Departure control system
A departure control system (DCS) automates processing an airline's airport management operation, which includes managing the information required for airport check-in, printing boarding cards, baggage acceptance, boarding, load control and aircraft checks.
Today, DCS mostly (98%) manage e-tickets using interfaces from a number of devices, including check-in kiosks, online check-in, mobile boarding cards, and baggage handling. DCS are able to identify, capture and update reservations from an airline's computer reservation system for passengers stored in a so-called passenger name record (PNR). A DCS is used to update reservations, typically as checked-in, boarded, flown or another status.
Additionally and increasingly, a DCS for some city-pair sectors may also interface with immigration control for visa, immigration and passenger no-fly watchlists.
Historically, systems developed in North America have incorporated DCS functions as part of the reservations systems with check-in being initiated directly from the PNR. Load control (weight and balance) is then provided by a standalone application. Systems developed by airlines outside North America have traditionally had a separate database for DCS, requiring passenger data to be transferred from the PNR into DCS records. These systems have an integrated weight and balance capability.
So-called "new generation" DCSs are being developed and deployed by vendors such as Amadeus and SITA as part of the overall re-engineering of airline Passenger Services Systems. These new systems typically use a common database and a services oriented architecture that allows reservations, check-in and other services to maintain a consistent view of passenger information.
Larger international airports will have a range of DCS or a single DCS which each particular airline carrier can integrate with for streamlined operations.