Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Pax Ops 3
01 February 2019
Presented By Gordon McJannett
Register here:
https://bit.ly/2CECjGW
EEC Futures Careers Fair
Wednesday 13th February (12pm-3pm)
EC1-29, Ground & First Floor of ECB
Open to all EEC Students, all year groups. Dress code: Business attire.
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Passenger Transportation - People Movers
• Origin largely dates back to the
introduction of wide bodied aircraft
• Larger aircraft = more
apron/stand space
larger terminals
• Airline economics required
increased aircraft utilisation
shorter turn round times
Ashford (2013); Kazda & Caves (2015)
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Growth of terminal buildings
• Growth in the size of individual terminal buildings and development
of multi terminal airport operations
some much longer distances potentially to be covered by pax
getting to/from gates
and at hub airports, connecting times between flights need to
be minimised.
Ashford (2013); Kazda & Caves (2015)
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REMINDER
Recommended walking distances
15
Kazda & Caves 2016:268
People Movers
• All this resulted in the introduction of passenger transportation within
many airport terminals
• But not all e.g. LCC
• Not always essential, e.g. pax numbers <5mppa
• Also, any system costs money
• Capital investment to purchase & install
• Operational costs to run and maintain it, especially to an acceptable level of
service
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Factors determining choice of a suitable system?
• You are the management of an airport • Speed
which has decided to expand the size of • Capacity
the terminal considerably.
• Safety & Security
• You recognise that the layout of the • Transportation distance or vertical
expanded facility will require provision of level separation
a ‘people mover’ facility. • Required frequency
• Reliability
• What factors do you need to consider in • Ease of use by PRMs
deciding on the correct type of people • Ease of use if carrying baggage
mover facility?
• What are the different types of system you • Maintenance requirements
might choose? • Procurement & operational costs
• 5 minutes Kazda & Caves 2015:299
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Buses
Lifts/elevators
Escalators
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Wayfinding
• The ability to find one’s way between the various processing points.
• Involves 2 different functions:
• Information processing
• Decision making
• Passengers’ ability may be influenced by previous experience or
knowledge of the route.
• Frequent travellers may be more familiar with the layout and routes within a
terminal
• Inexperienced travellers or those who have never passed thru a particular
terminal may require more information
Kazda & Caves 2015:290
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Types of Information
• Directional guidance
• Flight information & other guidance
• Includes information on the location of various facilities
• Objectives:
• Assist pax find their way to the airport
• Once in the airport, assist pax to pass thru the terminal to reach the correct
gate at the right time
• Both with the minimum of difficulty & uncertainty
Ashford 2013:242
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Wayfinding
• Starts with assistance on how to access the airport
• Requires liaison with the local governmental authority who is
responsible for the local road network
21
How detailed does the highway signage need to be?
23
Wayfinding
• Once within the airport boundary, the airport will be responsible for the
road network and the associated signage
• How to find specific locations within the airport
Houston 24
Terminal wayfinding
• Lack of adequate wayfinding ability will potentially increase
• the average time taken to move from A-B
• Congestion levels within the terminal
• May also increase uncertainty on the part of the pax, and hence
increase their stress levels.
• Ideal design is a direct line-of-sight progress in a straight line from
check-in to aircraft
• May be possible in a relatively very small scale operation
• But a different proposition in even a medium sized terminal processing
several mppa.
Kazda & Caves 2015:290
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Information Points
• Most commonly found in the
departures areas
• Can supply much more info than
is available on visual displays.
• Can be of great use to those pax
who cannot use the automatic
systems.
26
Automatic Information & Wayfinding
28
Heathrow Airport Ltd (n.d.)
Signage
• When more complex routes thru the terminal are necessary , an
efficient signage system is essential
• Different types of communication have and are still used
• Verbal announcements
• Flip board displays
• VDU flat screens
• IATA & ICAO have recommended symbols to be used as far as possible
in place of words
• Signs can be
• Static
• Dynamic (check-in, boarding gates, baggage reclaim)
Kazda & Caves 2015:292
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Signage
• Lettering & background colours on signs should be coordinated to
maximise legibility
• Dark letters on a light background (e.g. black letters on yellow background)
• Light letters on a dark background (e.g. dark blue on white).
