Glasgow Airport build their airports of the future by using APIs to enable partnerships, accelerate innovation, open new revenue channels.
The Business Challenge
AGS Airports engaged with Azinq to create a solution to provide multiple flight data sharing feeds from their AODB to third parties.
Azinq proposed a modern solution to collate information into a cloud operational data store and share information through RESTful APIs.
The solution was rolled out to Glasgow, Aberdeen Airport, Southampton Airport and is now used by several UK and European airports. It is called the Azinq Airport API and it became the first microservice for the digital platform Airport Hive.
The Airport Hive was extended with a number of new microservices to access, store and share information from security, boarding cards and X-ray. All the reusable microservices are key inputs to enable near real time forecasting within Copenhagen Optimization’s Better Airport software suite.
The API allows new requests for data to be configured and provided extremely quickly, shaving weeks of effort over previous mechanisms.
MATTHEW WILSON
Head of IT
AGS Airports
Now, after the completion of the Airport API, operational performance of the airport has been improved through real time flight data provision.
Gonzalo Velasco
Business Plan and Innovation Director
Ferrovial Airports
The Results
- The airport can rapidly share real time flight data to unlimited internal and external systems
- Single suite of secure microservices sharing data through RESTful APIs
- Forecast security against approved passenger figures in near real time
- Moved from a tightly coupled to a loosely coupled airport system architecture
- Provided reusable assets for future data analytics
- Reduced the resource demands on core operational systems like AODB
- Reduced manual input of data within the passenger forecasting solution
- The solution was also rolled out to Aberdeen Airport, Southampton Airport and is now used by several UK and European airports
Client Feedback
“The aim of DPE project is to improve the passenger experience within the airport at Glasgow. With the previous analysis done in the airport regarding the flight information provided by the FIDS (Flight Information Display System), a clear necessity of development and implementation of an open interface (API) was observed. An open Interface which will read the fight information from the Airport Operating Database (AODB) and easily make this available in real time to the various mediums, including third parties was the main core. Improving the operational performance of the provision of services at the airport, and hence increase the passenger satisfaction were the main pre-fixed objectives.
Now, after the completion of the Airport API, operational performance of the airport has been improved through real time flight data provision. This achievement has shown a possibility of maximizing the corresponding revenues at the GLA through possible commercial agreements with third parties with which to market these open APIs.”
Gonzalo Velasco
Business Plan and Innovation Director, Ferrovial Airports
“Over the recent past, GLA has had multiple requests from third parties for access to ‘up to the minute’ flight data. Rather than continue to investigate and develop solutions to individually satisfy each of these demands, GLA decided to invest in a single flexible solution to provide its key customers with access to the data they required to more efficiently run their operations. That solution is a highly configurable API that accesses the GLA AODB,
The API allows new requests for data to be configured and provided extremely quickly, shaving off weeks of effort over previous mechanisms. GLA have already developed eight interfaces, delivering tailored benefits to key customers such as EasyJet, OCS and others and are already investigating the potential for other enhancements previously thought to be to be too costly to justify.”
Matthew Wilson
Head of IT, AGS Airports
