Issue 1 2006

The renaissance continues

Issue 1 2006 / 17 March 2006 / William R. DeCota, Director of Aviation, The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey

William R. DeCota outlines how JFK airport has set about meeting the needs of an ever-increasing customer base…

When people ask which of the Port Authority’s airports I like best, I always respond, “That’s an unfair question. It’s like asking which one of your children you love the most.”

Each of the Port Authority’s three major airports – John F. Kennedy International (JFK), Newark Liberty International (EWR) and LaGuardia (LGA) – play an important part in forming the most heavily used airport system in the United States, serving the largest origin-and-destination market in the world. Without each of these world-class aviation facilities playing their part, we could not have served nearly 100 million passengers in 2005 – a record figure that’s expected to grow by nearly 25 per cent in the next decade. LGA, which handled about 26 million passengers last year, is our short-range domestic facility, serving all those passengers in an intimate setting – to say the least; the airport covers barely 660 acres, making it one of the busiest airports per acre in the world. EWR, with approximately 33 million passengers in 2005, serves a dual role, handling a great deal of intracontinental North American air traffic while maintaining a strong international profile, and it will continue to play a major role in air travel in the New York metropolitan region for decades to come. (more…)

Tagged with: Airport profiles, John F. Kennedy International (JFK), LaGuardia (LGA), Newark Liberty International (EWR), The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, USA, William R. DeCota

Non stop service

Issue 1 2006 / 17 March 2006 / Wolfgang Hammerstädt, Executive Vice President of the newly re-organised Business Division Ground Handling, Munich Airport

For more than 80 years, the ground handlers at Flughafen München GmbH (FMG) have been ensuring that their customers are on ‘solid ground’ when it comes to aircraft handling. Wolfgang Hammerstädt shares the secrets of their success.

Ground handling at Munich Airport is driven by the mission to provide: ‘Outstanding quality, a viable price / performance ratio and the ability to adapt flexibly to our customers’ needs.’ It’s our belief at Munich Airport that these seemingly disparate elements DO all fit together under one roof, perhaps one reason why the world’s most successful airlines have valued Munich Airport’s ground handling services for decades.

Ground Handling at Munich Airport acts as a ‘full handler.’ In cooperation with partners, it operates in several segments: aircraft handling, transport services, baggage handling, passenger handling and operations, aircraft cleaning and cargo handling. Its services thus range from securing aircraft after touchdown and crew transport to the handling of express goods. Depending on their individual requirements, airline customers can pick different product modules, resulting in a product that is tailored specifically to their needs. (more…)

Tagged with: Flughafen München GmbH, Ground, Munich Airport, Wolfgang Hammerstädt

Aeronautical Ground Lighting

Issue 1 2006 / 17 March 2006 / Ferran Balcells Serra, Head of the Standardisation and Maintenance Division, Directorate of Infrastructures, AENA

Ferran Balcells offers a guide to Aeronautical Ground Lighting and an insight into the role that ICAO has played in its development.

Aeronautical Ground Lighting (AGL) is the collective denomination for the whole set of ground installed luminaires and related ancillaries meant to be used as visual aids by aircraft pilots and eventually, other users of aerodrome facilities.

Specifically, AGL is formed by a number of aeronautical ground lights, arranged in accordance with precise patterns. An aeronautical ground light is any light specially provided as an aid to air navigation, other than a light displayed on an aircraft.

International standards applicable to AGL were first established by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). Nowadays, both the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardisation (Comité Européen de Normalisation Electrotechnique, CENELEC) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) have dedicated Technical Committees that have published a number of International and European standards regarding AGL. (more…)

Tagged with: AENA, Aeronautical Ground Lighting (AGL), Airfield lighting, Ferran Balcells Serra, International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO)

Bag to the future

Issue 1 2006 / 17 March 2006 / Mark Hullegie, Baggage handling mechanisation Programme Manager, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol

Amsterdam Airport Schiphol has been working on the introduction of automated baggage loading systems, Mark Hullegie reports…

Last year, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol welcomed over 44 million passengers. Most of these passengers did not know what happened to their suitcases and other baggage once they checked in, or where their baggage had come from when it turned up on the reclaim carousels. In the basement of the airport, almost 2,000 people employed at five handling companies, work day and night to take the bags to and from the aircrafts. This is a job that requires serious muscles; some suitcases weigh up to 40 kilos, which make the manual baggage handling one of the heaviest jobs at the airport. These (mostly) men are required to lift the heavy bags at least four times during the passenger’s travel. (more…)

Tagged with: Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, Baggage handling, Mark Hullegie

Biometrics and airport access control

Issue 1 2006 / 17 March 2006 / Alan Medlock, Service Delivery Director, London City Airport

Biometrics has played an important role in efforts to strengthen airport security. Here Alan Medlock outlines how London City Airport has used Biometrics to implement a cost-effective, user-friendly and secure employee identification system.

