Introduction
All of the procedures performed at an airport to make sure a journey runs smoothly are referred to as airport services. These amenities cover the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), gateways operators, and other services offered by airports. Efficient airport operations ensure that various people arrive at their destinations safely. Air travel is a reasonably diversified industry with a wide range of options. Airport operations are divided into four major categories; billing and invoicing, information management, airside operations, and landside operations, which are crucial to the productive operation of an airport. Without an aviation operations team, numerous missed flights, ineffective security checks, and general commotion would occur.
The goal of the airport operations department is to maximize the effectiveness of the overall airside environment. The passenger experience at the airport depends heavily on landside operations (Kumar, 2020). Billing and invoicing personnel deal with both aviation and non-aeronautical income. Airport finances can be found in the ledger or accounting systems, including flight bills, processing invoices, currency, sales at terminal sales outlets, and personnel payrolls. Information management personnel record seasonal and arrival/departure dates and keep tabs on the relationship with airlines. This division plays a crucial role in the management of travel plans as well as the punctuality of flights arriving and departing. Without appropriate management of airports, congestion problems would interfere with the smooth running of the airlines.
The Challenge
Reducing traffic in large airports is the main issue facing aviation. Current airport infrastructure is far more limited to handling the enormous volume of passengers and cargo, especially at hub airports. Most nations cannot expand their airports for various reasons such as limited customer facilities, restricted airline facilities, minimal freight facilities, and development issues. The desire for air transportation is rising quickly, particularly in the Asia-Pacific area. The total growth pace of air transportation consumption in China and India is 7%, which is 2% higher than the global average (“World Air Transport Statistics,” 2021). As a result, numerous large airlines have increased and continue to increase their operations in these developing regions. Several passengers cannot be accommodated in passenger facilities like check-in desks and departure lounges. Long delays like these, especially during rush hour, put passengers through pain and sometimes even cause planes to be canceled. However, this issue has been lessened at some sizeable, larger airports, including Hong Kong ones. The enormous fleet of aircraft that uses airports at any given moment exceeds the capacity of airline infrastructures like runways and slots.
Most airports house their passenger and freight operations under one roof. Several airports are having issues managing two separate services at once because it causes the attention and business goals to be diverted. Since the global air freight growth rate is accelerating along with the demand for air travel, this issue of disorganized airport operations is becoming more critical, especially in developing nations. Although airport expansion is a potential remedy for the lack of capacity and amenities at airports, this option is frequently not viable. It takes more space to increase an airport’s cargo capacity, adds more runways and slots, and provides all the facilities that modern travelers expect. In some instances, airport development will bring airport infrastructure nearer to public housing, schools, and hospitals, worsening noise issues.
High Capacity Movement of Passengers Via Airport Terminals
Airports use Airport Ground Access System to facilitate passengers’ movement over airport terminals where passenger dispensation facilities are located quickly and efficiently. Private cars, public transport systems, and non-motorized means are the three main transportation modes under which airport ground accessibility can be categorized. For instance, most people prefer rental cars when going to the airport during departure. These transport facilities are excellent because they provide passengers with the most luxury, convenience, personal protection, and dependability. Still, mobile lounges are great systems for disembarking and boarding passengers from aircraft. However, the evolution of airport operations resulted in their failure since they held a limited number of passengers due to their limited seats.
The airport facilities required to facilitate transportation include runways, taxiway bridges, cargo facilities, passenger terminals, air traffic control buildings, hangars, refueling facilities, and landscaping facilities. Airport facilities ensure a smooth operation by ensuring a smooth arrival and departure of people and luggage (Booranakittipinyo et al., 2021). Ground transport policy is essential for long-term airline growth, even though airport design is more frequently associated with landings and facilities. Numerous transportation modes, such as airport ground access systems, automobiles, cabs, metro rail, buses, and high-speed rail, may be used by passengers to reach an airfield. These modes are designed systems for people, working areas, and goods. Various designs are included in the current airport terminals for effective airport operations. These designs include linear designs, available aprons, satellite and pier designs, small pier, and transporter designs.
Approach
Airports can eliminate or prevent airport congestion using the airport demand management strategy. This solution would primarily apply to car parks, the handling of passengers, and the assignment of aircraft entrances on the airline’s landside. Extra parking amenities could be built outside the airbase and attached to the port through a circulation, like using shuttle buses, if the capacity of the airport’s parking facilities is inadequate to meet the requirement and cannot be enlarged effectively within the airline’s boundaries. Delivering boarding licenses to locations where commuters’ supplies and vacation spots are focused is the main component of processing passengers outside the airport. It includes commuters to the airport to finish last-minute flight preparations. If there are not enough places for passengers to board or disembark, using specialized vehicles to transport them between terminals could manage the demand.
Rationale
Airport demand management limits the disparities between need and supply at congested airports by formalities to reduce air traffic jams. It is a vital topic as air travel demand rises and airports grow more crowded. Demand management improves airline productivity by more efficiently handling passenger numbers through policy, innovation, and administrative measures, as opposed to improving performance by creating more supply or infrastructure (Cavusoglu & Macário, 2021). Facility management is unquestionably essential to ensuring that operations at the airport run smoothly. By providing regular services typical to the customer, airports hope to uphold a good reputation and keep their patrons pleased.
Conclusion
Planes became the most widely used mode of transportation for travelers as the aircraft industry developed. Hence, the airfields’ capacity prevents planes from handling the enormous traffic volume typical of most modern world airport crowding in the aircraft industry. Airport congestion poses significant challenges to the smooth operations of the airport. Therefore, creative approaches to managing large numbers of passengers, such as airport demand, should be used to maximize the airports’ efficiency.
References
Booranakittipinyo, A., Phakdeephirot, N., & Phuchong, N. (2021). Passenger Experiences of Airport Service Quality at Don Mueang International Airport. RICE Journal of Creative Entrepreneurship and Management, 2(2), 1-23. Web.
Cavusoglu, S. S., & Macário, R. (2021). Minimum delay or maximum efficiency? Rising productivity of available capacity at airports: Review of current practice and future needs. Journal of Air Transport Management, 90, 101947.
Kumar, M. (2020). Investigation of Finance Investments in Deoghar Airport Infrastructure. Web.
World Air Transport Statistics. Iata.org. (2021). Web.