Airport design trends

Airfield:

A number of airports have already implemented upgrading works to accommodate the

requirements of the A380 aircraft. The major issue is to allow for the A380’s 80 metre wing

span on the airfield and apron parking positions. Multiple aerobridges are required at each

gate including access to the aircraft’s upper deck. Airbiz has developed a concept for direct

aerobridge connection from an airline lounge to the upper deck of the A380, this has been

implemented at Brisbane Airport. As the A380 rollout continues further upgrades at more

airports around the world will be required.

A potential bigger impact across more airports will be as a consequence of the introduction

of the Boeing 787, which in many cases will replace aging 767 fleets. This will necessitate

the replanning of apron areas and aircraft stands to accommodate Code E rather than code

D spatial requirements.

Flexibility was incorporated in the design by Airbiz of all the gates at the new terminal at

Delhi International Airport. This flexibility at each gate position enables either to

accommodate two narrow bodied Code C aircraft with single aerobridges or alternatively a

single wide body aircraft with dual aerobridges. Careful planning of the aerobridge

geometry and aircraft positioning was required to ensure that there were no operational

issues associated with aircraft servicing and the safe and simple operation of the aerobridges

in all modes.

 

Terminal:

Technology has been a great driver for changes to passenger terminals. Air New Zealand

and Qantas stand out as having achieved the world’s best and most complete examples of

transformations of substantial end-to-end processes and products, for the considerable

benefit of both airline and passengers. It is no coincidence that both these airlines are in the

South Pacific region. Australia and New Zealand are genuine incubators of ideas and

innovation in aviation. On these and other projects Airbiz has been a leader in applying

strong terminal and operational planning skills into creating innovative future travel

processes and products. Initiatives such as Qantas Next Generation check-in have resulted in

queues at congested airports disappearing literally over night and benefiting all stakeholders:

? Passengers – less time wasted in queues

? Airlines – efficient use of resources

? Airports - increase passenger spend in retail

Such concepts will be further developed with generic automated bag drops to replace

conventional counters and injector conveyers within common use terminals. The concept will

not be restricted to domestic operations but will quickly widen to international check in.

From there we can expect to see the application of drive through bag drops within Airport

car parks.

At the same time premium check-in facilities will be further developed into a 6 star

concierge services, whisking premium passengers directly from their ground transportation

to a premium lounge and from there having direct access to the aircraft via priority gates.

Ultimately technology will enable security to be invisible with passengers walking through

portals incorporated into the building architecture which will enable passengers and

baggage to be automatically screened. However in the shorter term security will become

more intrusive and space hungry with the introduction of full body scanners, LAGS,

detection equipment, profiling of passengers and priority lanes for screening.

Australia and New Zealand are already well advanced in the application of Smart Gates for

border control. This technology will be rolled out more extensively for both

outbound/inbound processing, allowing passengers to be pre-screened at departing airports

and for inbound processing at arriving airports. Similarly with use of image transfer

technology the electronic images collected for security purposes at departing airports will be

transferred to border control agencies at the arrival airport while the aircraft is in flight. This

will allow border control agencies at the arrival airport to electronically search the aircraft

whist in-flight. When the aircraft arrives only those few “passengers of interest” will need to

be intercepted by boarder control agents with the large majority of passengers proceeding

through the terminal unimpeded.

Airport users are typically described as having high disposable income but time poor, making

them the targeted demographic for retail and commercial operators. There will be a huge

opportunity to further develop retail, commercial and entertainment opportunities as people

make greater use of airports as part of their monthly/weekly/daily activities. Dwell times will

increase with less time spent in passenger processing. Airports have the opportunity to

become show rooms of the future with large volumes (ten’s of millions) of passengers,

visitors and airport staff.

People will research products on the internet but in many cases will want to “touch and

feel” to ensure the right colour, resolution, size and shape to meet their expectations.

Hence airports are an ideal location to showcase products and enable the purchasing part of

the transaction to be undertaken at the airport along with arranging delivery / installation.

