By Kris De Bolle

27th March 2024

Working in business transition projects in the aviation industry for over 15 years now, I think I’m allowed to say that I intimately understand the challenges that come with steering through the complex landscape of innovation. I’ve always known airport operations at the heart of the aviation industry to be continually striving for efficiency and improved passenger experiences. However, during my journey, I bumped into quite a few hurdles posed by resistance to change, to new technology or operating procedures that have been taken for granted for decades. 

In this article, I want to share my experience and insights into the specific risks we face, to fuel the strategies we should adopt to foster innovation while maintaining the highest standards of safety and functionality. 

 The regulatory straitjacket 

 The regulatory landscape is a labyrinth that we have to navigate daily and can seriously take the fun out of innovation... Of course, introducing innovative solutions demands a smart approach to push business improvements while ensuring compliance with passenger safety and security. 

In too many projects, I witnessed that resistance to change often disguises itself in the form of prolonged regulatory processes. As a result, projects are unrealistically delayed, and airports miss the (budgetary) window of opportunity to become better at what they do. 

Striking the right balance between innovation and adherence to regulations should be covered in stakeholder engagement, and regulatory constraints should be factored into deployment timelines early on in projects. 

‘Oh, and we should throw in some training as well…’ 

On the apron, where the heartbeat of airport operations echoes, I've observed the workforce struggling with the demands of new technologies and their supporting procedures. Pushing back on new working methods creates skill set gaps, as employees sometimes go as far as to refuse adjusting to the requirements of operating and maintaining innovative systems. 

Mitigating such situations through comprehensive training and awareness programs is essential but often underestimated in innovation projects with too much focus on that fancy interface or cool mobile application. But training, taken seriously, does ensure a smoother adoption of new working methods and the integration of technology. 

 Where’s the business case?  

Budget considerations obviously play a significant role in airports’ decision-making processes. The wish lists are always long, but the financial bandwidth is unfortunately much shorter… 

When a lack of long-term vision is added to the mix (hence struggling to prioritize innovations), that’s when initial financial investments spark resistance, as concerns about short-term costs take precedence over long-term benefits. Striking a balance between financial prudence and the potential for efficiency gains is crucial. Demonstrating the return on investment becomes essential to accumulate support for projects that promise to reshape operations at airports. 

 The power of habit  

Having worked in operational environments for many years, I've witnessed the deeply ingrained culture of resistance to breaking through historical automatisms or evaluating operational procedures and systems. Introducing innovative technologies such as the integration of AI on the apron to auto-generate turnaround progress timestamps is met with resistance, stemming from a preference for familiar practices involving manual work – I guess this is just how we humans' function… 

Again, it’s a question of balance: embracing innovation by clearly motivating the need for change, while making sure that we don’t abolish the well-established operational framework altogether.  

Not invented here  

Airports, in constant competition for airline partnerships and passenger traffic, MUST evolve to stay competitive. There simply is no alternative. 

Refusing to face this reality compromises the ability to offer the latest in passenger conveniences and operational efficiency, specifically if these airports are also suffering from the not-invented-here syndrome, and, as such, fail to keep up with the latest technology standards. In that respect, a healthy dose of FOMO is certainly a driver for airports to go off the beaten track and start to truly innovate. 

What is your ‘innovation gap’ and what’s your strategy to close it? Get in touch with our technology and operational experts, so we can support you on this journey with turnkey approaches at an affordable price. Because we understand that your wish list is long, and your budget isn’t infinite…