INFORM announced today that it has entered into an agreement with Etihad Airport Services (EAS), a division of Etihad Aviation Group (national airline of the UAE) to provide its resource management solution GroundStar (GS) to support EAS’ ground handling arm to automate and optimize its workforce management processes.

Specifically, EAS will be applying INFORM’s GS Planning, GS Workforce Plus and GS Real Time modules. The systems will be deployed at Etihad’s hub, Abu Dhabi International Airport, and later at the new Midfield terminal, currently in development.

Once fully operational, the fully-integrated GroundStar solution will help to build and dynamically optimize work rosters for an estimated 6,000 EAS employees, and assist in optimizing ramp operations and passenger handling services including baggage loading/unloading and passenger boarding for approximately 60,000 flights annually.

EAS is expected to benefit quickly from the improved planning quality GroundStar provides, resulting in increased productivity, service quality, and ultimately, customer satisfaction. INFORM’s solution will replace various incumbent software solutions and is intended to support EAS’ continued growth.

“We have been experiencing steady, fast growth and were seeking a competent solutions partner that could provide an end-to-end solution to support us in our growth plans. The new INFORM software allows us to achieve what we want while also seamlessly integrating with other key airport and HR systems,” said Jorg Opperman, VP HUB and Midfield Operations.

The INFORM solution will replace six software modules from three suppliers, as well as eliminate a large number of manual processes which will help to save costs and improve efficiency as well as operational performance.

Mr Opperman added: “What also made INFORM stand out was the flexibility of the system and the ability it has to adapt to our business. The software can be shaped to our needs through configuration rather than development, and the range of what the system can do is impressive.”

“We are grateful for the opportunity to provide our optimisation solutions to help advance EAS’ growth objectives,” added INFORM Senior Vice President Aviation, Uschi Schulte-Sasse. “We are extremely honored by the confidence the major airlines in the Middle-East region have in our advanced technologies. Our solutions deliver a strong value proposition in helping our clients strategically, tactically and operationally plan, schedule and optimise their workforce and ground assets in real-time, all from a single provider. This capability was particularly important to EAS,” she continued.

INFORM’s GroundStar solution draws on over 25 years of aviation industry experience and has been using artificial intelligence, operations research and machine learning to support airlines, airports and ground handlers around the world.