John Wayne Airport

Customer

John Wayne Airport (SNA) is a vital transportation hub for Orange County, California, as it is the only commercial airport in the county. SNA has three passenger terminals supporting 11 major air carriers, transporting 11.8 million annual passengers to/from 40 nonstop destinations. In 2019, SNA partnered with AeroCloud to improve its gate management operation.

Challenge

Before partnering with AeroCloud, SNA’s gate resource scheduling was managed by a licensing-based system that was not as effective. The system required a dedicated station for each license and took several minutes to update when changes were made. The support system was not readily available.

Solution

As the airport traffic demand increased and became busier, the SNA team proactively identified the knowledge it needed to make the aircraft process of gate assignment more seamless and minimize out-of-date airline information. This was key to avoiding future aircraft gate delays and the overall disruption to the passenger experience. To accomplish these goals, SNA deployed the Gate Management System (GMS) module of AeroCloud ‘s intelligent Airport Management System (AMS). This made the user interface of aircraft gate allocation easier to manage. GMS harnesses AI and machine learning to automatically plan gate use based on real-time flight data. This allows slot assignments to adjust automatically, and gate outages can be planned and scheduled.

Outcome

SNA’s use of the AeroCloud GMS has removed the need to rely on dedicated workstations. The airport established a more failsafe process for gate management, which unlocked other benefits. Thanks to AeroCloud’s software, for example, SNA Airport’s Operations team can now access the aircraft gate management system on mobile devices, such as iPads, while on the airfield. Forward planning also ensures a smoother passenger experience by enhancing future scheduling and operational efficiency. One of the most valuable contributions of AeroCloud is its willingness to improve continually. We have monthly meetings with them, and they promptly respond to our requests for improvements.