CASE STUDY
Despite the immense difficulties caused to the aviation sector by the on-going COVID-19 pandemic , the industry stands to benefit enormously from advancements in technology . Technological progress has the potential to allow the industry to capitalise on dynamic messaging systems , utilise IoT technology to more effectively manage airport environments and provide data to help with predictive maintenance , offering cost savings and commercial opportunities aplenty .
With passenger health and safety continuing to be the top priority for Edmonton International Airport , Tara Mulrooney talks us through how it is utilising technology in today ’ s environment and her hopes for the future of both the airport and the industry itself .
What are the major cybersecurity issues currently facing the aviation industry ?
When I think of cyber , I always think about ‘ what are we trying to protect ?’ And of course , in an airport environment there ’ s a lot of data , and although much of it isn ’ t stewarded by the airport itself – passenger data in Canada is really the property of or under the stewardship of airlines – that information is certainly traversing our networks .
I think about that and I think about the diversity of the networks for us . CATSA , which is our security screening group , have their own network on-premise . CBSA and US CBP and the border agencies also have their own networks on-premise .
For me , it ’ s really about understanding that ecosystem and making sure that we ’ re influencing the controls , not just on our own networks but on those networks that are part of that ecosystem . I think about that and I think about the challenge that we have as airports to keep everything current .
There ’ s such a vast array of assets ; so many cameras , so many kiosks : how do we ensure they ’ re hardened ? I think the OPEX requirements in an airport to maintain are often not there , from a budgeting perspective and a resourcing perspective , and COVID has really exasperated the issue , of course , for airports . So really , we ’ re looking at making sure when we invest in technology that we look at that total cost of ownership , and we make sure there ’ s support models around maintaining and managing those assets effectively .
What would you say are the main pillars of the airport ’ s Digital Transformation strategy ?
We ’ re calling this our innovation expansion strategy , initially we talked about digital but we ’ ve matured a little bit . One of our main pillars is really building ancillary revenue , by doing this with our Airport City and with other revenue sources , we reduce fees to passengers . We maintain that airport better without becoming a burden on that aviation factor .
The second one is to improve our passenger experience . And the third is about optimizing our airport itself . And so for us , when we think about that we ’ re looking at the ancillary revenue space , how can we look at Smart City type concepts to
FOR PASSENGER EXPERIENCE ,
WE ’ RE LOOKING , LIKE MANY
AIRPORTS , AT QUEUEING
TECHNOLOGIES AND AT DYNAMIC
MESSAGING .
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