Adelaide Airport is set to become just the second in the world to send its data management systems into the cloud, marking a further expansion into the Asia Pacific region for the $27 billion global travel tech company Amadeus.
Over the next 12 months the airport will roll out the region's first cloud-hosted airport management system, which will let it automate check-in, baggage handling, gate allocation and customer information.
For the 8 million passengers that pass through the airport each year most of the changes will be invisible, but it should theoretically result in a smoother experience.
"The beauty of Amadeus' fully automated technology is it allows us to better prepare for the day ahead," Adelaide Airport customer service executive general manager David Blackwell said.
"It looks at everything from air traffic control data through to current check-in demand and finds an optimal solution that ultimately provides a more seamless experience for our customers from check-in until they board their flight."
According to Amadeus, most airports still use on-premises management systems, with the only other airport to have rolled out Amadeus' cloud solution being Copenhagen.
Real-time modelling
Amadeus' global head of Airport IT, John Jarrell, said the big benefit of adopting cloud technology was it let the airports model future scenarios easily, pulling data instantaneously from multiple systems.
"Say for example the airport is going to have two gates closed for maintenance in a few days' time, it was a challenging and labour intensive to model because it was not automated," he said.
"Now it's more or less instantaneous. While systems do exist that help them with the calculations today, they have to have human intervention to actually execute the outcome, but with the solutions we're putting in it automates the whole process."
As well as modelling for gate changes, the system can factor in situations such as a plane arriving from overseas or interstate with lots of people needing to connect to another flight and automatically ensure that those planes are allocated gates close to each other, making the transit process easier for passengers.
Mr Blackwell said the technology upgrade would help "future proof" the airport.
"We will be able to adapt a lot easier to the increased workload. It will also be particularly useful as we prepare to expand the main terminal, during which time we will need to be more flexible to work around the temporary reduction of facilities during construction," he said.
APAC focus
The Asia Pacific region is one of growth for Amadeus, which recently reported revenue growth of 14.3 per cent to €4.5 billion ($6.29 billion) for the year to December 31.
The number of customers boarded in APAC in 2016 using Amadeus software jumped 112.9 per cent in the year.
"APAC is a huge region for us from an airport IT perspective. Looking at the US, it's not building many new airports and Europe is the same way. But in Asia, they're adding lots of airports, so that is driving the growth opportunity," Mr Jarrell said.
