Introduction
In the past, airports were viewed to be a little more than suppliers of infrastructures for the carriers. They dwelt with airlines they served and the degree of resident demand. The success of airports was not related to airport strategies and performance. They have positioned themselves as part of an integral component of the transport chain. In the past, airlines were innovative and dynamic partners of transport that controlled and regulated passengers’ experience. Currently, airports are trying to balance their customers’ relation to be similar players. The airports are transforming to a more entrepreneurial design text and have begun to change their operation methods to improve the quality of services they offer to their passenger during the journey. These changes have enormous impacts on the international airport company reshaping it for the best (Upham et al. 2003).
Airports’ industry major trends
The basic research on strategic airport changes of leading airports must uncover some of the international trends even though there are differences of airport business environments depending on states. Airport should start recognizing these patterns today to ensure there is a success in the future. Complaints from customers from time wastage and very uncomfortable seating by mutual and occasional travelers are some of the challenges that the industry faces. New York’s Guardia airport is an example of a frustrating US air travel service since its inception in 1953. It has come up with designs to improve security and accessibility, but the broadening existing bottlenecks in a fair process is not complete to deal with present design in airports. The big question here is how will future airports look like? They will be more complicated than just a core set off airport improvements. Future airports may see changes in the function in societies they serve, technology and security procedures.
Currently, most airports and airlines do not deliver superior passenger experience to fragments of their passenger base in significant ways while investing wisely in future solutions and models. It is not easy to change the design elements while considering customer requirements. It requires deep understanding, discipline and substantial investments regarding behaviors, demographics, needs, and attitudes. Airport and airlines broad collaboration may result to a stronger and a more fulfilling value suggestion for customers straddling the whole journey instead of being restricted to airport boundaries. This partnership type will depend on passenger data sharing by airlines with airports. Passenger data sharing may seem to be an abhorrence, but it gives the two entities deep insight into customer requirements which will enable them to design and deliver new services which customers will enjoy and willing to pay adequately for. This will create a significant opportunity for growth, revenue increments, and competitive positioning.
There has been a dramatic evolution over the last decades in airport operations and business models supporting the explosive global growth in the airline industry. Regulation deregulation and reforms marshaled in new air transport periods in North America have resulted in an increase in diversity, traffic and airline passenger selection (Pereira & Carro. 2007). To align the efficiency growth, airlines redefine their operation models while there is evolution at airports resulting to massive hub networks and feeding structures. This creates an efficient air transport ecosystem. Today airports are classified as destination and origin airports and as international and regional centers. These classifications have different operation profiles that affect the business model, strategies and ecosystem partners such as airlines, tenants and business in the surrounding catchment areas. Airport transport has gained more stakeholders recently which has resulted in complex operations.
The airports in Phase 1.0 focus on the abilities essential for efficient and safe landing management, departures and operation of aircraft. It offers vital customer services such as boarding, check-in, baggage picks up, security and average retail, and beverage and food services. These airports work in a landlord model where landlord/airport provide the real estate. Airlines and tenants do the implementation of business environments.
Increase in Hub system competition infrastructure.
The increase in competition among hub system. The expansion of hub operations and an increase in international alliance grouping importance due to the continuing deregulation, global competition between airport carriers has increased. This has been evidenced in Europe, Middle East, and Asia. The newly established business hubs in the Middle East are basing their business model around customer transfers. This method has made a positive impact in that their airline's hubs which connect customers represent a disproportionally large number of total airport customers.
Non-stop flights to the destination are considered by most passengers even though there is no extra cost which comes with this preference. The airport quality and transfer process ease plays primary roles in satisfaction of passenger if they have layover schedule strategy. Successful airports should not disturb the overall travel experience. Successful airport structures should offer a relaxing and entertaining oasis between flights (Upham et al. 2003). For an airport to differentiate itself, it will have to investigate their infrastructure processes, appearance, and services offered ensuring that each supports transfers traffic. Successful airports at orchestration and facet facilitation of airport value chain distinguish themselves through the provision of enjoyable transfer processes.
The best performing airports can manage all their operational parts such as restaurants, carriers, security, shops, baggage handling, ground transport, etc. There is a strong relationship between performance operation and cooperation tightness among groups such as ground handlers and airlines, especially during peak seasons. Airports must feature the whole airport system to stand out in an increasingly competitive environment.
Infrastructural Passenger handling change at airports.
The airport passenger is changing. Airport managers measure their services along company lines of quality ranking. Air travelers and airlines are considered as core airport customers. Airports have a broad and wide range of stakeholders despite the airlines and air travelers including development partners, visitors, and tenants. The different groups’ interests will not align always and may result in a conflict. Such conflicts may be included in the tradeoff between reducing noise to benefitting neighbors and additional runway capacity installation to help customers and airlines. Airports should act as a facilitator to manage all its stakeholders actively embracing its role. This will contribute to improvements in the entire transport performance operation enabling the airport to realize its long-term goals (Sampigethaya & Pooyendran 2013).
Airport organizational structures and processes should promote airports capability to perform coordination and facilitation of its many passengers. For effective coordination among different stakeholders such as airlines, ATC and airport operators, the staffs and committees should jointly be managed for most airports. Customers and stakeholders’ relationship should be established for this to be successful. The airports should begin managing customers more systematically today since customer interactions are getting complicated with time.
Non-aviation service improvement
Currently, airport revenues are squeezed by international competition which has made them come up with methods to pass along the expense airport pressures. Airports struggle to fund the increasing infrastructure development projects. The airport should increase the resources to non-aviation focus to balance these two competing ends. No-aviation services contribute to about 70% to financial results of airport becoming the primary source of revenues to airports. These services include beverage and food, and retail which are key differentiators for airports. The best performing airports are making this non-aviation services revenue a strategic priority. If airports place responsibility in this area, a distinct role will aid to ensure that decision-making involves the big goals in mind within the organization. Solid non-aeronautical foundation for revenue diversification will be provided through the construction of organizational capabilities which are dedicated such as management and retail revenue establishment and master planning in retail layout practices.
