IAVIATIONI IBY DESIGNI 2019

THE DIGITALAIRPORT

Asset management: inspiration from unexpected places

How an airport can capture the essence of a city

Is digital the new infrastructure?

Steve Tasker Market Director, Aviation

Richard HartshornTechnical Director, Masterplanning

Richard’s role is to develop the Aviation Masterplanning proposition at Atkins, using the breadth and depth of skills and knowledge across the company. He spent 17 years of his career at Heathrow Airport, where he led the masterplan for the airport’s third runway.

Robbie ClaaseAssociate Director, Aviation

Robbie focusses on quality driven efficient delivery, collaborative multi-discipline management and rapid innovation through digitalisation, promoting change within projects particularly around the fusion of the digital and physical environment.

Matt PriceHead of Aerospace Aftermarket

Matt has 20 years’ experience within the aerospace industry working for OEMS, Tier1 suppliers and global engineering consultancies, throughout Europe, USA and Australia. He is responsible for the aerospace aftermarket sector and aerospace digital transformation initiatives at Atkins.

Martin GeachDigital Lead, Infrastructure

Martin works alongside Atkins’ Digital Director to help increase design efficiency and project delivery through innovation and automation, embedding digital into everything we do.

Will Squires Digital Lead

Will is the Digital Lead for Cities & Development and Aviation. An unusual combination of data scientist, engineer, planner and strategist, Will works with Atkins’ key clients to help future-proof and innovate within the construction industry.

Dan Jones Client Director, Aviation

Dan looks after Atkins’ technology and consulting work in the aviation sector, leading a team who cover everything from organisational strategy and business change to biometrics and automation of the passenger journey.

Gareth Vest Director, Asset Management

Gareth is helping to build Atkins’ asset management capability across all sectors, focusing on bringing new approaches and propositions to clients. His past experience includes Heathrow Airport, Heathrow Express, TfL and Network Rail.

Dan TaylorSenior Architect

Dan has led multidisciplinary teams from programming through construction completion on high-visibility projects. He is the Project Director and Lead Architect on the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport.

The pace of change in the aviation sector is quickening. Airports should be able to face the future with confidence, adapting to change and enhancing their reputation as world class travel hubs.

In this magazine, we’ve gathered together thoughts and opinions from experts from around the world. Whether it’s getting more from your assets or transforming your operations through technology, we’ve touched on some of the topics shaping aviation today.

This is an exciting time in the evolution of aviation, and we hope we’ve captured what will be some of the industry ‘game changers’ in this magazine. These articles are intended to challenge and inspire – if you have any comments, please do get in touch.

As one of the world’s

most respected design, engineering

and project management consultancies, we bring an

unparalleled range of services and the ability to mix these services

together to enable airports to transform

and grow.

Airport masterplanning

Establishing the needs and potential of airports to

optimise developments

Aviation advisoryHelping airports face the

future in a responsible and sustainable way

Delivery & operations

Helping you get the most from your

investments and more from your assets

Design & engineering

Providing intelligent solutions that keep airports moving and passengers happy

Technical due diligence Asset management Feasibility studies

Business case developmentFinancial modelling

Transport and infrastructure consultancyIntegrated transport studies

Cyber security Technology consultancy / passenger

management and security Procurement advisory

Transformational change CDE/BIM development Future airport visioning Strategy development

Airport operations, capacity assessment and modelling

Options development Masterplan layouts, integration, and phasing

Commercial land use planning Public consultation, consents, and permits

Environmental engineering, air, noise, and planning

Airfield and terminal planning Engineering services design

Design for manufacture and assembly Architectural design

Baggage handling solutions Passenger and baggage connectivity

Surface access: road, rail and bus/coach solutions

Portfolio, programme, and project management

Cargo, MRO, and ancilliary services Capital cost management

Contract management Procurement administration

Technology delivery Multidisciplinary construction and

technical field services ORAT: operational readiness and testing

Asset integration Around the clock support for

mission-critical activities Operate and maintain major public-private

partnership projects Review of end-to-end operations, asset portfolios, and value chain

Terminal and airfield asset management planning

Steve.Tasker@atkinsglobal.com

@stevewtasker

From the editor

Inspiration from unexpected placesAirport operators control a vast array of assets, from roads to runways, terminals to carparks and power to communication systems. Managing these ‘mini cities’ in an efficient and integrated way can be complex and costly.

Better asset management is increasingly seen as the answer to several of the big issues facing our industry: delivering best value from our asset bases; understanding and controlling risk; optimising the opex / capex relationship; and delivering better passenger experiences. But are we looking in the right places for these solutions?

