Automated management of airport revenues

• US 7,739,167 B2
• Filed: 08/15/2005
• Issued: 06/15/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/05/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: SRA International, Inc. (General Dynamics Corporation)
• Original Assignee: ERA Systems Corporation (General Dynamics Corporation)
• Inventors: Smith, Alexander E., Breen, Thomas J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kyle; Charles R
• Assistant Examiner(s): Norman; Samica L
• Application Number:
  US11/203,823
• Publication Number:
  US 20060085236A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,765 Days
• Field of Search: 705/35, 705/9, 342/52, 342/454
• US Class Current: 705/35
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes

Abstract

A solution is described which provides an airport with the tools to accurately manage all sources of airside revenues, including operational revenues and capital programs. The system of the present invention relies on the acquisition of any and all data related to the operations, property, lease, and revenue management of an airport, including aircraft tracking data. This data is then stored in a central database where it is processed, sorted, and stored for later retrieval. The data may exist in a number of forms including real-time streams, tabular, or in the form of a database. From this data, airport revenue information can be accurately managed.

Claims

1. A system for managing airport finances, comprising:

a data acquisition unit receiving airport operations data from a plurality of sources, the plurality of sources including an automated aircraft tracking system receiving radio signals from aircraft and outputting path of movement data for aircraft in and around the airport as well as passenger and cargo data retrieved from the aircraft, the data acquisition unit outputting data from the received airport operations data;

a data correlation unit receiving the airport operations data and processing the airport operations data to remove duplicate entries and outputting a single stream of processed airport operations data;

a data warehouse receiving the processed airport operations data and storing the processed airport operations data in a predetermined database format; and

an interface automatically interfacing with the data warehouse to retrieve and output processed data from the database the total number of passengers passing through an airport and landed cargo weight for the predetermined time period and calculates a Federal Airport Improvement Program (AIP) grant entitlement for the airport.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the data correlation unit calculates, from the airport operations data, airport operation parameters comprising one or more of:

number of passengers enpianed at an airport;

number of landings at an airport;

number of takeoffs at an airport;

amount of cargo shipped through an airport;

time spent by aircraft at a gate;

time spent by aircraft parked;

weight of a landing aircraft;

weight of a aircraft taking off;

track of aircraft;

aircraft type;

number of passengers passing through an airport; and

traffic flow of passengers through an airport.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the interface receives database queries from a user automatically outputs airport operations data in tabular or graphical form in response to such queries.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the interface interfaces with financial accounting software to receive data queries from such software and automatically outputs airport operations data to the financial accounting software in response to such queries.

5. A system for managing airport finances, comprising:

a data acquisition unit receiving airport operations data from a plurality of sources, the plurality of sources including an automated aircraft tracking system receiving radio signals from aircraft and outputting path of movement data for aircraft in and around the airport as well as passenger and cargo data retrieved from the aircraft, the data acquisition unit outputting data from the received airport operations data;

a data correlation unit receiving the airport operations data and processing the airport operations data to remove duplicate entries and outputting a single stream of processed airport operations data including a number of passengers and landed cargo weight at the airport for a particular aircraft,

a data warehouse receiving the processed airport operations data and storing the processed airport operations data in a predetermined database format; and

an interface automatically interfacing with the data warehouse to retrieve processed data indicating number of passengers and landed cargo weight at the airport for a particular aircraft, calculate landing weight of the particular aircraft based on at least number of passengers, landed cargo weight, and standard aircraft weight and generate a landing fee invoice based upon calculate weight of the particular aircraft.

6. A system for managing airport finances, comprising:

a data acquisition unit receiving airport operations data from a plurality of sources, the plurality of sources including an automated aircraft tracking system receiving radio signals from aircraft and outputting path of movement data for aircraft in and around the airport including individual aircraft path at the airport, the data acquisition unit outputting data from the received airport operations data;

a data correlation unit receiving the airport operations data and processing the airport operations data to remove duplicate entries and outputting a single stream of processed airport operations data including individual aircraft path data;

a data warehouse receiving the processed airport operations data and storing the processed airport operations data in a predetermined database format; and

an interface automatically interfacing with the data warehouse to automatically retrieve processed data indicating path of individual aircraft, calculate an amount of time spent by an individual aircraft at a gate and generate an invoice for gate fees for the individual aircraft based upon time spent at a gate by the individual aircraft.

7. A system for managing airport finances, comprising:

a data acquisition unit receiving airport operations data from a plurality of sources, the plurality of sources including an automated aircraft tracking system receiving radio signals from aircraft and outputting path of movement data for aircraft in and around the airport including individual aircraft path at the airport, the data acquisition unit outputting data from the received airport operations data;

a data correlation unit receiving the airport operations data and processing the airport operations data to remove duplicate entries and outputting a single stream of processed airport operations data;

a data warehouse receiving the processed airport operations data and storing the processed airport operations data in a predetermined database format; and

an interface automatically interfacing with the data warehouse to retrieve and processed data indicating path of individual aircraft, calculate an amount of time spent by an individual aircraft parked, and generate an invoice for parking fees for an individual aircraft based upon amount of time spent by the individual aircraft parked.