Passengers will not have to take the goods with them eliminating the need for large storage

facilities at the airport.

Generation Z’s purchasing behaviour is derived through convenience, goods are consumed

based on accessibility and new technologies adopted at the initial stage of market

penetration making airports the ideal location for retail and entertainment, in particular

those associated with emerging technologies.

Technology will also enable the implementation of common departure lounges for both

domestic and international passengers. Removing the need for split and duplicated facilities

and in turn will increase critical mass for variety of retail opportunities.

Airbiz already promotes the“call to gate” concept for departure areas where by passengers

are held in a centralised departure / retail areas. Piers and concourses are only used as access

to gates eliminating dwell time in these areas thus reducing the need for multiple seating

areas, toilets and other amenities. The “call gate concept” requires not only good physical

planning but solid operational planning to ensure that on the day of opening the vision from

the conceptual planning matches operational realities and can respond to day to day

changes, delays and disruptions.

Consequently for the Calgary Airport International Facilities Project (IFP), Airbiz has

simultaneously undertaken a terminal operational methodology and an airside operational

methodology during the project design phase to ensure that the new infrastructure is in sync

with operational realities.

The recent focus and advances for terminals have been in passenger self-service and the

emerging use of biometrics – but much of these gains have been in isolated areas, rather

than complete processes – useful steps forward without providing major break-through. A

case in point is how cumbersome many bag drop processes remain and how they spoil the

benefits of self-service kiosk processes.

Airbiz believes the next phase of attention and development should be less about the

component parts but more about achieving genuine benefits in broader end-to-end

processes, for:

? Passenger and baggage facilitation

? Security

? Border processing

? Smart revenue generation opportunities such as “call to gate” and “call to board”

? Enterprise collaboration and data/information sharing between airports, airlines and

agencies.

The major hurdle in advancement of these initiatives is not development of technology but

rather organisational change. Major stakeholders involved in terminal development are

generally very large organisations such as airports, airlines and boarder control regulators.

Who by their large size, complex structures and control mechanisms are not naturally

receptive to innovation and radical new processes. Hence there is a clear need for robust

strategic planning and a collaborative approach at the outset of any major project.

 

Landside:

Conventional landside arrangements with terminal roadways across the face of the terminal

are outdated and are no longer appropriate for contemporary airports. Airbiz has developed

two new concepts for large and small airports based on the following objectives:

? Avoid pedestrian and vehicle conflicts

? Comply with enhanced security requirements

? Match passenger level of service to the charges applied.

? Create a destination unique arrival experience.

For large airports the entire ground transport and interchange system is located away from

the terminal precinct and in the case of congested airports potentially even located off site.

The ground transport interchange is connected via a high frequency people mover system

directly to an integrated terminal, retail and commercial complex. Passengers arriving on

people mover from the ground transport interchange have the choice to either move directly

to the departure gate or access an extensive range of retail, commercial and entertainment

opportunities prior to boarding time.

Smaller airport terminal roadways are relocated away from the face of the terminal building

providing access to a series of horse shoe loops servicing various modes of ground transport

(e.g. taxi, buses, rental cars and courtesy vehicles). A plaza environment is developed across

the face of the terminal which enables passengers to move diagonally across the plaza to

their selected mode of ground transport. Airbiz has promoted these concepts for a number

of years, and now airports such as Tauranga (New Zealand), Cairns (Australia), Durban

(South Africa) and most recently Adelaide (Australia) have incorporated the concept.

An overall trend across the total airport including landside, terminal and airside, will be the provision of a greater range of service offerings. Just as airlines offer platinum, gold, silver and bronze categories to their frequent flyers, passengers will have a similar range of service offerings across all parts of the airport experience. This will include ground transportation services, car parking and valet, priority access to security and border processing, boarding of aircraft and baggage services. Even retail and entertainment will cover the full range from top end 'high street' boutiques down to cheap '$2 shops'.