In an uncertain world there is reasonable certainty in stating that air travel will increase in the future. How airlines and airports will work together to address this increase is less certain but it is a necessity if they intend to deal with the cost implications that are the legacy left behind from decades of fragmentation, inefficiency and uncoordinated operations.

1. the way we do it
Collaborative Decision
Making in Aviation
In an uncertain world there is reasonable certainty in
stating that air travel will increase in the future. How
airlines and airports will work together to address
this increase is less certain but it is a necessity if they
intend to deal with the cost implications that are the
legacy left behind from decades of fragmentation,
inefficiency and uncoordinated operations.
The activities of airlines and airports work together more efficiently and
are complementary in nature but the transparently with the common goal of
industry is in need of better coordina- improved overall performance, bring-
tion between all the aviation partners, ing a common situational awareness
i.e., Airport Operations (Airport between all partners involved as
Operators, Ground Handlers), Airlines well as refining the processes
and Air Traffic Controllers if op- and information flows.
erational efficiency is to be expected. Figure 1 illus-
Collaborative Decision Making (CDM)
enables the partners to share
information and

2. the way we do it
Figure 1: CDM Triad
AIRPORT • Optimize the use of airport infrastructure
OPERATIONS • Airport Operations • Reduce congestion
• Ground Handling • Reduce ground movement cost
PARTNERS INVOLVED IN CDM
• Optimize the use of ground handling
resources
& THEIR OBJECTIVES
COLLABORATIVE
DECISION
MAKING
AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL
• Flexible pre-departure planning and
• ATC reduction in slot wastage
• Reduce Apron and taxiway
AIRLINES congestion
• CFMU • Improve Predictability
• Improve On-time performance • Real time updates to network
• Higher turnaround
Sources: Distribution Lab Analysis, Eurocontrol
trates the key objectives of each of the sales forecasts and inventory turnover
partners involved in the CDM Triad. through information sharing between
retailers and vendors. Similarly, the
CDM in Aviation aims to improve efficiency of the supply chain in the
operational efficiency at airports by re- courier industry is empowered by the
ducing delays, improving the predict- quality of hand-offs between different
ability of events during the progress of entities, e.g., consolidators, 3PL, on-
a flight and optimizing the utilization board carriers and agents/contractors.
of resources. To accomplish this the But can this type of approach work in
CDM Partners need to share accurate the aviation industry with its unique
and timely information and adopt set of challenges?
coordinated operational procedures,
automatic processes and user friendly Challenges of the Aviation
tools Industry
There are many, including:
This coordinated and collaborative
approach has proven to work well in Increase in Air Traffic - The European
other industries, like retail, where Ven- airspace has experienced continual
dor Management Inventory and Busi- growth in traffic over the last half cen-
ness Intelligence tools have improved tury, with a doubling of traffic over the
past 20 years. The aviation industry
needs to prepare for a future of high
levels of congestion in the air traffic
network.

3. the way we do it
Regulatory Compliance - The Single and information flows between each of
European Sky initiative was launched the areas are in need of improvement.
in 2004 to provide a unified regulatory There is a pressing need for transition
framework for implementing solutions to a process-centric approach, with the
to absorb the traffic increase while focus on different functions working
ensuring a high level of security. The together to create a smooth air-to-air
deployment phase of the Single Euro- transitional flow.
pean Sky ATM Regulation will start in
2014 and will require implementation Underutilization of capacity – The
of a new air traffic management infra- more delays there are at an airport the
structure, composed of fully harmo- more it appears that all resources are
nized and interoperable components being utilized but in fact delays mean
across European airports. inefficient use of airport infrastructure,
limited airport throughput, poor slot
Lack of coordination in the Air Traffic compliance, and frequent late stand
Management (ATM) Network - The and gate changes, all of which stretch
aviation industry is highly fragmented the airport’s capacity to its limits.
and coordination, not just between
partners but also between various air- Simply optimizing the use of current
ports, is lacking. Problems at a single available capacity through technical
airport can affect the entire network. solutions will not be sufficient to ac-
commodate market developments in
As illustrated in Figure 2, decades of the years to come. The solution is not
function-centric operations in the air- just to create new capacity but also to
to-air process have achieved reason- ensure that the available capacity is
able operational efficiency within indi- utilized to its maximum.
vidual functional areas but hand-offs
Figure 2: Air to Air Processes
AIR AIR
AIRLINE
ATC
Turn Around
Cleaning - Catering - Water - Fuel - De-icing
GROUND HANDLING
AIRPORT OPERATIONS
GATE GATE
AIRPORT sid
e Bo
rde
Air r
Re
rity cla
cu im
Se
Cu
n sto
k-i
ec ms
Ch
Kerb Kerb
Sources: Distribution Lab Analysis

