Canada’s Vancouver International Airport (YVR) is introducing Amadeus Flow to enhance the passenger journey.

Recognising the pandemic as an opportunity to modernise its infrastructure and rethink the meaning of digital transformation for an airport, YVR is keen to provide its employees and passengers with the tools needed to succeed in a dynamic and ever changing environment. As part of a phased migration, YVR is transitioning to Amadeus Flow and has already upgraded its connectivity using multiple high-speed network connections to a fully cloud-based service. Amadeus’s platform connects more than 650 check-in and gate desks to 30+ airline partners.

The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent hit to the aviation industry accelerated our desire for digital transformation,” said Lynette DuJohn, VP Innovation and CIO, Vancouver Airport Authority. “Amadeus is helping us make that transition by connecting us with airlines more effectively, so we’re ready to harness new innovations for the benefit of passengers. The flexibility of airport solutions in the cloud allows for a phased approach where airlines and check-in desks can migrate to Amadeus in a gradual and low risk manner, ensuring we’re ready to welcome increasing number of passengers.”

Transitioning to Amadeus Flow reduces Vancouver’s reliance on rigid fixed service points for passengers, opening the door to a wide range of innovations. Passengers will benefit from increased convenience and frictionless experiences, with Vancouver’s airline partners also exploring secure biometric check-in and boarding functions. In the future, this biometric capability will provide passengers the option for their face to become their boarding pass and passport, as they move effortlessly through the terminal.

Moving to Amadeus’ cloud solutions will also help YVR to further improve its already impressive sustainability credentials. It will retire much of its own in-terminal data centre, instead benefitting from the efficiency of servers. Meanwhile existing workstations at the airport’s 600+ positions will be replaced with ‘thin client’ workstations, which use 89% less energy and fail every 30 years on average, compared to every four years for traditional workstations.

Betros Wakim, SVP Americas, Airport IT, Amadeus concluded: “Seeking new technology to solve problems has become ‘business as usual’ for airports during the pandemic. Cloud computing supports a host of new innovations that simply are not possible with the legacy ways of working – as the industry prepares to safely welcome increased numbers of travellers, the role of advanced technology is vital and Amadeus is supporting airports through this transition.”

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