Having spent most of my career delivering asset management for Heathrow Airport or its subsidiaries, it has been fascinating for me moving to Atkins, a multi-disciplinary consultancy, and seeing the asset management capability that exists across sectors. The expertise, thought leadership and technologies I’ve seen have inspired me to share the best practice below in the hopes that it brings inspiration and new solutions to us in aviation.

WaterEnglish and Welsh water companies will commemorate 30 years of privatisation later this year. Over these decades, the industry has put asset management principles at the heart of its operations, significantly improving services to customers and the environment. Under the watchful eye of the regulator, Ofwat, water companies have embraced technology that helps them use real-time data from treatment works and networks to make more informed decisions about preventative interventions. This same data is used for asset deterioration models, so optimal repair/refurbish/replace decisions can be made throughout the asset life-

cycle; with asset manager, maintainer and operator working in the same teams, with the same goals. This approach avoids service impacts on customers, aiming for a ‘totally silent service’ where assets don’t fail unexpectedly, and maintenance is proactive.

Highways The UK highways sector is made up of over 200 highway authorities, each facing their own challenges and pressures stemming from different funding levels, contracting / delivery models, scale and make up of their networks, and the environment they operate in (both geographically and politically). Asset management has been increasingly adopted by authorities for over a decade, with a pragmatic approach taken, using highway-specific guidance that aligns to ISO55000 and previously PAS55, created by the sector for the sector. As maturity continues to grow amongst highway asset organisations, there is now a more concerted move to more formal ISO55000 certification, both from local authorities and strategic road operators. Innovation is also being embraced, with leading authorities and suppliers developing new approaches such as AI-powered data collection, decision support tools, more customer-focused service models and new materials such as self-healing asphalt.

Corporate Real Estate Corporate real estate clients increasingly face pressure to deliver more with less and ultimately improve overall efficiency of their portfolios. Retailers, Financial Institutions and Occupiers have seen their portfolios deteriorate since the crash in 2008. They now face a backlog challenge through wear and tear, end of life assets and the pressure to change their footprints because of market and staff attraction. To help clients respond to this challenge, we’ve developed ‘smart investment planning’, a unique proposition that combines data frameworks, business rules and predictive modelling to optimise capital investment and work planning. This approach quickly improves visibility over long term investment needs as well as pin-pointing near term liabilities and assets requiring immediate investment.

I don’t show these examples to say that the asset management we do in aviation isn’t good. In fact, in some areas (investment planning, horizon scanning) we are actually leading other sectors.

What this does say, is that an integrated approach to asset management means integrating best practice from across the industry. Our assets don’t operate in silos, and neither should we.

Gareth VestDirector, Asset Management

ASSET MANAGEMENT

Three reasons airports can’t live without oneAirports have a huge number of assets. No one would argue with that statement. But: ‘Airports deliver and operate these assets in an integrated way’ – this, unfortunately isn’t a given.

I believe that behind every good asset management programme is a ‘common data environment’ (CDE). Put simply, this is a single place to store and manage the information we hold on all of our assets. CDEs are the unsung heroes of infrastructure – they drive the world of ‘digital twins’ and are something the airport of the future won’t be able to live without. So what benefits do they bring? And why should airports care about better data integration anyway?

1. End to end asset information: CAPEX Vs. OPEX – Who wins?One of the big issues in aviation is the need to integrate the demands of large capital investment schemes with the core asset investment needed to run existing estates. The age-old battle of CAPEX against OPEX can often be exacerbated in a data sense with core asset management systems not aligning with capital delivery systems driven by the supply chain. The outcome is a lot of uncertainty in strategic asset investment planning which is driven by disparate datasets, which often draw on highly manual processes of input and validation.

CDEs are a great way to tackle this disjointed data. The CDE at Heathrow Airport is a good example of this, where they’ve strategically aligned different datasets to offer a clear solution in the integration of the capital delivery project information against their core asset requirements. The solution is simple, but effective in aligning data deliverables.

2. Understanding how we talk to our neighbours through data‘Neighbours’ are the key partners who work in the physical, operational or commercial space within, or next to, airports. They are often affected by airport maintenance activities or future growth plans, but can also significantly affect airport operations when their investment programmes do not align.

Effective communication and good working relationships with these neighbours is essential, but fraught with issues. CDEs can alleviate some of this. They can help us align our data with our neighbours, structuring and communicating information in the same way, so that outputs are easily shared. A CDE provides one place for all data to be in-putted and shared, and most importantly, promotes an environment of collaboration.

