What is your flight's status? We all know what it's like to be stranded at the airport, listening to an announcement telling us only that our flight's been delayed.
That's when we hit the phone or line up at the airline desk, hoping for the information that will reveal whether we should (or even can) re-schedule flights or hotels.
The result of all this is passenger frustration, but for airlines access to accurate flights status data is even more important, and impacts the bottom line directly.
Just consider - the web of global airline routes, and the volume of passengers and freight they carry, are expanding all the time. Traffic is on the rise an average of 5.7% globally according to the most recent statistics: Indeed, the FAA forecasts that for the period 2012-2032 we can expect greatly increased demand for air travel.
The field of airline intelligence and data sharing is huge - and on the rise - but providing travelers, airports, and airlines, with accurate and prompt flight status data is the sensitive 'live nerve' of the industry.
It's fair to say that the gathering and dissemination of flight status data has emerged as the major driver of operational improvement: It impacts customer operations and loyalty fundamentally, and immediately - and is therefore clearly vital to realizing those sustainable profits that are just coming into view.
Status information can now be updated instantly - whether it is sourced from ground systems, air traffic control towers, weather bureaus, or from news services that are tracking on-going events.
The tech boom of the last many years has put the information out there.
But what is striking in the airline industry is that the constantly evolving software has made it possible for anyone, anywhere, to access all this information instantly, and at very competitive prices.
The effect on airlines has been foundational - instantaneous communication with customers, between airports, and with individual planes has helped them coordinate and re-route flights, and post instant up-to-date flight status alerts. Airline websites have become very sophisticated - providing all manner of information about delays and cancellations, and providing all necessary updates on request.
And the same information that goes up on the airline's website can be displayed on terminal screens, too.
All areas of operations are improved -
- Strategic decision planning by air carriers and their customers
- The targeting of information for fliers and shippers
- Up-to-date - as well as historical - data tracking to identify competitive markets, and past trends
- Enhanced efficiency in the use of resources, and the development of ancillary products
- Improved compliance with regulations - for instance, the 3-hour tarmac rule
And when we consider that we're talking about some 900 airlines operating out of 4000 airports, and that all this access is available to everyone 24/7, it's clear that a staggering transformation is underway.
Indeed, this last point stands out particularly clearly - it can be argued that the greatest industry innovation of recent years is that passengers have become so intrinsically involved in all this data-sharing, too, and are now able to respond immediately to evolving situations.
On short notice, or even 'on the fly', everyone - private individuals, or small or large companies - can now participate in the flight tracking process and structure their travel schedules accordingly, based on the very latest information.
Travelers are therefore ever more influential in promoting industry-wide flexibility.
... So all those frustrating cancellations, and all that pre-departure fuming, are finally becoming a thing of the past - a teething process, nothing more - and both airlines and their clients are joining hands as equal contributors to air travel's evolution, and to its bright future!
Author bio: Williams Barry is an aeronautical engineer with more than thousand hours of flying under his belt. Presently, he works as a freelance consultant advising airline companies on how to improve and grow their business.
