environment. Heathrow Terminal 5 may currently be hitting news headlines with its big opening and BA’s new high-tech check-in systems, however UFIS Airport Solutions (UFIS-AS) is another company that deserves recognition for the improvements its technology offers. This is because it provides IT managers with an integral software solution that improves quality and reliability of services, optimises turnaround processes and improves decision making processes based on accurate information and real time data.

Already found in many airports including three of the world’s busiest, one of the company’s biggest success stories has been the software’s integration into Singapore’s Changi Airport.

Working with Singapore Airport Terminal Services (SATS) and the Civil Aviation Association of Singapore (CAAS) at Singapore Changi Airport long before the opening of the new terminal, UFIS-AS contributed to the successful opening of Terminal 3 with its Universal Flight Information System (UFIS) installation.

Flight SQ1 from San Francisco via Hong Kong arrived at Singapore Changi Airport’s new terminal, Terminal 3, at 11:56 on 9 January 2008 marking the beginning of the latest chapter in Changi Airport’s history.  The new 380,000sqm, seven-story terminal features unique design features, including skylights on the 300m by 200m roof which are equipped with 'intelligent' reflectors that let in light but block out heat depending on the amount of sunlight and cloud cover. Terminal 3 also offers visitors 100 shops and more than 30 food and beverage outlets, as well as a 350-room airport hotel with a swimming pool, restaurants, conference rooms and a spa, among other facilities.

The UFIS put into place offered a number of different aspects to improve the day to day running of the airport, supporting SATS in managing the complex tasks of its ground handling operations and in-flight catering services. The UFIS package installed in Singapore includes an Airport Operational Database (AODB), Basic Data Processing Systems, a Flight Information Processing System (FIPS), a Resource Management System (RMS), as well as Hub, Status and ULD Management Systems. A total of eleven interfaces to external systems, related to personnel and flight data (for example, SAP and KRISCOM), were implemented.

One of the software’s aspects; its Location Management System was customised to allow CAAS to perform resource allocation based on destination thus optimising the use of airport resources. Moreover the system takes into account connection times and transfer passenger load to ensure optimal allocation and convenient transfers for passengers. 

With the opening of the new terminal, Singapore Airlines’ long-haul flights now operate out of this facility while its regional flights will operate out of Terminal 2. Terminal 3 has 28 aerobridge gates, with 8 capable of handling the Airbus A380.  In contrast to the other two terminals at Changi Airport that have separate waiting lounges for each gate, Terminal 3 has common waiting areas for some gates with increased space and seats to accommodate the greater passenger loads. UFIS-AS’s Location Management System is able to handle both standard and common waiting lounges
helping make optimal use of airport resources.  

SATS also uses the UFIS-AS’s Resource Management System to facilitate cross terminal deployment of manpower for both Apron and Passenger Service Departments to handle operations in Terminal 2 and the new Terminal 3. The Resource Management System produces rosters for personnel and equipment resources based on the data in the flight schedule, determining the requirements for equipment, terminal resources and staff with appropriate qualifications. It provides functions to support demand and coverage calculations, shift and duty rosters, and daily rosters with deployment of resources.

“The Universal Flight Information System is a sophisticated traffic and resource planning and management system for airports, airlines, handling agents and other service providers, offering a new degree of efficiency in facility and resource management,” highlights Anders Sagadin, president and ceo, UFIS Airport Solutions. “The objective is to enable customers from the airport community to provide safe, secure, effective and profitable management of the arrival, departure and handling of aircraft, passengers, baggage, cargo/freight and mail, in accordance with best practices and international regulatory requirements.

“UFIS products can be integrated seamless into existing IT system environments and the various requirements of today’s modern airports in terms of size and complexity are met by the solution's completely scalable system architecture,” he enthuses.

When asked about the benefits of such a solution, Sagadin continued; “Workload for customisation and process implementation is kept minimal by choosing from a set of pre-defined operational, integration and communication rules. It is easily configurable even during operation. Furthermore the implementation and monitoring of contractual handling and service level agreements as well as other operational requirements are enabled by the transparent and customisable rule-based business logic (status monitoring, conflict alert and pre-emptive decision support).