IMO/ICAO (1995)
• Issues
• Text is not always interpreted in the same way by everyone
• Likewise symbols are not always interpreted correctly (e.g. up arrow = straight
ahead or change level?)
• Cultural differences
• Emotional state can lead to wayfinding problems
Kazda & Caves 2015:292
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Signage contd.
• Sign clutter should be avoided
• Differentiating wayfinding from other signs
• Preserving signage visibility in crowded buildings with low ceilings
• Assisting pax who need to back track
• Balancing need to earn revenue from advertising signage against
possibility that may distract pax from wayfinding signs.
Kazda & Caves 2015:291
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32
PRM
(Persons with Reduced Mobility)
• Legal Background:-
– ICAO Chicago Convention Annex 9 Facilitation
– Doc 9984: Manual on Access to Air Transport by Persons with
Disabilities (2013)
– EU REGULATION (EC) No 1107/2006
• ICAO and EU Definitions are almost identical.
PRM Definition
• "Disabled person" or "person with reduced mobility": any person
whose mobility when using transport is reduced due to:
– any physical disability (sensory or locomotory, permanent or
temporary),
– intellectual disability or impairment,
– or any other cause of disability, or age,
– and whose situation needs appropriate attention and the adaptation to
his or her particular needs of the service made available to all
passengers.
• Source EU: Regulation (EC) No 1107/2006
PRM’s Basic Rights
• PRMs should have the same access to air travel as everyone
else
• Scope: arrival at airport of departure → leaving airport of
destination
• Entitled to assistance from trained personnel, free of charge
• Information on assistance to be provided
Source EU (2019)
PRM Access to Airports
• EU REGULATION (EC) No 1107/2006
• PRMs have same rights to free movement and transport
mode choice
• Assistance to meet PRMs’ needs is to be provided at the
airport and on board the aircraft, using the necessary staff
and equipment.
• In the interests of social inclusion, PRMs should receive this
assistance without charge.
• Designated pick-up/drop-off points
– Main entrances to terminals
– Any areas with check-in counters
– In train/metro/bus/light rail stations, taxi drop off points, car parks
• The assistance to be organised to avoid disruption or delay
• Overall responsibility rests with the airport…
• … but the airport can supply the service in-house or
subcontract to a suitable, qualified third party
Source European Union 2006
PRM Access to Airports contd.
• Cost of PRM service provision is to be spread equitably
across all airport users, not just the PRMs
– Any charge levied against airlines should be charged to
all of them, proportionate to their traffic levels, and
must be transparent.
• Training of PRM staff should be in accordance with ECAC
(European Civil Aviation Conference) rules.
• Design of new terminals, or refurbishment of existing ones
must take account of PRMs’ needs
• Essential travel info provided to all pax, must be available in
appropriate, alternative formats to PRMS, and in the same
language as supplied to other pax.
• Loss of damage to wheelchairs and other mobility
equipment should be compensated using recognised
international, legal schemes.
PRM Access to Air Services
• Equivalent access to air services
• New aircraft: conform to accessibility standards
• Disability aids: free of charge in cabin or as priority baggage
• Service animals: free of charge in cabin at seat
• Source ICAO 2014
PRM/Special Assistance
EC 1107/2006 Annex 1 outlines the detailed assistance under the responsibility of
the managing bodies of airports
Infants/children:
Baby changing/bottle- warming/feeding facilities for ‘carers’ (unisex)/sponsored
play-care centres (airside), children’s menus in catering outlets, highchairs, baby-
care purchase items (liquid baby food-security measures)
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PRM/Special Assistance
For deaf/hard of hearing
TDD (Telecommunication Device for the Deaf) service on public pay phones & at
customer service points or Public phones with sound boosters
Visual paging systems displaying text systems of audible announcements
High contrast FIDs – Flight Info Displays or Audio Flight messaging systems –
‘silent terminals’
PRM video
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-L_ZSfRodYE
Boarding
• Departure lounges
– In general need to be large enough to accommodate:-
• the number of pax expected
• The essential facilities associated with processing the pax, such as…?
