Amadeus has unveiled new technology to help airlines recover after a disruption such as adverse weather or air traffic congestion.
Schedule Recovery has been developed by the company's business intelligence unit and Qantas is the launch customer for the system.
According to a statement the service is based around a recommendation engine which analyses data to identify the most important issues which airlines can then take action on.
For example, carriers can decide whether to delay or cancel flights, change aircraft or landing slots.
The technology consists of three modules: Airport Resource Tracker, Schedule Manager and Schedule Optimiser.
The first module, Airport Resource Tracker, is launching today and enables airlines to make the best use of arrival and departure slots through improved interaction with air traffic control. The further modules are planned for release in 2016.
The first module could also be used to ease airport capacity issues around check-in, airport gates and luggage belts.
Amadeus claims the Schedule Recovery technology improves efficiency through less manual intervention as well as improving "quality of decisions" while taking into account impact on operational costs and passengers.
In short, it aims to give airlines a fuller picture of operations and passengers enabling them to make more efficient decisions.
Qantas head of operations Paul Fraser says:
“The Amadeus solution helps reduce the number of and length of delays, whether due to excessive traffic, operational delays, or weather conditions, leading to an overall improved experience for travellers."
Amadeus head of travel intelligence Pascal Clement, describes airline management of disruptions as a big pain point for passengers.
He adds that Schedule Recovery will help them make more informed decisions when dealing with disruptions.
“It drives a more integrated view of operations and ensures airlines can assess all aspects of the costs associated with any operations control decisions.”
The technology, which uses real-time data, can be integrated with any passenger service system and does not need an airline to be using other Amadeus systems.
The data is drawn from sources including air traffic control, PSS, maintenance and crew management systems.
Although the technology is particularly relevant for large carriers with complex route networks where the impact of disruption can be greater, Clement maintains there are also opportunities to help low-cost and other airlines optimise.
"On three European routes there were delays of more than four hours before a replacement flight.
"We did some benchmarking with two virtual problems given to the best teams with years of experience and the machine. The people took 15 to 20 minutes, the machine took 30 seconds and came up with a much better result."
Future modules will start to connect information from the different airline silos.
During its Airline Merchandising Conference in June, Amadeus cited industry figures showing the cost of managing disruptions in 2014 was $450 million while more than 600 million passengers were affected.
The figure could rise to 3.5 billion passengers, at a cost of more than $2.3 billion in the next five years.
Amadeus has also been developing technology to help passengers directly during disruption via a mobile app. According to Clement connecting the Schedule Recovery with the Disruption Companion app is a logical next step.
NB: Air traffic control image via Shutterstock.