ACI Europe launches Airport Operations Centre Peer Review service

ACI Europe has formally announced the launch of its Airport Operations Centre (APOC) Peer Review service, which will work to bring together all stakeholders – including air traffic control, airlines, ground handlers, customs and police and the airport operator – to enable a collaborative, transparent and ultimately integrated management of flight and terminal operations.

Director General of ACI Europe, Olivier Jankovec, said: “APOCs are a win-win-win: Squeezing airport assets and reducing costs while improving the passenger experience and minimising environmental impact. With its tailor-made APOC Peer Review Service, ACI Europe is not just supporting airports in running and further enhancing their APOCs locally – we are also contributing to the improvement of the European air transport network overall.” 

The climate emergency, a growing demand for larger capacities, increasing competitive pressures and the commitment to increase quality and the passenger experience are all being combined in order to focus European airports on operational efficiency – the Airport Operations Centre will be a key tool to deliver this.

The establishment of Airport Operations Centres is a relatively recent development, yet more airports are working to set up their own. The real-time and optimal coordination provided by the centres allow airports to better anticipate and avoid disruptions. As a result, passenger impact is minimised with less flight delays and cancellations, and reduces the impact on the environment with less noise and lower CO₂ emissions. 

ACI Europe is now offering Airport Operations Centre Peer Reviews to airports, following a successful pilot at Geneva Airport in October 2018. The reviews are conducted by ad hoc teams bringing together ground operations experts from other airports and Eurocontrol’s Network Manager. The reviews allow airports to track and unlock latent capacity, further develop cooperation with air traffic control and enhance understanding of capacity issues between all operational stakeholders.

André Schneider, Chief Executive Officer of Geneva Airport, said: “The APOC is central to ensuring the provision of smooth and seamless services to our customers, dealing with the normal operational disruptions of an airport and anticipating further issues. Having experts from other airports as well as ACI Europe spend three days reviewing the processes and operation of our APOC along with our team has allowed us to identify significant improvements that will allows us to better serve our customers in the future. I highly recommend this proactive continuous improvement approach to any airport wishing to future proof its APOC.”