Joint Venture Taps Wireless To Improve Airport Services

Computerworld - PricewaterhouseCoopers and Hewlett-Packard Co. have joined forces to market wireless technology products and services aimed at improving the way airlines and airports operate. The companies said last week that their joint venture, called the Aviation Solution Center, will bring together people, products and services from New York-based PricewaterhouseCoopers' aviation consulting practice and an infrastructure and consulting services team from HP.

The center will focus, in part, on helping airports use wireless devices to improve the effectiveness of ground, ramp and baggage-handling functions and to keep crew members informed and connected. It will also help airlines and airports use wireless technologies to better manage customer relations and improve access to customer data.

The idea for the Aviation Solution Center grew out of conversations PricewaterhouseCoopers had last year with airline CEOs, according to Richard Davey, an executive partner at the company's global aviation practice.

One of the issues the CEOs discussed is the need to partner with technology firms to improve their operations in areas such as customer relationship management and data warehousing, he said.

But part of the problem, Davey said, is that many innovations are developed at small companies that are unable to turn their visions into reality.

"We believe the industry is ripe for a new collaboration," Davey said. "Quite pragmatically, we're working with HP to take some of the solutions it has developed to another level, like the wireless ramp HP implemented at the Hong Kong airport."

Kurt Ebenhoch, a spokesman for Delta Technologies Inc. in Atlanta, which handles IT for Delta Air Lines Inc., said his company is studying the issue.

"It's difficult to say if it's something we would use. We don't know if it is meant to replace what we're doing or augment it," he said.

Kate Rice, an analyst at PhoCusWright Inc., a Sherman, Conn.-based online travel research firm, said that while some aspects of the Aviation Solution Center are important, such as the wireless ramp, baggage handling and crew communications, she isn't sure how much it will help one major problem airlines are facing: unhappy customers.

"The airlines have to deliver a pleasant customer experience, and they haven't done that for the past two years," Rice said. "I don't know if efficient management will help with that, but it may help with the timeliness problem."

HP had been in negotiations to acquire PricewaterhouseCoopers, but the deal fell through in November. Since then, HP has expanded its IT outsourcing collaboration with Chicago-based consulting firm Accenture (formerly Andersen Consulting) to focus on migrating clients fromlegacy applications to newer Web and wireless technologies.