Volume 16 (2021-22)

Each volume of Journal of Airport Management consists of four 100-page issues published in both print and online.

The Articles published in Volume 16 include:

Volume 16 Number 4

Editorial
Simon Beckett, Publisher
De-risking the future — A case study: DFW Airport driving innovation and reducing risk on the road to autonomy
Jodie Brinkerhoff, VP Innovation, Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport

The coming wave of autonomous vehicles (AVs) presents a conundrum. Under the weight of millions of annual passengers, non-aeronautical revenue streams that feature parking and rental cars as top-line items and the business operation needs of today, airports risk erosion of revenue streams and upended operations as AVs come forward. When you consider the pervasive opportunity autonomous technology brings to passenger transport, cargo and ground support equipment, aircraft taxi bots, lawn mowers and delivery robots, the risks are widespread. How might this emerging technology be planned for in an environment that requires years-long planning for infrastructure? How might a future be envisioned where cars park themselves — or cease to require parking because they dutifully return home empty to their garage after a customer drop-off? The questions continue and the answers are unclear. What is clear is that the opportunity to take advantage of these technologies is immense. The time to initiate planning is now, even though solutions are still shrouded in ambiguity. Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport’s (DFW) mission, ‘Travel. Transformed’ is not an endpoint, but rather a constantly evolving vision of what is possible. Innovation is a highly visible component of DFW’s strategic plan, and a foundational element of its approach to meeting key results. This paper highlights DFW’s efforts around autonomous technologies and their multi-pronged approach to innovation — an approach that features a discipled process, cross-functional programme management and a steadfast commitment to people.
Keywords: innovation, technology, culture, strategy, autonomous, customer experience, future, operations, collaboration, leadership
Achieving a return on investment from airport technology projects
Alan McCartney, Co-Founder and Director, McCor Airport Solutions

Following a series of global events completely outside of its control, the aviation industry has started to look once again to the future. The focus can now turn from crisis management towards investing in the future of the infrastructure, the technology and the way that services are delivered to passengers and stakeholders. Recovery must, however, be achieved within the constraints of industry best practice in sustainability, new technologies and, of course, available financial resources. Never before has the importance of achieving a demonstrable return on investment (ROI) been placed on every airport development project, irrespective of scale. This paper provides an overview of how ROI can be built into airport projects, how it can be achieved and how it can be measured. The paper also highlights the importance of ROI as a corporate strategy that is reflected through every aspect of airport development and operation.
Keywords: investment, corporate strategy, technology, sustainability, business case, return on investment
We learn more from our mistakes than from our successes: Lessons learned on ORAT and failed activation of airport passenger terminals
Marcelo Mota, Director of Operations and COO, Aeroportos Brasil Viracopos

Building an airport is no easy task. Neither is delivering it in a state of operational readiness, which must encompass facility, system and people readiness. History is full of examples of (in)famous airport opening failures because of mistakes made during construction and activation. This paper will explore poor Operational Readiness Activation and Transition (ORAT) processes as a key reason for the failure of airport projects, with a thorough analysis of a recommended ORAT programme framework, comprising six core processes, three support processes and six project management processes. Each process is explained in a practical manner, in a recipe-like format and with the dos and do nots that increase the chances of successful delivery on opening day and daily operations thereafter. The paper highlights the real-life issues that come with tracking and improving every step of the construction and trials to ensure the operational readiness of the airport.
Keywords: ORAT, facilities activation, people readiness, airport development, airport transfer, risk management, operational handover, systems integration, operational trials
Airport real estate values: What drives growth?
Max Hirsh, Managing Director and Pieter van der Horst, Managing Director, Airport City Academy

This paper offers guidance to airport managers who are evaluating their real estate and land asset management strategies. Through an international benchmark study of airport property values, it identifies the key factors of growth in land prices and rent levels, and quantifies the resulting increase in real estate values at the airport and in the surrounding airport area. The paper has three key findings. First, airport areas experience a long-term increase in property values across alll and use categories, with the sharpest price increases taking place in the first ten years of development. Second, direct airport access generates a significant price premium, with commercial and industrial plots located in airport areas achieving higher property values and rent levels compared to competing locations that do not have direct airport access. Finally, eight key factors of growth that lead to long-term increases in airport property values are identified. The paper concludes with four key questions that decision makers should consider when evaluating their future real estate strategy.
Keywords: airport real estate, non-passenger revenue, airport urbanism, cargo
Case study: Implementing the IT platform of the future in Copenhagen Airport
Christian Poulsen, Senior Vice President, COO & CIO, Copenhagen Airports, Mehdi Motaghiani, CEO, Smarter Airports and Esben Kolind, Senior Lead Digitalization Consultant, Copenhagen Airports