3. Linking all operational data systems to one reference model makes for a truly integrated airportAirports need to see an asset as a vehicle to deliver services to the passenger, rather than a thing that works or doesn’t work. The opportunity offered by rich asset data acquired through the principles of BIM is a new player in the realm of airport operations.

Airports fundamentally work as a network of information systems managed through a reference data model.

The reference data model allows an airport to effectively run daily operations and helps in forecasting running costs, planning development requirements and assessing security needs. It also draws on live flight, baggage, and passenger information to enable real time decision making at a local, national and international scale.

One critical element often not aligned to the reference model is real time information on asset availability, planned outages and delivery. With the increasing benefits from real time asset reports and Internet of Things (IoT) functions, CDEs can link asset management systems to the reference model. Once aligned, the CDE can be used to support detailed cost and schedule delivery data at an asset level which can be further mined in airport controls and operations. The result? A truly integrated airport.

The future success of airports will be driven by the successful management of data. If we unlock the potential of our data, we unlock the potential of our assets – CDEs are the key to doing this, and something we truly can’t live without.

Martin GeachDigital Lead, Infrastructure

COMMON DATA ENVIRONMENTS

Applying Aerospace lessons to modern Construction 3D design, BIM, automation, Modern Methods of Construction, Design for Manufacture and Assembly. All of these are becomingly increasingly prominent topics in aviation. But what if we could find some of the solutions to how we implement these from our extensive experience within the aerospace design and engineering sector.

Two of our experts in aviation construction and aerospace sit down to talk about best practice and lessons learned.

Commercial modelsRobbie: Commercial models are often the driver for how we design and manufacture in construction. Airports are increasingly looking at how they can procure things differently and buy a service, or indeed a passenger experience or outcome, rather than man hours or a new building. A complex funding model for airports with powerful stakeholders, coupled with a construction industry with slim margins and combative attitudes, combine to stifle the opportunity to apply innovative and efficient commercial models.

Matt: There are numerous commercial models used throughout the aerospace life-cycle. Service availability level agreements, servitisation, leasing, etc. Regardless of the construct, these models are all supporting the need for faster design, reduced downtime and lower costs.

Supply chainRobbie: Management of the supply chain is another area airport operators are looking at, whether that’s new ways of working or getting more from SMEs. The construction industry has a disaggregated supply chain, with several layers of ‘management fee’ applied on major projects. This also hinders innovation with the most innovative SMEs not being able to bring their ideas to the fore. In contrast, I find it incredible that aircraft wings and fuselage can be designed and manufactured in different countries, but then all come together to form an aircraft in another country.

Matt: Our supply chain is very complex with a global reach, and whether for aircraft assembly or maintenance asset availability, is of primary importance. Subsequently penalties imposed for missing delivery deadlines for new aircraft or the return of aircraft from routine maintenance are large, with the impact to reputation potentially being even greater. This does however drive close collaboration, innovation and the early adoption of new connected digital technologies within the supply chain with an optimised and integrated supply chain bringing huge benefits to aerospace organisations. It’s like how the construction industry had to come together to deliver the Olympics in 2012; delivering on time is essential.

DataRobbie: Airports collect a huge amount of data every day. When you add that to the data collected by airlines and retailers, it can be overwhelming. The challenge in construction is, how we start to learn and apply this data to enhance designs and build more for outcomes.

Matt: The amount of data we get off new aircraft is phenomenal, and the trend is only increasing. The challenge is to extract the value from data through the combination of engineering and data analytical knowledge to inform and support better decision making. If successful organisations can drive change and transform from a reactive to a proactive state.

DesignRobbie: It’s important that we not only exploit data in operations, but when we’re designing. Airports are making large investments in infrastructure, and we need to make sure they get the most from these assets. Airports are currently designed and constructed in a traditional, bespoke method, whereby each new building or upgrade is assessed from scratch. This is particularly interesting when compared to aerospace as we don’t have the same rigorous standards in construction driving both safety and quality. The asset life information is variable in quality and detail, resulting in continual inefficiencies through the operation of the airport asset.

Matt: 3D design has been the aerospace industry baseline for decades with digital twins supporting faster new design and designs modifications. It’s a highly regulated industry and the safety standards we must adhere to are incredibly detailed and all activities must be fully traceable and accessible with an organisation. This also ensures that the knowledge is captured and the learnings from past designs aren’t lost. This is important as like in many industries a new product may either be a completely new design or a significantly modified version of a previous model. Either option is used appropriately with the latter typically proving more cost-effective.