“In addition, customers enjoy the major advantage of basing their entire airport operation on a single source of reliable real-time information, the UFIS Operational Database. Here traffic-, handling-, infrastructure- and security related data are collected, processed and distributed. Customers can easily evaluate the difference between planned and used resources and infrastructure components through the fully integrated real-time program with an automatic resource updating and evaluation feature,” he adds.

As one of the busiest airports in the world, the Changi implementation has been a great success for UFIS-AS, but the company is not wiling to rest on its laurels. As we all know technology is an ever-evolving entity, and so the company continuously works on updating its technology to offer IS/IT managers the most efficient and beneficial solutions it can.

With this in mind, the company has recently announced its next generation software entitled UFIS JB. Athens Eleftherios Venizelos Airport (AIA) is the first to have the solution implemented, and the roll out is happening as you read, with testing currently underway.

This new software adds to the functionality of the original UFIS product, with new technologies including complete development in Java, standard middleware, a completely new relational database, an advanced graphical interface and easy assimilation in other systems with XML as standard. One of its other features includes the fact that it is a much more scalable system, meaning small and medium sized airports will also be able to take advantage of this solution.

“Placing utmost importance on retaining well-established UFIS functionality, the new UFIS development includes JEE5, JMS, Application Servers, and Oracle 10g with Oracle Times Ten to provide a scalable, highly available and high performance solution,” says Sagadin.

“The development of UFIS JB is in a phased approach. The first phase consists of a redesign a re-implementation of the core products of the UFIS  product portfolio – Airport Operational Database, the Flight Information Processig System (FIPS) and the Flight Information Display System (FIDS). The remaining modules of the UFIS® product line will follow in later phases.

“The second phase of the development will also include enhancements to the UFIS multiple airport and multi-terminal functionality. This will provide features that enable data common to all airports to be stored just in one location, simplifying the maintenance of this data. Data relating to a particular airport will be stored in locations relating to the particular airport within one central database for all airports.

“Also within the second phase of development, the functionality for real what-if scenarios will be introduced into the new UFIS applications. This will enable planners to generate different scenarios for different conditions. Furthermore, it will provide functions to allow the planners and operators to compare the scenario used for planning with the resulting data once operation has been completed. This can assist planners greatly to improve the ‘quality’ of their plans,” he adds.

With travelers in their millions heading through the doors of airport’s globally, you can see why these facilities need such software solutions. Time is money, and the queue of travellers is endless - there is no room for error, and processes need to be as efficient as possible at all times. But UFIS-AS is a company that offers a great solution for this industry, and its success stories and constant work to improve its systems means that airport IT departments can breathe a sigh of relief that a solution is there to make the entire airport community run as smoothly as - technologically and humanly - possible.

UFIS helped A380 get off the ground...

Much has already been written about the first commercial flight of the A380.  But little was written about the preparation needed to get the flight ready to go.  

The new super jumbo jet A380 made its first commercial flight from Singapore to Sydney on 25 October.  Much has already been written about this flight - he luxury of the ‘beyond first class’ suites, the comfortable business class, and the ‘economy is economy’ section. But little was written about the preparation needed to get the flight ready to go.  

UFIS Airport Solutions’ software suite played an integral role in the preparation for the departure of the A380 from Singapore. Used by Singapore Airport Terminal Services (SATS), the main ground handler at Changi International Airport, to make sure the right personnel was in place for check-in, baggage loading, fueling, and servicing the plane, the Civil Aviation Authorities of Singapore (CAAS) used the location management features to make sure that the correct number of check-in counters were assigned to the flight and a parking stand big enough to handle the super-sized A380 was reserved and available for this historic flight. UFIS Status Manager module, providing a graphical overview of the statuses, was used to make sure each service was completed in time for an on-time departure. 

The UFIS software was optimised two years ago to handle the A380. For example, the gate and position planning and management system can handle dual-use positions and sub-positions. Many airports handling the A380 will have dedicated positions for this aircraft type. However, there will not always be an A380 at that position all the time. Using a matrix function and rules which define which aircraft can be adjacent to each other and which cannot, a position reserved for an A380 can be used by one or more aircraft at the sub-positions when not in use by an A380.