4. the way we see it
How Aviation partners benefit Airports
from CDM Airport revenues come primarily from
The Airport-CDM (A-CDM) program servicing incoming and outgoing
was designed and developed by Euro- flights. Lack of air traffic coordination
control* to improve overall efficiency can lead to fewer flights being pro-
of operations through better coordina- cessed and that in turn means loss of
tion and information sharing within income. It can also result in penalties
as well as between airports. It serves and delay costs, affecting the airport
as a means of optimizing and improv- organization’s bottom line, not to
ing collaboration and operational mention the loss of reputation and im-
efficiency throughout the air travel age from disgruntled passengers and
value chain globally. Applied initially unhappy customer airlines.
in the en-route environment, the CDM
approach has evolved into a compre- Also, on the performance dimension,
hensive solution for improving global irregular and inconsistent coordination
air traffic management. leads to reduced operational efficiency
and asymmetrical capacity utilization
But how do you assess the benefits and allocation of flights.
that A-CDM can bring to each of the
aviation industry players? And how How CDM Helps
do the benefits stack up against the By implementing the CDM principles,
challenges inherent in the industry? airports stand to benefit most in
We apply three commonly recognized the Performance Improvement area
business objectives - Margins Improve- (Figure 3). They are able to improve
ment, Performance Improvement, the performance of their processes as
and Quality Optimization - to see well as their reaction times, leading to
how each player within the air travel increased ability to deal with air traffic
value chain stands to be impacted by without compromising on quality.
aviation industry challenges and to see Also, airports will be able to reduce
where growth is possible. delays and the drop in service levels
of their functions, without the need
for extended investment in quality
assurance.
Air Traffic Controllers (ATCs)
ATCs could face loss in revenues from
their inability to pass additional traffic
through an already congested airport.
Lack of coordination could lead to a
decrease in air traffic predictability,
impacting the operational efficiency
of an ATC as well as a slower response
rate for any adverse situation.
Note: *Eurocontrol is the European Organization for the Safety of Air Navigation and working for seamless, pan-European air traffic management.

5. the way we see it
Figure 3: Challenges Facing Airports
KEY BUSINESS OBJECTIVES
MARGINS PERFORMANCE QUALITY
IMPROVEMENT IMPROVEMENT OPTIMIZATION
HOW AIR TRAVEL VALUE CHAIN CHALLENGES
POSE BOTTLENECKS TO AIRPORTS
• Loss of income from fewer • Reduced runway, taxiway, • Inability to maintain high
flights processed airfield and aircraft processing quality standards without
INCREASE IN AIR TRAFFIC • Reduced bargaining power efficiency incurring additional costs
• Higher cost of coordination
between functions
• Higher regulatory and • Inability to accommodate • Reduced quality when
compliance costs regulatory requirements into accommodating regulatory
REGULATORY • Reduced image and reputation processes requirements into processes
COMPLIANCE of airport in case of non-
compliance
• Higher delay penalties • Increasing delays in throughput • Quality of individual functions
LACK OF COORDINATION • Higher Operating and of flights is hit as workflow is not
Maintenance costs • Dissatisfied passengers coordinated
IN THE ATM NETWORK • Underperforming staff • Reduced predictability of
functions
• Improper asset utilization and • Inefficient allocation and • Reduced asset and
management sorting of flights infrastructure quality
UNDER UTILIZATION OF • Inability to build capacity
CAPACITY
Sources: Distribution Lab Analysis
How CDM Helps Congestion at runways, taxiways
Using CDM, Air Traffic Controllers and airfields affect flight timeliness.
would be able to manage not only Airlines also face schedule disruptions,
more but also more varied flight types increase in waiting time for planes
within a complex airport infrastruc- and passengers due to apron conges-
ture, improving the overall capacity of tion, rise in baggage handling errors/
the air travel value chain. passenger complaints and difficulty
maintaining same service quality
Airlines across all flights. The result is reduced
Airlines are faced with reduced flex- brand appeal and image problems for
ibility and increasing congestion at the airlines.
airports, leading to lost business and
higher costs. How CDM helps
CDM smoothes out the flow of air
Airlines are impacted on margins by traffic and flight management tasks
cost factors such as increase in fuel between various travel chain players.
consumption as air time is increased, It enables airlines to focus more on
penalties from cancellation and delays business improvement and service lev-
and additional allocation of manpower els, which helps improve their margins
due to nonalignment of services. All of and efficiency.
these lead to an increase in operating
costs.

6. the way we see it
Figure 4: CDM Roadmap
PHASES
I II III IV V
STREAMLINING TURNAROUND DYNAMIC BUSINESS
TRANSPARENCY
INFORMATION PERFORMANCE TAKE-OFF CONTINUITY
IN SEQUENCING
SOURCES IMPROVEMENT PREDICTABILITY PLANNING
BUSINESS PROCESS
STREAMS
TECHNICAL/ARCHITECTURE LINK
INFORMATION FLOW
CHANGE MANAGEMENT
UNIFIED PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Sources: Distribution Lab Analysis
How to become CDM The key phases are as follows:
compliant: Capgemini’s CDM
Implementation Roadmap Phase I: Streamlining Information
Capgemini proposes implementing Sources
CDM across the air-to-air process in a This phase looks at integrating and
phased manner. For this, Capgemini centralizing Information Flows within
has designed a roadmap based on the air travel value chain.
Capgemini’s DELIVER set of methods
and methodologies, which form the Key tasks revolve around defining a
real core of Capgemini’s consulting Data Integration Strategy and conduct-
work. Set across five phases and im- ing an AS-IS analysis of existing IT
pacting four key streams, Capgemini’s systems in order to create a stream-
CDM Roadmap (Figure 4) follows a lined, integrated IT foundation.
bottom-up approach in organizational
and process transformation. Each Phase II: Turnaround Performance
Improvement
phase is divided into a large number
Here the focus is on improving the ef-
of tasks but Capgemini proposes man-
ficiency of the Turnaround Process.
aging the Roadmap implementation
through a Unified Project Management
Key tasks for this phase include
approach.
mapping the AS-IS turnaround
process, identifying key milestones
and assigning timing and priority of
updates along key milestones.

