
As part of the study, participants will take part in training courses for ground operations by using virtual reality glasses. The co-operation agreement on the three-month pilot phase was signed at the IATA Ground Handling Conference in Doha.
About 100 employees will be trained at Frankfurt using the virtual reality platform, dubbed RampVR, developed by IATA. Both new and experienced employees will participate in the training modules, which have been made available in German. Brigitte Press, VP Ramp & Passenger Service at Fraport, commented on the initiative.
“From this study, we expect to gain insights as to whether VR technology can improve operational training with regard to efficiency, knowledge retention and cost-effectiveness.” Furthermore, employees’ acceptance of this digital form of training will also be assessed during the study.
At present, two ground handling processes can be trained virtually using IATA’s RampVR tool: aircraft marshalling and aircraft turnaround inspections. In the module on aircraft marshalling, the participant can train how to precisely marshal a taxi-ing aircraft into the parking position with the help of controllers. During the turnaround training, the participant should identify scratches and damage to the aircraft and mark them with a laser pointer.
If feedback to the test is positive, further training modules for individual ground operation processes might be developed and jointly tested in the future.