Streamlining communications
Moving away from a paper-based reporting system is fast becoming standard practice. Here we take a look at Cologne airport’s experience in this area.

Cologne/ Bonn airport is one of the largest airports in Germany and ranks sixth overall, handling over 10m passengers annually. In addition, Cologne/ Bonn handles 590,000 tons of freight per year, making it the second most important centre in the German air cargo business after Frankfurt. Approximately 12,500 employees currently work at the airport, of whom around 1,800 work for the airport operating company itself. The development of Cologne/ Bonn (which covers an area of some 1,000 hectares) has been marked by continuous growth. In just five years (between 2003 and 2007) passenger volumes almost doubled and the capacity of the airport is being continuously expanded.  

The loading challenge
Before and after every flight, loading group teams at Cologne/ Bonn take responsibility for the complete turnaround of the aircraft. They load and unload baggage and, among other things, ensure that loading ramps, conveyor belts or forklift trucks are in the right place at the right time. In addition, the team leaders are responsible for securing bus transportation to outside stand positions as well as the electricity supply for the aircraft on the ground. They co-ordinate the entire operation directly from the aircraft stand and the key for any team leader is to have access to up-to-date flight plans and information from schedulers.

Before switching to a paperless loading and unloading procedure at the station, the schedulers worked with print-outs of Excel spreadsheets. The information they contained was passed on by voice radio or telephone to the team leaders on the apron. Because of the high noise levels at the airport, those responsible at the aircraft frequently heard only a part of their instructions or indeed, none at all. The result: misunderstandings and avoidable questions seeking confirmation when passing on the information. This wasted valuable time.

The recording and invoicing of special services presented another challenge as there had previously been errors in collecting data. The scope of the orders to be completed by the loading teams varies according to the airline and the catalogue of services defined in a contract with the airline. If an aircraft captain orders special services, such as additional stairways, start-up assistance or an electricity supply, these services are invoiced separately. In the paper-based system, the responsible officers did not have enough time during loading and unloading to generate delivery notes or complete and print out additional forms. Consequently, the full extent of services was often not recorded and invoiced, thus leading to lost revenues.

Opting for the mobile solution
The idea of a mobile system thus began to make sense. In order to design ground services more efficiently and minimise errors in passing on information, the airport authority decided as early as 2004 to adopt the first Motorola terminals of the type PPT8846. As a result of the company's positive experience with these devices and recommendations from partner Rodata, these terminals were replaced from the end of 2008 by the new Motorola Enterprise Digital Assistants (EDA) MC70. The introduction of the robust MC70 in partnership with Rodata was completed at the beginning of 2009. Cologne/ Bonn actually uses the Enterprise Digital Assistants during loading and unloading of aircraft as well as in automatic boarding card controls and the pushback vehicles.

Just under 100 of the EDAs are used by the team leaders in ground services. As the terminals are integrated with the airport's WLAN infrastructure, so users can view information from schedulers using an integrated WLAN interface directly via the 3.5 inch colour screen of their MC70. This information gives the users an overview of flight times, aircraft positions, types and numbers, registration numbers, numbers of passengers, origins and destinations as well as expected arrival and departure times. When a team leader confirms the receipt of a new order by pressing a button, the new status appears in colour on the scheduler's display. The EDAs used by ground services scheduling also have an integrated 1D laser scanner for recording orders of special services. To do this, the airport has provided the airlines and their representatives with dedicated barcodes. If an airline requires an extra service, the team leader selects this from a list on the EDA and confirms the booking by scanning in the airline's identification barcode.

The nine Motorola MC70s used in the pushback vehicles replace the full screen monitors, which were previously installed in the vehicles on fixed mountings and could not be used flexibly outside. They show the drivers which aircraft require moving. Moreover, the five EDAs used for boarding card controls have integrated imagers that allow them to scan the boarding cards digitally.

The net result
The upshot of all this is that by using the Motorola Enterprise Digital Assistants, Cologne/ Bonn has cut the time required for its loading and unloading procedures on the apron considerably as well as minimised the rate of errors in handling. Misunderstandings when passing on information between schedulers and team leaders are now also a thing of the past.

Usefully, it is now possible to capture additional services both precisely and transparently. All information, such as statistics detailing extras and individual time recordings, is stored in the airport's data system. This provides the company with an important documentation and controlling tool for invoicing the airlines. Services become traceable and there is no loss of earnings through lost records, as was the case with the incomplete paper-based invoicing system.

Another advantage of the MC70 from Motorola is its use for automatic boarding card controls and in the pushback vehicles on the apron. Directly scanning in boarding card data via the integrated imager means that passengers can be processed more quickly and start their journey earlier, which is a considerable benefit for customer service. Moreover, the drivers of the pushback vehicles can simply remove the small, handy devices from their mountings when they leave the cab and therefore also use them flexibly elsewhere. This saves valuable working time since they no longer have to sign off with schedulers and can view their orders for moving aircraft while they are underway.

In order to benefit from this investment in the long term, Cologne/ Bonn airport is taking advantage of the comprehensive services from Motorola offered for all its MC70 terminals. A guaranteed quick replacement in case of damage is just one benefit of using the hand-helds.

The fact that the station is exchanging information on the system with other airports and airlines shows that the project with Motorola is also of interest to other companies. There are frequent enquiries for reference tours, underlining the widespread need to catch up in the deployment of mobile solutions. Indeed, at the airport itself, the management is considering whether to extend the use of the mobile terminals to areas such as water supply and disposal, as well as to the cargo side of the business.