DECEMBER 2021AEROSPACEDEFENSEREVIEW.COM19PEGASUS - TURKEY'S DIGITAL AIRLINEBy Murat Demirbilek, Vice President of Ground Operations, Pegasus AirlinesAs with every other sector in the world, technology and digitalisation have a significant influence and impact on the aviation sector. Recently, areas such as biometric - facial recognition applications, blockchain and translation software - have become key talking points in the global aviation sector.Pegasus Airlines keeps a close eye on which technologies are being used in the aviation sector throughout the world. We evaluate every technology that we monitor for their ability to improve the travel experience of our guests from beginning to end and to simplify their lives. In addition, by employing robotic technology in our infrastructure to establish self-managed systems, we can lower our costs and increase the productivity of our operations. For this reason, technology and digitalisation have been among our key areas of focus over the past few years. Within the framework of the digital transformation that we began in 2018, we introduced many innovations to the airport and in-flight travel experience. It is very important for us to inform and direct our guests throughout their journey. Thus, we notify guests at Sabiha Gökçen International Airport of their gate number and the carousel number where they can reclaim their baggage. In addition, we inform guests' relatives that the plane has landed at its destination and provide useful information to guests with babies, those with connecting flights and who have checked in online. Another successful project we instigated is "Express Baggage". With this option, our guests experience a fast, practical and digital journey all the way from ticket purchase through to baggage reclaim. This service has been in high demand since we began to offer it, with approximately 16-17 per cent of our online check-in counter transactions adopting the self-service Express Baggage facility.Since 2019, we have begun to use travel technology of the new chip ID card on Turkish routes, in a joint operation with Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen International Airport terminal management. By using the new chip ID card, our guests are able to fly "paperless", using only their own ID cards or passports, which is a revolutionary transformation. In fact, at some point in the future, biometric information (fingerprints, facial recognition etc.) might be sufficient ID for flying. New developments are happening worldwide in this area. With Blockchain infrastructure, we ensure the instantaneous transfer of operational information on flights generated by the Sabiha Gökçen Airport systems to the Pegasus systems. We also have digitalised and automated the maintenance data relating to apron equipment. We monitor all of our apron vehicles and aircraft at Sabiha Gökçen Airport with IoT technology to achieve a reduction in fuel and maintenance costs by maximising utilisation of our personnel and vehicles through automatic task assignments using artificial intelligence. All maintenance can be carried out systematically and on schedule, without requiring staff tracking, and we are immediately made aware of any breakdowns. We have begun to audit the use of equipment, resulting in a 60% reduction in airside accidents.These are just a few of the projects that we have instigated within the framework of our technology and digitalisation instruments. During 2020 we will continue to introduce innovations that simplify our guests' travel experiences within the scope of the complete digital transformation of all our processes, from A to Z. CXO Insights
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