The flight dispatcher is may be a key person responsible for on-time performance. The dispatcher coordinates the work of multiple agencies throughout this point to confirm that the craft is prepared to depart on time. Delays are expensive for the airline and also the ground handler so the dispatcher should make sure that the turnaround timelines are met. No lapse in service quality or safety during this time is acceptable and hence they are under tremendous pressure to finish the job on time and by the book.

WTM's Mobility Solution for Aircraft Dispatch helps plan and coordinate activities in a reliable manner, proactively alerting when something is about to go wrong and providing visibility across all stakeholders. Some of the key features include:

Dispatchers are proactively alerted on their hand held device when flight details are updated, if new flights are allocated to them or if they breach the threshold of any task pertaining to an aircraft that they are handling. The number of alerts is displayed in an icon in a specific area of the screen.

If an aircraft is delayed, the reasons for the delay can be captured directly in the system by using the handheld device. Multiple delay codes can be associated with a delay. This makes it easier to analyze the delay and take preventive steps to avoid the delay in future.

Information pertaining to the loading and unloading of cargo and baggage such as load plans and load sheets for the flight can be accessed directly from the handheld device, thus saving valuable time. In addition to this, offload instructions are sent directly to the handheld device resulting in quicker turnaround times.

The whole system is governed by a robust access control mechanism. Users can only access information that is relevant to them for their day-to-day-operations. All transactions in the system are logged with the user ID and timestamp to enable an administrator to obtain the entire history of changes for dispute resolution.

Since information on the progress of the work is captured on the devices in real time, an overall status of the work on all aircrafts in the airport can be monitored at a central command center where slippages can be highlighted. Necessary preventive action can then be taken to bring the progress back on schedule.

Loading and off-loading baggage can be better planned and executed when the dispatcher has real-time information of the passengers who have checked in and those that have boarded. Information on offloaded passengers whose bags need to be removed is made available directly to the dispatcher's handheld device for quick action.

Since all actions are coordinated via the application, there is a clear and unambiguous record of the exact activities that were carried out and the time at which they were done. This eliminates any misrepresentation, intentional or otherwise in the documents.

The application works on the principle of being proactive rather than reactive. The entire process to be carried out while the aircraft is on the ground is broken down into activities with calculated start and end times for each. There are different colour codings to denote activities that are progressing within the planned time boundaries, activities that are about to breach threshold and activities that have breached the threshold. These visual signals give a clear indication to the dispatcher on where he needs to focus his attention in order to ensure that the aircraft departs on time.

A delayed flight is a cause of concern to all stake holders involve in the airline, the airport, the passengers etc. It involves large costs in the form of additional airport charges, re-planning efforts and loss of goodwill with the customers. A proactive monitoring mechanism for dispatchers where the availability of warning signals that assist them to take action early on and prevent a delayed flight departure is an important contributor to the ability to handle large number of flights successfully.