Cloud-based communication: 3 tangible benefits for airlines

Secaucus, August 24, 2023 //

Communicating with employees, partners, and passengers is a key challenge for airlines. Suffice it to say that to keep airport operations running at maximum efficiency, the staff of major airlines send and receive on average hundreds of thousands of fax documents and SMS messages per month from their respective hubs, directly from their computers. For example, pilots and cabin crew are informed of their shifts via the so-called “crew fax” and their hotel rooms are also reserved via fax. Furthermore, employees are notified about last-minute changes to the flight plan or cabin crew via SMS messages to their phone. To top it all off, the hub management systems also generate faxes containing orders, delivery documents and confirmations.

With these scenarios in mind, Retarus – one of the leading international providers of Enterprise Cloud solutions for Messaging, E-mail Security, and Business Integration – has listed the three main advantages for airlines when they transfer their crew, partner, and passenger communication to the cloud.

1. Easy to implement

When it comes to digitizing operations, airlines are faced with the complex challenge of replacing outdated on-premises infrastructure with future-proof cloud services. Cutting-edge fax and SMS services, such as those offered by Retarus, can be deployed and easily integrated with the utmost simplicity. They can seamlessly be connected to management systems, such as the ones used by airlines, and operate smoothly in All IP environments. The service provider also supplies the airline with a specific fax number for each individual employee and ensures that the management systems can be accessed via the specifically-created numbers. In this way, the airline can remain flexible whatever the scenario and communicate effectively with its employees and partners worldwide.

2. Immediate response in the event of flight plan changes

Staff are able to retrieve a crew-addressed fax message that has already been approved for sending and changing it. This is a critical feature in the scenario where a flight is canceled or rescheduled at short notice. Pilots and cabin crew will therefore always receive the most up-to-date information in a timely manner, allowing them to accept other flights in a more streamlined way. It also allows the airline to update hotel reservations efficiently, avoid cancellations, and rearrange orders, such as catering or fuel.

3. Future-proof communication with reduced fixed costs

Cloud-based SMS and fax services can easily be scaled to meet demand: in this way, companies can quickly adapt to seasonal fluctuations or, in the event of corporate acquisitions, expand their services. More importantly, a transparent pay-per-use model ensures that airlines only pay for the services they actually use. Since migrating to the cloud eliminates the high cost of an on-premises solution for licensing, maintenance or hardware upgrades, airlines can cut their relative expenses by up to 70%.