The aviation industry is under an immense pressure. Before the COVID-19 crisis, it was expected that the demand in traffic would increase with 15% by 2025, with 40% of EU airports not meeting this demand due to capacity constraints. The crisis has changed the industry and it is currently rebounding from the crisis. This is imposing new and unexpected challenges on airports and means that uncertainty is larger than ever before and month-on-month growth is unprecedented. Now more than ever, airport operations must plan efficiently and effectively to cope with the ever-changing volatility in passenger traffic. Although total air traffic numbers are lower than before COVID-19 in most of the world, we see indications that peak-time traffic is returning relatively faster than off-peak traffic. Airports will face challenges of varying intensity: for example, whereas physical distancing poses limited issues while traffic is very low, it will increasingly complicate operations as more passengers crowd the terminals. Because of this it is expected that airports will run into the need for improved optimization of existing capacity and infrastructure.
Despite the corona crisis, airport operators are left with two options to achieve future growth: either investing in expanding the airport in size or optimizing the utilization of existing resources to increase efficiency. Given this crisis's size, we expect that CAPEX investments will be lower in the years to come, prioritizing investment in optimizing current infrastructure. New EU initiatives are also pushing airport operators to adopt data-driven solutions, as current systems have minimal ability to share and apply operational planning information across stakeholders. As a result, airport operators need a solution that combines all airport operational aspects into a holistic overview.
Better Airport® is the first cloud-based, holistic, next-generation RMS solution, providing airport operators with an AI-driven, easy-to-use solution which efficiently and effectively creates optimized operational plans, enabling informed decision making across airport stakeholders. Using advanced mathematical models and based on years of consultancy within airport operations, Better Airport® covers the entire value chain, from passenger check-in, security, and border control to baggage handling and aircraft allocation. Our cloud-based approach allows all stakeholders to access information wherever, whenever, increasing efficiency across operations and ultimately saving airports at least €10m/year, while also driving the EU goal of a Single European Sky. Better Airport® will allow airport operators to forecast, plan, and interact with airports in between, connecting all airports with one system.
The BA-AC project built upon upscaling our validated prototype. Most of our efforts were focused on technology maturation, piloting, and market maturation, specifically on the maturation and integration of Better Aircraft, into Better Airport®, and performing large-scale piloting at three major airports, advancing our current prototype from TRL7 to TRL 9.