Application of business fundamental at airports
For airports to perform well in the future, they cannot ignore the application of business fundamentals in its operation. The airports are being forced to sharpen their concentration on the bottom line due to continuing expense pressure and high returns expectation. The best performing airports should be managed as profit and revenue generating entities but not as public facilities. This is maintained in top-tier airports irrespective of their structure ownership or sources of funding. Financial independence should be pursued for airports to perform best which demands that airport management teams use the proven business approaches to decision making. This includes the capability to comprehend business basics which include key costs and returns drivers. This is a core skill in the private sector operation even though it is not considered as core airport competency in the organization process.
This global industrial trend results to changes in organizations in airport service. This focus is the bottom line which pushes airport managers toward an institutional configuration of the individual department. The finance sectors in airports are no longer on receiving accounts but push for maximization and managing performance through increased attention to KPIs such as EVA and ROI and other approaches that improve stakeholders returns. Changes in management style reflect the private sector view on both external and internal troubles. The airport management should depend highly on operational service quality and financial metrics systems that maximize business operation.
Infrastructural Innovation and new technology at airports
New technologies and innovation will also reshape the airport experience. All aspects of modern life have been transformed through by technology. Technology advancement can change the way we travel through airports such as mobile boarding passes, check-in kiosks and automation of boarding gates will improve customer processing time and will also reduce staff costs at the airport. IT sector new technology and innovation like the use of RFID mobile application for self-service and use of wireless communication means will allow flexibility customer communication, processing, and tracking. This has positive results on the client experience resulting in the implementation of newly incorporated systems at an extraordinary speed (Pereira & Carro. 2007).
Technology will also improve security and safety in airport besides passenger service quality improvements. This will include the application of full body scanners, passenger biometric screening, more sensitive explosive detectors and incorporation of physiological detection innovation into the check in and surveillance technology. The best airports should have the latest technological advances. IT integration and application of sophisticated analytics during decision making is used. They will also enable and heavily invest in Information Technology sector ensuring that they are not blind-sided by some disruptive technology advances.
If the airport industry is to succeed in the rapidly changing and competitive environment, it should incorporate some trends to recognize and navigate smoothly in the area f infrastructure.
Application of smart airports will improve a new experience staffs and customers in the airport. Web technologies, processors, sensors and always on communication devices will be used by airlines, airport and partners producing a new foundational framework which will enable the sense analysis of real-time capabilities.
Customers touch points will not be described by core information exchanges at check-in, boarding and security check stages. A persistent and pervasive link to the client will allow continuous always communication. Passenger experience may also be enhanced through airports reaching beyond their physical boundaries at all trip stages. This will involve airport offering information concerning roads and parking areas status which will assist customers to plan for their departure time making arrangements for services like parking.
Improvement in airport architectural design
High and smart architecture design will improve the airport operations. This will include intelligent services which support efficient airport management in the end to end customer travel experience which needs an end to end high-level architecture. The stylish design will support the requirements and opportunities in each airport area which involves airside, the big airport, and the terminal and airport city environment. This will have the abilities, applications and information fully incorporated into the network as the policy. The smart airport vision will address requirements and opportunities to allow a transformed customer experience at the highest level. An incorporated method integrating each touch point on the traveler journey will allow the airport to offer the worthiest and consistent fulfilling customer experience.
The basis of this layer lies on the devices, hardware and service level application that involves the underlying infrastructure. This infrastructure will provide an open, efficient flexible and highly scalable basis for construction and evolution of smart airport vision. The addition of new data will allow new abilities and expansion that dominates in the smart airport solution transformation customers experience and operation of the airport. Infrastructural implementation can be accomplished in several ways such as internal and external cloud services, hosting, outsourcing or a combination that best describes the stakeholders’ needs.
Conclusion
This is the threshold period for airports that offers unique chances for growth and transformation. Currently, the rise in costs and capacity surplus takes away both the passenger experience and aviation returns. Developments in passenger technology enhance customer expectations for personalized services and unfettered access to real-time data (Sampigethaya & Pooyendran 2013).
Airports should invest in information technology infrastructure and in integrated operations to enable end to end customer experience thus widening the value chain to its players. This will also increase the non-aviation returns. The airport should heavily strategize in the following fields;
Expansion of the value chain by considering customer experience in an incorporated end to end framework which involves airlines, airport, governments, tenants, city airport business and other stakeholders.
Should develop and define new innovative services based on traveler segmentation, preferences, experiences, and tastes. This will include airport infrastructure model and tenants service application.
Should come up with enablers and explore concepts for the end to end traveler architecture experience.
Airports should make investments targeting passenger experience. It should evaluate present passenger experience identifying top priorities for improving it.
Airports should establish a government model to manage and control innovation process throughout the airport and its environment. This will result in the innovation of new services on a continuous basis across all investors.
References
Pereira, C. E., & Carro, L. (2007). Distributed real-time embedded systems: Recent advances, future trends and their impact on manufacturing plant control. Annual Reviews in Control, 31(1), 81-92.
Sampigethaya, K., & Poovendran, R. (2013). Aviation cyber–physical systems: foundations for future aircraft and air transport. Proceedings of the IEEE, 101(8), 1834-1855.
Upham, P., Thomas, C., Gillingwater, D., & Raper, D. (2003). Environmental capacity and airport operations: current issues and future prospects. Journal of Air Transport Management, 9(3), 145-151.
