Every day about 24 employees take care of up to 150 passengers at Stuttgart airport who need special assistance. These might be minors, passengers in wheel chairs, deaf or blind people, or even non-disabled passengers who have ordered special assistance. Departing passengers are accompanied from the terminal to the gate and from there on to the aircraft. Arriving passenger are taken from the aircraft to the terminal by car.
Accordingly, agents are grouped into the terminal and apron operational areas. In the past, two allocators were each responsible for assignment in one of the two areas. It was part of their work to jump in as an agent and assist passengers if needed. Now, with the help of the GroundStar solution, the allocator is able to concentrate on his assignment work. Furthermore, it has been possible to centralise the two areas so that one allocator is responsible for both areas, which has led to smooth communication between assignment and airlines.
In addition, it is now apparent at any one time which agent is working on which assistance task as task information is transferred automatically to the agents using mobile communication. The allocator is informed about the current status of tasks because agents confirm the beginning and end of their task on their handheld devices.
Besides improving operational transparency and simplifying organisational structures, the GroundStar solution has also influenced pre-planning conditions because of the availability and documentation of all important time stamps, such as the beginning and end of assistance tasks.
AGS, the ground service company that takes care of PRM services at Stuttgart airport, recently rolled out INFORM's GS RealTime PRM solution on behalf of the airport in order to achieve greater transparency on the day of operation as well as to facilitate the allocator's work.
