SEPTEMBER 2021AEROSPACEDEFENSEREVIEW.COM8Short description of Stein:Stein is a business consultant at ORTEC, the data science partner of Airport Intelligence. He was responsible for the development of all forecasting models at Brussels Airport. He has a background in aerospace engineering and is experienced in leading data science implementation teams.Short description of Korijn:Korijnholds a MSc in Science of Engineering and has worked in airport operations for more than 10 years now. Her main focus has always been on the continuous improvement of airport processes. She has played a key role in the set-up and optimisation of the Operational Coordination Center (APOC) and was responsible for the development of the Airport Operations Plan (AOP) at Brussels Airport. She leads a consortium of 12 European airports in a European project to develop an iAOP under INEA funding and co-chairs the ACI Europe AOP Group.Since 2019, Korijn combines her position at Brussels Airport Company with a consulting role for Airport Intelligence.Artificial Intelligence, a true buzz word, though it remains to many people a very vague concept, while it has been applied now for many years in different industries. This article digs deeper into the experiences of Brussels Airport, who have been working with the models of Airport Intelligence for a long time now and have proven that AI truly brings value to the airport industry. Each of their models have demonstrated strong value in terms of cost reduction, performance improvement and increased airport revenues. Their reliable machine learning models - with an accuracy pre-COVID of 98% and during the pandemic of 86% - are the strong basis for data-driven decision making. It allowed Brussels Airport to drastically cut costs, while ensuring a safe and healthy feeling for the passenger.Artificial Intelligence is it merely a buzz wordor does it actually add value? Korijn Defever, Senior Manager Operational Efficiency at Airport Intelligence commences: "In 2017 Brussels Airport embarked on a journey to make operational decision making truly data driven. A 22 mio project was launched to develop the Airport Operations Plan, which could transversally link all data between the different airport processes (pax, bag and aircraft) and cover all phases of decision making: forecasting as of month-6, real-time monitoring and mitigating and post-OPS continuous improvement. Now four years later, this project has proven to be a success story with state-of-the-art technology embedded in an easy-to-use tool, consulted by the entire airport ecosystem. An essential part of this plan was the upgrade of the existing passenger forecasting By Stein Van Haver, Data Science Engineer, Ortec & Korijn Defever, Senior Manager Operational Excellence, Brussels Airport CompanyTHE POWER OF AI TO TRIGGER PRO-ACTIVE AND COLLABORATIVE DECISION MAKING BY AIRPORT ECOSYSTEMSIn My OpinionTHE POWER OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IS THE COMBINATION OF MATHEMATICS, DATA AND TECHNOLOGY. IT IS A TECHNIQUE THAT FOR VERY SPECIFIC, REPETITIVE TASKS ­ DUE TO THE IMMENSE LOADS OF DATA AND CALCULATION POWER ­ WILL PERFORM VERY QUICKLY AND MUCH BETTER THAN A HUMAN
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