Airport Operations with reference to Airlines, for the Basic Understanding for a Layman.

Mohammed Shariq Ibrahimi

Introduction

The airport operations departments have largely become a major part of the airport and back support for the airline which operates at the airport. Due to the extreme growth in the aviation industry and the increasing demand, the airports need huge manpower to operate them. In some cases almost half of the population working in the city just works for the airport, in a city population of around half a million (The Airport as an Operational system, Third Edition). By this we can understand the scale of the team required to operate the airport and how many operations might have been under functions to require this amount of staff. For instance, Atlanta is considered as one of the largest airports in the world as per annual passenger flow (The Global Airline Industry ).

What is the purpose and the aim of the operations team?

The airport operations are multiple in general. Therefore, we shall streamline which departments of the operations are more likely to be influential and are inclined towards customer satisfaction.

To begin with, airports have been recently developed in such a way that they are being admired by flyers all around the world. This has taken the aviation industry to such an extent that airports are being awarded for their design, technology, amenities and passengers satisfaction level by reputed organizations like Skytrax (Skytrax), referring to the size and location of the airports. Therefore, it's a key element on how the airport is designed in favour of the passengers comforts in the best ways possible.

The airlines and their staff which operate at the airport are the first point of contact for the customers/ passengers. To this reference, we can say that the image and satisfaction of the airline which is operating at that airport is important to build up to have a complete satisfactory operation flow till they take off from the airport. Also the airlines operating at the airports have to keep operational awareness and plan accordingly for letting the specific amount of people to fly by that specific flight on the specific time, reason, not causing airport chaos leading to further operational delays and starting a domino effect.

Behind the scenes – As a passenger, all we see is curb area, drop off area, the terminal building, duty free shops, entertainment areas, kids play area, hotels, meeting rooms and lounges and a bit of the ramp and the runway area, if you’re lucky to have a satellite transfer from the terminal building to the aircraft, otherwise you only see some parts of the ramp and the aircraft. But, there is a huge army working round the clock and on the tip of their toes to make the operation flow smoothly and keep it operating. These departments are airport security, baggage, catering, ramp operations and the heart of the operations, the AOCC (airport operations control center)(Xiaojia, Yeal, Bert, 2020)

Development in the Airport Operations

As talked about in the content above, how the aviation industry is flying high with the high demands for flights and demands for new airports at destination and also to expand the current airports, there is a high need to develop the airport operation methods, process and directives as per the standard requirements. To give a brief gist, the tech side of aviation has improved drastically as new software and hardware tools have been invented and innovated, to this extent that from taking off from an airport and landing at another can be completely done without the help of a pilot, basically complete autonomy.

The AI (Artificial Intelligence) has done wonders for the industry and changed the dynamics of airport operations and even the airlines. AI has enabled the operations to be done more

efficiently, preventing delays and other inconvenience. One example for the AI operations is how Lufthansa has used to ramp cameras to monitor the ground handling operations on the ramp to warn if any equipment is causing delay to be present or taking too long to operate, without a person physically being present near the ramp and monitor from an office in the AOCC (Airport Operations Control Center)(Lufthansa systems). Another example is how the AMS (Airport Management System) alerts if the size of the aircraft cannot be supported on the specific gate when a personal enters the data to a lot the parking positions from the control center, therefore making it easy for passengers embark and disembark the aircraft without causing delays in case the aircraft parks at wrong parking stand.

Current issues

To begin with, as I have stated above with developments in the tech side of the airports operations, these are just computers and systems and at times they too fail causing a chaos at the airports, resulting in to multiple delays and cancellations causing huge costs as penalties for the

airlines towards the airports as it affects other airlines to operate at that specific airport. One such event was the server failure of SkyWest airlines (Kirk O’Neil, Oct 23rd, TheStreet), which caused the airline more than anticipated. This indirectly led to passengers not preferring to fly with united airlines, in response to the unsatisfactory performance.

