‘Big data’ is a collective term for sets of data so large and complex, they become difficult to process using traditional data processing applications.
The aviation industry encompasses a huge amount of data, and many airlines and airports cannot manage and process the amount of data they receive, but such data could be used to revolutionise the passenger experience.
Small IT departments however, are one problem. The vast amount of data produced related to passenger flow, cost reduction and revenue enhancement is too much to handle for most small airline IT departments. Data-driven marketing can provide insights from data in real-time so there can be consistent understanding of passenger behaviours.
So how can this be solved? A talk by Josh Marks, the CEO at masFlight during the World Routes event this year explained how airports and airlines can combat this diverse data and build a mosaic out of it.
With 35 million flight departures per year, data is critically important for any planning decision made by airlines and airports. In an example used by Josh Marks, the aviation industry needs to begin documenting and utilising data in a way similar to the online retailer, Amazon.
Amazon manufactures product suggestions based on its customer’s previous activity. They collate data about customer’s previous purchases, as well as previously viewed items, and even mouse movement on the webpage. These predictive analytics allow them to target customer’s needs effectively and with profitability.
This sort of data collection could effectively be utilised in the aviation industry, particularly with airline websites with regards to booking and transactional data sets. There are $140 million worth of ticket transactions made through airline ticketing websites- and this figure is not inclusive of booking sites such as Expedia. The current ‘look to book’ ratio stands at approximately 10:1, signifying that customers will view approximately ten booking websites before making a final decision.
However, airlines do no track this sort of data, only their transactional data, therefore missing out a huge chunk of possible marketing opportunities. Tracking the time and place a customer booked from, fares offered from other websites, and customers IP addresses would allow airlines a greater insight into its customer needs. Probably most importantly, it would allow airlines the opportunity to see if a customer searched for a route it does not offer - this sort of information is fundamental in route development.
Josh Marks, CEO, masFlight said: “Big data offers us a pathway for bringing together the next generation of data warehouses that allow us the next level of analytics to really get insight into what’s happening.”
“The aviation industry is impossibly complex and seemingly random,” he added.
Obviously, such a huge amount of data will need somewhere to live – and no amount of log files or hard disks is going to be sufficient enough. Josh Marks has an answer for this too – the Cloud infrastructure.
Cloud storage is a model of data storage where the digital data is stored in logical pools, and the physical storage spans multiple servers. These cloud storage providers are responsible for keeping the data available and accessible.
Cloud computing and storage is cheaper and more efficient than data warehousing, and it removes the constraints of storage capacity - it can aggregate and store all data.
“Today we manage through the rear-view mirror, when we have the availability to look out of the windshield.”
Josh Marks
CEO, masFlight
Big data can help operations for airlines and airports, and reduce unnecessary variability. It can collate taxi times from one side of the pier to another, which in turn can help airports to base their gate assignments using the profile of each individual gate- reducing the likelihood of ramp conflicts, and aircraft holding off. It can help the relationship between airports and airlines in the operational sense, and help build knowledge about demographics.
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