A holistic new approach to the design of user-friendly airports of the future. 12 design parameters explained. A benchmarking system suggested.

1. The Hindu Business Line : Navigating airports http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2010/12/27/stories/201012275054...
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ACHAL RAGHAVAN
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Corporate As India begins to build new airports in metros and smaller cities, a totally fresh approach to airport
Markets design and operation is called for.
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World From check-in to the aircraft seat is a long walk at the new Bangalore airport.
eWorld Some business amid
Brand Line Airports around the world, and indeed in India, are beginning to look and feel alike. They all share unparliamentary chaos
Mentor some common features — large expanses of air-conditioned space, soaring rooflines, and
Life The attack on corruption
passengers trying to make their way across endless walkways, queues and shopping areas. Senior
Brand Quest citizens, foreign visitors, families and first-time travellers scramble to find the right departure gates in Food inflation
The New time.
Manager
BL Club Is this really the ideal vision for the Indian airport of the future? As India begins to spend serious
Smartbuy money on expanding existing airports and building new ones, we need to take a totally new and
Books holistic approach towards designing and building airport terminals — by giving priority to the interests
Gallery of the paying customer i.e. the passenger.
Stocks New airports in India – such as Bengalore, Delhi and Mumbai - have gone in for ‘size' with a
vengeance, flaunting huge terminal buildings, bright lights, and large areas devoted to shopping.
Quotes
Since Indian airports in the earlier era used to be cramped, smelly and poorly-lit, the travelling public
SE Diary
has reacted very positively to these erminals. However, as traffic picked up, fundamental design
Scoreboard
issues have become more evident.
Open-End Mutual
Fund The current status
Foreign Exchange Take the new Bangalore airport, for example. The departing passenger queues up to enter the
terminal, gets into the large check-in area, checks in, and has to make an abrupt right turn to reach
Rates either of the two narrow escalators at either end of the hall. Why was the departure area not built at
the first floor level itself, with the departing passenger getting dropped off by her taxi or bus at that
level through a sloping drive-way ramp?
Shipping Having travelled up the escalator, the passenger has to make a right turn again, and queue up for the
x-ray and security check.
Ports
As anyone who has stood in this queue for 15 minutes at 6 a.m. will tell you, this area is already a
huge bottleneck. There is no space in the layout for adding more x-ray machines, even if you wanted
to.
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A fundamental principle used in the manufacturing world is “line balancing” – where the “capacity” at
each stage of the manufacturing process is carefully balanced (or equalised), so that there is no
Yesterday
bottlenecking or queueing, even at peak load.
Datewise
Resources That principle is glaringly absent here. Another common principle used in good manufacturing layouts
In Focus is that of avoiding twists and turns (and ups and downs) in the direction of flow – so that the “total
distance travelled” is kept to the minimum. This principle has also been given the go-by in Bangalore.
The passenger first has to find her way through various shops to reach the departure gates. The
absence of clear, large signages compounds the problem.
After the check through at the gate, she often has to climb down a staircase (after a right and a left
turn) and wait again for a bus to take her to the aircraft, where she again queues up for climbing the
staircase into the plane. This is done even when there are vacant aerobridges available.
Group Sites By the time she takes her seat in the aircraft, her tired feet have traversed a path that resembles a
badly twisted bunch of spaghetti – instead of a short, level and straight line.
The Hindu
The Hindu No wonder the average passenger feels a sense of relief and achievement as she sinks into her
ePaper (narrow) airline seat.
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holistic approach
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2. The Hindu Business Line : Navigating airports http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2010/12/27/stories/201012275054...
Sportstar
Frontline What is needed urgently is a new, holistic approach that ‘puts the passenger at the centre' of airport
The Hindu design and operation. Instead of measuring the attractiveness and usefulness of airports in terms of
eBooks size, air-conditioned space, high ceilings and shopping comfort, we need to evolve a “rating system”
The Hindu for airports which incorporates the following 12 parameters – not arranged in any order of importance:
Images
Energy utilisation and carbon footprint per passenger: Total energy expended by the airport
(excluding the aircraft) and carbon footprint per passenger travelling through – for lighting,
air-conditioning, ground transport, escalators, people-movers, baggage handling, etc. This will force
designers and operators to apply ‘frugal' and ‘green' engineering concepts, and cut back on wasteful
architectural flourishes.
Ease of access: Speedy and comfortable transport to and from the city, conveniently located at the
airport terminal itself. Distance travelled and time taken to board: Average time taken to board a plane
from the time of entry into the terminal, and the total distance the passenger has to cover inside the
terminal; the same for the arriving passenger, in the reverse direction
On-time departures: A proxy measure of the smoothness with which ground systems and air traffic are
managed by the airport
Wait times at queues: Actual measurements at entry gates, check-in, security check, customs,
immigration, boarding gate and baggage carousel
No. of bags mishandled/ damaged/missing: An indicator of baggage – handling system efficiency
User-friendliness: How user-friendly is the airport? How often do you need to ask someone for help?
Are the signages clear? Do the washrooms smell?
Connectivity: Availability of quick and convenient connections to onward destinations
Number of safety incidents per annum: To reflect the adequacy of air traffic controllers, radar
systems, security checks, etc. Recent instances of near-misses in Mumbai airport, for example,
underscore this criterion.
Disaster management readiness: Capacity to handle disasters such as accidents, floods and terrorist
attacks in a trained and professional manner
Bad weather landing and take-off: Availability and effectiveness of state-of-the art systems and
technology in this vital aspect of airport operation
Voice of the customer: Direct feedback from the passenger – in the form of spot surveys at the airport
itself
The way forward
Every one of the parameters proposed in the above system is measurable. Designing a new airport
on such a holistic basis will require a dramatically different approach. A cross-functional design team
will need to be formed, which includes, in addition to the usual architects, process layout engineers,
sustainability (“green”) experts, aviation safety personnel and passengers.
By adopting such a rating system, the Government, airport operators, the airlines and the paying
customer will enjoy the benefits of a transparent methodology which encourages “kaizen” –
continuous improvement. Such a focus on operational excellence will, in turn, lead to better
profitability and long-term viability for all the players concerned.
(The author is a Bangalore-based strategy and business excellence consultant.
blfeedback@thehindu.co.in)
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