– Floor space
– Seating
– Information on gates and flight status
– Toilets
– Telephones
– Access routes to boarding gates
– Catering
– Retail
Gates
• Boarding gates can either be structured as:
– Gate rooms
– Shared, open space
• What’s best? A balance to be struck between:
– Airline’s desire to have pax as early at the gate as possible
– Perception by pax that a gate room is keeping them corralled in a
small space (with limited facilities) for a long time.
Kazda & Caves (2015)
Advantages/Disadvantages?
Enclosed Gate Room Open Space
• offers the potential to check the pax • Allows pax to spread out over a larger
on entry to the room area
– Can expedite boarding once it commences – May reduce congestion around the gate,
• Keeps the pax close to the gate especially when boarding starts
• Might make PA calls more effective • Construction costs are lower (fewer
partitions/walls)
• Might help reduce congestion in the
main departure lounge • But…
• But… • Pax are liable to be spread over a wider
area
• Is the room large enough for the flight?
• PA calls may not be as easily audible
• Might the room feel overcrowded?
further away from the gate
• How effectively can the pax be
marshalled once boarding starts?
• What amenities are there in the room?
Gate facilities
• The gate needs a counter and relevant IT for airline staff to use,
when boarding starts
• Toilet facilities should be provided either nearby, or even within the
gate lounge (e.g. if used for transit pax)
• Electrical sockets for use by pax e.g. for IT or Smart phone charging
• If there is a change of level between the gate room and the
airbridge, suitable walkways should be provided.
– Escalators should NOT be used
• Use of an enclosed room offers the potential to check the pax on
entry to the room
– Can expedite boarding once it commences
Self service Boarding Gates
• For example, introduced by BA at
T5/LHR in June 2017
• A digital facial scan of the customer
is recorded when they travel
through security.
• When they arrive at the gate, pax
scan their own boarding pass
• Their face is matched with the scan
taken at security
• If everything matches they are
allowed through to board the
aircraft.
BA (2017)
Border Control
3 kinds of Borders in Europe:
• Between EU states & third countries
• Between pairs of countries within EU – free movements of goods, passenger movement
inspected
• Between countries within EU that have signed Schengen Agreement – treated as Domestic
movements
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/com
mon-travel-area-cta/common-travel-area-cta
Source:
http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/home-affairs/what-we-do/policies/borders-and-
visas/schengen/index_en.htm
Immigration & Emigration Control
• Depends on local laws & regulations
• Some countries have emigration control, i.e. you go thru
passport control to LEAVE the country, e.g. Hong Kong, UAE
• Normally, immigration controls will apply to anyone entering a
country.
– As a minimum, passport check + visa, where applicable
– Airports will have to provide the necessary facilities (checking &
queuing areas, interview suites, detention areas, offices) at the
AIRPORT’s expense
– Where pax with different immigration status are being processed, then
facilities will have to be structured accordingly.
• E.g. domestic/international; Schengen/non-Schengen
Control Procedures
• Normally conducted by a government agency
• May be a manual check of passport & visa (if appropriate)
• May involve electronic reading of passports (airports to supply
supporting infrastructure)
• Biometric passports now becoming standard issue, but airports
have to provide space for the equipment
Special measures
• Schengen
– Airports within the Schengen area need to account for passengers
may be travelling to/from
• Another Schengen area
• UK or RoI (EU, but not Schengen)
• Completely outside both EU & Schengen areas
- That may mean border control posts in locations other than the
‘normal’ location within the terminal
Customs Control
– Applies to goods/property carried by pax
– Similar in principle to Immigration controls
– Checks will normally be conducted by a national government
agency
– Countries usually have restrictions on what sort of goods can be
brought into the country
• Some goods are banned
• Some goods may be subject to payment of duty and taxes
• Often depends on where the goods are coming from
– But airport has to provide similar facilities within the terminal to
those required by Immigration authorities.