This paper describes in detail the journey that Copenhagen Airport (CPH) has embarked on towards the full replacement of the legacy core airport IT systems with a state-of-the-art, modern data platform supporting the high digital ambitions in its business strategy. It informs about the growing IT challenges requiring a radical approach, the bold vision for a ‘smart airport’, the strong organisational implementation setup and finally the details of the truly data-driven platform that has been developed as a result.
Keywords: airport digitalisation, airport IT platform, collaborative airport eco-system, power to data, Copenhagen Airport
Assessing and mitigating risk in airport greenfield and redevelopment programmes
Michael J. Steinle, Senior Resilience Consultant, Ross & Baruzzini

Security risk assessments at airports are an important practice to identify and mitigate threats of concern. Increasingly, airport risk assessments are evolving in three ways. First, conducting design-basis risk assessments — prior to new construction or redevelopment — provides value in identifying and mitigating risks during the design phase, where mitigation costs are significantly less than post-construction retro-fitting. Secondly, new threats emerge periodically, such as cybersecurity, insider threats and drones, which require creative mitigation measures. Thirdly, airports are finding value in addressing risks from an ‘all-hazards’ standpoint — natural hazards, climate change, ageing infrastructure, technology resilience and human factors. This paper examines risk assessment processes, differences between existing facility and design-basis risk assessments, and processes and challenges associated with all-hazards risk assessment and mitigation.
Keywords: risk assessment, design-basis, mitigation, all-hazards

Volume 16 Number 3

Editorial
Simon Beckett, Publisher
Transforming the way passengers and colleagues travel to Heathrow
Tony Caccavone, Surface Access Director, Heathrow Airport, et al.

This paper seeks to explore the many ways Heathrow is transforming how passengers and colleagues travel to and from the airport by surface transport modes of access — with the core goal of promoting sustainability and prioritising decarbonisation. Initially, the scale of the surface access challenges being faced to reach zero-emission travel is demonstrated, and the targets in place to tackle them effectively are identified — contextualised by the information gleaned from the first-of-its-kind Heathrow Travel Report. From there, the levers are identified, both physical and emotional, that can transform ambitions into a reality, as well as demonstrating how they can be used to influence commuter and customer behaviour. Clearly, it is also necessary to acknowledge the reality of how the COVID-19 pandemic affects travel through passenger numbers and personal preferences, while highlighting how infrastructure and policy guidelines have been adapted in order to recognise this new reality. Behavioural change is always an individual decision, but using expertise to shift opinion by highlighting affordability, accessibility, health and environmental benefits throughout will showcase the essential future of travelling to Heathrow for passengers and colleagues in a clear and cogent way.
Keywords: Carbon; sustainability; Heathrow Airport; surface access; passengers; colleagues; public transport
How can airports go from bricks to clicks by accelerating digital retailing strategies?
Jeff Lennon, Vice President Strategic Sales & Global Partnerships, Vision-Box

In addition to minimising fixed costs, optimising operational costs and ensuring an efficient and safe experience for staff and passengers, non aeronautical revenue will continue to play a key role in enhancing financial resilience as airports seek to sustain business operations and promote growth during the ongoing COVID-19 recovery period. Given the decrease of travel demand and the projected total of passenger numbers for 2022 not rising to 2019 levels, non aeronautical revenue will be an integral and critical part of airports' financial health. If the aviation industry is to thrive in a post-pandemic future, all stakeholders must be prepared to adopt new methodologies that are more in line with public expectations and legal requirements for health, sanitisation and safety. This extends to all revenue streams, and puts the onus on stakeholders to transform digitally, and to adopt key data-based technologies that combine biometric and biographic data capture, automation and a digital identity management platform. This paper lays down guidelines for such digital transformation, and strategies for making the transition from physical processes to contactless and digital methodologies. Data monetisation will help airports to ‘go from bricks to clicks’, by leveraging data shared to provide a better and more personalised experience for the customer. The paper also details a roadmap for collaboration between airport stakeholders and considers digital imperatives for travel retail.
Keywords: non aeronautical revenue; digital transformation; digital identity management; biometric; bricks to clicks; data monetisation
Understanding ORAT and how ADM’S ORAT programme contributes to sustainability
Sarah Talbot, Assistant Director, ORAT Infrastructure Projects, Aéroports de Montréal

