Exeter International Airport is a thriving UK regional airport, serving a wide catchment area and exhibiting strong passenger growth, year on year.
In order to support and facilitate that growth, Exeter Airport took the strategic decision to implement CUTE (Common Use Terminal Equipment) to make full use of their limited number of check-in desks. By adopting Aura, Damarel’s low-cost CUTE solution for regional airports, Exeter ensured that every carrier could access their own DCS using common equipment, immediately freeing up desk space and increasing capacity.
Over time, as the size of the airport increased and new desks and gates were added, Aura proved its flexibility, cost-effectively scaling up to meet increased usage and demand.
Aura was also able to meet the changing demands of the airport, seamlessly adding support for new devices, such as OCR equipment for APIS capture, as the need arose. With security now paramount, Exeter also adopted Damarel’s Vanguard system to provide rapid, effective screening of home printed boarding cards at outbound control points.
As part of the overall solution Damarel provided Exeter with their L-DCS and LodeStone systems for check-in & boarding and weight & balance.
“We are very pleased with the way Damarel have worked with the airport to provide solutions to the ongoing challenges of information provision. Their ingenuity is helping us meet the expectations of today’s travelling public.”
With a stable platform to build on, Exeter also looked to improve the delivery of flight and airport information to passengers. Good signage and clear information have a significant impact on a passenger’s experience of an airport and will reduce stress and simplify the process.
The adoption of FiNDnet and its companion module FIDSMon ensured that Exeter provided high quality FIDS, with detailed and targeted information in the check-in concourse, arrivals, departures and baggage halls. FIDSMon also provides direct feeds to the airport’s automated telephone system and website and allows the airport’s customers to access up-to-date flight information on demand through a variety of channels.
Exeter has seen real benefits to its operation:
“Cost was a major consideration in choosing FiNDnet. The basic principle of automating daily tasks was appealing, however the added benefits such as the automation of IATA movement messages, along with integration with the FIDS system meant FiNDnet was the only solution that would work for us. Reducing manual, written tasks has also enabled us to allocate staff more effectively. For example, we used to change Mayfly information manually. Now we just use FiNDnet to print them and this saves us time.”
“Accurate recording of chargeable items has allowed us to increase this revenue by 100% in 1 year. As a regional airport, this has made a huge difference to our finances. We would recommend FiNDnet to other organisations.”
With around one million passengers now using Exeter International every year, this is a great example of how Damarel can work with airports to put in place the IT infrastructure necessary to maximise their potential.
