Kuwait airport drives digital transformation with Microsoft Azure

Kuwait International Airport has announced that it has adopted Microsoft Azure cloud solutions to streamline the airport’s operations.

The move enables the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to drive digital transformation in every facet - engage passengers, empower employees, optimise operations and transform airport services.

Located 10 miles south of the city, Kuwait International Airport is home to a traffic of 13.7 million passengers annually, up by 17 per cent since 2016. The growing operations called for DGCA to modernise the airport into a new state-of-the-art facility that can handle 25 million passengers a year and provide a remarkable customer experience. To address these needs, DGCA decided to partner with Microsoft and bring technology at the heart of this effort, keeping up with the continual changes in the aviation industry.

“The government of Kuwait wants to better address issues that many international airports face: high traffic, long lines, and inefficient gate assignments,” explained Mohammad Al-Mutairi, IT operations manager of the DGCA. “Kuwait’s Aviation sector has undergone an orbit shift and has played a vital role in the development of the economy. By implementing the latest Microsoft technology, the Kuwait International Airport will further enhance its servicing competences and drive transformation in the industry.”

To handle the ever-increasing volume of flights and passengers, DGCA adopted the Microsoft Azure Cloud to gather, manage, and analyse airport data, and transform it into actionable business intelligence and data visualisations. This enables the airport’s employees to avoid time-consuming manual data analysis tasks, and managers gain real-time information that they can use to streamline airport operations.

For example, leveraging Azure-based advanced data management capabilities, airport operations experts can now stream the information into Power BI dashboards, a business analytics tool that provides real-time information about the number of passengers, the number of airplanes they’re flying on, the wait time at the airport, how many workers are needed to transfer luggage to what types of aircraft, and the number of open ticket counters.

“Our employees are now empowered with the insights they need to make the best decisions possible, as quickly as possible," said Al-Mutairi. “Our mission is to give the right people everything they need to know ‘right now,’ to take the right action at Kuwait International Airport. The way Power BI brings together information in Azure Data Warehouse into one insightful, visually engaging experience - is better than anything manual methods could ever do.”

Microsoft and DGCA have enjoyed a partnership for over two years to drive digital transformation in the aviation sector of the country. In 2016, the latter migrated 3,000 field workers to Microsoft Office 365, as well as implemented Microsoft Teams to improve collaboration, productivity and communication with and among field workers. In the near future, DGCA also plans to automate much of the decision-making process by using Azure Machine Learning, which will help amplify human ingenuity and reduce the risk of any possible errors.

“Every improvement in the airport’s operation is an important milestone in the directorate’s modernisation. We’re optimising our airport’s operations, which elevates our position compared to other airports, and that attracts more business. Microsoft cloud technology is helping to lift us to a higher level in the aviation industry,” said Al-Mutairi.

“DGCA is one of the impressive examples of our customers that are truly leveraging technology to transform their operations and improve the services they provide”, said Charles Nahas, general manager, Microsoft Kuwait. “It is exciting to see how they are adopting the latest technologies and tools to drive change. In particular, the DGCA recognised the power of data as a strategic asset and leveraging the cloud to make more powerful and intelligent decisions. We are proud to support the digital transformation journey of DGCA and we stand forth to support the government of Kuwait in such crucial efforts," Nahas said. - TradeArabia News Service

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