This paper discusses how operational efficiency and sustainability are two preoccupations for airport administrations. ORAT's objective is to operate a new facility on day one as if it had been operated for years. By engaging stakeholders in the process, Aéroports de Montréal's (ADM's) Operational Readiness and Airport Transition (ORAT) programme contributes to life cycle analysis, decreases the risk of changes during construction and lowers the post-opening modifications, which results in less deconstruction and material loss. It supports commissioning in the attempt to achieve a cost-effective strategy for reducing energy, costs and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in buildings. In short, ADM's ORAT programme promotes sustainability.
Keywords: Operational readiness; ORAT; sustainability, stakeholders' engagement; airport development; infrastructure projects; Aéroports de Montréal
What is the key to efficient airport facility management and high service quality? Learnings from Berlin Brandenburg Airport’s Technical Control Centre transformation
Michael Jahn, Senior Consultant and Jan-Henrik Reber, Senior Consultant, M2P Consulting and Ralph Struck, Vice President for Facility Management, Berlin Brandenburg Airport

Terminal and airport facilities are highly intensive in terms of capital expenditure (CapEx) and operating expenses (OpEx) and have a substantial impact on airports' carbon footprint as well as their operational stability. Despite that, technical operations receive little attention in today's airport ops discussions, which is quite counterintuitive. Technical control centres (TCCs) are the epicentres of technical operations. The case study of Berlin Brandenburg Airport's Technical Control Centre demonstrates the steps of a successful transition. Four dimensions (people, processes, organisation and systems) are considered to achieve the objectives of a premium customer experience and technology leadership while operating under growing cost pressure. Three key factors supporting the development towards a smart control centre are identified: IT to ops integration, smart work environment and supply–demand alignment. The case study concludes with an outlook on upcoming challenges and chances to unlock the full potential of a state-of-the-art technical control centre, as Berlin's journey continues.
Keywords: Facility management; operations; technical systems; IT; data utilisation; workforce; organisation; customer service; building automation; incident management; multi-campus operations; transformation; smart airport
Airport digital transformation
Hunter S. Fulghum, Principal Consultant, Ross & Baruzzini

Technology systems now play a larger role in the commercial air travel industry than ever before. This is being characterised as ‘digital transformation’, and the options, challenges and issues it presents to airports are, at times, overwhelming. This paper presents a discussion of what digital transformation is and how airports may intelligently and thoughtfully move their operations and systems into a more technologically dynamic and efficient space. It also provides some guidance on the risks and challenges associated with this complex issue.
Keywords: Technology; transformation; digital; change; innovation
How can airports fully embrace multimodal and interoperable mobility ecosystems to deliver sustainability goals and offer a superior passenger experience?
Jennifer Berz, Senior Project Manager Corporate Strategy & Digitalization, Fraport AG, Frankfurt Airport Services Worldwide

The future of mobility will be fundamentally different from what we know today. While demand for mobility will thrive again after the pandemic, new means of transport and new market players will shape everyday customer mobility of the 2030s and 2040s. To overcome the challenges that the mobility market of 2050 will pose, airports need to fully embrace multimodal and interoperable mobility ecosystems in order to deliver sustainability goals and offer a superior passenger experience. Using the example of Frankfurt Airport, this article addresses the complexity of a mobility landscape in flux. It will be shown how intermodality can both address sustainability demands and provide a customer-centric approach to innovation and digitalisation with regard to mobility. The purpose of this paper is to present one possible approach to the set of challenges it describes: the mobility hub. Current mobility options and customer needs are analysed and, supported by the findings of a customer survey, focus areas allowing airports to evolve towards mobility ecosystems of the future are discovered. Two main goals are identified that support the airport's transformation into a mobility hub, thus suggesting and promoting a possible best practice and providing strategic direction: quality of connectivity and quantity of means of transport. For both, suggestions for fields of action are provided that range from short to long-term strategy.
Keywords: Intermodality; multimodality; mobility hub; mobility ecosystem; mobility of the future
Analysing policy priorities for the Incheon aviation industry using importance-performance analysis and analytic hierarchy process techniques: A cluster-based perspective
Gwang Min Yoo, Senior Researcher, Incheon Technopark, Sunjoo Kwak, Professor, Department of Public Administration and Sung Hoon Jeh, Associate Professor in the Department of Russian Studies, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies

