Assaia ApronAI goes live at Rome’s Fiumicino Airport

Assaia, the leader in AI enabled turnaround management, has announced that its ApronAI solution is being deployed at Rome’s Fiumicino Airport (ADR).

Fiumicino Airport is the largest airport in Rome and Italy with over 43 million passengers passing through each year. Assaia’s ApronAI solution will be live across 57 gates in an initial phase with the remaining gates being added as they become available. Assaia will be the first enterprise identified in ADR’s Runway to the Future Innovation program to progress to a full deployment at the airport.

It will also be the first time that the software has been deployed at scale at a Skytrax Five-star airport, further advancing Rome Fiumicino Airport as one of the world’s leading five-star airports in innovation.

Assaia’s ApronAI solution enhances airport, airline, and ground handler operations through real-time visibility of turnaround operations. Utilizing strategically placed cameras across aircraft stands, aerobridges, and the apron, accurate timestamps for turnaround events are generated in real time.

Christiaan Hen, CEO, Assaia, says: “Our ApronAI will provide Fiumicino with the visibility and transparency to improve operations and on time performance (OTP). Our sophisticated machine-learning techniques enable accurate predictions for aircraft off-block (POBT) and departure readiness (PRDT), benefiting airports, airlines and customers alike.

“With full visibility, decision support, and alerting capabilities, ADR will gain control over operations and be able to make informed decisions for superior outcomes. The success of our existing systems at airports like JFKIAT and Seattle-Tacoma has resulted in reduced delays and increased capacity and the same will happen at ADR.”

The implementation of Assaia’s ApronAI at ADR comes at a pivotal time, with a spike of new airlines and routes starting operations in 2024 and 2025 resulting in a greater demand for efficiency and reliability. With Assaia’s solutions, the airport will be supported in its focus on on time performance and passenger experience.

Ivan Bassato, Chief Aviation Officer at Aeroporti di Roma, says: “This is a key moment in revolutionizing our operations thanks to AI. As a strategic partner of Assaia, we will be able to improve airport collaborative decision making (A-CDM) through more accurate predictive off block time (POBT). This will significantly improve the passenger experience as well as streamlining our processes and optimizing our turnarounds. For a busy international airport like FCO potential delays have a knock-on effect across the apron. The potential here is immense.”