Airport Technology of the Future

Airport Operation

Challenges for airports today: Moving large groups of people

Airports today are more heavily-trafficked than ever before. This places an unprecedented burden on airport terminals to move people from point A to point B. Efficiency is essential. Modernized airports have been forced to cope with these challenges in unique ways to improve passengers' experiences safely and to expedite their movement for their own sake and the sake of the airport. However, for every problem solved by these new conveniences, problems may arise regarding their use. There is no universal prescription for every airport as to the 'right' way to transport people. But this is still an essential component of good customer service. Without crowd control, flight delays are inevitable. Furthermore, in the case of emergency situations, people must be able to be moved as quickly as possible to safety. The multifaceted, multi-component nature of most modern airports, with a wide variety of terminals and flight types necessitates careful negotiation of a great deal of 'sprawl.'

Automated People Movers

Automated People Movers take the form of trains that can move people quickly between different terminals, along with their luggage. Washington Dulles, one of the busiest airports in America, has an Automated People Mover (APM) underground train and passenger walkway system that connects the airport to three of its major concourses. "Its purpose: to keep people moving efficiently through the terminal of this burgeoning hub while the airport rapidly expands. The annual growth rate at Dulles is 25.7%, compared to 2.9% at other airports throughout the country" ("Moving people," 2005). The conveyance is specifically constructed of extruded aluminum and rubber tires to minimize wear and tear. People movers have also been adopted at Miami International Airport, in Japan and many other Asian cities and airports. The downside is that these people movers are expensive and must need to be operated on a regular basis to ensure that people are not waiting around for the next train. The investment to create a people mover is considerable, but the savings in terms of time and cost as well as the increased attractiveness of the airport due to enhanced efficiency should not be minimized.

Travelators

However, there is also a need to move people quickly within terminals, not between them. Travelators or moving conveyor belts, combined with escalators, are another popular technique to accomplish this objective. Yet while travelators are increasingly popular and sophisticated in their design, some time-motion studies indicate that they are not as efficient as one might hope. "Researchers have found that using the travelator at airports, especially at busy times, can actually slow you down because people reduce their walking pace on the human conveyor belts and cause blockages….time gained even without any congestion is minimal and when you add extra people you would be better off walking unaided" (Alleyne 2009). In other words, simply encouraging people to walk through interconnected passageways may be more efficient, provided they are able-bodied. Providing additional assistance in the form of mechanized wheelchairs or individual conveyances might be more effective to transport those with mobility issues vs. The expense of entirely restructuring the airport.

A further issue with travelators is safety. Although defended by proponents as enhancing the safety of the elderly and passengers weighted down by packages, statistical evidence indicates they may actually cause injuries, "they often catch out tired and elderly travellers who find it difficult to maintain balance coming off and on the moving pathway. They can also disorientate drunken passengers and those loaded down with luggage" (Alleyne 2009). The London Underground travellator has been linked to 933 injuries from their use Alleyne 2009). At Rome's Tiburtina station, a prominent university professor was crushed to death when "after a travelator collapsed and she was pulled into the cog wheels" and at Boston Airport, a drunken sushi chef Francisco Portillo died "after getting his head stuck" in a subway escalator during a fall (Alleyne 2009). Unfortunately, these freak accidents are not as 'freakish' as one might hope, given existing statistical evidence and coupled with their limited efficacy in actually facilitating speedy travel, using travelators should give airports pause.

Buses