CASE STUDY
Automating the slot coordination process: How Calgary International Airport uses Better Airport® and Airport Hive® to handle more slot requests in less time.
Calgary International Airport
18.3 mill. passengers (2023)
91 Destinations
Calgary International Airport, branded as YYC Calgary International Airport, is an international airport that serves the city of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It is located approximately 17 kilometres (11 mi) northeast of downtown.Â
With 17.9 million passengers in 2019 and 124,108 aircraft movements in 2021, Calgary International is the busiest airport in Alberta and the fourth-busiest in Canada by passenger traffic.
Introduction to the collaboration with Calgary International Airport.
In minutes, the automated solution for Fight Schedule Management & Seasonal Planning provides you a
full overview of the airport slot availability and shows you the impact of new or changed slot requests on
your entire operation – from check-in to security, baggage, immigration, stand/gate availability, and
more.
The Challenge:
At Calgary Airport the slot coordinators were faced with several challenges caused by an outdated slot coordination process. The main challenge was many manual processes which, combined with many incoming slot requests, took far more time to process than the time available.
Due to the vast number of manual processes, the airport was reliable on a single individual to handle the slot coordination making it difficult to cover vacation periods, and increasing the risk to the operation, if that individual decided to leave. To cope with the lack of time to handle the many slot requests, the airport was forced to focus on peak weeks when considering their capacity availability. In turn, that increased their risk of turning away flights, which could have fit the schedule.
The Solution: Combining Better Airport and Airport Hive for a Flight Schedule Management and Seasonal Planning solution
The solution delivered by software companies Copenhagen Optimization and Azinq automatically translates airline slot request messages into a flight schedule and then evaluates resource availability using proven optimization methods. Through this, impact across the whole airport operation is assessed.
Where operational challenges surface, changes to the allocations / plans can be made swiftly to understand if a few operational changes can make the flight fit. The airport can then make informed decisions on the best feedback to a slot request which is then automatically sent to the airline in an SSIM message.
The new solution for Flight Schedule Management and Seasonal Planning is based on Copenhagen Optimization’s software solution Better Airport® and Azinq’s software solution Airport Hive®.
Outcome achieved:
The automated solution creates an efficient workflow that makes you capable of evaluating slot requests in less time, considering more input variables, and looking across the whole season – ultimately allowing you to accept more flights in less time.
Final thoughts
We look forward to hearing from you
We know that investing in and implementing new airport technology can result in a lot of questions. We will happily guide you through the process and answer all your questions.
To see if there is a fit, we offer an obligation free demo of our Better Airport software for you to experience it.