Personal accountability is also very important within aerospace with experienced individuals being provided specific levels of technical authority. These signatories are ultimately responsible for their actions and it’s a huge responsibility that lives with you throughout your career.

DriversRobbie: I think sometimes it can be too ‘easy’ for us to miss deadlines in construction. It brings up an interesting question about what is it that really drives an industry to improve the way it works? The construction industry has been stuck in a ‘race to the bottom’, but with the advent of the 4th industrial revolution, the industry is poised for a significant transformation. Any construction development needs to be outcome driven, passenger focussed and be sympathetic to the airport’s neighbours.

Matt: There are many aerospace inducer drivers in addition to industry regulations. The environmental impact of aerospace travel is closely monitored and there are several current and future targets that must be met. I guess these will be linked to the environmental targets Heathrow will have for their new runway. To meet these targets new aircraft are more fuel

efficient and cleaner, and new fuel types are also being designed and tested. We also must respond to demands from the public for an ever-improved flight experience both on and off the aircraft. The challenge for both aerospace and aviation in general is how we articulate the benefits of what we’re doing to the passenger’s experience. It’s creating a link between new ways of doing things and end-user outcomes. We need to show that the transformational measures we’re taking in managing data and new technology are directly benefiting people.

IN CONVERSATION

Robbie ClaaseAssociate Director, Aviation Civil Engineering

Matt PriceHead of Aerospace Aftermarket

How an airport can capture the essence of a city

Arriving at the airport is like entering a gateway into a new world. It’s the first place most people see when they arrive, the first place where they will breathe the air, eat the food, or meet a local.

A key challenge therefore is to ensure an airport’s design accurately captures the city it represents. Technology is integral to this process, particularly when the design is centred on incorporating unique elements that make a city memorable.

At Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY), a brand-new terminal was designed with the goal of immersing visitors in ‘The Big Easy’s’ culture, geography and storied history. While planners assured the terminal paid homage to New Orleans’ iconic food and music, the new design went a step further by trying to capture the city’s more subliminal features.

For example, a well-known cultural quirk about New Orleans is that it has its own directional compass. Traditional north, south, east and west is replaced by lakeside, riverside, downtown and uptown. This is because the shape of the city resembles a curve (hence another New Orleans’ nickname, The Crescent City) that makes traditional directions difficult to use. Streets bend and turn ever so gently that you can lose your sense of direction easily, creating a general disorientation that locals have come to accept.

The design of MSY’s central atrium at the terminal complex encapsulates this feeling by having several elements, such as skylights, that are purposely not in perfect symmetry; to give the sense of mystery and allure that visitors feel while walking the city’s streets.

Another characteristic that terminal designers sought to emulate is the region’s unique aesthetic. In winter, morning fog will roll through thermal inversions, where cold air is trapped by a layer of warmer air, so when sunlight hits humidity, it creates a sepia-like tone. To recreate this quintessential Louisiana look, a massive glass-sealed image taken by a local photographer of live oak trees in morning fog graces the terminal’s main elevator. Printed on transparent sheets and lined on top of a silver backing, the image has a three-dimensional look that reflects light in a similar way the sun fills a foggy New Orleans morning.

It would not have been possible to incorporate these elements into the design of the New Orleans terminal without the use of advanced technologies like three-dimensional modelling and BIM technology. These tools enable designers to produce renderings and concepts quickly, which is particularly important when schedules become accelerated. Using digital renderings also has important safety benefits by allowing teams to have the clearest possible vision of how their facility will look and how it will be installed, reducing the likelihood of accidents on site.

With mid-size airports like MSY seeing increased demand from both business travellers and tourists, using technology to capture the unique aspects of a location isn’t just an excuse for architects to try out new designs or ideas. It is, in fact, critical to the primary function of a city airport itself, helping create a welcoming, inimitable and inspiring first impression for every new arrival.

Dan TaylorSenior Architect

THINKING BIG

Technology will only get us so farWith aviation passenger demand set to double over the next 20 years and many airports already experiencing peak time congestion, using our existing assets more efficiently is an area of immediate focus. When we look to the industry for answers on how we achieve this, the response is almost always – technology will solve it!

My view is that enhanced collaboration of an airport’s many stakeholders is actually the answer. Technology (i.e. the ‘what’) will only take the industry so far; it is the ‘how’ that is often overlooked.

