ASCI 202 Assignment 7.3C Better Built PDF

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The concept of building the perfect, ideal airport is never easy. There are many limitations that rise when trying to come up with one, and as a result, it becomes harder for the idea to be perfectly visualized. As a result, the following paper has been created to address the issues that plague the ...

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Running Head: ASCI 202 Assignment 7.3C

7.3C Assignment ASCI 202 Introduction to Aeronautical Science Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University ASIA

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ASCI 202 Assignment 7.3C

2 Abstract

The concept of building the perfect, ideal airport is never easy. There are many limitations that rise when trying to come up with one, and as a result it becomes harder for the idea to be perfectly visualized. As a result, the following paper has been created to address the issues that plague the airports of today, as well as the solutions and ways of funding that can tackle them to envision the airports of tomorrow. keywords: airport, funding, limitations, solutions, funding

ASCI 202 Assignment 7.3C

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Building an airport is not easy in itself, so when an airport is established, there will eventually be a good number of flaws that will plague an airport, be it operationally, environmentally, or in any other way possible. There are a plethora of areas that can make the building of an ideal airport, and these include (but are not limited to) the financial aspect, the environmental aspect, the technological aspect, as well as other aspects which may not be mentioned here. For this paper, there will not be a set location in which this ideally perfect airport will be located. Rather, the problems which most of the world’s airports face today will be addressed, and there will be a number of solutions to tackle each problem. Using these, one can try to idealize where the ideal airport may be located, without having any explicit mention of where the airport would be located itself.

Issues Environment and Climate Change (Anis) Airports, while a place of joy for many as a start for an overdue vacation or a longdeserved break, the airports are also known to be an issue for communities living nearby because of the noise that aircraft jet engines produces when it is flying in and out every few minutes. Hong Kong is a city well-known for having aircraft noise issues because of limited land and high-density houses (SCMP, 2015), to mitigate the aircraft noise issues in Hong Kong, the Civil Aviation Department of Hong Kong decided to implement a series of noise measures recommended by the International Civil Aviation Organization to ensure that aircraft noise are controlled (CAD, n.d.); some of the measures taken include controlling aircraft traffic to follow a specific route after midnight, adopting a noise abatement take-off procedures and making it

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mandatory for airlines to abide by and restricting airlines from using aircraft that does not comply with the noise standards stipulated in Chapter 3 of the ICAO Volume 1, Part II of Annex 16 (CAD, n.d.). Aircraft noise, for one, is deafening to the ears, while it is an issue that needs rectifying, it brings about another greater issue regarding one’s health, research studies were conducted in the United Kingdom and the United States (Boseley, 2013), and results from the United Kingdom researchers have shown that people living in close vicinity to the airports who are constantly exposed to aircraft noises were linked to higher risks of diseases such as stroke, coronary heart disease and cardiovascular disease (Boseley, 2013), While researchers from the United States conducted a study with six million participants over the age of 65 living in the vicinity of 89 airports and found out that their risk of contracting diseases such as a stroke or cardiovascular disease increases by 3.5% with every increment of 10 decibels of noise (Boseley, 2013). Climate Change is a global issue that has been happening for decades, in aviation however, one of the major contributors are airplanes. Airplanes runs on fuel and when it is burned (Inman, 2016), it will release toxic pollutants into the atmosphere which will eventually be in the system of people simply by breathing (Inman, 2016), study shows that unregulated emissions from planes flying above 3,000 feet were responsible for the death of thousands and these emissions comprises of pollutants such as sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide among many others (Inman, 2016). Aircraft noise and climate change is affecting communities and people living near airports and hence, we will try to mitigate the issues surrounding aircraft noise and climate change by taking into consideration on the placement of our new airport.

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Solutions for Environment and Climate Change placement. We will place our airport in an area that is surrounded by nature and is considerably a comfortable distance from the nearest local community or residential area. This would allow for us to mitigate the issues of aircraft noise levels and lowering the risks of people getting contracted with diseases such as stroke. implement noise-proof barriers. We would ensure that our airport introduces and implements noise-proof barriers as a measure to tackle the prevailing noise issues that exists if any. Furthermore, having nature surrounding the airport, it would allow for aircraft noise to avoid disseminating to nearby communities. eco-friendly airport. The problem of aircraft emissions is one that requires time and research to mitigate. However, to help climate change, we will build an airport that is eco-friendly in a way that we will use recycled materials made from forests and use it as our base construction for our airport buildings, apart from that, we will power our airport by using solar-powered panels which will have the capability to store power for night use and in areas where there is a limited reach of sunshine, we will use energy-saving light bulbs, we will also implement the mandatory use of green eco-friendly vehicles that will emit less harmful pollutants in our airside areas and hence would also be one of the many ways that we will help to reduce the exposure of harmful pollutants into the atmosphere. Funding One of the ways that we can generate the funds to build an eco-friendly airport is by approaching the International Civil Aviation Organization with their Technical Cooperation Projects with the aim of helping developing nations with achieving sustainability in civil aviation

