Italy’s main gateway to the world is also deploying Assaia’s turnaround technology.
ZURICH – Aeroporti di Roma, through its corporate venture capital arm ADR Ventures, has become the latest member of Assaia’s Strategic Partner Community (SPC), with the formal signing of the agreement. The operator of Rome’s airports is the first continental European member of Assaia’s SPC. Importantly, it will also deploy Assaia’s turnaround monitoring solutions at Rome Fiumicino (FCO), one of the only twelve 5-star Skytrax Hub Airports. Assaia was one of the ten startups selected for ADR’s first Runway to the Future accelerator program, where its solution was implemented and tested at FCO.
Assaia uses AI to reduce turnaround times and improve on-time performance, which in turn improves the passenger experience. It does so by enabling real-time responses to increase gate availability while ensuring safety on the apron. In addition, by focusing on taxi-in time reduction and auxiliary power unit usage limitation, airports and airlines can use the resulting data to make significant strides in their sustainability goals.
The members of the SPC use their wide experience of operating airports and airlines to provide both strategic and tactical counsel to guide the development of Assaia’s portfolio of products for managing and optimizing apron operations.
Emanuele Calà, Vice President Innovation & Quality of Aeroporti di Roma and CEO of ADR Ventures said, “We are proud to back Assaia, one of the companies in our first batch of our Runway to the Future accelerator program. In our vision for the airport of the future, innovation is firmly at its core. That is why we want to be integrally involved in developing Assaia’s turnaround technology, bringing increased efficiency, quality, and sustainability to our airports and helping others improve.”
Aeroporti di Roma will use Assaia’s turnaround technology for complete visibility of all the actions during the turnaround process. The result is optimization of turnarounds, reducing the time required and improving on-time performance. The increased efficiency also leads to a reduction in the carbon footprint. Ultimately, more efficient turnarounds improve the passenger journey.
Max Diez, CEO of Assaia, said, “Monitoring and optimizing the turnaround is now a recognized category in the aviation sector, thanks to industry leaders like Aeroporti di Roma. We need their expertise and experience to ensure the developments in our technology help airports and airlines provide an even better service to their passengers. In return, we are providing comprehensive turnaround technology.”
Assaia’s SPC is growing fast with members including Alaska Airlines, Greater Toronto Airports Authority, International Airlines Group, JetBlue Ventures, and Marubeni. Airports, airlines, and ground handlers interested in joining should contact Assaia to learn more about this community and how they can help shape the future of digital and automated apron operations.
Assaia recently launched the industry’s first report into airports’ and airlines’ turnaround performance. The Turnaround Benchmark Report shows how turnaround operations impact the overall performance of airlines and airports, based on data from around the world.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