The purpose of this paper is to analyse policy priorities for the Incheon aviation industry from a cluster-based perspective. To this end, the present research conducted a survey of aviation professionals and performed an importance-performance analysis (IPA) and analytic hierarchy process (AHP) using the survey results. According to the IPA, investment in infrastructure construction and R&D was found necessary to further advance the aviation industry. The AHP analysis of strategy priorities found that, in order to increase the overall potential of the aviation industry, it would be more beneficial to evenly distribute resources among the three strategies identified through the expert survey, rather than concentrating investment on a particular strategy. Nevertheless, infrastructure construction was analysed as the most urgent among the three strategies. Taken together, the analysis results suggest that it would be strategically desirable for Incheon Metropolitan City to place a priority on expanding and strengthening industrial infrastructure to increase the economic potential of not only the Incheon aviation industry but also Incheon International Airport.
Keywords: Aviation industry; AHP; IPA; policy priority; cluster policy; Incheon international airport
ACI Update

Volume 16 Number 2

Editorial
Simon Beckett, Publisher
Practice paper
Scenario planning: A dynamic and collaborative tool for uncertain conditions
Kevin R. Bumen, Chief Commercial Officer, San Francisco International Airport and Michael D. Hotaling, Senior Vice President, Aviation Practice Leader, C&S Engineers, Inc.

Uncertainty demands a nimble approach to preparing for future conditions that are nearly impossible to forecast. Traditional airport planning vehicles such as master plans, strategic and business plans have long been the tools utilised by industry leaders to determine financial needs, identification of the physical infrastructure necessary to accommodate demand as well as the human capital and tactics required for a high-performance organisation. Traditional planning methods remain useful, valuable tools and serve a specific purpose to organise the efforts of an airport organisation in preparation for future conditions that can be reasonably predicted in a singular forecast or a range of forecasts. Scenario planning, in contrast, imagines a much broader range of futures than the typical forecast models are able to consider in traditional planning exercises. This tool has been used by numerous organisations including Royal Dutch Shell, for collaborative efforts among diverse teams to imagine numerous contrasting futures. The journey down the scenario planning pathway takes into consideration a broader range of influencing factors than most traditional planning efforts forcing a team to expand their aperture beyond the day-to-day information that drives decision making. Memories of the contrasting futures that are devised in this process rarely come to fruition in their entirety with fragments of each of the imagined futures more likely assembling to form the reality experienced by the team. Organisations are better equipped to react to events as they unfold with these memories formulated and top of mind, particularly during uncertain times. Many have come to find scenario planning as a powerful tool to drive creative thought processes and team dialogue with the results contributing to better-informed traditional planning exercises.
Keywords: Scenario planning, memories of the future, collaboration, brainstorming, leadership, strategy, resiliency
Building smart airports: Technology solutions to improve health, enhance experience and increase revenue
Piers MacNaughton, VP, Health Strategy, View Inc.

Modern airports are seeking new ways to differentiate and enhance the travel experience. They have hybridised to become both transportation hubs and shopping centres. Airports now view passengers as their primary customers and are becoming more aware of passenger needs throughout the travel experience. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, airport health and safety is the travelling public’s highest priority. Airports need to invest in technology that addresses health and safety concerns elevates the passenger experience, and provides a substantial return on investment in the long run. Recent surveys show that the most effective technologies are not always the ones airports are employing: environmental sensing, innovative display technology and smart glass that increases access to daylight and views of the outdoors are three such solutions. As these types of solutions become more prevalent, passengers will come to expect an increased level of comfort and convenience out of their travel experience. This paper will focus on two key technologies — smart glass and environmental sensing — that can provide a solution.
Keywords: Passengers, retail, innovation, engineering, environmental management, customer service
Airport security: Lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic
Roni Tidhar, Head of International Consulting Services & (acting) Head of Cyber Security, Israel Airports Authority

