The goal, Jon Pruitt, IT director of innovation, research and development at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, said, was forging one well of accuracy from multiple information streams.
“As we manage increasing amounts of data from various sources, governance becomes essential for maintaining a single source of truth,” Pruitt said.
This was no small task at the Atlanta airport, perennially listed as the nation’s busiest for passenger boardings. Preliminary 2023 statistics released in June by the Federal Aviation Administration put ATL, as it’s known in International Air Transport Association code, atop that list once again.
Modernization efforts began with one simple request more than a year ago from the airport’s general manager — consolidate multiple Excel sheets from the operational daily report into a single, comprehensive view. These were then maintained by different departments, each with their own data structure and standards.
“We needed to standardize this data and put it into a single repository that was secure, scalable, and easy to use,” Pruitt said. “We began by conducting a thorough data audit and developed an Extract, Transform, Load (ETL) process to standardize and centralize the data.”
Building on that request, Pruitt’s team developed an intricate proof of concept using Databricks. The platform was able to streamline data querying and analysis, integrating all that information into the airport’s data lakehouse architecture while connecting it to visualization tools like Power BI. The resulting, internal-facing dashboard, which is now live, tapped into 11 critical areas of airport operations including weather, passenger activity, commercial operations and situational awareness via multiple application sections.
Its weather section provides real-time updates on conditions that could impact operations, plus a two-day forecast to help plan for weather-related disruptions. An integrated TSA Passenger Forecast tool predicts passenger flow through TSA checkpoints using ML, with up-to-date information on security wait times.
Visualizations show whether certain security checkpoints are open, while road system status updates track routes to and from the airport with information about closures, construction activities, or traffic delays. Another section shows whether parking areas are open or closed, and the operational status of retail, food, and beverage outlets in the facility — whether they’re open or closed, and the number of concessionaires on each concourse.
A flight activity visualization area provides a detailed overview of all incoming and outgoing flights, including information on delays and cancellations. And as part of the airport’s ATLNext initiative, the dashboard monitors ongoing construction projects, using ML to chart their effects on airport operations.
The process, Pruitt said, has been highly collaborative and the dashboard has had a significant impact. It has helped the department reduce time to insight — the time from when you get information to when you have actionable insight from it — by more than 80 percent, from 30 minutes to just five. This, in turn, has increased problem-solving and opened up more opportunities to identify operational enhancements.
The dashboard’s success has prompted the airport general manager and aviation team to greenlight its expansion. That work will delve deeper into existing and emerging technologies — and focus not just on data reorganization and consolidation, but data cleansing, too. Pruitt’s team will lead the dashboard’s expansion to operational departments including finance, commercial and infrastructure.
“In the next development phase, the dashboard will be tailored to allow each deputy general manager (DGM) to personalize their view based on their specific operational responsibilities,” Pruitt said. “This customization will enable a more focused and efficient approach to managing the areas under their control, ensuring that each pillar of airport operations is monitored and optimized according to the unique needs of each DGM.”
The IT director said he envisions AI playing an increasingly central role in future phases of the dashboard, and in the airport’s ongoing data modernization.
“Over the next few years, we see AI evolving in several key ways, including more advanced predictive analytics, enhanced passenger experience, security improvements, and sustainability initiatives,” he said, noting it could be a particular “game changer” in customer service and language translation.
