Airline installs comms system

Zetron has deployed a 200-position advanced communication (Acom) system for Delta Airlines at its operations control centre in Atlanta, GA.

The radio system was chosen for its functionality, high degree of customisability and ability to support the expansion of Delta's OCC, which is necessary to accomodate the influx of personnel resulting from Delta's recent acquisition of Northwest Airlines.

Currently, 188 positions are active, with more to be phased in over time.

The largest airline in the world, Delta serves more than 160 million customers each year. Its OCC is the control point through which all the airline's critical operations and activities are managed.

This includes all aspects of the airline's flights, maintenance and schedules, as well as the airline's responses to conditions that affect them, such as weather, security events, fuel prices and even volcanic ash in the routes they fly through.

Delta chose Acom as its communication system because it would be able to support the level of expansion Delta needed. Acom would also be able to interface with the OCC's existing radio dispatch consoles' radios and PBX.

In addition, Zetron was able to provide the technical expertise necessary to adapt the system to meet the project's complex requirements.

The project was conducted in two phases. Phase I involved demolishing and reconstructing Delta's OCC, installing about half the Acom positions and then populating them with former Northwest Airline employees. Phase II involved implementing most of the remaining consoles and then moving Delta's operators from their legacy system to the new Acom system. Zetron also provided extensive operator training as part of Phase II.