Rome Fiumicino Leonardo da Vinci Airport has won this year’s SESAR JU-ACI Europe Digital Transformation Award. The airport was recognised at the 17th Annual ACI EUROPE Best Airport Awards during the 31st ACI EUROPE Annual Congress & Assembly, which took place at Geneva Airport on 26 November.
Rome-Fiumicino is the second airport to be awarded the prize, which celebrates airports that have successfully embraced digitalisation, adopting innovative technologies and procedures to improve the safety, capacity, efficiency and environmental footprint of its airside operations.
The judges recognised that the focus on innovation and digital solutions has become an inextricable part of the Italian airport operator’s DNA, in line with the SESAR JU’s vision for a Digital European SKy. In particular, the judging panel appreciated the airport’s investment in a brand new airport operations centre, opened earlier this year and deploying the most advanced technological fittings to improve and streamline airport operations.
The airport also garnered acclaim for its plans to set up an innovation hub to nurture technological and processual breakthroughs directly at the airport, and for launching a call for ideas, encouraging start-ups around the world to submit their projects for later deployment at the Roman airports.
Rome-Fiumicino and total airport management
The airport has been working on the airport operations centre (APOC), the airport operations plan (AOP) and more generally on deploying the total airport management (TAM) concept since 2016. With the opening of the APOC, Rome Fiumicino airport will soon be able to offer the airport stakeholders the tools to monitor and manage passenger, baggage and aircraft processes and more generally steer the performance of the overall airport operations.
Through real-time monitoring and with the help of automation and decision support tools, the airport can anticipate disruptions, allowing the airport stakeholders to take corrective actions, improving the predictability, efficiency and resilience of their operations. The airport’s integration into the air traffic management network will also be improved thanks to the timely exchange of more accurate data with the Network Manager.
