Ink Cloud
Cloud-native passenger processing and departure control for airlines, airports and ground handlers
About Ink Cloud
Ink Cloud is Ink Innovation's cloud-hosted platform for airport passenger processing. It covers departure control, load control, baggage, turnaround, disaster recovery and self-service touchpoints. The platform is PSS-agnostic, runs on AWS, and is sold to airlines, airports and ground handlers on custom contracts.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Cloud-hosted DCS that runs on standard PCs, Macs, tablets and mobile devices instead of dedicated airport hardware
- PSS-agnostic, so airlines can adopt individual modules without replacing their reservation system
- Fast station rollouts; Inter Handling went live at regional Finnish airports in about five days
- Disaster recovery module keeps check-in and boarding running during DCS or common-use outages
- Long operating history (since 2003) with customers such as Riyadh Air, Marabu, JFK Terminal One and Jet2
- No long-term binding commitment required to onboard and test the platform
Cons
- No public pricing; every deal goes through a sales conversation and custom contract
- Built only for airlines, airports and ground handlers, so it is irrelevant outside aviation
- Few independent user reviews; most available information is vendor material and trade press
- Product naming is fragmented (Ink Cloud, Ink DCS, Aura, Ink CUPPS), which makes the offering harder to evaluate
Key Features
Departure Control (Ink DCS)
Check-in, seating, boarding and baggage acceptance in one connected flow, usable from desktop, tablet, mobile and common-use (CUTE/CUPPS) terminals.
Load Control
Weight-and-balance and load planning with automation that handles routine work, so controllers focus on exceptions.
Disaster Recovery (DRS)
Backs up check-in, boarding and bag processing when the primary DCS or common-use platform goes down, independent of fixed airport infrastructure.
Self-service touchpoints
Web check-in, mobile app, kiosk check-in, bag drop and self-boarding gates that share one passenger record and rule set.
Ground operations
Turnaround, ramp and baggage management connected across stations with live shared data.
IROPS and disruption management
Rebooks affected passengers and pushes updates to their records and notifications when flights are cancelled or delayed.
ONE Order and NDC delivery
Order-based service delivery with native IATA ONE Order and NDC support, working with any order management system.
PSS-agnostic integrations
Works with Sabre, Amadeus Altea, KIU, GO7, Avantik and other PSSs, plus over 100 integrations, an IATCI interline hub and an event webhook stream.
Ink API and sandbox
Documented API endpoints with a developer sandbox that can simulate complete flights before live traffic.
Biometrics and digital ID
Identity verification and biometric boarding with secure credential storage.
Pricing
- Modular adoption (DCS, load control, DRS, touchpoints)
- Annual contract invoiced monthly (via AWS Marketplace)
- One-time onboarding fee set by agreement
- 24/7 follow-the-sun support
Best For
Regional airport check-in
Ground handlers at smaller airports run check-in, boarding and baggage on a cloud DCS without investing in on-site infrastructure.
Start-up airline operations
New carriers launch with a modular, PSS-agnostic departure control and web check-in stack they can scale as routes grow.
DCS outage backup
Airports and terminals use the disaster recovery module to keep processing passengers when the primary DCS or common-use platform fails.
Offer and Order transformation
Airlines moving to IATA ONE Order use the platform as the delivery layer between their order management system and airport operations.
Load control digitisation
Airlines replace manual or legacy weight-and-balance processes with cloud load control, as Nauru Airlines did.