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(ICAO, n.d.). The International Civil Aviation Organization receives its funds from recipient governments, donor States, financing institutions and other development partners, including the aviation industry and the private sector and hence, with their funding, we will be able to build our airport from the ground up (ICAO, n.d.). Airport Layout (Hyun Jun) In the mid-20th century, people were rather new to air travel hence flying seemed exotic. Now, travelling has never been so common and accessible. While airports have been developing all around the world, there are still airports that look old and deteriorating. Airports such as Changi Airport and Incheon International Airport look sleek and modern while smaller airports in the United States might look old. In 2017, more than 4 billion passengers travelled by air (Aviation Insight, 2018). As the number of air travellers increase consistently, a few issues have been rising in the airport terminals. One of the main issues is the passenger flow in the airport terminals. Airport terminal is the main passengers building that has various services for passengers and airlines. The passenger flow in the terminal can be divided into three types; departure, arrival and transfer. The most important role and function of airport terminals involve transferring passengers from ground transportation to air transportation and vice versa (Bowen, n.d.).

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To prevent problems, airports are designed with 5 common terminal concepts; Pier, Linear, Transporter, Satellite and Compact Module Unit Terminal (ICAO, 2007). Pier terminal concept uses centralised resources such as facilities and amenities it is economical to build. However, the terminal has long walking distances and limited expansion capability hence it causes congested passenger flow. Linear terminals have shortest walking distances and simple constructions but they are less flexible for future operation changes. Transporter terminals are small and simple hence cost saving but they have early close-out times and have many kerbside congestion. Satellite terminals have centralised resources as well but have kerbside congestion and limited expansion capability at main terminal. Lastly, compact module unit terminals have short walking distances, longer kerb length and lower chance of baggage mishandling but has duplication of facilities and higher operating costs. In order to minimise issues, modern airports have developed hybrid layouts to maximise benefits of various terminals. Walking distance, level of service, ease of wayfinding and processing time must be considered carefully before building the airport to minimise passengers’ issues. Another important aspect of building great airports is having accessible and comfortable facilities. Taking the Changi Airport for instance, it has facilities such as airport lounges, wifi, shower, rest zones and a shopping mall-Jewel was built just beside as well (CAG, 2019). These facilities provide passengers or tourists with more options to spend their time while waiting for transfer or even before their flights. There are also kids corners and many restaurants for travellers to spend time during their delays.These measures not only boost the country’s impression, but also solve problem for congestion in the airport.

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Solutions for airport layout spatial planning. A smart spatial designing avoids positioning of physical objects that frustrate an efficient passenger flow. Objects such as chair and cordons make it harder for passengers to navigate themselves to their gates because they have to manoeuver with luggage.

signage. A poorly designed airport terminal usually has passengers who cannot navigate themselves as they are confused with the layout. Directions and instructions could be shown clearly and assistance should be easily accessible. Proper signage can guide passengers through the congestion. Dynamic information screens can show last-minute changes. This helps with passenger flow management.

hybrid terminal concept. There are 5 terminal concepts currently; Pier, Linear, Transport, Satellite and Compact Module Unit Terminal. In order to make the best terminal layout, a few concepts could be merged to form a hybrid terminal concept. The hybrid terminal concept focuses on beneficial factors. By adopting this concept, it provides large passengers processing capacity. It also allows easier facilitation of flow and orientation of passengers. Generally, this provides a higher level of services.

single terminal. From the passengers point of view, they expect and want airports filled with the latest technology and fancy facilities. Therefore, new airports could be made to be singleterminal. This is to minimise the distance to the departure gate and enhance passengers’

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experience at the airport with improved infrastructures. Long-haul travellers can enjoy their time at the airport hotel, spa or connected malls.

Funding Hybrid concepts and single terminal ideas could be implemented by collaborating with the International Civil Aviation Organization's Airport Planning and Terminal Department. The airport and ICAO can receive funds from governments, facility developing partners, airlines, ground handling services and even retail shops in the airports to help develop and improve on better airports. For example, the FAA has four fund accounts which are Operations, Facilities and Equipment, Research, Engineering & Development and Grants-In-Aid. The Airport Improvement Program (AIP) provides grants to public agencies — and, in some cases, to private owners and entities. Congestion (Rennil) Congestion is a huge problem for airports across the world. More than 200 airports are already operating at its maximum capacity for parking and runway availability, with more than 50 percent of those airports residing in Europe. By 2020, about 230 airports are predicted to be over capacitated. 20 European airports will be operating at or close to capacity by 2035, compared to three in 2012 (EuroControl,2013). The situation in Asia is more alarming. Jakarta’s Soekarno–Hatta International Airport had 52 million passengers passing through its terminals in 2013, 30 million more than what it was actually designed to handle. The passenger growth forecast handled by Indonesian airports is only growing, which can be seen in the figure below. Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport operated at almost 20 percent above its capacity in 2014. These alarming figures are supported by forecasts made that air travel demand in Asia will

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grow 4.9 percent annually, 0.8 percent higher than the global rate. Inefficient slot allocation and slower turnaround times for flights at airports are also big issues that contribute to airport congestion.

