Manchester Airports Group (MAG) is using shared operational data to move airport planning from late, fragmented updates toward forecasts that can be revised as conditions change. In a 28 August 2024 interview with Computer Weekly, Nick Woods, MAG’s CIO, described a technology transformation built around stronger infrastructure, cloud platforms and a single airport operational plan. His account explains the strategy and its intended benefits; it does not independently establish measured improvements.
What is MAG trying to change?
MAG operates Manchester, London Stansted and East Midlands airports. Woods frames its goal as making technology a strategic partner to the business rather than a service function that mainly keeps systems running. He described the ambition as “the world’s most intelligent airports.”
When Woods joined MAG in 2016 as a programme director for the technology element of a new Manchester terminal, he found core applications, networks, infrastructure and data centres nearing end of life. He became CTO in 2017 and CIO in September 2018. The transformation he outlined began with stabilising those foundations, then using technology to enable wider business change. These milestones and descriptions are from the 2024 interview, not a current inventory of MAG’s systems.
How is MAG changing its technology foundations?
A mixed infrastructure strategy
Woods said MAG was replatforming applications and infrastructure toward cloud environments, while retaining some on-premises systems. He explained the balance in terms of distributing risk in an airport environment, where operations must continue reliably. The interview does not identify which systems remain on premises or provide a complete breakdown of the cloud estate.
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More engineering and data capability
Woods also described building an internal software-engineering capability and expanding data work, including new data platforms running on Amazon Web Services (AWS). The objective is not simply to store more information: the technology must make useful operational data available to the people and systems that need it.
What is the single airport operational plan?
Woods said MAG was creating “a single airport operational plan” that brings flight information together. It starts 360 days ahead and is continuously updated. The long horizon gives airport teams a shared planning baseline; the ongoing updates are intended to help them adjust as actual conditions differ from the plan.
That distinction matters because airport activity depends on many participants, including airports, airlines, ground handlers and immigration specialists. Woods described information-sharing between them as historically limited. A common view of aircraft, passenger flows and facilities is intended to help MAG anticipate operational needs instead of relying only on late updates from others.
He compared the process to a Formula One race: a plan helps at the start, but events quickly diverge from expectations, so teams must keep replanning. The operational plan is therefore better understood as a continuously revised coordination mechanism than as a fixed schedule.
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How does shared data support passenger flow?
Forecasting arrivals
Woods said MAG combines information about aircraft in the air with information from ground operations to forecast passenger arrivals. He described improved ability to predict how many passengers would arrive in a 15-minute time slice. The interview supplies no forecast-accuracy figure, baseline, or independent evaluation, so the example shows the intended use of joined-up data rather than a verified performance result.
Coordinating security, gates and lounges
Woods also described using real-time information about passengers who have passed security alongside information about whether flights are ready. That information can inform discussions with airlines, the timing of gate calls and management of departure-lounge occupancy, with the aim of coordinating passenger movement and keeping the lounge comfortable.
He said MAG’s data showed that a better passenger experience increased passengers’ propensity to spend. The interview does not give the study design, sample or size of the effect. This is Woods’s report of a company finding, not quantified independent evidence that a particular technology caused higher spending.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What did later reporting add?
A separate Computer Weekly case study published on 29 November 2024 described MAG’s work with AWS on data integration and a data lake, as well as proofs of concept involving baggage monitoring and computer vision. It also reported a near-real-time event platform developed with AWS and Ryanair to synchronise airport information with passenger-facing updates. These are details from the later case study, not claims made in Woods’s August interview.
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In that case study, MAG chief digital officer Ryan Cant stressed a prerequisite for useful data: applications need to capture it properly, automate processes and provide suitable API connectivity. The point is practical: a shared planning system cannot make information available if the underlying applications do not generate or expose it reliably.
The later case study also includes MAG-reported claims about security processing and customer experience, but does not provide underlying data or an independent audit. Those claims should not be treated as independently verified causal evidence.
Quick Recap
What can readers conclude from MAG’s approach?
- Technology is positioned as an operating capability. Woods’s account links infrastructure renewal and engineering capacity to business transformation, rather than treating IT as a standalone support function.
- The cloud direction is not an all-or-nothing move. MAG’s described approach combines cloud platforms with some retained on-premises systems to manage operational risk.
- Data has value when it changes coordination. The operational plan is intended to connect flight, passenger and facility information so teams can forecast and respond together.
- Reported benefits are not the same as audited outcomes. The interview explains use cases and company-reported findings, but offers no independent measurement of prediction accuracy, spending effects or causal impact.
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