8. A system for managing airport finances, comprising:

a data acquisition unit receiving airport operations data from a plurality of sources, the plurality of sources including an automated aircraft tracking system receiving radio signals from individual aircraft and outputting path of movement data for individual aircraft in and around the airport as well as passenger data retrieved from the individual aircraft, the data acquisition unit outputting data from the received airport operations data;

a data correlation unit receiving the airport operations data and processing the airport operations data to remove duplicate entries and outputting a single stream of processed airport operations data;

a data warehouse receiving the processed airport operations data and storing the processed airport operations data in a predetermined database format; and

an interface automatically interfacing with the data warehouse to automatically retrieve and output processed data including path of movement data for aircraft and passenger data retrieved from individual aircraft to calculate passenger pedestrian flow through the airport and generate an invoice for a retail space lessee for rent based at least in part upon passenger flow near the retail space.

9. A system for managing airport finances, comprising:

a data acquisition unit receiving airport operations data from a plurality of sources, the plurality of sources including an automated aircraft tracking system receiving radio signals from aircraft and outputting path of movement data for aircraft in and around the airport, the data acquisition unit outputting data from the received airport operations data;

a data correlation unit receiving the airport operations data and processing the airport operations data to remove duplicate entries and outputting a single stream of processed airport operations data;

a data warehouse receiving the processed airport operations data and storing the processed airport operations data in a predetermined database format; and

an interface automatically interfacing with the data warehouse to automatically retrieve and output processed data including path of movement data for aircraft retrieved from individual aircraft to determine at least one of aircraft type and aircraft track for the individual aircraft and generating an invoice for gate services based upon at least one of aircraft type and aircraft track.

10. A system for managing airport finances, comprising:

a data acquisition unit receiving airport operations data from a plurality of sources, the plurality of sources including an automated aircraft tracking system receiving radio signals from aircraft and outputting path of movement data for aircraft in and around the airport as well as passenger and cargo data retrieved from the aircraft, the data acquisition unit outputting data from the received airport operations data;

a data correlation unit receiving the airport operations data and processing the airport operations data to remove duplicate entries and outputting a single stream of processed airport operations data;

a data warehouse receiving the processed airport operations data and storing the processed airport operations data in a predetermined database format; and

an interface automatically interfacing with the data warehouse to automatically retrieve processed data including path of movement data for aircraft and passenger data retrieved from individual aircraft to calculate a number of passengers passing through the airport and calculating and outputting Passenger Facility Charges to an airline based on passenger throughput from individual aircraft.

11. An automated method for managing airport finances, comprising

tracking vehicle movement using an automated aircraft tracking system, the automated aircraft tracking system receiving radio signals from aircraft and outputting movement data of aircraft in and around the airport as well as passenger and cargo data retrieved from the aircraft;

receiving in a data acquisition unit coupled to the automated aircraft movement tracking system, airport operations data including aircraft movement tracking data including path of movement data for aircraft aircraft, and number of passengers and amount of landed cargo on tracked aircraft;

outputting from the data acquisition unit, the airport operations data including number of passengers and amount of landed cargo on tracked aircraft;

automatically correlating the airport operations data in a correlation unit to remove duplicate entries and outputting a single stream of processed data;

storing the processed data in a data warehouse in a predetermined database format; and

automatically interfacing with the data warehouse to retrieve processed data indicating number of passengers passing through an airport and landed cargo weight, automatically totaling the number of passengers passing through the airport for a given time period by adding together the number of passengers for individual tracked aircraft for a given time period, automatically totaling the amount of landed cargo at the airport for a given time period by adding together the landed cargo for individual tracked aircraft for the given time period, and automatically calculating and outputting an amount of a Federal Airport Improvement Program (AIP) grant entitlement amount for the airport based on number of passengers passing through an airport and landed cargo weight at the airport for a given time period.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein correlating the data in a correlation unit to remove duplicate entries and outputting a single stream of processed data further comprises calculating, from the airport operations data, airport operation parameters comprising one or more of:

number of passengers enplaned at an airport;

number of landings at an airport;

number of takeoffs at an airport;

amount of cargo shipped through an airport;

time spent by aircraft at a gate;

time spent by aircraft parked;

weight of a landing aircraft;

weight of a aircraft taking off;

track of aircraft;

aircraft type;

number of passengers passing through an airport; and

traffic flow of passengers through an airport.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the step of interfacing comprises the steps of receiving database queries from a user and automatically outputting airport operations data in tabular or graphical form in response to such queries.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the step of interfacing comprises the steps of interfacing with financial accounting software and receiving data queries from such software and automatically outputting airport operations data to the financial accounting software in response to such queries.