The airport is a unique operational environment. It requires many different organisations to work together to enable passengers and cargo to journey through the airport. At large hub airports this involves hundreds of organisations – Heathrow, for example, states that over 400 organisations are involved in its operations. It is hard to see many other parallels in the business world, let alone the transportation field, with this multi-agency / business complexity.

How well organisations operate and collaborate in this airport ecosystem will determine the experience for the passenger. Where businesses at an airport demonstrate a silo behaviour with a lack of information sharing and planning, the passenger experience will be inconsistent and ultimately frustrating. At airports delivering consistently high passenger service levels, we often find more mature levels of B2B integrated working. The critical element here isn’t technology, it’s how organisations work together – technology is merely an enabler to make this easier.

High quality stakeholder management is key to delivering the collaboration needed for a seamless passenger experience. This requires us to listen and gather requirements on what each business and department needs to achieve in a change event. Understanding, listening, negotiating and resolving issues are the personal skills that change agents need to use in these environments.

So, what role does technology play? With increasing digitisation of the passenger journey – from biometric identity management and automated access control at the border to self-service bag drops – a huge amount of data is being captured by airlines, ground handlers and airport operators.

Ensuring continued high levels of integration across the passenger journey requires sharing of this data and managing the stakeholders through this change process. Airports are highly regulated businesses operating to strict safety and security protocols, and sharing data requires overcoming commercial and confidential hurdles. Plus, the data needs to be cleaned up, anonymised and formatted so that it can be used by others.

The benefits technology brings aren’t being questioned here. Data analytics support more efficient resourcing or better use of airport assets, often managed through Airport Operational Centres with many operational stakeholders collocated together. Increasing automation delivers a faster service to the customer at key touch-points, such as border control, potentially reducing dwell space. And technology enables new experiences to enhance the service to the customer or new revenue stream opportunities.

What is being questioned is whether we’re focusing so much on technology that we’re losing sight of the bigger picture: ensuring we all work together to achieve the best outcomes for the passenger.

The methods and assumptions that have long underpinned our airport designs are changing rapidly. The planning norms of the past need updating as airports demonstrate that they can use their assets to new levels of intensity and deliver greater service levels to their customers.

So instead of thinking about how many self-service kiosks or self-boarding gates are in a terminal, let’s start measuring an airport’s ‘integration level’ or ‘collaboration maturity’ as the means for improving airport capacity.

Richard HartshornTechnical Director,MasterplanningThis article was first published by Passenger Terminal World.

The digital airport We sat down with Passenger Terminal World to talk about digital transformation in the airport sector and a very exciting project we’re working on with Heathrow Airport.

Tell us more about the automation program you are working on at Heathrow?The automation programme will roll out new biometric services from the summer of 2019. This will be a first for the airport and will streamline the passenger journey from check-in to take-off.

How is this project unique in the airport world?It will be the world’s largest deployment of biometrically enabled technology from check-in (self-service bag drops) to boarding (self-boarding gates).

What was Atkins’ role in this project?Our work has delivered some of the key solutions for Heathrow’s automation programme. We’ve rolled out biometrically enabled self-boarding gates across Terminal 2 and 5, including live operational trials with airlines and delivery of the IT infrastructure needed to make these gates operational. We’ve also run a series of biometric demonstrator projects across all touch-points on the passenger journey culminating in a full ‘end to end’ demonstrator. These have proved helpful in raising awareness, interest and confidence with airport stakeholders.

Our proof of concept for a differentiated security screening process using the existing technologies deployed in the airport has helped inform aviation security policy and demonstrated to regulators that these technologies work, and are accepted, in live airport environments.

What technology is involved in the project? And where is it being deployed?The Atkins-developed PASS2 system, which currently manages passenger authentication through Heathrow, is at the heart of the programme. Incorporating our cutting-edge identity management technology, the system integrates all of the different technologies needed in the demonstrators. These include an identity app from partner Yoti, along with products from ICM, CEIA, Dormakaba, Rockwell Collins and Aurora AI, who provide the facial recognition cameras currently deployed at the airport. The technology will be deployed across Heathrow departures, and in future, is something we are keen to work with other airports around the world to develop in their own terminals.

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SCANNING

What stage is the project at?As mentioned, we expect the roll out to start from the summer of 2019. The demonstrators that we’ve run have shown that this is achievable, and also the benefits it can bring.

