SACOS: Burkina Faso’s airports try out an all-in-one operations platform 🛫🇧🇫

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Burkina Faso’s airport operator is testing one digital system for jobs that usually live in separate files and processes. The Société des Aéroports du Faso (SAFA), a state-owned company, is piloting SACOS (Smart Airport Certification and Operations Software), a platform meant to bring runway inspections, operations tracking, certification, document management and safety onto the same system.

A partnership to put the tool to the test 🤝

The pilot stems from a memorandum of understanding signed on the sidelines of the 35th General Assembly of ACI Africa in Abuja, Nigeria. ACI Africa is the continental trade body for airports. According to a SAFA post on Facebook, cited by Burkina24, the company teamed up with ACI Africa and German software vendor BARTHAUER Software GmbH to run the first phase.

The goal is to see how SACOS performs before anyone considers using it more widely. SAFA plans to try it under real or representative operating conditions, to check whether it actually fits what its teams need.

One system for many jobs ⚙️

SACOS is built around centralization. It reportedly covers inspections of runways and movement areas, operations, procedures and documents, as well as certification, the process by which an airport shows it meets the regulatory requirements to operate.

Safety is a major part of the package. The system includes safety management functions, access control, traceability and tracking of non-compliance issues, with reporting tools on top.

The pilot should show how the platform fits with procedures already in place, and whether it improves how operations are tracked and coordinated.

A pilot first, a rollout maybe later 🔍

SAFA is not planning an immediate large-scale deployment. It wants to measure the results first and decide whether SACOS meets its needs. The pilot is also meant to assess the potential gains. Once the tests are done, SAFA can decide what to do next with ACI Africa and BARTHAUER Software GmbH.

A platform already pitched elsewhere in Africa 🌍

SAFA runs Ouagadougou’s international airport, the one in Bobo-Dioulasso and a number of smaller airfields. Its mission includes modernizing infrastructure and improving service quality.

The pilot is part of a wider push to digitize airport operations across the continent. According to We Are Tech Africa, the platform, developed by BARTHAUER Software with ACI Africa, is already presented as a certification and operations tool, with applications in Tunisia and Senegal, among others. In Tanzania, staff at Kilimanjaro International Airport have also been trained on it.

Which part of airport management would benefit most from going digital? Tell us in the comments.