Lufthansa Systems presents innovative Integrated Control Panel for operations control

Airlines using the Integrated Operations Control Center (IOCC) Platform will find it easier than ever to monitor the status of their flight operations and to deal with irregularities. At its customer conference “Airline Forum 2009” Lufthansa Systems is going to present the Integrated Control Panel, which is the latest innovation of the IOCC Platform.

It gives the operations control team of an airline a real-time overview of all key indicators showing the performance of the flight operations. Irregularities can be identified as they emerge and proactive action can be taken very early. This helps to limit the impact on the overall operation and reduce additional cost.

The IOCC Platform is the first integrated IT platform able to control and monitor all aspects of airline operations which are closely interlinked in practice, including schedule management, operations control, crew management, flight planning and weight & balance. IOCC users can optimize their flight operations and generate significant cost savings.

“Our IOCC Platform strengthens the competitive position of our customers significantly because it enhances their ability to react fast and with a view to the overall company good. Like all our integrated platforms it speeds-up the decision making process and at the same time enhances the quality of the decisions made”, said Wolfgang F.W. Gohde, Chief Executive Officer of Lufthansa Systems.

The IOCC Platform allows airlines to optimize the highly complex and highly dynamic processes of flight operations where even small disruptions can have severe financial and organisational impacts if not tackled early and in the most efficient way. When dealing with irregularities caused by adverse weather conditions, congested airspace or technical problems the IOCC Platform allows an airline to see things from every angle.

How many passengers might miss their connecting flights? What is the impact on the rotation of the airplanes? How does it affect the availability and the duty time of crews? What are the additional costs? As the IOCC Platform integrates all relevant information it is possible to quickly compare different scenarios to find the optimum solution. And even in routine operation having the big picture leads to better decisions and increased efficiency.

IOCC is a highly modular platform, which can be tailored to the specific requirements of any customer, regardless whether it is a small regional airline or an international network carrier. All five IOCC components IOCC/Sched, IOCC/Crew, IOCC/Ops, IOCC/Flight and IOCC/Load are based on market-leading products from the Lufthansa Systems portfolio, which are already in service at more than 80 airlines. In order to achieve maximum system stability and a high degree of consistency of the operational data, the IT experts of Lufthansa Systems have developed the IOCC Integration Layer, which enables the information flow among the components.

Customer scenarios based on actual data show that a mid-sized network airline with a fleet of 90 aircraft can improve its result by up to 31.8 million US dollar per year using the IOCC Platform. In addition, airlines using IOCC/Flight can benefit from extra fuel savings of up to 5 percent through optimized route planning. Depending on individual circumstances, airlines can see a return on investment as soon as one year after the first components have gone into operation.

(c) Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation. Date posted: 08-Sep-09