Surface Management

Most carriers understand that the “surface operation” is one of the richest areas to generate tangible, immediate improvements in fuel burn (cost and greenhouse gases), schedule integrity and delay reduction, and customer care. The reason is clear – the surface operation is subject to extensive constraints and inefficiencies, and it is much more in direct control of the carriers and/or their airport operations partners.

PASSUR offers airlines a comprehensive surface management solution that provides decision support, predictive analytics, collaborative processes, and overall business process improvement. And our solution is part of the extended PASSUR surveillance and decision support capability, en route and in the terminal – creating a true “gate to gate” solution.

Developed in partnership with Mosaic ATM, the recognized pioneer and expert in surface management systems, the PASSUR Surface Management System (SMS) includes monitoring, predicting, and analyzing the movement of aircraft on movement and non-movement areas.

Some of the key business objectives addressed by PASSUR SMS are:

  • Reduced fuel burn through departure metering tools
  • Fewer extended tarmac delays through tarmac delay alerts and management tools
  • Efficient gate management through predictive conflict alerting
  • Efficient sequencing of arrivals and departures to minimize delays, maximize throughput, and allow airlines to prioritize high-value flights
  • Maximum use of available capacity, especially scarce resources such as runways and deicing facilities
  • Continuous improvement of operations through the ability to analyze bottlenecks

Key capabilities and features of the PASSUR SMS:

  • A single visual platform for integrated flight tracking, enabling seamless gate-to-gate tracking, including surface, terminal airspace, and en route tracking. PASSUR integrates ASDE-X and ADS-B into the PASSUR radar tracking system.
  • Surface management predictive analytics, enhancing efficient queue management, sequencing, allocation, and surface conflict resolution through the PASSUR Surface Management Predictive Engine.
  • A full suite of live and post-operational surface performance analysis tools to identify opportunities for optimization and efficiencies.
  • Integration of airline data feeds to enhance predictive analytics and flight status on the surface.
  • Increased automation in departure metering, including automated slot swap, automated substitution modeling, and automated flight “ready state” information.

 
The PASSUR SMS is web-hosted, subscription-based, and available for purchase by either airlines or airports. As part of the PASSUR Integrated Traffic Management platform, it is fully compatible with all other PASSUR web modules.

For information on PASSUR's surface management solutions for airports, click here.