In 2023, over 50 million people traveled through the Manchester Airports Group (MAG), visiting more than 250 destinations worldwide. This enormous volume of passengers doesn’t just reflect travel; it highlights MAG’s role in international trade, as the organization processed 395,000 tonnes of cargo from its airports, including Manchester, London Stansted, and East Midlands.
MAG has set a clear goal: increase passenger numbers from 53 million to 60 million by the end of 2024 and continue that growth over the next five years. To support this ambition, the group is partnering with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to streamline its systems and eliminate data silos. They’re taking a serious approach to building a robust data infrastructure, starting with the AWS data lake and a visual strategy to connect various data sources.
Ryan Cant, MAG’s Chief Digital Officer, highlighted the initial bottom-up strategy. They began by gathering as much data as possible. Once the tech backbone was established, they shifted to a top-down focus that connected various business functions—operations, commercial, and HR—to specific data insights and outcomes.
“It’s all about generating insights,” Cant explains. “The right application needs to capture the data effectively. If we’re not automating it or don’t have proper API connectivity, our efforts are wasted.”
MAG organized product teams based on different business functions, focusing on understanding the processes and customer outcomes tied to their applications. Each product area is responsible not just for its software but also for its data outcomes, all coordinated by a unified data technology team. This setup ensures collaboration while also empowering individual teams to define their data needs.
With a centralized data lake, MAG is committed to data consistency across its airports. If a passenger is categorized one way in one area, that same definition must apply across the board. Integrating various applications remains a challenge, but MAG plans to focus on key applications over the next year and a half, including their asset management system, which is crucial for their infrastructure-heavy operations.
MAG utilizes AWS’s S3 for their data lake and Redshift to manage business logic. This setup allows real-time data integration, ensuring operators have immediate access to consistent information. Cant notes the complexity of achieving this integration, but the result is a reliable view of current operations.
On the innovative front, MAG is experimenting with Amazon’s Bedrock to build a generative AI-powered customer service agent. This prototype aims to enhance the passenger experience by providing intuitive navigation within the airport. They’re also diving into computer vision technology to turn unstructured data into actionable insights, particularly for capturing real-time events happening on the airfield.
Currently, MAG relies on a mix of airline, ground handler, and airport staff to gather information about aircraft statuses, which can be cumbersome. Implementing a trusted data stream could streamline this process significantly. They’re also testing new technologies to monitor baggage loading and unloading, aiming for better predictions about aircraft readiness and improved real-time updates for passengers.
Cant emphasizes that technology alone won’t enhance the passenger journey—motivated and happy staff play a crucial role. MAG believes that by integrating these technologies to support their employees, they can create a better airport experience.
Lastly, MAG aims to personalize travel experiences based on passenger profiles. Business travelers have different needs than leisure passengers. By leveraging data and technology, MAG wants to tailor their services, from food offerings to seamless automated updates about flight changes, improving the experience for everyone who walks through their terminals. The collaboration with Ryanair on a near-real-time event platform exemplifies this effort, constantly pushing information updates to keep passengers informed.
“The better we can work together using cloud-based technology, the more we enhance the passenger experience,” Cant adds. With 250 destinations served and nearly 60 airlines operating from Manchester, this collaborative spirit aims to redefine air travel for their passengers.
