In an era where airport delays seem unavoidable, Halifax International Airport is setting a new standard for operational efficiency by harnessing data for accurate decision-making. How has the airport overhauled operations, using predictive insights, to improve overall customer experiences?

Halifax’s Ryan Garnett talks with theCUBE about how airports use data for predictive insights.

“I did an assessment, and we looked at it, and the big thing for me is I needed to own my data,” said Ryan Garnett (pictured), senior manager of business solutions at Halifax International Airport Authority. “I didn’t want to be data-locked. And I had worked at some other places and we used some hyperscalers in some other big companies, and it was always going to be costly to come out. Knowing that we’re in a regulated environment, I absolutely have to think about audibility and governance and pieces like that. I came across Cloudera, and Cloudera was something that just worked for us.”

Garnett spoke with theCUBE Research’s Bob Laliberte and co-host Rebecca Knight at the Cloudera Evolve24 event during an exclusive broadcast on theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio. They discussed how Halifax Airport harnesses data to glean predictive insights, enhance passenger experiences and address travel anxiety. (* Disclosure below.)

Leveraging data for predictive insights

Halifax Airport’s transformation began in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time, the establishment recognized the criticality of data in understanding when the aviation industry would recover and how quickly people would return to air travel. Cloudera allowed the airport to move from manual processes, such as email-exchanged tables and unreliable dashboards, to a fully automated system that predicts future passenger volumes. This shift enabled the airport to reduce operational costs by 40% and avoid downtime, which significantly enhanced efficiency, according to Garnett.

“We have years of data, and we can classify them,” he said. “We use different machine learning algorithms to do the piece so we can predict what’s going to happen tomorrow, what’s going to happen in a week, what’s going to happen in a month. And that sounds obvious and logical, but when you have decision-making happening in different departments like our commercial department, they’re not data scientists.”

Looking ahead, Halifax focuses on enhancing passenger experience by addressing travel anxiety — a common concern for travelers. The airport aims to provide passengers with predictive insights and real-time updates about their travel journey by integrating various data sources such as weather conditions, traffic and flight delays. This will allow travelers to make informed decisions about when to arrive at the airport, minimizing stress and ensuring a smoother experience, Garnett concluded.

Here’s the complete video interview, part of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE Research’s coverage of the Cloudera Evolve24 event: 

(* Disclosure: Cloudera Inc. sponsored this segment of theCUBE. Neither Cloudera nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE