CASE STUDY

The Project of the Re-Opening of

Vienna’s Premium City Airport

Enterprise Modelling-Prof. Xavier Boucher

History of the Aspern Airfield

The Aspern airfield is a small airport in the northern part of Vienna. Its history dates back to
the 19th century where it was one of the first airports at that time. In the year 1880 the first
flight experiment took place at the Aspern airfield. In 1912 the airport Vienna Aspern airport
(VAA) was constructed. At that time it was the largest
and most up-to-date airport in Europe. The opening
ceremony was held on the 23rd June 1912 with a
participation of more than 50.000 official visitors and
about 6.000 automobiles and carriages. Despite the
joy and happiness that accompanied this ceremony
three accidents overshadowed the event – nothing
unusual for the flight industry at that time. The main
purpose of the Vienna Aspern Airport was its role as
the point of departure for the postal flight route from
Figure 1: Flight Event at Aspern airfield
Vienna over Lviv (Lemberg) to Kiev. Besides the airport
facilities there was also a flight school and a museum that contained exhibits of the first
planes that took off at VAA. After the opening ceremony several other flight events were
held at Aspern. During one of these events – that last one before the First World War – the
message about the assassination of the Austrian heir apparent Franz Ferdinand was made
public. During the war the Aspern airport was an important post of the Austrian airforce. It
was at Aspern were the Austrian pilots
were trained and the new planes were
adopted. After the First World War the
airport lost importance for some years.
In 1920 the airport was upgraded and
re-gained an important position in the
international air traffic. The highlight of
this time was the landing of a LZ 127
zeppelin aircraft that attracted
hundreds of visitors (see figure 2).
During the Second World War the

airport was again used for military Figure 2: Landing of a zeppelin at Aspern in 1937
purposes and was therefore a main
target in the end phase of the war. In 1945 during the occupation of the Western Allies the
Russian headquarters were set up in Aspern. When Austria regained full independence by
concluding the Austrian State Treaty with the Four Occupying Powers, the Aspern airfield
was taken over by the Austrian Aero Club. Since then the field was used for the training of
pilots and sky divers. Due to the foundation and continuous enlargement of the international
airport in Schwechat (20 km South-East of Vienna) the Aspern airport lost attention and was
finally closed on the 1st May 1977.
Figure 3: Tower of Aspern airfield after the 2nd Figure 4: Sky view of Aspern Airfield
World War

The Project Vienna Aspern Airport 2012

In the last years the passenger volumes of the airports in the Vienna region have constantly
increased. This includes the increase both at the Vienna International Airport (VIE) in
Schwechat as well as the Bratislava Airport (see figures 5 and 6). A large number of
passengers at the Vienna International Airport in Schwechat are transfer passengers and a
considerable amount of passengers uses Schwechat as the point of departure to Eastern
European countries. These developments have led to the extension of the VIE airport and

1-7/2008

Figure 5: Passenger volumes Vienna International Airport 1-7/2008

the building of a new terminal (Project Skylink). This new terminal will extend the capacity
of the VIE airport to 24 Mio. passengers per year. The total costs for this project amount to
EUR 657 Mio. Despite these extensions the idea came up that due to the large increases of
passenger volumes an additional airport in the Vienna region could be a success. However,
both the Vienna International Airport and the Bratislava Airport are well established on the
market. A new market entrant would therefore have to find innovative and economically
well justified ways for differentiating itself from the two big players. The major dimensions
where airports can offer additional benefits to their customers are seen in the quality of the
passenger-related processes as well as innovative ways for reducing the amount of overhead
costs for the airlines.

Number of passengers 2001 - 2008

350.000

300.000

250.000
2001
2002
200.000 2003
2004
2005
150.000 2006
2007
2008
100.000

50.000

Figure 6: Development of passenger volumes for Bratislava Airport

Figure 7: Comparison of Eastern Europe destinations and frequencies – Summer 2007

 1258000

Figure 8: Passenger volumes at Bratislava Airport

Figure 9: Three major airports in the Vienna region (Source: Google Maps)
Process descriptions
In the project Vienna Aspern Airport 2012 the traditional passenger-related processes shall
be re-engineered in an innovative way to increase the speed of processing the passenger
handling, from the check-in counters to the final boarding of the aircraft. For this purpose
the existing processes need to be represented and analyzed. Traditionally the first process
where a customer interacts with facilities of an airport is at the time of check-in. When the
passenger arrives at the check-in counter he or
she has to wait until a counter is available. The
waiting time depends on the time of day and the
destination of the passenger. Usually, the check-
in for flights within the Schengen area (60% of
the flights) can be processed faster than for
international flights. The flight tickets are today
either available as electronic tickets (on a credit
card or a frequent flyer card) or as paper tickets.
Figure 10: Check-in agent handling a paper
ticket If the passenger can show all relevant documents
(ID, ticket) at the check-in counter the check-in agent has to verify the information by
accessing the central passenger host application (CPHA). This CPHA application is running on
the main server (MS) of the airport. It is also connected to the world-wide Amadeus system
(http://www.amadeus.com/) where all passenger-related data and the booking data are
stored. If the ticket is in electronic form the agent uses the electronic card reader to enter
the passenger information, if it’s in paper format the data has to be entered manually
(duration about 1:30 min).

In about 10% of the cases where the data is entered manually one or more type errors occur
so that a correction is required (duration about 1 min). The CPHA system then returns the
passenger data and the check-in agent asks the passenger for her/his seating preferences.
However, in about 1 % of all passenger requests at check-in the passenger data cannot be
accessed by the system (either due to maintenance of the
Amadeus system or an error during the booking stage) and
in 3 % of all cases the flight is over-booked. The passenger
then has to contact the airline counter and leave the check-
in process. After the passenger has confirmed his or her
seating preferences the agent enters the information in the
CPHA. If a passenger wants to check-in baggage (which
occurs in 70% of all cases), the baggage has to be weighed
(Duration approx. 2 min.). A local computer application is
used for baggage weighting. If the flight is an international Figure 11: Premium check-in counters at
VIE
flight the allowed limit is 30kg, for domestic and European
flights it is only 20 kg. If the limit is exceeded (occurrence: about 10%) the passenger is asked
whether she/he likes to pay the additional fee. A specific computer interface, connected
with CPHA, offer the possibility to register the payment and to generate the invoice for the
customer. In 90% of the cases the passengers are willing to pay the fee, if not they are sent
to the airline counter and the check-in process is ended. In the next step the baggage is
checked in by the agent (1:30 min). This involves the entering of the baggage data in a
baggage traceability application connected to the CPHA System, the printout of a badge to
be stuck on the item and the attachment of the badge. Finally, the agent prints out the
boarding card(s) for the passenger and hands it to the passenger (duration about 00:45
min.). A printer device, linked to the main server is available in every check-in counter.

Recently, also the use of self-check-in systems has been

implemented at several airports. Thereby the passenger is not
required to contact a check-in counter but may instead enter
her/his information in a computer terminal and identify
herself/himself by scanning her/his passport. The computer
terminal is linked to a specific server (ACS : automatic check-in
server). This server must control and validate the entering
“transaction” : for such a validation the ACS get in contact with
the CPH Application. After validation the boarding information
is sent to a Boarding Process Server (BPS). The luggage has then
to be checked in separately at a distinct counter.

When the check-in process is closed (manually or

automatically), the boarding information for a passenger is
stored in a data base on a specific server (BPS : Boarding
Process Server).
Figure 12: Self-Check in
After the check-in process the passenger has to go to the gate
to enter the plane. On her/his way she/he has to pass the security controls including the
passport control if necessary. Such a check requires an external connection with some police
security data bases. For Schengen countries no passport control is required. The passport
control for international passengers takes about 00:10 min. for each passenger. Every
passenger has to be security-checked: This involves the preparation of her/his items to be
scanned by an X-ray scanner (Duration: about 3 min.) and the scanning of the item (approax.
1 min.). In 20% of the cases the items have to be inspected manually by the security staff.
After that the passengers have to pass a metal detector (Duration: about 00:15 min on
average). In 30% of the cases some metal is detected and the passenger has to be inspected
by the security staff (Duration: about 2 min.).

Finally, if all security controls are passed the passenger can enter the boarding area at the
gate. The actual boarding process starts here and involves two types of actors: the
passengers and the boarding agent(s). Usually the boarding agents are the same persons
that conduct the check-in as well.

In a preparation step, the boarding agent checks that the real-time status of the plane. He
uses a “plane flow supervising application”, providing real-time monitoring information on
all the planes. The agent also checks if the information displayed locally on the information
screens of the gate is correct. If not, he can change it through a local interface.

For boarding the plane the passenger has to hand her/his boarding card to the agent. In 80%
of the cases the boarding is done by using automated card readers. These machines read the
boarding cards, enter the passenger data in the passenger list and issue a boarding receipt
for the passenger (Duration: 00:03 min). Sometimes these machines are however not
working or not are not available for all gates. Then the steps have to be done manually
which takes longer (Duration about: 01:00 min.).