The recent times have been a roller coaster ride for the aviation industry all over the world, except for cargo operations. This basically was due to the COVID-19 pandemic which shook the world and other industries as well. And this has led to non- operable situations for the airports and airlines, because, while the pandemic was at its peak a huge amount of staff was laid off, and now, as the demand for aviation is almost at its pre-pandemic levels, the airports and airlines need the staff to operate it. Therefore there is a huge shortage of pilots, crew, ground handlers, baggage handlers, ramp equipment operators and staff to manage the landside operations of the airport. Which is a big concern for airports, and here, none of the passengers are happy or satisfied about this step, making them cancel the flights, choose long routes, pay more fares and moreover they are not being allowed to fly due to this shortage. For example, Lufthansa has made their flight fares so expensive that it's forcing passengers to choose alternative airlines, as Lufthansa does not have enough staff to operate, which naturally makes the passenger / customer dissatisfied, in turn putting the airline and the airport's operations at stake. (Steven Walker, Jul 02, 2022, Simple Flying)

How to solve it

In the previous discussion about the technical difficulties in server system failures, post to that incident there were very less cases resulting that to level of chaos, therefore, we understand that there is improvements in the safety and security of systems and procedures for making operations easier for airlines and airports and also making it easier for the passengers to pass through the airports without glitches. This has happened due to the increase in use of AI and other electronic systems, for example, using the passengers personal device (Mobiles or Tablets) consisting of online generated QR code for the passengers identity for passing through various checkpoints and self-check-ins. Developments in E-gates through immigrations makes things faster and easier, for the flow through long waiting lines at the passport control, giving passengers faster and easier mode to reach their gates hustle free. Indeed technological developments have been a key to solving various processes of airport operations. This system is slowly being introduced in the railway systems as well.

Communication holds the key to major airport operations, improper communications leads to much confusion, improvising and simplifying communication for the staff and for the passengers as well is a vital element. Providing proper an apt FIDS(Flight Information Display Systems) for easier updates about flight and check-in gates number, flight boarding numbers and easy and understandable sign boarding to follow along inside the airport to make the flight gates faster to reach, sometimes delays are also caused due to the passengers not being able to find their gates due to confusion.

But, with the improvements in tech and AI, the human touch also is key to make things a little more special, especially with a smile at the end. This is derived from the use of human psychology in aviation. Human psychology plays a major role in creating an element of satisfaction in the aviation industry generally and also individually and a passenger. Providing that extra finesse by the airport and the airline staff with their high standard hospitality, sometimes even their cultural nature which are hospitable and beautified with the way airport and airline staff present themselves is amazing. This elevates the margin of satisfaction, also increasing the levels of the passengers being pleased to travel though the airports.

Conclusion

With all this being discussed and shared about, it’s important to understand that the airports and the airlines walk hand in hand when we try discussing the satisfaction levels of the airport operations. There are also various factors that are hidden which are important to understand for the airport staff and even the airline staff, making it important to make them aware of, but, there are also passengers who need to understand that, sometimes things don’t happen as we want at the airport due to high frequency of operations. Adapting to new easier, faster and more practical ways to provide fine standard service to the passengers is important to stay up the satisfaction levels to compete with the other airports as well. Being prepared for the most unexpected also brings about a nature of flexibility towards the operations staff, as they are aware of how to act upon at difficult times.

Reference

● AI Artificial intelligence –(

https://www.futuretravelexperience.com/press-release/airlines-and-airports-are-now-emb racing-new-technologies-and-turning-to-artificial-intelligence-ai-to-support-their-custom er-service/)

● Kirk O’Neil, Oct 23rd, TheStreet –

(https://www.thestreet.com/investing/skywest-cancels-1600-flights-over-computer-server-i ssues)

● Lufthansa systems, -(

https://www.lhsystems.com/blog-entry/future-ramp-part-3-digitalize-your-turnaround-ma nagement)

● skytrax, (https://skytraxratings.com/ )

● Steven Walker, jul 02, 2022, Simple Flying –

(https://simpleflying.com/lufthansa-500-euro-london-tickets/#:~:text=Lufthansa%20has

%20significantly%20increased%20the,for%20the%20rest%20of%20July)

● The Airport as an Operational system, Third Edition, (Norman J. Ashford, H. P. Martin Stanton, Clifton A. Moore, Pierre Coutu, John E. Beasley)