Game-Based Training in Aviation – Ground Staff and Cabin Crew Training

Game based training on desktops and mobiles is picking up momentum with each passing year. The use of game-based training in aviation has recorded several benefits and is being adopted across organizations.

Last week, we wrote about game-based learning for pilots. This article talks about game based learning for the ground staff and the in-flight crew.

The aviation industry has people working round the clock to ensure smooth operations. As the point of contact, it is important for the ground staff and cabin crew to have excellent interpersonal skills and good knowledge of their operations. Ensuring a smooth process from ticketing, check-ins and safe boarding to deboarding and baggage claims is the best way to increase the satisfaction of a passenger. Any grievances and inquiries raised by passengers during their journey are taken care of by the ground staff and cabin crew.

The ground staff and cabin crew need skills that revolve around customer-centricity, interpersonal skills, tending to passengers’ needs and safety, ticketing and boarding procedures, and emergency handling to bring utmost efficiency in everything that ensures a successful flight take-off and landing. Game-based training has proven to add very high value for such skills.

Importance of effective training for the Ground Staff and Cabin Crew

Hospitality and travel industry is all about the experience. And for the passengers flying with an airline, that experience is determined by their interaction with the ground staff and cabin crew through the journey. The staff has a huge responsibility to achieve customer loyalty and advocacy. They are often the only point of contact for the passengers and can make or break a customer’s loyalty towards an airline.

The nature of the job of the ground staff and cabin crew is no cakewalk – troubleshooting problems on the go, managing customer expectations, taking challenges head-on, keeping a pleasant body language while dealing with tricky situations, and all this while maintaining the brand values of the organization. Effective training is extremely important to ensure that the staff understands the requirements of their job and is able to meet the benchmark.

Training methodology for the Ground Staff and Cabin Crew

The training for cabin crew and ground operations are conducted in-house by the airlines or outsourced to agencies to upskill the staff on the processes and soft skills. However, most of these training sessions are delivered as instructor-led training (ILT), as of date. The classroom methodology is great to have personal interactions but conducting the entire training program using only one medium impacts the effectiveness. According to a survey by IATA, only 28% of respondents find their current training effective.

The budget and time allocated to training the airline staff are usually much higher than in most other industries. The use of technology to “up the game” is crucial to conduct improved training programs in less time and budget. In the current approach, learning of the ground staff and cabin crew happens through lectures, videos and role-plays. But it is practically not possible to maintain the effectiveness of the program with large batches. It is also easy to skip specific case scenarios, or even maintain consistency of the training quality across different branches.

A blended training approach ensures knowledge retention is higher, time taken is less and the participants get a chance to experiential learning as well. Kinaesthetic, simulation-driven training improves the dopamine effect, hence increasing the knowledge retention rates tremendously. The sense of achievement that the learners’ experience on completing stages of a game-based training drives the willingness to learn and conquer more.

A shift from the traditional ILT to a digital game based training can turn around the training programs, make them more learner-centric and increase the impact.

Why game-based training?

Game-based training or game based eLearning can help aviation staff in developing the necessary soft skills. These interactive games are built based on the requirements of an organization and have recorded several benefits.

Zero risks simulation-based learning:

Through game-based training in aviation, a learner is faced with tricky situations in a simulation environment. The learners make decisions to handle these tricky situations without actually hurting the experience of a passenger. For example, a passenger who has lost a bag is angry. In a simulation environment, the service representative can make an error in how the customer is handled. And if the solution is not right, it will not have any impact on the experience of an actual passenger flying with the airline.

Experience and handle rare situations:

There are case scenarios that are rare, like a terrorist attack, or the need for an emergency landing, administering first-aid. Simulation of these cases is created in the format of a game and the learners get a chance to make decisions, choose the right response to deal with such situations. Only theoretical or role-play based training does not suffice for such emergency situations.

Process training:

In addition to the customer-centricity aspects, the airline staff has to ensure the process is streamlined. Handling the fleet, checking in passengers, conducting security checks on flights before take-off, and more. Micro-modules using digital game formats can be created for training and blended with regular classroom training. Game-based training modules can work as pre-class, post-class or as a complete training module, depending on the complexity of a module. It ensures enhanced understanding and retention through application in high complexity training topics. For less complex topics, the game based approach is sufficient, providing theory and application in the digital format.

The aviation industry is an ever-growing sector and has vast investment opportunities. By 2020, the average cost spent on maintenance, repairs, and operations would go up to US $ 1.5 billion. The training requirements will be an inevitable by-product of the growing sector and an increasing number of jobs.

At Indusgeeks, we create high fidelity learning/training simulations specific to your needs and work with you to ensure that the outcome of your program is higher. Our solutions are available on desktop, mobile, tablet and browser-based, making it accessible anywhere and everywhere. #MakeanImpact