Business Information Technologies Committee News

 

TRB Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) Update

July 2008 - As you may know, TRB encouraged IT problem statements when soliciting projects earlier this year for the FY2009 program year.  Due to this as well as the fact that a number of BIT Committee members submitted problem statements, we wanted to update you on the process.

According to staff at TRB, 149 problem statements were submitted for the upcoming FY2009 ACRP program, of which roughly 45 addressed some aspect of IT. The research topics will be selected by the ACRP Oversight Committee (AOC) at its July meeting. Approximately 15 to 20 projects are selected each year for research.

The selected research topics will be announced in early to mid August. At that time, nominations for panel members to oversee the selected projects will be solicited. Panel members will be selected in September or October. The panels are responsible for turning the problem statement into a request for proposal and overseeing the project. 

A listing of current ACRP research projects is available at:
http://www.trb.org/CRP/ACRP/ACRPProjects.asp
For more information on ACRP click the link below:
http://www.trb.org/CRP/ACRP/ACRP.asp  

 

CUPPS clears important milestones with Unanimous Approval

January 2008 – The Common Use Passenger Processing Systems (CUPPS) initiative continues to surpass important hurdles.  Samuel Ingalls, chair of the CUPPS leadership team, in an update to the ACI-NA Business Information Technology Committee Steering Group, discussed the unanimous approval by IATA, ATA and ACI.  These successes were another step in the implementation process that will continue with a Proof of Concept Trial set to begin this year.

 

Steering Group Elections Held at Annual Conference in Kansas City

September 2007 – The committee elected three new associate members to the steering group.  John Powell of SITA, Cheryl Basye of Benchmark Data Management, Inc. and Orlando Saez of Concourse Communications were welcomed to the group.  Their terms begin Jan. 1, 2008 and run through 2009.


Elections Held at Phoenix Meeting

May 2007 – There was a committee election for the vice chair post at the Phoenix meeting. John Payne, chief information officer, San Francisco International Airport, was elected vice chair for a term expiring Dec. 31, 2007.


Ruling Released on Aircraft’s Wi-Fi Antenna

Nov. 1, 2006 – In a decision concerning the use of a Wi-Fi antenna by Continental Airlines, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) found that the restrictions mandated by Massport, operator of Boston’s Logan Airport where the airline in question was located, were pre-empted. The FCC based the decision on its Over the Air Radio Devices rules. The FCC's Memorandum Opinion and Order, along with statements by FCC commissioners, are as follows:

 

IT Salary and Position Survey

August 2006 – ACI-NA distributed to airport members the revised results of the airport IT Salary and Position Survey. The following files contain the IT job descriptions referenced in the survey. For more information regarding the results of the survey or the job descriptions, contact Matt Griffin (mgriffin@aci-na.org).

BIT White Paper Published

Recognizing the importance of IT systems and developing operational goals at the director level and above are key elements in assuring that airport facilities will be equipped to handle the continuous changes in the industry now and in the future. With these goals in mind, the committee published a white paper detailing new efforts in the IT arena.  View Information Technology Issues in Terminal Planning (PDF File).