An airport approach to digital transformation

Click the button below to download the full text of the article.

Abstract: The complexity of the airport business and its logistical environment is a well-known feature of our industry. This complexity often translates into significant technological needs within a highly available, stable and resilient information technology (IT) operational framework. The financial and human resources devoted to the IT function in airports, however, are not always comparable to those of equal complexity in other industries making it challenging to deploy digital transformation programmes. Consequently, it is necessary for airport IT functions to adopt a set of strategies that allow them to navigate the thin line of a large number of critical systems to be operated while respecting the limited resources offered by the relatively small size of the organisations that exploit these tools. This paper discusses such strategies that have been put in place at Montreal-Trudeau International Airport (YUL) in order to have winning conditions for a successful digital transformation.

Keywords: airport digital transformation; airport IT; IT automation; IT transformation

Aymeric Dussart is Director for Technologies and Innovation at Aéroports de Montréal (ADM), a not-for-profit corporation responsible for the management, operation and development of Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau and Montréal-Mirabel international airports. Montréal-Trudeau, which serves over 16 million passengers a year, 30 airlines and 140 direct flights around the world, aims to continuously improve its service, aiming to strengthen its role as a major transportation hub. Prior to his current position, Mr Dussart was in charge of data analytics and, in particular, measurement of passenger satisfaction at Montréal-Trudeau. Before joining ADM in 2012, he worked in the energy sector and in management consulting. He holds two master’s degrees, one in economics and one in management information systems.