What Avinor has learned during implementation of AOS at 45 airports

Abstract

This paper, presents a project by Avinor AS in which they are implementing one fully-fledged multi-Airport Operational System to be used by all 45 Avinor airports. Most airports depend on several operational systems that enable good planning and optimised operations throughout the day. The operational systems work as tools to support both land- and airside processes. These systems are often called airport operational systems (AOS), and traditionally consist of airport operational databases (AODBs), resource management systems (RMSs), flight information display systems (FIDSs), collaborative decision making (CDM) and so on. To establish separate AOS solutions at many or all of Avinor’s airports was never an option, owing to costs and complexity. That is why Avinor decided on one single multi-airport solution. This is not only cost-effective and efficient for airport operators with several airports in their portfolio, but it also enables better data exchange and better cross-airport planning and operations. If the alternative was to establish one AOS per airport, or at least several of them, the cost and complexity would have been significantly higher for Avinor. As it is now, each airport can choose from an AOS menu and decide for themselves which functionality they need and want. In this paper, the reader will learn why the project was started, the main goals for the project, how the project was carried out, the major considerations for the strategical decisions, how it was implemented and what plans Avinor has for the future. It is hoped that this paper will inspire more airport operators to think about multi-airport solutions, and to open up much more data sharing across the community.