Fault Management Systems to Streamline Airport Operations and Reduce Human Interference

Hey Folks! We hope everyone’s having a great time out there. We all love traveling, and sometimes when we get bitten by the travel bug, the only cure for us would be to reach a nearby airport and leave the city. While this could be as tempting as eating ice cream on a sunny day, airport maintenance is not that simple.

From maintaining the flight schedules to keeping the airport premises fault-free, it involves several tasks that need the full attention of the maintenance team. Therefore, let us explore Fault Management Systems and find their potential to reduce human interventions in airports, in this blog post.

Tracing the emergence of the FMS Portal in the aviation Industry

Now, when it comes to the aviation industry, it is highly dynamic and needs upgradation in every aspect of airport maintenance and management to cater to the user needs which keep evolving through the hustle and bustle of technological changes. Some of the generic changes witnessed by airports around the world through the tech trends we have embraced so far include:

i.) The In-flight Changes:

The emergence of in-flight automation tools like autopilot systems, autothrottles, anti-skid braking systems, etc., has helped pilots and others in the aviation industry in many ways. From monitoring the overall flight of the plane to establishing an automated warning system for the aircraft, these automation tools have reduced the workload of flight employees and have brought significant changes.

ii) Fault Management Systems in Airports:

For instance, let’s compare how the advent of the FMS portal has changed ticket management in airports from the conventional approach of doing it manually.

The Conventional Scenario

Conventionally, fault management at airports got initiated by a separate team. This centralized separate team reviews all the faults reported within the airport and assigns them to the concerned team of technicians to resolve them. 

Over time, this archaic approach towards resolving and managing faults needed more human resources, time, and high expenditure.

However, as automation took the aviation industry by storm, today, many leading airports around the world use FMS portals for monitoring the maintenance of airports. 

These systems are automated and need very little human intervention to work.  

They report faults to the technicians in charge by collecting data from the various sensors placed at different locations and creating tickets for them to resolve.

Functioning of the FMS Portal: a detailed outline

Now, let us discuss how an FMS portal works when implemented in an airport. With a centralized dashboard and user-friendly interface, the FMS portal helps the airport management committee to get a holistic view of the runways, terminals, and other places.

Whenever an issue or a fault occurs in these places, the FMS portal automatically creates tickets. And these tickets are shown through notifications in the FMS portal for the technicians to view. 

From reporting the faults as tickets on time to calibrating their nature and the attention necessary to resolve them, the FMS portal summarizes all the issues into categories and notifications for the concerned technician to take charge and update the status of the raised tickets when resolved. 

While this is the basic functioning of the FMS portal for airport management, these portals are customizable and integrated into the existing ticket management system of the airport.

For instance, when our team at Spritle worked on the project to design a Fault Management application for one of the most famous airports in Asia using ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus, they made sure to design and implement the portal with the following features,

• Automated Ticket Creation
• Airport Maintenance Scheduling System (custom-built)
• Desktop and mobile-friendly User Interface to access the portal
• Fault management reports in any format

These features not only helped the users track, respond and resolve fault tickets but also enhanced the user experience and reduced human intervention at several stages of ticket management.

How do Fault Management Systems reduce human interventions?

As mentioned earlier in this article, the FMS portal simplifies fault-finding tasks within the airport premises by automatically raising tickets. 

Therefore, instead of relying on a team of users to monitor, identify and report faults, the FMS portal notifies the concerned technicians. 

In addition to simplifying the monitoring process, it also automates assigning fault tickets to the concerned technicians and gives them an overall picture of the inspected areas to act accordingly.

You can read about how Spritle customized & integrated FMS for one of the famous airports in Asia (3 Terminals) and now moving forward on the next milestone of integrating the 4th terminal.

Benefits of implementing FMS Portals in Airports

I. Simplifies the complicated tasks in fault ticket management:

Since the FMS portal simplifies and automates most of the time-consuming tasks in ticket management, it empowers the users to act swiftly and resolve most of the complicated problems in the airport. 

As a result, it enhances the quality of services offered by the airport.

II. A holistic view of the inspected area:

Any issue in the airport, from cracks in the runway to power failure, can influence and delay flights for travelers. 

However, when/ when you implement the FMS/ gets implemented in the runways and terminals of the airport, it will reduce these possibilities by constantly reporting the faults and notifying the technicians to have a look at the tickets raised.

III. Reduces human intervention in several places:

One of the challenges in airport management is the task of finding efficient people to monitor ticket management. 

However, since the FMS portal automates most of the tasks involved in fault ticket management in several places, it reduces human intervention and errors.

Conclusion:

Therefore, readers, in this blog post, we have discussed one of the merits of implementing the FMS portal in airports. 

From monitoring the airport premises to reducing human intervention in ticket management, it improves the efficiency of the airport in maintenance. 

However, since this is just the beginning for the Spritle team to work on Fault Management Systems for airports, the best is yet to come.