Guest Post: Communicate, collaborate, and mitigate - the keys to modern disruption management

Julian Fish, SVP & head of aviation operations solutions of IBS Software, unpacks the fundamentals for when disruption inevitably occurs

Disruptions in air travel are sadly inevitable. Between extreme weather, industrial action, and unanticipated global technical outages, delays have become the norm. According to the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), during 2023, 276 million passengers passed through the UK's airports. Over that period only 64% of flights operated within 15 minutes of their scheduled arrival or departure time (OTP), compared to an OPT of 79.8% of flights departing or arriving at the top 10 North American airports. It appears that - especially for UK travellers – delays have become part and parcel of the traveller’s experience. However, delays are not only stressful for passengers who see their travel plans go up in smoke and get stuck at airports for long periods of time, but are also incredibly costly when the impact to ancillary activities such as airport transfers, flight connections, and other time-sensitive plans are taken into consideration. 

Tellingly, the impact of airline disruptions isn’t just to travellers. Air travel workers, especially those engaged in front-line customer support see an increase in both verbal and even physical abuse when customers face disruptions. Research shows that stressful customer interactions have a huge impact on both the mental and physical health of airline workers. Staff frequently find themselves in the firing line – receiving abuse from the very travellers they are trying to assist. While it is difficult for airlines to completely avoid delays and cancellations, clear and comprehensive communication to customers, underpinned by technology providing real time data to improve decision making can provide part of the solution to mitigate the effects of disruption on passengers.  

Communicate

Transparent, accurate, and timely customer communication is the most effective way to limit the impact of disruption on passengers, but research from Statista indicates that only 43% of passengers receive clear communication on the causes of travel disruption. Maintaining a clear line of communication with customers and empowering air travel workers with accurate, real-time information ensures airlines can answer queries efficiently, mitigate complaints effectively, reduce the burden on airline staff, and improve customer satisfaction. 

Unfortunately, this is easier said than done, as airlines often rely on a patchwork of old, disconnected, legacy IT systems to support their day-to-day operations. These legacy systems usually prevent coordinated, collaborative, accurate information sharing, and frequently rely on manual inputs, processes, and interventions. Ironically, it’s during disruption events that airlines rely most on these disjointed systems. When disruptions occur, legacy systems end up costing airlines valuable time and resources just when they are needed most. 

As anyone with a background in enterprise IT will affirm, manual processes not only slow down systems but also increase the risk of human error. In times of disruption human error due to inaccurate data or misaligned processes can multiply the impact of disruption many fold.  Staff frequently end up having an incomplete and outdated understanding of operational needs, impacted schedules, network impacts, roster changes, connecting flight changes, and cost burdens. Recovery from disruption then relies on individual expertise, user experience level, or manual intervention. The time and resources that would be better spent helping customers remediate their onward journeys ends up being spent fighting technology and systems, in an attempt to provide a workable solution to customers. Multiple, disconnected tools will never provide the complete picture or insights needed to deal with complex disruptions in real time, or to help staff provide a working solution that addresses the needs of passengers. 

Collaborate

Modernising core airline IT systems is a fundamental step needed to deliver coordinated, transparent customer communication. This need only increases with scale. Airline group consolidation makes this challenge even more difficult to address, with multiple Operations Control Centres leaning on a mix of IT systems for schedule management, flight planning, operations and maintenance control, hub management and crew tracking. Managing disruption confidently and efficiently is a major source of competitive advantage for airlines, and one which drives increases to customer satisfaction and airline reputation.  A single digital operations platform that supports multi-tenancy for airline groups but also supports disparate processes as needed per airline simplifies data storage, reporting, and information sharing. A solution with support for all aspects of daily operations in a single platform - including crew, operations, and hub management - allows airlines to respond to disruptions with confidence and flexibility. A single platform ensures that all relevant data, including reservations, crew management, flight planning, weather, NOTAMS, aircraft maintenance, and aircraft turnaround are massively improved through a single source of truth across systems, leading to improved, real-time decision making and faster responsiveness to disruptions. 

Mitigate

By adopting a comprehensive end-to-end platform that provides a single source truth, airlines can unify systems and respond quickly and accurately in times of heightened need. A single solution for crew, operations and hub management streamlines data access, improves alternate scenario generation times, and exposes data in real-time to streamline and enhance decision making under pressure. Investing in modern, future proofed technology ensures that airlines can significantly improve disruption mitigation practices, limiting the impact of unexpected disruptions and more importantly empower staff to improve customer visibility into events. Increased visibility leads to improved communication and increased customer satisfaction. Addressing disruptions more effectively and efficiently also significantly reduces the cost impact of disruptions. It’s clear that in order to deliver the level of service required by a modern airline enhanced communication, increased collaboration, and faster mitigation are the keys to addressing disruptions – catching them before they snowball into news-worthy incidents.