Through BPA (Boarding Process Application), the boarding agent has access to the list of
passengers who have checked in (available on BPS Server). This functionality also offers the
possibility to compare the expected list of passengers with the list of passengers who
effectively get in the plane. Finally, if necessary, through CPHA, it is also possible for the
agent to compare the check-in list with the initial list of passengers who had booked on the
plane.

After the reading of the boarding cards the passengers either have to go to a bus or directly
board the plane. The demand of the bus has to be prepared in advance by the agent
(boarding preparation phase), through a logistic computer application. In 30% of all flights a
bus is used for the transportation which then takes about 15 min. until all passengers are in
the bus and set off at the airplane. Then the boarding process is finished.

Every local application of the airport is running on a specific server which can send queries to
the main server or to any other server, when necessary (ie : the boarding process application
is running on the server BPS, the “Plane Flow Supervising Application” is running on the
server PFSAS, …).

Figure 13: Passport control and security check

Picture Sources:
Figures 1-4 http://www.wien.gv.at
Figures 5,7,10,13 http://www.viennaairport.com
Figures 6,8 http://www.airportbratislava.sk/
Figures 11,12 http://www.salzburg-airport.com/
Figure 14 http://www.schreinergroup.de/wDeutsch/schreiner_
prosecure/img/Anwendungsbeispiele/Passkontrolle.jpg and
http://blog.estadao.com.br/blog/media/metalldetektor.jpg

Text Sources:
http://www.wien.gv.at (translated from German, http://www.wien.gv.at/stadtentwicklung/
flugfeldaspern/index.htm)
http://www.viennaairport.com
Practical work on Business Process Modelling and Re-engineering

WORK TO BE DONE IN GROUPS OF 1 OR 2 PERSONS

At the end of the work, you will leave an .adl file (the name of the file is composed with
the name of the students) composed by all the models of the seminar.

You have to build a full report on your work to answer the 6 questions below. Remember
that you are following a Research Master: The report should show your capacities to deal
with a complex problem, to analyse it, to build structured and consistent decisions, to
justify your decisions you a consistent argumentation.

Final REPORT ( questions 1 to 6), dead line on December 23st 2022. Please submit an
electronic version (only pdf format + associated adl files) to boucher@emse.fr.

Tasks:

1. This first question should be made at home and not during the class. First, analyze the
contextual data, economic figures and passenger development figures to provide a
synthesis of the opportunities of the project. Develop a synthesis and argumentation
which should help in estimating the possible success of the re-opening of the Vienna
Aspern Airport: it will underline both the arguments demonstrating the needs of an
additional airport, but also the risks of failure. Your argumentation should also include
some quantitative analysis and/or projections. The argumentation is part of the final
report.

2. Create models of the processes in ADONIS for passenger check-in, security check
(including passport control) and boarding, based on the data given in the case study.
Where necessary make well argumented assumptions or hypothesis. The final report will
provide any necessary explanations or figures to make explicit and justify the
formalization of these processes. Save all models in an ADL file.

3. Execute a path analysis of the check-in process and analyze the results (Probabilities,
expected execution times, cycle times with No. of simulation runs: 5000). Determine the
critical paths for performance and try to analyze the opportunities of improving the
performance on the various path identified. In the report, provide both the concrete
results of the path analysis and the conclusions you can underline.

4. Create a working environment model in ADONIS that contains personnel for the
organization of the check-in procedure, the security check and the boarding. Add role
elements to define the skills of the workers. Finally, link the process models and the
working environment model with performer assignments. Save all models in an ADL file.
 The final report will provide any necessary explanations or figures to make explicit and
justify the working environment.

5. Perform a capacity analysis for the check-in process together with the working
environment model. Use the data given in the case study and make well argumented
assumptions for additional data you may need. In the report, provide both the concrete
results of the capacity analysis and the performance improvement analysis you can
derive from both the path analysis and capacity analysis. Do these analyses help you in
building suggestions for process performance improvement and for potential gains?

6. Develop and justify at least 2 suggestions for an optimization of the check-in process.
Implement these suggestions by creating a new version of the process (and if necessary
of the working environment). Your adl files should finally include both the old and new
versions of the models. By using the simulation algorithm, try to justify and demonstrate
quantitatively that your suggestions really bring performance improvement. In the final
report, you will also be evaluated on your ability to argument and justify your decisions.

Evaluation 1=2/ 2=4/3=4/4=2/5=4/6=4