15. A method for managing airport finances, comprising the steps of:

receiving in a data acquisition unit, airport operations data from a plurality of sources, the plurality of sources including an automated aircraft tracking system receiving radio signals from aircraft and outputting path of movement data for aircraft in and around the airport as well as passenger and cargo data retrieved from the aircraft;

outputting from the data acquisition unit, airport operations data from the received airport operations data including a number of passengers and landed cargo weight at the airport for a particular aircraft;

correlating the airport operations data in a correlation unit to remove duplicate entries and outputting a single stream of processed data;

storing the processed data in a data warehouse in a predetermined database format; and

automatically interfacing with the data warehouse to retrieve processed data indicating number of passengers and landed cargo weight at the airport for a particular aircraft, calculate landing weight of the particular aircraft based on at least number of passengers, landed cargo weight, and standard aircraft weight and generate a landing fee invoice based upon calculated weight of the particular aircraft weigh.

16. A method for managing airport finances, comprising the steps of:

receiving in a data acquisition unit, airport operations data from a plurality of sources, the plurality of sources including an automated aircraft tracking system receiving radio signals from aircraft and outputting path of movement data for aircraft in and around the airport including individual aircraft path at the airport;

outputting from the data acquisition unit, airport operations data from the received airport operations data including individual aircraft path data;

correlating the airport operations data in a correlation unit to remove duplicate entries and outputting a single stream of processed data;

storing the processed data in a data warehouse in a predetermined database format; and

automatically interfacing with the data warehouse to retrieve processed data indicating path of individual aircraft calculate an amount of time spent by an individual aircraft at a gate and generate an invoice for gate fees for the individual aircraft based upon time spent at a gate by the individual aircraft.

17. A method for managing airport finances, comprising the steps of:

receiving in a data acquisition unit, airport operations data from a plurality of sources, the plurality of sources including an automated aircraft tracking system receiving radio signals from aircraft and outputting path of movement data for aircraft in and around the airport as well as passenger and cargo data retrieved from the aircraft;

outputting from the data acquisition unit, airport operations data from the received airport operations data including a number of passengers and landed cargo weight at the airport for a particular aircraft;

correlating the airport operations data in a correlation unit to remove duplicate entries and outputting a single stream of processed data;

storing the processed data in a data warehouse in a predetermined database format; and

automatically interfacing with the data warehouse to retrieve processed data processed data indicating path of individual aircraft, calculate an amount of time spent by an individual aircraft parked and generate an invoice for parking fees for an individual aircraft based upon amount of time spent by the individual aircraft parked.

18. A method for managing airport finances, comprising the steps of:

receiving in a data acquisition unit, airport operations data from a plurality of sources, the plurality of sources including an automated aircraft tracking system receiving radio signals from aircraft and outputting path of movement data for aircraft in and around the airport as well as passenger and cargo data retrieved from the aircraft;

outputting from the data acquisition unit, airport operations data from the received airport operations data including a number of passengers and landed cargo weight at the airport for a particular aircraft,

correlating the airport operations data in a correlation unit to remove duplicate entries and outputting a single stream of processed data;

storing the processed data in a data warehouse in a predetermined database format; and

automatically interfacing with the data warehouse to retrieve processed data from the database format to manage airport finances,

wherein the step of interfacing comprises the steps of automatically receiving processed data including path of movement data for aircraft and passenger data retrieved from individual aircraft to calculate passenger pedestrian flow through the airport and generating an invoice for a retail space lessee for rent based at least in part upon passenger flow near thr retail space.

19. A method for managing airport finances, comprising the steps of:

receiving in a data acquisition unit, airport operations data from a plurality of sources, the plurality of sources including an automated aircraft tracking system receiving radio signals from aircraft and outputting path of movement data for aircraft in and around the airport;

outputting from the data acquisition unit, airport operations data from the received airport operations data including a number of passengers and landed cargo weight at the airport for a particular aircraft,

correlating the airport operations data in a correlation unit to remove duplicate entries and outputting a single stream of processed data;

storing the processed data in a data warehouse in a predetermined database format; and

automatically interfacing with the data warehouse to retrieve processed data from the database format to manage airport finances,

wherein the step of interfacing comprises the steps of receiving processed data including path of movement data for aircraft retrieved from individual aircraft to determine at least one of aircraft type and aircraft track, and generating an invoice for gate services for the individual aircraft based upon at least one of aircraft type and aircraft track.

20. A method for managing airport finances, comprising the steps of:

receiving in a data acquisition unit, airport operations data from a plurality of sources, the plurality of sources including an automated aircraft tracking system receiving radio signals from aircraft and outputting path of movement data for aircraft in and around the airport as well as passenger and cargo data retrieved from the aircraft;

outputting from the data acquisition unit, airport operations data from the received airport operations data including a number of passengers and landed cargo weight at the airport for a particular aircraft;

correlating the airport operations data in a correlation unit to remove duplicate entries and outputting a single stream of processed data;

storing the processed data in a data warehouse in a predetermined database format; and

automatically interfacing with the data warehouse to retrieve processed data from the database format to manage airport finances,

wherein the step of interfacing comprises the steps of receiving processed data including path of movement data for aircraft and passenger data retrieved from individual aircraft to calculate a number of passengers passing through the airport, the method further comprising the step of;

automatically calculating and outputting Passenger Facility Charges to an airline based on passenger throughput from individual aircraft.