Cologne Bonn Airport’s Terminal 1 is to welcome an ultra-modern Airport Operation Control Centre (AOCC), from where the operational management team will plan, control and monitor all processes relating to flight management, passengers and cargo, from arrival at to departure from the airport.
The AOCC will mean that decision-makers from various departments across the airport (including staff from traffic management, baggage handling and ground handling) are on site around the clock. Service providers responsible for process such as police, security and cargo will also be represented in the future in the new AOCC, making exchange and communication even closer and operations more efficient.
“In the future, the AOCC will join up all the different threads. It will lift real-time process control a new level, making an essential contribution in doing so to the development of the airport,” said Thilo Schmid, President and CEO of Cologne Bonn.
“Processes at the airport are multi-layered and highly complex. The new, centralised control cockpit allows direct communication between internal and external partners, flexible planning and rapid, process-oriented decision-making, even during periods of disruption to normal operations caused, for example, by bad weather.”
With a view overlooking the apron, cargo area and runway, the AOCC is around 500 sq. m. It features a central control room with 24 work stations for internal and external staff and a 15-m wide video wall composed of 20 screens, on which information relevant to airport operations from weather and special airport apps to news can be shown. In addition, staff will be able to make use of a lounge, offices, meeting spaces and technical rooms.
While employees working in teh AOCC are already undergoing training, the first control tests are planned to take place from December with full operation likely to begin in February 2023.