Following 9/11, the aviation industry faced immediate challenges in identifying and addressing new security issues to make their airports more secure. In addition to increasing the numbers of security officers by nearly 50 per cent, London City Airport focused on how to strengthen security using technology, where appropriate. A system which uses each employee’s unique finger biometric to control access to restricted areas of the airport was chosen. (more…)

Tagged with: Alan Medlock, Biometrics, London City Airport, Security, United Kingdom

Wireless fleet management

Issue 1 2006 / 17 March 2006 / James H. Rember P.E., U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Science & Technology (S&T) Directorate and Anthony T. (Buzz) Cerino, BPS, LLC, Principal, Bedminster, PA, USA

The successes and results achieved during the WFMS testing and an explanation of other security-related applications underway for this technology are delivered here by James H. Remer and Anthony T. Cerino.

The aviation industry has, for well over a decade, addressed the pending transition from barcode baggage tags to radio frequency identification (RFID) baggage tags to support both security and operational enhancements. To a lesser extent, the application of RFID to other ‘asset identification and tracking’ has addressed cargo, mail, personnel, travellers and all sorts of vehicle implementations. With the International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) recent approval of a ‘standard’ for interline RFID passive baggage tag systems (via the approval of Recommended Practice (RP) 1740c, in November 2005), some significant efforts can now shift towards RFID baggage roll-outs, in addition to more extensive development/evaluation of ‘non-baggage-only’ applications of RFID. (more…)

Tagged with: Anthony T. (Buzz) Cerino, Baggage handling, James H. Rember P.E., U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Wireless technology

Paving the way for the A380

Issue 1 2006 / 17 March 2006 / Cyril Fabre, Pavement Manager, Airbus

In preparation for the increasing introduction of heavy aircraft and new types of landing gear (e.g. B777 and A380), AIRBUS, STBA and LCPC undertook an ambitious research programme to define a more efficient pavement design method. (more…)

Tagged with: A380, Airbus, Cyril Fabre, Pavement structure

AIM service provision in the light of SES

Issue 1 2006 / 17 March 2006 / Raimund Fridrich, Head of Corporate Publishing, Skyguide

The term Aeronautical Information Management (AIM) is relatively new and covers not only the former Aeronautical Information Service (AIS) but also MET and other geospacial aviation data (e.g. Airport data). Its role and the services it offers are already changing significantly. In the future, AIM will be fully based on integrated data management.

The vision is to operate a fully digital data chain from origin to utilisation. Data from airports, procedure design groups, obstacle and terrain surveying facilities and others, are gathered and directly entered into the data chain. After various processing steps, including validation, verification and storing, data will be exchanged on a worldwide basis and provided at the right time, the right place and the right quality. This may include direct feed into airliner ops systems, directly into the flight deck and ATM systems. This requires AIM to have one common and harmonised set of data.

Air traffic management is actually a purely physical problem that could be fully defined in mathematical terms and controlled through ‘measurement and control technology’. That means that it is possible to exclude humans almost completely from the loop of operational control and management. One of the major prerequisites is a common frame of reference for the entire system description, including all the data (e.g. navigation data) and measurement points (positioning). (more…)

Tagged with: Aeronautical Information Management (AIM), Air traffic control (ATC), Raimund Fridrich, skyguide

Accommodating the low cost revolution

Issue 1 2006 / 17 March 2006 / Richard de Neufville, Professor of Engineering Systems, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The issue of whether ’low-cost terminals are good for airports’ is controversial and airports and airlines have diametrically opposite views.

Speaking on behalf of the Airports Council International, its director general said: “LCCs [low-cost carriers] simply do not want the same services as legacy carriers (which form the bulk of IATA membership) and airport operators must be nimble enough to deliver ‘no frills’ facilities at lower cost to all carriers that want them”

In counterpoint, speaking for the traditional airlines, the director general of IATA stated: “Quite frankly, I do not believe that the current spate of low-cost terminals is taking us in the right direction.”

Of course, individual airports and airlines will differ from their collective institutional representatives, but these comments clearly display the tension within the industry. (more…)

Tagged with: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Policy & strategy, Richard de Neufville

The case for – Common Use Self Service

Issue 1 2006 / 17 March 2006 / Paul Behan, Project Manager – CUSS, IATA

Paul Behan considers the advantages of Common Use Self Service kiosks and how sharing the cost of their installation, can mean sharing the benefits.

The case for Common Use Self Service (CUSS) kiosks for check-in has always been robust. The concept is simple. Installing check-in kiosks that can be shared by a number of airlines eases access for customers, reduces hardware and maintenance costs for airlines and allows airports to make better use of valuable real estate. IATA estimates that on average CUSS saves airlines US$2.50 per check-in. That adds up to US$1 billion in annual industry savings with 40 per cent market penetration.

CUSS, part of IATA’s five-pronged ‘Simplifying the Business’ initiative, has made significant strides forward since its project launch in 2004. Last year, the focus was on raising awareness, generating initial commitment from airlines and airports and demonstrating the huge benefits of CUSS to all industry players. Year-end progress reports clearly indicate momentum for Common Use Self Service Check-in (CUSS) is building across the industry. (more…)

Tagged with: Boarding, International Air Transport Association (IATA), Paul Behan, Self service check-in