How has the technology improved the passenger experience and reduced journey times?Our main objective is to move to a ‘frictionless’ passenger journey, so removing the need to show boarding passes and passports. This will make a major difference to the experience of travelling through the airport. Our trials have demonstrated that it is possible. Self-boarding gates have had a significant impact on journey times already. The initial trial measurements showed a reduced per-passenger average journey time, which supports punctual flights and a better overall passenger experience.

Who was involved in the project?As mentioned, this programme has brought together some of the aviation world’s best technology providers, including Yoti, ICM, CEIA, Dormakaba, Rockwell Collins, Aurora AI, and of course, Atkins.

Do you believe facial biometrics will be the main method for passenger identification in the future?It’s certainly looking like facial recognition has the edge on other biometrics when it comes to delivering the seamless passenger journey that is the aspiration of IATA’s One ID and NEXTT programmes.

The ‘face at a pace’ trial we have undertaken shows that we can use this technology without the need for physical interaction.

What are the main challenges standing in the way of wide-scale implementation of facial recognition technologies at airports around the world?Data protection and privacy is the biggest challenge we face. We’re already working with privacy teams and the UK ICO (Information Commissioner’s Office) to understand the requirements and build them into our thinking. The demonstrations we’ve run at Heathrow incorporate passenger consent processes to help us overcome this.

How are you addressing concerns over passenger acceptance?We know that passengers have different preferences when it comes to these technologies and that some passengers

may not want to use them at all. Ensuring that there remains an option to complete the traditional passenger journey will be always be a necessity; our aim is to minimise the infrastructure required for this, as new technology becomes more widely accepted. The programme at Heathrow will allow airlines to adopt the new technologies and business processes in flexible ways. This means adoption can be tailored to meet the readiness of different stakeholder groups. We’ll be gathering feedback from passengers throughout the roll-out to make sure that people genuinely experience an improved journey and that any lessons learned can be implemented quickly.

Can you tell us about any other noteworthy digital transformation projects Atkins is working?We work closely with clients across government, industry and critical national infrastructure to make the best use of technology, and innovative ways of working, to deliver tangible, lasting and enriched outcomes for their organisation, customers and stakeholders. One great example of this is the Building Information Modelling (BIM) work we’ve been doing with HS2. We’ve helped HS2 deliver the transformational change required for BIM, including the way information is procured, managed and exchanged, both within the company and its supply chain. Our work looked beyond the technology to the leadership, people and culture, and processes needed to deliver the outcomes HS2 desired. We hope this work will leave a BIM legacy for the UK construction industry, with application far beyond rail.

What do you believe the passenger journey through the airport will look like in 10 years’ time? And what technologies will be at the heart of the journey? Will the passport still exist?I’m sure the concept of a passport will still exist in 10 years’ time! However, the need for showing it will significantly reduce. The aim is to make airport journeys as seamless as possible – we’re imagining a world where you can walk through an airport and onto your plane without breaking your stride. I do believe the biometric technology we’re deploying now is key to making this a reality.

Is there anything else you would like to add? Our knowledge and experience of the end-to-end passenger journey has enabled us to extend our work into the security search area, where we are leading trials of new CT baggage screening and body scanners in preparation for new government security regulations. We have developed a data driven trialling process, which helps assess technology offerings from a range of suppliers and leads to the recommendation of solutions at a component level. Linking this to the wider passenger journey ensures consistency and highlights opportunities to share passenger information across the touch points and to support the development of new solutions such as differentiated security screening.

Dan Jones Client Director,Aviation

DATA PROTECTION

PRIVACY

According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), demand for air travel is expected to almost double by the year 2037, with passenger numbers set to reach 8.2 billion. How do we ensure that our airport infrastructure is capable of handling this demand? And more importantly, how can our infrastructure be improved to meet the demand in an affordable and sustainable way?

Out with the new, in with the old?If we were to create new infrastructure to meet this demand it would cost an estimated $1.3 trillion according to McKinsey Global Institute. What if technology could help us alleviate some of these costs, so instead of building new we get better at maximising what we have? As part of the New Experience in Travel and Technologies (NEXTT) programme, we supported IATA in a cost-benefit.

The programme compared the implementation of technology in airport infrastructure to a ‘do nothing’ scenario, which would see airports respond to the increasing demand on infrastructure1 with physical actions, rather than using technology.

The results were clear: the transformational impact of technology when delivered in a coordinated, holistic way as described by NEXTT could deliver significant, long-term benefits. With a $130 billion investment to implement the technology, airports, airlines and passengers could see a present value benefit that would greatly outweigh the fee, of around $1.8 trillion. In particular, the key drivers for cost savings could be found through the implementation of improved data sharing, analytics and processing, and automation.

