Security & Access
Role‑based access keeps sensitive operations (like gate changes and baggage overrides) behind secure authentication.
Engineering Case Study · Hackathon 2025
Case Study: Building 'AeroDesk' – The Award-Winning Airport Management System
How SoftGen engineered a complex logistics platform to win 1st Place at the Java Institute Hackathon 2025 — turning 24 hours of intense problem solving into an enterprise‑grade airport ERP prototype.
Written by Shehan Chamika•Nov 19, 2025•Engineering Case Study
The Challenge
Bringing order to airport chaos — in less than 24 hours
Airports are organised chaos. Thousands of passengers, dozens of airlines, constantly changing gates, baggage moving in every direction, and hard, non‑negotiable departure times. Every delay ripples across the entire operation.
The hackathon brief was simple, but brutal: design and build an ERP‑style system that could coordinate flights, passengers, baggage and gates under real‑world constraints — and do it in a single day.
For SoftGen, this wasn’t just about building another demo. It was a chance to prove that we can ship complex, enterprise‑level software fast, without sacrificing stability or architecture.
The Architecture
A solid domain model before a single line of UI
We treated AeroDesk like a real production system. Before jumping into screens, we modelled the domain: flights, passengers, gates, baggage flows, and security checkpoints. That allowed us to move fast without painting ourselves into a corner.
Flight lifecycle activity diagram
We mapped the lifecycle from flight creation to boarding and departure: check‑in, baggage drop, security, gate assignment, boarding windows, and final take‑off checks. Every arrow represents a potential system state and validation rule.
Class diagram for core entities
Flights, Passengers, Gates, Baggage and Staff are all first‑class citizens in the model. We used strong object‑oriented design and relational SQL modelling to keep invariants enforced.
Technically, AeroDesk is built like a real product: clear domain boundaries, normalised SQL schema, and a backend that could scale beyond the hackathon. The diagrams weren't just for show — they were our contract for the codebase.
Product Experience
Designed to feel like a production‑ready control center
Judges weren't just looking for ideas — they wanted to see working software. AeroDesk shipped with a full UI that looked and felt like something an airport operations team could use tomorrow.
Real‑time Monitoring
A live dashboard shows flights by status — on‑time, boarding, delayed. Colour‑coded rows and compact cards make it easy for operations staff to see status in seconds.
Logistics & Control
Dedicated views for baggage routing and gate assignment keep operations aligned in real time.
🏆The Result
1st Place — and more importantly, trust
AeroDesk won 1st Place at the Java Institute Hackathon 2025. The judges highlighted two things:
- Stability under pressure — even in a compressed 24‑hour window, the system behaved like a real production app.
- Depth of thinking — the underlying architecture, diagrams and domain model could clearly scale beyond the prototype.
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