The problem is further exacerbated by airport curfews in effect at the destination airports which causes congestion issues at the origin airports. Changi Airport’s peak period is between 2200 hours and 0100 hours due to the high concentration of flights departing for Europe and Australia during that period. Most of these flights depart at that time because the airline has to balance desirable departure and arrival times with the various airport curfews in place. For example flights to Zurich from Singapore can only depart after 2300 hours local time so the flight does not reach Zurich before its curfew has been lifted at 0400 hours Zurich time. Flights to Sydney, Adelaide and the Gold Coast are also affected due to the curfews at those airports between 2300 hours and 0600 hours Australian time.

From a passengers perspective, the last thing they want is feeling stressed due to a congested airport. David Lewis, a neuropsychologist, claims that travellers passing through

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Heathrow airport face higher stress levels than riot police. Psychologist David Moxon carried out research into the issue and highlighted four key parameters that compound to make passengers more stressed at an airport. The first parameter is a lack of control. Passengers cited a lack of control as a stress factor. This could range from a technical issue found on the aircraft to bad weather which causes a delay of the flight in both cases. These circumstances are out of the control of passengers and they feel that this causes them stress.

The second parameter is a busy environment, which is constituted in this research study as coming into contact with an unexpectedly large number of people. This is a prevailing condition in congested airports. There are a multitude of factors that could affect this parameter. Some examples include the cancellation of flights due to adverse weather conditions such as volcanic or snowstorms which can bring many airports to their knees all at once, causing severe congestion not just at airports within the region itself but on a larger scale. An example to highlight this issue was the eruption of an Icelandic volcano in 2010. The volcanic eruption did not just affect the airspace in the region but also the western and northern regions of Europe. All flights in those regions had to be grounded. Flights from other parts of the world heading to those regions also had to be grounded thus the impact was on a larger scale. Another example would be poor airport planning, whereby the airport is constantly congested as its operating above its maximum capacity without supplementary terminals being developed quickly enough to cope with the demand.

The third parameter would be time deadlines, whereby passengers are rushing to check in for their flights or rushing to board their flight before the gate closes. The fourth parameter is accumulation effects. These occur when the passengers are already stressed before coming to the

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airport, such as getting lost on the way to the airport or being unable to find a car park at the airport. All these stress parameters are amplified in already congested airports. While the relation between congestion and stress can be intuitively accurate, there has been a growing relationship between congestion and increasing passenger air fares. This can be explained in the image below.

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Congestion Solutions From a passenger’s point of view, this seems like a sucker punch. They have to put up and deal with the stress inflicted on them by congested airports and they are “rewarded” with higher air fares. Congestion is more than just a problem with time management. Congestion is the most glaring result of poor operational efficiency at an airport. There are solutions to help mitigate the effects of the problems surrounding airport congestion and the emotional and monetary stress it places on passengers.

The first solution would be implementing an integrated approach. One of the reasons as to why the airport is congested is because prevailing systems and technology fail to possess the fluidity needed to handle unforeseen problems. This problem usually arises from an ineffective communication infrastructure coupled with procedural inefficiencies. An integrated approach minimises congestion issues by synergising ATC infrastructure with airport management systems to function hand in hand to eradicate inefficiencies and the knock on effects due to congestion. Such approaches can be outsourced from companies such as the National Air Traffic Services. Major airports dealing with huge passenger and aircraft movements within the aerodrome and airspace would find this a costly but imperative necessity. Countries such as Singapore have invested over S$300 million in such systems. Managing the airspace and aerodrome safely and efficiently comes at a cost. Such investments are needed to ensure safety and prevent obsolescence in the airport management systems.

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Effective slot allocation and reducing aircraft turnaround times are also viable solutions. Proper slot allocation would help reduce congestion at the airports. Taking into account airport curfews and spreading out high passenger volume flights throughout the day instead of clustering them during a certain time period would help ease the congestion problems in an airport. Airlines would also play their part by offering more appealing prices for their flights departing during less desirable periods of the day. Better slot allocation also reduces congestion in the surrounding areas such as the kerbside, given the larger number of passengers making their way to the airport to catch their long flight on a wide bodied aircraft.

As for reducing turnaround times, there are various factors that contribute to it. One factor that would affect it would be the delivery of the Unit Loading Devices (ULD) filled with the check in luggage of the passengers. Most airports have central collection areas for the ULDs used for passenger luggage. The ULDs filled with the luggage are picked up from a central collection point by the ground handlers and then transported to the aircraft. This process takes time. One way to save some time on this process would be to make it more automated. The Baggage Handling System (BHS) used could be expanded and have all the checked baggage from the check in counters be transported by the BHS all the way to the individual gates instead of a centralised collection area. Once the baggage reaches the gate, it can be placed in the ULDs and loaded onto the aircraft, saving more time than having someone pick the ULDs up from a collection poin...