Turkish Ground Services improves agility with Amadeus technology

Passenger and flight services at eight airports in Turkey, including Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen, will now be managed with Amadeus technology

Ground handling firms are responding to fluctuating passenger numbers, cost pressures and significantly higher levels of disruption due to the current global health emergency, often having to handle ad hoc or unexpected last-minute flights.

To help overcome these challenges, Turkish Ground Services (TGS) will move to Amadeus Altéa Departure Control for Ground Handlers, empowering agents with a single, intuitive, interface to handle the passengers of any airline flexibly. Innovative new features mean TGS can now handle unexpected or charter flights more easily, so the ground handler can respond quickly as airlines adapt their plans due to the pandemic. The partnership was cemented with a signing ceremony at TGS’ head office in Turkey where Abdulkadir Ozkok, Deputy CEO Turkish Ground Services put pen to paper alongside Aytan Mastaliyeva, Regional Sales and Account Manager, Airport IT, Amadeus.

TGS also benefits from Amadeus’ unique community model approach, whereby an enhancement proposed by one community member is then made available for the benefit of all following technical development.

The move further supports TGS’ value for airlines by removing the need for them to deploy local IT infrastructure and network connections at the airports TGS serves. In addition, TGS will better personalize its passenger services according to the unique business rules of each individual airline, delivering a better overall passenger experience

The upgrade also positions TGS for long-term success by overcoming the long held problem of working with multiple airline systems. Using Amadeus, TGS´ agents can now access any airline system from a single, intuitive, interface at eight major airports in Turkey, including Istanbul, Ankara Esenboğa and Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen International.

Nurzat Erkal, CEO, Turkish Ground Services said: “Moving to Amadeus delivers increased flexibility across the board. Our agents can detect passenger issues earlier, which reduces flight delays and we can even handle ad hoc, charter or unexpected flights at the last minute. This additional flexibility is welcome during the current period of significant disruption.”

Abdulkadir Ozkok, Deputy CEO Turkish Ground Services, “Working with Amadeus helps us to manage our flights more efficiently and modern technology will help us to produce effective solutions at our airports so we can act faster. We are very happy to be partnering with Amadeus”.

Bruno Spada, Executive Vice President, Airport IT, Amadeus added: “TGS is a major ground handler in Turkey with an impressive passenger focused approach. We’re pleased to be partnering to enhance TGS’ flexibility, to reduce costs and to help the company best respond to the ongoing impact of the current health emergency.”