INFORM selected by IBERIA Handling to implement GroundStar at Madrid-Barajas Airport

On 30th March 2007, IBERIA and INFORM signed an agreement to license and implement an extensive range of GroundStar systems to enable the management of IBERIA’S ground operations at its Madrid hub. Named GAUDÍ (an acronym which in Spanish represents the concept of an integrated system for the unified management of the airport operation), the system covers the main processes of demand calculation, shift modelling, staff scheduling and daily deployment and tracking of resources - in relation to both workforce and ground support equipment.

The implementation project is already in progress and due to be completed within an eighteen month timeframe. The major activities of the implementation take place at the laboratory in the new Terminal 4 of the Madrid-Barajas airport. This is where IBERIA’s core implementation team is located.

Following a detailed specification phase jointly carried out by IBERIA and INFORM, it was decided that the implementation workshops will be developed in parallel for the GS Planning, GS Rostering and GS RealTime systems. These will be complemented by a number of other applications of the GroundStar suite including; Hub Control, mobile communications, message-broker, automated telegraphy, GPS-based tracking and management of mobile resources, ‘bird’seye’ control of aircraft, stands and baggage carrousels, handling contract management and service registration for invoicing purposes.

One of the highlights of these applications is the CAP – this is a Spanish acronym for Passenger Analysis Centre. CAP is designed to support passenger and baggage related issues, such as misconnections, cancel flights and overbooking. In addition, GAUDÍ will be able to address each of the handling areas that Iberia operates itself, whilst providing the necessary integration to control services that are subcontracted to third parties.

GAUDÍ will replace a legacy, time-honoured and comprehensive system developed by IBERIA over the past two decades. The new system is a successful, more efficient and integrated system that also delivers the optimisation capabilities and the business competence that are at the core of GroundStar. In conjunction with the implementation of GAUDÍ, IBERIA is also in the process of developing a major integration hub. The aim of this is to concentrate the interfacing needs between GAUDÍ and the external world in a single system, first during the GAUDÍ implementation interim period and then after the full ‘go-live’ of the system.

“After the successful completion in early 2006 of the move of our main operations to the new T4 and its satellite, the time came to put in place a new system. This would enable us to streamline our processes, enhance the quality of the services we provide to both ourselves and partner airlines and to prepare for addressing the increased traffic that the now doubled capacity of the airport will bring. We selected INFORM for this project as they are a supplier that will provide a good combination of expertise, scope, reliability and return on investment,” said Javier Martínez, head of IBERIA’s ground operation at Madrid-Barajas.

“The implementation at Madrid is a major challenge that we are addressing with great enthusiasm. It is a major challenge due to the functional span of the project and the fact that it involves a workforce of approximately 4,000 people, 800 GSE vehicles, a full scope of handling services and the logistical complexities of an operation spread over a three-platform airport. Nevertheless, we are positive that the culmination of the 18 month project will provide IBERIA with the expected benefits and we look forward to the possibility of expanding GroundStar to IBERIA operations in other airports,” said Thomas Schmidt, Director of INFORM’s Airport Systems Division.

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