If you’re taking a plane to go on holidays in Europe or North America in the summer of 2022, prepare for utter chaos.
- How cloud computing works?
- How “the cloud” entered computing
- Up in the cloud(s)
- The importance of elasticity and scalability in cloud computing
- Vertical and horizontal scaling – going up or out?
- “Cloud nine” computing
- So how can cloud computing benefit aviation?
- Conclusion
Aviation is currently undergoing an unprecedented crisis as a result of post-pandemic labour shortages. Every day, things like last-minute airline cancellations, misplaced luggage, and lack of onboard amenities like meals happen.
What exactly is the connection between cloud computing and aviation?
Employees of airlines give it to you straight: “Things are not good. If it’s less than 7 hours, drive!” (…) At the moment, flying is not pleasurable. This summer, as it tries to deal with the crisis, one of the major transportation hubs in Europe, Heathrow Airport, has also requested airlines temporarily cease their ticket sales.
It’s undoubtedly not what travelers want to hear after two years without a legitimate Christmas season.
A contemporary cloud solution that makes the difficult workload easier should be taken into consideration instead, even though there isn’t much more aircraft can do magically to acquire enough well-paid people to fulfill the growing expectations. Especially because of its two advantages in processing complicated data, flexibility and scalability.
How does cloud computing operate?
But first, let’s quickly review some background information, use cases, and definitions before delving into how cloud computing technologies can one day benefit air travel.
How “the cloud” was introduced to computing
Even though the first services approximating those of today started to appear in the 1950s, it wasn’t until the 1990s that the term “the cloud” began to be used to describe internet-based, distributed computer systems with several servers.
Only in the late 2000s did the cloud industry really get going. Digital transformation has been ingrained in the IT DNA of increasingly sizable firms as a result of their adoption.
The advantages of cloud computing, such as on-demand availability, agility, migration flexibility, pay-per-use, or broad network access, were immediately apparent to large enterprises and common third-party cloud providers like Amazon, IBM, or even NASA. You already utilize such capabilities in your daily life if you use Zoom, WhatsApp, Google Calendar, Microsoft 365, or any other of those services.
However, because cloud computing combines actual computation power with data storage capacity, two additional elements are crucial for its consumers.
Above the clouds
Let’s think about a condensed aircraft situation.
A holiday-focused Airline A employs 50 pilots and operates Aircraft Type-A. Since the business has kept a consistent clientele for the past five years, things have remained that way.
The management of Company A makes the sudden decision to grow, acquiring a tiny, corporate-focused Airline B with 10 pilots flying Aircraft Type-B. The new business, now known as Airline AB, seeks to qualify every pilot to operate an Aircraft Type-B. Therefore, the 50 pilots who initially worked for Airline A now require training to fly a new aircraft.
A half-year later, Airline AB makes the decision to cut costs and eliminates 20% of the jobs in their holiday branch of operations. However, the number of flights stays constant. The 40 remaining Airline A pilots must thus shift their workload and may also be required to fly for the business arm.
As a result, Airline AB’s overall performance and reputation are negatively impacted since the majority of its staff are unable to handle the increased workload.
elasticity and scalability in cloud computing are crucial
Even if you work in a different sector, you probably already are all too familiar with this made-up tale. It doesn’t appear to be a just or effective answer.
Additionally, everything seems to take longer when demand is high and requires several upper-echelon approvals to assure it is not cost-prohibitive. To put it mildly, it’s a difficult shift for everyone concerned.
It does not appear to be a fair or successful solution.Even though the example above isn’t really a computer example, it can nevertheless help us clarify two definitions.
Contrarily, cloud computing’s elasticity refers to the system’s ability to flexibly adjust its capabilities to the present workload. In other words, the system is “smart” enough to recognize a changing demand without the need for outside input from an admin if more (or less) storage is suddenly needed or more (or fewer) machines are needed to process the data. The need in this case is that the “extra” resources are easily accessible to handle ad-hoc traffic or workload requirements.
Therefore, the hypothetical Airline AB would profit from using scalable and elastic cloud computing technologies to manage all of its HR and task delegation operations.
Although they are two distinct concepts, cloud elasticity and cloud scalability frequently coexist. When unanticipated or underappreciated conditions arise, they have the ability to work together to create efficient cost reductions and assure business continuity and catastrophe recovery with the least amount of downtime.
But there are other factors as well
Going up or out when scaling vertically and horizontally?
The solution is unavoidable and evident in the field of aviation. The plane must ascend first, cruise horizontally once it reaches flight level, and then descend to land according to the flying mechanics.
But in cloud computing, the issue is one of capacity. The answer also significantly depends on the business requirements of your firm, the allotted timeline, and the money.
You may easily increase the current CPUs if processing power is needed. In this manner, your infrastructure stays unharmed as you ascend. This is what vertical scaling alludes to and signifies an immediate reaction to changing demands.
The act of adding extra machines to your infrastructure is known as “horizontal scaling.” It could occasionally become a more time-consuming and expensive procedure. However, since you are no longer dependent on a single unit, it should eventually lessen the downtime associated with scaling.
“Cloud nine” technology
The technology known as “Cloud Nine” The fundamental advantage of cloud computing is that it eliminates the need for expensive data centers, complex technology, and physical infrastructure on-premises. Virtually everything is accessible with a few clicks.
It shouldn’t be surprising that the customer base is growing as a result. Statistically speaking, “94% of enterprises use cloud services” in 2022. With a 67% acceptance rate, infrastructure is using cloud computing more and more.
67% acceptance rate. Cloud computing platforms like AWS (Amazon Web Services), Google Cloud Platform, or Microsoft Azure are now nearly universally used by successful businesses.
There is little question that the scalable cloud architecture and its elastic computing capacity contributed to those outstanding outcomes.
You may thus take a gamble by comparing employing cloud computing to “being on cloud nine” in the IT sector. due to the fact that many frequent issues with maintaining physical hardware just evaporate into thin air.
How does cloud computing impact aviation, then?
Rewind to the grave circumstances that Heathrow Airport finds itself in during the summer of 2022.
The program would have recognized the anomaly if a scheduled flight log and an HR database were integrated systems in its cloud settings. Before the holiday mayhem broke out, there was a progressively growing demand for extra workers.
Due to the system’s flexibility, additional employees may have been automatically sent to work during the busy summer of 2022.
These two cloud characteristics may possibly have significant advantages for aviation, in our opinion.
“The business of freedom” is how IATA (the International Air Transport Association) refers to aviation. But a lot of its resources, such the supplementary services or tickets, are old. Some of them, such flexible luggage fees that weren’t even envisaged back then, were implemented in the 1960s and haven’t seen many revisions since, making them incompatible with modern passenger expectations.
By creating scalable business models that also provide an elastic answer for the always changing demands of XXI century air travel, moving to the cloud might move things in the correct direction.
Conclusion
The summer 2022 vacation period could be too late to be saved by cloud computing. But in order to prevent similar pandemonium in the future, its scalability and elasticity properties need unquestionably be taken into account. After all, nobody wants their baggage to go missing for days. Missing a flight when traveling on a long-awaited honeymoon is also not enjoyable.
And if one of the largest businesses in the world can profit from cloud computing, your company will undoubtedly gain from it as well.