Reflecting on the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, we can see that, even though we have faced war, terror attacks, extreme nature and weather events, economic depressions and more, none of them affected global economies, our freedom of travel, our personal and mental health as fast and as deeply as the COVID-19 pandemic. Once considered a local event to China, it rapidly spread across the globe within a few months, bringing travel between countries to a halt and interfering catastrophically with the aviation industry. Airports and airlines soon discovered that not only were they on the brink of bankruptcy, they also needed furlough their employees, shut down terminals and fleets and, in race to establish new methodologies for public health demands to try to regain some aviation and commerce activity. The airport security sector also suffered, losing manpower, struggling with infected employees, involving staff in safety related duties which were not part of their job description and seeing new stakeholders to set the ‘new security’ agenda for their home court. Focus was diverted from counter-terrorism. Obviously, due to the circumstances, direct operation and development budgets were frozen or re-allocated, so work plans and an array of improvements are now under consideration. The most agile airports set up innovation labs to identy updated technological solutions in supporting daily efforts, especially with the public demand for contactless travel. Soon, some regulators began to introduce regulations, and are trying to set the industry to work on gold standards and platforms, pursuing governmental official confidence that will, in time, translate into authorisation to operate safe travels (especially on international routes, as in some countries domestic traffic has a reasonable volume). This paper analyses civil aviation actors and vectors throughout the pandemic, and offers predictions for the near future trends, especially for aviation security directors.
Keywords: Airports, security, pandemic, COVID-19, recovery, travel
Case Studies
Fighting business uncertainty with Scenario Planning at Bologna Airport: An antifragile experience in times of COVID-19
Nazareno Ventola, CEO & Managing Director, Aeroporto Marconi di Bologna

The unprecedented impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our lives during the last 18 months has been evident, as in the aviation sector. The level of uncertainty we all have to face, both at the personal and the managerial level is so high that traditional planning approaches have become useless. We are not in the position to understand or forecast how the future will evolve, because the number of variables is high and the interactions somehow unknown. Under these circumstances, we need to evaluate our business options under alternative ‘futures’ with different strategies to be implemented. This paper describes the approach undertaken by Aeroporto G. Marconi di Bologna to ‘fight business uncertainty’, applying a Scenario Planning approach, in the darkest hours of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Keywords: Bologna Airport, business uncertainty, COVID-19, scenario planning, business strategy, antifragility
Beyond zero: Activating triple zero airports
Erin Cooke, Sustainability & Environmental Policy Director and Anthony Bernheim, Healthy & Resilient Buildings Program Manager, San Francisco International Airport

San Francisco International Airport (SFO) was the first airport to adopt a triple zero goal — zero energy, zero carbon and zero waste — in 2016. Five years in, this ambition is actively being implemented by subject matter expert ambassadors across campus. Airport staff and partners have co-created delivery plans, operationalised strategies and reported results on activating net zero and decarbonised buildings, doubling onsite renewables, procuring all-electric shuttle buses and light-duty vehicles, delivering sustainable aviation fuel to all aircraft, eliminating single-use plastics and so many more ‘zero’ gains. SFO staff have taken up the mantle by introducing new ideas and approaches, as well as seeking out a variety of third-party certifications to demonstrate our continued commitment to the health of our planet, passengers and employees. This is just the beginning. The path to zero is high-impact, highly collaborative work that requires the partnership of our design and construction teams, airlines, business partners, individuals and, most importantly, a global network of airports who have the aspiration AND passion for new and unexpected ways of incorporating sustainability into the way we work, how we develop our facilities and how we operate as our direct means to abate the climate crisis. Outlined herein is SFO’s path to zero, with the intention of defining a joint roadmap for airport partners to team up to ensure we each serve an active role in supporting the health of our communities, workforce and shared, but threatened, planet.
Keywords: Climate change, guiding principles, zero net energy, zero carbon, zero waste, decarbonisation
Research paper
Aviation security automation: The current level of security automation and its impact
Olaf Milbredt, Researcher, German Aerospace Centre, et al.

