Definition of Dublin airport AOP

Airport Intelligence supported Dublin Airport (DAP) in defining their future Airport Operations Plan (AOP). This included the vision, scope, and roadmap, as well as the needs in terms of data required and organization and technology to put in place.

Defining the vision was done with a long-term perspective focusing on the opportunities in terms of business value for the entire airport and supporting the APOC to become more pro-active and data-driven, to ensure that the first version of the AOP created on the short term would be the right foundation for the full aspirations of the airport and not only complying with SESAR regulations on iAOP by the end of 2023.

Airport Intelligence was asked to provide expert input by:

• Revision of already developed deliverables by the project team
• Best practice sharing on AOP definition and development
• Organisation and moderation of different sessions and workshops to:
  • Challenge vision and ambitions (to be aligned with the strategy)
  • Support the definition of business and IT requirements
  • Support the definition of the roadmap
  • Identify needs in organisational set-up, governance, and alignment with other programs

A journey to AOP

Dublin Airport embarked already some years before 2021 on different SESAR trajectories. In 2018, a project was launched for the development of an iAOP. In parallel, the implementation of A-CDM was ongoing and the APOC was put in place. In 2021, DAP still had the same commitment to implement a successful iAOP programme, however, it was clear that the settings had changed given the impact of the pandemic on the project team and the organisation as a whole.

While compliance with CP1 was clearly primordial, DAP also targeted demonstrated business value to gain management acceptance, to identify how AOP could contribute to the company’s strategy and ambitions and to support the APOC in its further evolution. The organisation was therefore looking for guidance on how to put in place the AOP as a programme and within the organisation.

Starting point was to create a proper definition and a common and collaboratively shared understanding of the AOP:

• How should all existing elements be linked together to allow for transversal management of the different airport processes and support APOC?
• How does forecasting, real-time and post-OPS performance measurements come together in the AOP?
• On which elements does the AOP need to focus to ensure business value?
• How can the AOP contribute to the realisation of the company’s strategy

Based on this definition, the foundations could then be outlined on technical architecture required and programme, organisation and governance needs.

Results delivered

Following results have been delivered:

• Clear and common definition of vision, ambition, and objectives for DAP AOP
• Concrete work streams and first features for DAP AOP
• First high-level roadmap for DAP AOP and a clear timeline towards iAOP by the end of 2023
• Concrete insights in:
  • Program set-up and governance required
  • AOP organizational impact and change management needed
  • Technical needs in terms of IT architecture, resources and capabilities
  • Opportunities in terms of potential for business value creation
• Best practices and lessons learned sharing, training and coaching for the extended project team from experts, giving Dublin Airport important accelerators while launching the project.