What does this mean for airports, airlines and passengers? Through a coordinated and collaborative approach to upgrades, all key stakeholders will benefit. For example:

AirportsBy making the most of their current assets through the NEXTT vision, our cost benefit analysis estimated optimisation of existing

terminal capacity could lead to a reduction in demand for new global terminal infrastructure of up to 65%. This reflects a culmination of technologies, such as passenger automation, more efficient routing and way-finding leading to a reduction in the need for extensive waiting areas, and the ability to more precisely move individuals through terminal infrastructure.

Savings can also be made thanks to increased staff productivity, allowing airports and airlines to meet demand through augmenting their existing staff with technology. Through improved data processing activities, such as providing passengers with their flight information on mobile devices, staff can be redeployed to more productive tasks. Further efficiencies can arise from automating the likes security searches and aircraft turnaround activities.

AirlinesThe optimisation of airport functions through better data, smarter technology and automation of manual processes can lead to significant benefits. Through better global understanding of aircraft movements, the number of aircraft take-offs and landings per hour could drastically improve to be closer to each airport’s capacity. Better systems to manage loading, baggage location and transfer connections, will lead to fewer flight delays and subsequently a flight crew cost saving of 10%. Streamlining these processes will also lead to an improved passenger experience, which is critical for airlines to stay competitive as other modes of transport improve (e.g. emerging technologies such as Hyperloop).

PassengersThe NEXTT vision demonstrates a number of time-saving benefits for passengers. According to our study, a mix of data and automation technologies could reduce the wait time at the gate by up to 50%. Automated baggage drop-off points could accrue a further 5% in time saving, while the introduction of an off-airport baggage deliveries could halve the baggage pick-up time. With biometric control points and passenger pre-vetting, espoused by IATA’s ‘OneID’ vision, the time spent in passenger control could be reduced by a massive 80%.

The passenger benefits of automation are already being realised by projects such as PASS2, an Atkins-developed biometric technology that allows passengers to move through the airport without needing to queue for manual checks. Relying on facial recognition technology, the system is currently used at Heathrow for self-boarding gates and pre-security checks, with further use of the system being implemented to speed up the passenger process at every point of departure, from check-in to take-off.

Our findings indicate that the benefits of integrating connected technology into the airport, the airline processes and the passenger journey would greatly outweigh the cost required for installation. And with the NEXTT vision relying on technology that has already been invented and observed to streamline processes, the impact of new technologies could grow to be even greater than imagined.

Is digital the new infrastructure?

Will SquiresDigital Lead

1 IATA 20 Year Passenger Forecast

Martin VallanceDigital Asset Management and Operations Lead

Right investment, right timeAirports are home to one of the widest and most complex asset bases to be found within any industry. From conventional mechanical and electrical equipment, to specialist airfield lighting, fuelling and security systems, the diversity, safety implications and reputational impact of asset failures present unique challenges for airports worldwide.

Airport operators increasingly want to know what technologies and solutions they can leverage, alongside their existing Enterprise Asset Management Systems, to mitigate the risks and enhance the performance of their assets in an increasingly capital constrained market.

Devising solutions that can cater for critical services’ resilience, asset reliability and improved asset investment planning for future capital and operational expenditure, is an area that more and more airports are looking to exploit.

Maximising the useful life of existing assets, while overhauls, refurbishments, replacements and enhancements are timed to optimise the financial and performance benefits, is critical. Further application of investment ‘What-if’ analysis allows airports of all sizes to make optimal decisions, at the right time, on their most critical assets.

Maintenance and renewal decisions have an overwhelming bearing on the safety, performance, cost and availability of airport infrastructure – infrastructure that is relied upon by employees, airlines, and passengers.

To meet the challenges faced by airports across the globe, Atkins has developed a set of asset investment planning decision support capabilities. These look at everything from intervention decisions such as replacement, refurbishment and overhaul – based on a combination of physical condition, performance and cost of maintenance inputs – to comprehensive asset condition data capture for physical condition assessments. It also covers useful life profiling of all airport asset types; asset replacement values with components supporting different intervention strategies; and algorithms to decide intervention options, computed values, asset replacement values and remaining useful life and asset degradation profiles.

A solution like this could not have been designed in isolation. It requires a multi-disciplinary team approach, with representation from projects, finance, frontline engineering, operations and maintenance teams. The outputs which feed into the asset investment planning capability reflects the priorities of each of these teams – it presents information that is easily accessible and gives engineers the confidence to validate and evidence their investment proposals.