Passengers dream of using air travel without experiencing the mandatory security and identity checks. The way to make this dream come true is based on the automation of security processes. Since there have been many attacks in the aviation sector, especially on airports and airplanes, the requirements for security systems and their development have risen sharply, with the consequence that passengers have to accept increasingly deeper intrusions into their privacy. To ensure these requirements, passenger and baggage screening systems must meet the highest standards. In this paper, we present opportunities, risks and impacts of a fully automated security system on passengers. To this end, we examine processes at the airport and their current level of automation with a focus on security. Using Airport 4.0 as an example of strong digitalisation at airports, the degree of complete digitalisation, which serves as the basis for automation, is evaluated in the context of airports. Digital transformation defined by Airport 4.0 affects mainly the use of technologies for process automation such as eg identity management, and passenger involvement such as eg passenger preferences. Thereby, the prerequisites for digitalisation, concerning effort and costs, are elaborated. Automation through digitalisation is examined using the example of the application of Artificial Intelligence. Furthermore, we evaluate the progress of automation in various areas by way of examples. The existing degree of digitalisation and automation, especially through the use of artificial intelligence, makes the realisation of the dream of using aviation without even noticing the mandatory security and identity checks seem closer. However, digitalised systems may be subject to cyber attacks manipulating eg databases containing biometric data. Therefore, future work will address cyber security on the one hand, and on the other, a method that applies the power of Artificial Intelligence to the control of all parts of the security infrastructure, such as cameras, access controls and border controls. Automation combined with Artificial Intelligence can be trained to detect hidden correlations that reveal potential threats.
Keywords: Airport, airport security, automation, digitalisation, security measures
ACI World Update

Volume 16 Number 1

Editorial
Simon Beckett, Publisher
Practice paper
Should airports re-evaluate growth projects in light of COVID-19?
Bjorn Hassert, Independent aviation strategist, Tom Mockett, Director, Aviation Strategy, NACO, Netherlands Airport Consultants and Guilian Preud’homme, Airport Planning Manager, Brussels Airport Company

Following several decades of growth, COVID-19 has confronted the aviation industry with an unprecedented drop in demand. As airports are forced to focus on business continuity and crisis recovery, the question arises as to whether they should re-evaluate growth projects. In the short term, whilst the industry focuses on traffic recovery, most airports will be required to pause or reconsider longer-term growth projects involving major new infrastructure. The authors find that opportunities can still exist for airports to proceed with capacity growth projects — even considering the current crisis. Their comparatively low complexity, cost and lead times make capacity interventions involving process and technology enhancements viable alternatives or precursors to physical infrastructure interventions. By referring to a redefined purpose and integrated growth definition, the authors also identify opportunities for airports to continue investing in organisational growth, revenue growth and sustainable growth. This opinion piece further explores critical growth enablers, including customer centricity, change management and collaborative value creation. As airports continue to invest in these growth projects, the industry builds the resilience to overcome this latest crisis, and to thrive in future ones. This paper discusses opportunities for airports to continue investing in capacity growth, albeit with increased focus on targeted process and technology interventions.
Keywords: COVID-19, growth, resilience, capacity, organisation, ecosystem
Touchless technologies in the airport environment
Hunter Fulghum, Principal Consultant, Ross & Baruzzini

The recent global pandemic has fuelled interest and growth in technologies designed to limit passenger contact with equipment and devices. This paper examines a range of the touchless technologies and systems available, the benefits they provide in responding to the pandemic as well as improved passenger processing services. It also addresses the concerns these systems present in terms of personal and biometric data security and actions to protect that information.
Keywords: Touchless, touchpoint, passenger, pandemic, fomite, single token
Case studies
Challenges and opportunities to improve customer experience for existing airport assets: case study Amsterdam Airport Schiphol T1 refurbishment
Joeri Aulman, Airport Planner and Project Manager, NACO, Netherlands Airport Consultants, Michiel van Goor, Project Director, Schiphol Group and Gerard van der Veer, Director, NACO, Netherlands Airport Consultants

Airports are faced with changing requirements for their existing airport assets and are under significant budget, sustainability and customer expectation pressures. This paper shares insights from Schiphol Amsterdam Airport and its consultant Benthem Crouwel NACO (BCN/NACO) on the redevelopment of Terminal 1 as a case study on meeting changing requirements in the aviation sector by smart use of existing infrastructure, retaining buy in from the wider airport organisation and stakeholders and meeting the new standards in sustainability and customer experience.
Keywords: Smart airports, customer experience, sustainability, cost efficiency, flexibility, constructability
Salt Lake City International Airport undergoes master planning on the heels of expansion
Brady Fredrickson, Director of Planning and Environmental, Salt Lake City Department of Airports, Michael Becker, Senior Aviation Consultant, Peter Maiman, Aviation Consultant and Kelsey Reeves, Aviation Consultant, RS&H

While Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC) was undergoing a US$4bn airport redevelopment programme — its largest terminal and landside infrastructure improvement since opening — the Salt Lake City Department of Airports (SLCDA) chose to update the Airport’s Master Plan at the same time. The strategy enabled the Airport to have a new development plan in place as implementation of its prior implementation plan was completed, ensuring Airport facilities are ready for growing passenger, cargo and general aviation demand. Even with the addition of the new 78-gate terminal facility, SLC has land to add another concourse with more gates and could build additional runways to serve more airplane operations. However, the Airport is located in a valley surrounded by mountainous terrain that limits the capacity of the airspace. SLCDA worked with RS&H on the Master Plan to carefully evaluate the relationship between the airfield and airspace to identify a plan to maximise the Airport’s ability to meet future demand within the constraints of the Airport’s location. The SLC Master Plan analyses future demand to ensure facilities can efficiently meet the needs of the travelling public and airline operations. It prepares the airport to strategically build new facilities to meet demand in an affordable and sustainable manner so that SLC passengers face minimal delays in their air travel. In this paper, you will learn about how SLC officials and the RS&H team worked together to ask the right questions, research the intricacies of SLC’s airspace and developed a new master plan for the airport that carries on more than 20 years’ worth of planning.
Keywords: Master plan, planning, airspace, environmental, airfield, terminal facilities
Metropolitan Airports Commission’s vision for customer-centric services and facilities at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport
Bridget Rief, Vice President, Planning and Development and Phil Burke, Assistant Director, Customer Experience, Metropolitan Airports Commission

Years ago, the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC) declared its vision is: ‘Providing your best airport experience’. To that end, MAC has been creatively determining strategies for how and where to provide enhanced services for not just the passengers, but for employees as well. By tapping into the passengers using the airport as well as the employees providing the service, the MAC formed a Customer Service Action Council (CSAC) to develop customer training, rewards programmes and a forum for discussing what MSP can do better to meet the needs for all. The MAC also tasked the airport development design teams to incorporate customer-centric amenities into construction wherever they can to ease stress, enhance joy and create a facility that is equitable to the endless variety of passengers and employees. These two strategies, coupled with an overall attitude of infusing customer service into all things, has created the opportunities MAC needed to elevate the quality of the MSP facilities and boost ASQ scores. Although disrupted with the 2020 COVID-19 turndown, the strategies resulted in a pre-COVID four-year run of ASQ’s Best Airport in North America award for airports in the 25−40m passenger category.
Keywords: Customer service, accessibility, strategies, modernisation, art, sustainability
An airport in need of a step change: Geneva Airport’s Terminal Ambition Plan
André Schneider, CEO, Geneva Airport, Joeri Aulman, Airport Planner & Project Manager and Peter Rieff, Airport Architect, NACO, Netherlands Airport Consultants

Geneva Airport is embarking on a revolutionary new programme to make its Terminal facilities future proof and aligned with the changes our industry is facing. Starting with a clean slate — thinking in opportunities, not only constraints — set the fundamentals for the feasibility study on phased implementation, given COVID-19 budget constraints. The journey that the airport and its consultant NACO undertook to reach this point is worth sharing with our industry partners.
Keywords: terminal, capacity, customer experience, smart phasing, operational feasibility
Research paper
Doing more with less: An assessment of capacity utilisation using stochastic frontier and spectral analysis models in the case of Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport
Tony Diana, Division Manager, Outreach (ANG-M2), Office of NextGen Stakeholder Collaboration and Messaging at Federal Aviation Administration

This study proposes a methodology to measure and compare the operational outcomes of airport capacity improvement programs before and after the implementation of improvement programmes at discrete periods at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport (ATL). In this analysis, the percentage of airport capacity utilised is a function of operations, total demand, taxi-out times and ceiling/visibility conditions. The outputs of a stochastic frontier model indicated that the mean technical efficiency slightly declined to 0.98 in the 2016 sample, down from 0.99 in both the 2012 and 2015 samples. The decline in technical efficiency, however, can be misleading. Moreover, the outcomes of spectral analysis indicated that ATL was able to reduce the amplitude and number of peaks per cycle in the 2016 sample compared with the other samples, which resulted in improved capacity utilised and on-time performance in a context of increasing operations.
Keywords: terminal, capacity, customer experience, smart phasing, operational feasibility
ACI World Update