7. the way we see it
Phase III: Transparency in times. This information is shared with
Sequencing the Central Flow Management Unit
This phase promotes a more efficient (CFMU).
and egalitarian sequencing process for
flight management. Phase V: Business Continuity
Planning
Key activities areas are mapping AS-IS The final phase focuses on preparing
taxi time calculation and sequencing for contingencies and/or emergencies
process and at the same time identify- by building a business continuity plan.
ing various parties and factors that
influence taxi time and sequencing. The key task for this phase is to es-
There may also be a need to evaluate tablish disaster recovery and business
software solutions that can analyze all contingency plans for all IT and infor-
influencing factors to calculate more mation sharing platforms at an airport.
accurate taxi times.
The benefit to clients of our overall
Phase IV: Dynamic Take-off bottom-up strategy is that it offers
Predictability broader operational coverage in the
Next we look to improve take-off pre- early phases and gives higher visibility
dictability both at the current airport to organizational changes.
and in the broader air travel network.
Capgemini has created a Transforma-
Priority activities during this phase tion Map (Figure 5) that depicts the
include building data flows from key tasks/activities required for follow-
turnaround and sequencing processes ing the Roadmap to complete CDM
to calculate more accurate take-off compliance
Figure 5: Transformation Map
Establish Disaster recovery and
TECHNICAL/ARCHITECTURE LINK
AS-IS analysis of Business Contingency plans for all IT
Full CDM
TECHNICAL/ARCHITECTURE LINK
Deploy software solution
existing IT systems for capturing data points and information sharing platforms
in case of emergencies
Evaluate the need for
from functions as well as airlines
to determine and display compliance
a software solution accurate take-off times
Build TO-BE that can analyze
based on master all influencing factors Document each
data management to calculate more Share take-off time with CFMU process in detail, Create
Enable Automation of accurate taxi-time contingency
and real-time Flight Progress Update identifying process
plans
V. BUSINESS
updates owners and KPIs
for emergencies CONTINUITY
Map information
Establish process for utilization flows and Train key personnel PLANNING
of output from previous phases priorities and on emergency
Build document
Data Integration Plan Build adequate display points for take-off predictability scenarios
for exhibiting flight status and respective
updates along Map AS-IS taxi-time contingency plans
calculation and Build data flows from
the Turn-round process turn-round and
sequencing process
Execution and sequencing process
Post Integration Support to calculate take-off IV. DYNAMIC TAKE-OFF
Plan & implement
Identify various parties Generate stakeholder buy-in PREDICTABILITY
Map AS-IS Turn-round process and factors that influence on the cost and environmental
data linkage with CFMU and identify key milestones taxi-time & Sequencing benefits of take-off predictability
Build algorithm for
Define each milestone in variably calculating taxi-time
detail & identify alert points based on air traffic, status of functions, Conduct interviews with functional
weather conditions, historical data, etc, experts across ground functions
Process mapping of to identify high impact areas
established procedures For each milestone, for taxi-time and delays
for information sharing define performance benchmarks,
between various functions ownership & decision-makers
III. TRANSPARENCY
Engage key functions impacting taxi-time
IN SEQUENCING
BUSINESS PROCESS
BUSINESS PROCESS
to collaboratively devise strategies
Ensure consistent data quality for reducing taxi-time
along the Turn-round Process
Impact Analysis of gaps and
delays for identifying priority areas
Assign timing & priority of Identify and assign responsibilities for updating
updates along key milestones flight status information along the process II. TURNAROUND
in the Turn-round Process
Define Data
PERFORMANCE
Integration Strategy Gather stakeholder consensus on IMPROVEMENT
what processes need to be improved
Establish information sharing for Turn-round Process Improvement
protocol with the CFMU
Identify Scope of data integration and
responsibilities for all involved parties Focus group workshops for leadership and stakeholders I. STREAMLINING
for agreement on standards for message exchange
INFORMATION
SOURCES
INFORMATION
INFORMATION CHANGE MANAGEMENT
CHANGE MANAGEMENT
Sources: Distribution Lab Analysis

8. the way we do it
If you would like to learn more about
Capgemini’s CDM Implementation
Roadmap and how it can help your
organization, please contact:
Hikmat Mahawat Khan
Center of Excellence Aviation
Tel: +31 30 689 5300
Mob: +31 6 15 030 946
hikmat.mahawatkhan@capgemini.com
About Capgemini and the
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