dnata plans to meet its strategic objectives through technological innovation. William Hallowell explores how the handler is streamlining operations through the adoption of artificial intelligence
dnata currently handles 710,000 flights around the world annually, and “if we grow as we intend to”, in the words of Chief Executive Officer Steve Allen, that figure could increase to around one million in three years’ time.
That projection was outlined by Allen at the end of February, when ARGS was invited to tour the company’s Dubai headquarters and airport facilities.
Innovation pathways
But how does the handler intend to achieve this substantial growth? Allen told ARGS he wants to spearhead an approach focused on new technology and innovation through automation and artificial intelligence (AI), because “the potential for AI is huge”.
Allen explained: “Long-term, we need to shift to being more technology-led. I think that’s in common with how the world is evolving, but certainly our industries have maybe lagged a bit behind in terms of being technology-led.
“We’ve got tremendous opportunities with AI and robotics going forward, which will really assist in modern, efficient operations in the future,” he said.
Allen said dnata is already trialling autonomous technology across its various businesses, including robots that “do the cooking for you” in its catering service and autonomous ground support equipment (GSE) in its airside operations. These vehicles have been trialled in Dubai and the US.
Big data
Artificial intelligence may also prove to have an increasingly significant role to play in collecting data to streamline dnata’s operations. “On AI, we already use tools which track an event and monitor turnarounds, and then we use that data to predict what might happen to a turnaround [in future scenarios] and how we speed turnarounds up to meet punctuality targets,” Allen expanded.
“We’re using data to make ourselves more efficient in terms of managing turnarounds, and how we improve efficiency.
“We use tools to identify waste in the kitchen, [which means] using data to model how much waste we’re producing on an individual flight and then trying to minimise the amount of waste going forward using machine learning techniques,” he added.
Allen emphasised that the collection and “optimisation” of “big data” is central to the company’s strategy moving forward. dnata currently has what Allen refers to as a “data lake”, which pools information into a cloud-based repository. But, as he noted, today, the question is “what do you do with that data [and] how do you actually use it?”
On the catering side, dnata is also using this AI-led approach to inform its airline customers what they should sell. The company now gathers data to show airlines their least popular and best-selling products, which benefits them twofold. Firstly, according to Allen, it helps customers decide what quantities of particular products to stock on their aircraft and, secondly, it can reduce aircraft weight and maximise the revenue per seat.
Allen conceded, however, that AI has its shortcomings as well as advantages: “We’ve got to be careful in the way we use AI because it still makes a lot of mistakes, and this is why we currently don’t deliver AI directly to the customer,” he said. “But no doubt it’ll get better and more accurate – and eventually we’ll be able to deliver it directly to customers.”
He added that cyber security is also a great concern in the safe and secure rollout of AI solutions.
Sustainability
Even on the sustainability side, Allen sees a place for AI-collected data. Although factors such as carbon footprint were not measured in the past (at least to the same extent as today), they now play a pivotal role in ensuring environmentally friendly operations, according to Allen. By collecting and tracking this data, and acting on it, dnata now aims to implement changes aimed at improving sustainability.
Allen explained: “We’ve moved quite a long way. If we went back five, 10 years ago, you didn’t know what your carbon footprint was, you didn’t know which vehicles were the most emitting and least emitting, you didn’t know which buildings used the most energy and which consumed the least energy.”
The cloud-based system dnata uses now allows the handler to concentrate its sustainability efforts. As Allen told ARGS sister publication Airside International in February, sustainability “is at the heart of what we do”.
In fact, dnata’s strategic sustainability objective is to reduce its carbon footprint by 50% by 2030, compared to the company’s 2022 levels – which, if achieved, would prove an impressive feat in the way of genuine climate commitments.
Expansion plans
The World Health Organisation (WHO) officially declared an end to the coronavirus pandemic in May 2023. And yet, one year on, the aviation industry like many others continues to feel its effects.
Allen’s expansion ambitions for dnata are strong, with the company aiming to add 5-10 “new businesses” in the coming three years, although the type and geography of these depends on which opportunity fits dnata’s criteria and overall strategic objectives.
“In the markets we’re currently in, we want to expand – not only geographically but in types of service,” he said. “We offer a range of services and, actually, we are pretty unique in the fact that we offer catering and travel services as well as handling cargo and ground handling services.
“We’re looking to use that USP [unique selling point] to expand services in certain places… [This means] expanding services in existing locations and increasing our market share in existing locations as well. I hope in offering a world-class, safe, quality service that we’ll win more business, and then we will look at new businesses with the expansion of geographies,” he said.
“But we’re not in a hurry. We’ve got to where we are by making very careful, sensible investments – looking at the bottom line, not just the top line.
“This industry has low margins and the margin in the ground handling industry right now is sitting at the 3% mark,” explained Allen. “You can’t afford to make wrong decisions, so we’re not rushing into buying everything. We’re going to make considered decisions and look into expanding in areas where we believe we can make good profit.”
