Ground Team Red unveils Malaysia’s first digital airport control centre

AirAsia Executive Chairman Datuk Kamarudin Meranun, AirAsia Group CEO Tan Sri Tony Fernandes, Minister of Transport YB Loke Siew Fook and Ground Team Red CEO Kevin Chin at the official launch of the Ground Team Red Airport Control Centre at klia2.

SEPANG, 12 November 2018 – Ground Team Red Sdn Bhd (GTR) today unveiled its control centre for ground handling services in Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 (klia2), the first of its kind in Malaysia.

This fully digitalised control centre, will allow GTR to track aircraft handling by converging real time digital information on passenger boarding, baggage reconciliation and ramp loading activities through a digital dashboard, with the target of an aircraft turnaround of 25 minutes.

In digitalising the operations, guest services personnel will use a smartphone to execute the gate boarding process, allowing staff to board passengers conveniently while tracking the gate boarding process in real-time efficiently and accurately.

The same smartphones will be deployed at the baggage carousel for baggage reconciliation and also the e-readback ramp loading system to provide an organised view of all baggage and cargo loads for the flight. This will improve safety by ensuring 100% accurate aircraft weight and balance readings for flight planning purposes and eliminate paper-based Loading Instructions, which are difficult to manage at night and in bad weather conditions.

GTR staff will also now use their handheld devices to automatically clock in when they report for work and receive their flight assignments automatically. This saves time for staff to meet their flights without the need to report to the office.

Another key feature of the control centre is a virtual reality training chamber with six modules - cargo ramp, technical ramp (lavatory), technical ramp (water service), technical ramp (air-conditioning), technical ramp (ground power unit) and aircraft marshalling - that will allow ground personnel to simulate and safely conduct real world scenarios and training exercises without the need for aircraft availability.

The airport control centre was officiated by the Minister of Transport YB Loke Siew Fook, along with AirAsia Executive Chairman Datuk Kamarudin Meranun, AirAsia Group CEO Tan Sri Tony Fernandes, GTR Chairman Bo Lingam, GTR CEO Kevin Chin, AirAsia Malaysia CEO Riad Asmat, AirAsia X Malaysia CEO Benyamin Ismail and Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad Acting Group CEO YM Raja Azmi Raja Nazuddin.

Ground Team Red CEO Kevin Chin said, “This digital control centre is a first for Malaysia, and will revolutionise how ground operations services are delivered. The centre will allow us to serve our clients better while providing an improved travel experience for passengers and improving hub passenger connectivity through klia2, and it is our goal to establish more such centres across the region in the near future.”

Minister of Transport YB Loke Siew Fook said, “I would like to congratulate GTR on their efforts to enhance airline ground handling operations through the use of the GTR Airport Control Centre. This will greatly contribute to an effective workflow, which in turn will benefit travellers by providing them with a seamless travel experience. I have always emphasised the need to improve operational efficiencies and elevating service levels at the airport, and I am happy to see a step in the right direction towards making klia2 a truly world-class terminal.”

GTR was established on 1 November 2017 as a joint-venture between AirAsia Berhad and Singapore’s SATS Ltd (SATS). GTR provides a comprehensive range of ground handling services such as guest handling, baggage services, aircraft handling, cargo handling services and security services. It is present in 18 airports in Malaysia and Singapore and handles an average of 475 flights daily.