Banned or Restricted Goods
UK banned goods include: Some goods are restricted
•illegal drugs - like firearms, explosives and
•offensive weapons, for example flick ammunition (a special licence is
knives required to bring them in to the UK.)
•self-defence sprays, for example
pepper spray and CS gas Some food and plant products are also
•endangered animal and plant species restricted if they:
•rough diamonds •are not free from pests and diseases
•indecent and obscene materials •are not for your own use
•personal imports of meat and dairy •were not grown in the EU
products from most non-EU countries Gov.uk (n.d.)
Airports’ Responsibilities - Pax
• ICAO Annex 9 Facilitation
• Standard 6.21 calls for:
– contracting states to provide adequate control channels to clear
inbound pax and crew with the minimum of delay
– Additional channels to deal with complicated cases without delaying
the main flow of pax
ICAO 2011
HKG Grid
map in
HKG EOC AOCC
Exercise Time
• Working in groups, you are the staff who man a major
airport’s AOCC
• Which organisations or departments in the airport will
either be based in the AOCC or with whom the AOCC will
be in constant communication?
• What activities would you expect to be monitoring
routinely?
• What sort of situations or activities might the AOCC have a
coordination function to perform (excluding serious
emergency incidents)?
– For example. The AOCC receives telcall from one of the handling
agents who man a block of 15 check-in desks for a major airline
client
– The baggage belt system has broken down
– What are you (the AOCC) going to do?
Glidepath Group (2013)
Possibilities
• Contact baggage control
• Dispatch baggage engineers to investigate.
• [They report system will be down for 30 mins
whilst this is rectified. Now what?]
• Assess impact on the flights currently
checking-in
– How many flts
– How many pax still to process?
– Can check-in be transferred to other desks?
• Is the check-in software at other desks compatible with
the airline’s reservation system?
• Where are these desks?
Possibilities contd.
• Liaise with the airline/handling agent
– Prioritise check-in of relevant flts?
– Manual check-in?
– Liaise with baggage handlers in the make-up area
• Liaise with terminal customer services staff
Ashford
2013:509
AOCC Coordination Function
• …a central role of the AOCC
• Centralised operational decision making in one
location
• AOCC is constantly fed data on airport activities
• Coordination function objectives:-
– Highly efficient coordination by reducing response
times and increasing quality of intervention
– Provide management with real-time info
– Optimise utilisation of facilities
– Supply public and stakeholders with adequate flight
and baggage info
How does the AOCC achieve this coordination
function?
• Coordination of all services engaged in the
processing of passengers, freight, and aircraft
• Coordination of maintenance activities as they
relate to the operation of critical systems and
facilities
• Coordination of the action of police, security,
and emergency forces in accordance with
operational needs
• Supervision of the control of access to the
airside and other restricted areas
• Ashford 2013:510
How does the AOCC achieve this
coordination function? #2
• Enforcement of all operational procedures, e.g.
– The airport emergency plan,
– Snow control program (when applicable)
• Relay of information between terminal services units
- dissemination of action directives from management to
operations personnel
• Update of information
– status displays
– collection of airline seasonal flight schedules for preplanning the
assignment of airport facilities
– supervision of the real-time assignment of common-use facilities,
– monitoring of the flight and baggage-delivery display systems
• Ongoing analysis of the impact of current and anticipated
flight and passenger activity levels on operational systems
• Ashford 2013:510
What will determine whether an airport sets up an
AOCC?
• What do you think?
• Kazda, A & Caves, RE (2015) Airport Design and Operation 3rd edn. Bingley: Emerald Group
• LamasaTech Ltd (2018) Interactive Information Kiosk [[online] available from
https://www.lamasatech.com/solutions/interactive-information-kiosk/ (30Jan2019)