SGK Kishore, ED – South, Chief Innovation Officer, GMR Airports in an interaction with Sudhakar Singh, Editor, CIOTechOutlook, shares his insights on the changing role of IT in managing airport operations, the transition to a data-driven infrastructure, and more. 

Increased passenger traffic and global capacity constraints are driving airport IT spending. How do you see the changing role of IT in managing airport operations?

Civil aviation is one sector that is witnessing an exponential growth in the global domain. Looking towards India, before Covid-19, the industry was growing almost at a double digit rate. In fact, if we take Hyderabad airport as an example, right now we are growing at 15 per cent CAGR every year and from 2016 to 2019, our traffic increased drastically from 10 million to 22 million.  

However, the civil aviation industry being extremely capital intensive, rapid infrastructure upgradation of the airports becomes a daunting challenge. Moreover, along with the requirement of huge capital, updating an airport infrastructure also involves other factors such as regulatory and environmental approvals, which impede the rapid expansion of airports. This is where technology works as an enabler.    

For Hyderabad airport, the management team performed a comprehensive analysis of the terminal, and pointed out the choke points or the capacity constraints. In the end, we had two viewpoints. Firstly, we had to extract maximum capacity out of available capital assets, and secondly, we had to leverage technology in order to mitigate the existing choke points of the terminal.  In doing so, we were successful in handling 22 million annual traffic from 12 million capacity terminal without compromising on the service.

Airports are increasingly embracing digital transformation to address the KPIs across all areas of airport operation. How is digitalization helping the airports deliver a seamless experience to the commuters?  

Today, it is imperative for any organization to embrace digital technologies and keep abreast of the latest technologies to be ahead of the curve. Focusing on the airport operations, today, we can use digitalization to deliver a more seamless experience to the passengers by instantly catering to their needs.

Leveraging digital technologies can help the airports to deliver more communicative experience to the passengers. Digitalization can also upscale the readiness of the airport and helps the commuters by delivering instant service.

 It must be noted that the airport is a complex ecosystem, wherein multiple stakeholders like – airlines, immigration, customs, etc work independently. Embracing digitalization can help bring these stakeholders under one umbrella to ensure smooth functioning.

As airports transition to a data-driven infrastructure, how can they build the capability of proactively dealing with peak operational periods and disruptions?

 The advent of new technologies like cloud technologies along with the ability to do data crunching and data analytics has significantly increased the importance of data irrespective of the industry. However, in a multi-stakeholder system like the civil aviation industry, wherein data is generated at different levels, integrating the data remains a major challenge. Bringing the necessary data at one point that can help the sector provide better experience, ensure process and operational efficiency is now a daunting task. Moreover, with the current airport IT systems, wherein the operation is aided by archaic legacy systems, with no cognizance of advanced technologies like – web 2.0, web 3.0, AI & ML, deep learning, blockchain, and IoT, data integration is nearly impossible.

At Hyderabad airport, we are exploring the possibilities of developing a new aviation stack using the new technologies in a secure way. In the process, we are also making sure that no sensitive data is being collected from the airlines and the passengers without their knowledge.  In our new age airport ecosystem IT stack, things like privacy, efficient data organization, will be taken care of, while data is being communicated from one stakeholder to another. This in turn will boost the operation readiness; thereby helping the stakeholder to perform in an effective manner.

How do you see airport management methodology evolving in the near future with new technology adoption? What is the future road map of GMR Airports?   

I think any organization, if it has to be sustainable, should be young. Not in terms of age, but by the types of DNA it displays.  For an organization to be young, it should have the key traits like flexibility and agility. Moreover, it should take note of the advancements that are happening around and find a way to always stay ahead of the curve.

This is where GMR comes in. We never portray ourselves as the owner of infrastructure but we feel that we are an organization that displays a particular type of leadership. Today, every leader in GMR spends almost 60 to 70% of his/her time in ensuring that the human resources are capable of delivering things. So, increasing their skills, domain knowledge, enhancing their personality, leadership skills, and the ability to make decisions is our main focus point. 

Secondly, GMR is not a digital or a tech company, but we want to think like a tech company. Today, the challenge for the startups is getting access to the corporate where they can meaningfully deploy their solution and their ideas. According to me, that is where a corporate entity like GMR, that has the ability to use all these technologies, should be at the forefront. In order to enable the same, GMR has created its own open innovation platform where multiple institutes like – startups, research institutes, accelerators can easily access us.GMR Group will be in the forefront in developing new innovations that will be useful for the industry.