The CUSS specifications were finalized by IATA last month, and the initial 38 terminals, all running Microsoft Windows 2000, are due to go live April 30. The Arinc systems connect to the airlines' back-end reservation systems in much the same way as the CUTE systems. This trend toward self-service kiosks may compel Southwest and other discounters to adopt CUTE.
Southwest is developing its own self-service kiosks. The next step will be to evaluate the CUTE and CUSS specs to make sure the code Southwest develops for its McCarran operation is reusable in other airports, says Robert Shaffer, a manager in Southwest's interactive marketing department.
Shaffer says Southwest's IT department has been occupied with higher priorities since 1997, when McCarran first went live with CUTE. It started with Y2K remediation, then an upgrade of the airline's reservation system, which is now almost complete. CUTE is next on Southwest's agenda, he says.
Not So Easy
To say that CUTE systems make counter positions and gates fully interchangeable is an oversimplification. It's not so easy to shift around the ground-handling equipment outside each gate, so for one carrier to replace another quickly, its ground equipment must be nearby, experts say. McCarran must be mindful about which airlines are most likely to share gates so it can place them near one another. There was some gate-sharing prior to CUTE; temporary podiums were rolled in, equipped with a carrier's proprietary terminal.