The use of a smart digital tool as part of this solution allows all the required modelling, condition and investment inputs to be not only visualised in a single, easy to use application, but to automate the linking of these inputs to remove the labour-intensive manual activities of the past. This is an excellent example of technology that both supports and enhances the foundational engineering know-how crucial to such projects.

When successfully implemented, condition assessment and asset investment planning provides airports with an evidence-based investment projection that is compelling to executives and valuable for managers. It ensures the right investment is delivered on the right assets at the right time, in a ‘live’ tool that can be added to and refined for years to come.

ASSET MANAGEMENT

Transforming the airport experience with AIWhen it comes to airports, huge amounts of data are constantly being generated, from the moment an initial flight booking begins, to inside the airport itself, where passengers register to access the Wi-Fi before heading to the duty free lounge, where purchases are recorded alongside passenger destination and airline. This wealth of information informs operators about passenger preferences and habits. However, it can also be used intelligently, to create safer, more efficient and more organised operations.

Processing dataThanks to our technological developments, more information is being collected than ever before, in many different formats and languages, and in alignment to numerous protocols and forms of protection. It is clear that access and management of such data presents a huge challenge. This is where artificial intelligence (AI) can step in.

AI has the potential to revolutionise the way data is processed, interpreted and communicated. It can sift through huge amounts of data in real-time, recognising patterns and trends that can inform decisions. This method can be applied to a variety of mediums, from monitoring systems like self-check in machines, to the live feed cameras found at border control running facial recognition technology.

The impact of data and AI on designWhen it comes to improving user experience, there are a number of key things that Airport planners and designers first need to ascertain. They need to know who will be making use of the airport, when they are expected to use it, and what they will do while there. Predictions of high volume can also be important and knowing whether volume will be constant or fluctuating. With these key insights in mind, planners and designs can then prioritise comfort, convenience and safety. Predicting the peak hour patterns will be very important input for operations and maintenance.

Perhaps the holy grail for these designers and planners is the ability to successfully develop a new site by drawing on the information collected from other airports. Where previously the process would be driven by a handful of examples, AI provides planners and designers with access to hundreds of precedents. This data is also exponentially more detailed, bringing the user directly into the planning and design process, and enabling the team to more accurately predict the future needs of the airport and inform the design accordingly.

In an airport already in operation, AI has the potential to streamline processes for an improved passenger experience. For example, by using AI to recognise patterns of behaviour within different situations and allowing it to learn from its experiences, solutions can be found before problems even exist. This could be used on everything from moving or opening gates during overcrowding, to rerouting passengers around an incident or colour coding security queues based on passenger flow.

Realising its potential isn’t simpleHowever, using AI to predict the future is only successful if it can keep up with the pace of change. This isn’t just about technological advances, it’s also about the social changes that are being driven by technology. It is a big challenge for the aviation industry, in which we are designing for a world in which our decisions have the potential to be redundant within a generation – so how do we design an airport that must serve us for the next 100 years?

Carlos Cortijo Technical Director, Regional Head of Aviation

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Showcase

#1 Heathrow AirportWe have worked with Heathrow on some of their most transformational projects, from improving the passenger journey to enabling the airport’s third runway.

Our work includes design solutions for the airport’s IT and asset management programme, and continuing work as part of the Integrated Design Team for the airport’s sustainable expansion.

#2 Dubai Airport – smart investment planningThe first project of its kind in aviation, we developed an end-to-end technology-based platform to help the airport make informed, predictive decisions on their asset replacement, refurbishment and maintenance.

#3 Hong Kong International Airport We are working with the Airport Authority Hong Kong to implement a three-runway system, involving construction of a new airport platform north of the existing runway.

#4 Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport We’re providing a full range of planning, engineering and architectural services for the airport’s long-term development.

#5 London City Airport We’ve been co-located within London City’s operational project team since 2000, providing engineering and project management expertise vital to the airport’s expansion.

#6 Fort Lauderdale – Hollywood International AirportWe are the lead designer responsible for the replacement and expansion of one of the airport’s major runways and associated taxiways, leading a team of 16 specialised and local sub-consultants.

#7 Birmingham AirportWe are managing the upgrade and extension of Birmingham’s airport terminals, and overseeing the airfield reconfiguration, as part the airport’s masterplan to provide a sustainable future for air transport in the Midlands.

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Enabling airports to transform and grow, responsibly and sustainably