Airport Access Research Articles

Exploring autism-friendly initiatives in Australian airports: ‘A lot better than a lot of airports that I’ve experienced’

ABSTRACT This study examines the effectiveness of autism-friendly initiatives implemented at two major Australian airports: Sydney and Gold Coast. As accessible air travel is essential for the social inclusion of Autistic individuals, ensuring that airports meet their specific needs is critical. Focusing on the lived experiences of Autistic adults and parents of Autistic children, the research seeks to assess how well these initiatives align with the needs of Autistic travellers and to identify any opportunities to further enhance airport accessibility. Through reflexive thematic analysis of interviews with 13 participants, the study generated themes related to persistent sensory challenges, the importance of planning and accessible quiet spaces, and the significant benefits associated with the Hidden Disability Sunflower lanyard. Although participants acknowledged the strides made in improving accessibility, they also highlighted areas that would benefit from further attention, particularly in communication and proactive support from airport personnel. The findings emphasise the pivotal role airports play in either facilitating or hindering the travel experiences and opportunities of Autistic individuals. The study concludes with a call for policy and practice reforms, advocating for the broader implementation of standardised autism-friendly initiatives and comprehensive staff training to ensure a consistently supportive environment for Autistic travellers.

Urban Air Mobility Passengers’ Profiling: Evidence from Milan Airports, Italy

Urban air mobility (UAM) is expected to offer new travel options for passengers to and from airports in the near future, despite uncertainties associated with regulatory issues, environmental concerns, and societal impacts. This paper analyzes the socioeconomic and behavioral factors that could influence users’ modal choices (including UAM services) for accessing and egressing airports. Using revealed and stated preference data collected at Milan airports (Italy), mixed logit and hybrid choice modeling specifications are estimated and compared with profile potential UAM passengers. Our findings suggest that the level of service, socioeconomic factors, and trip-related variables explain passengers’ choices better than latent traits such as fear of flying, propensity for technological advances, and expectations about the safety of UAM services. In other words, the additional complexity of hybrid choice modeling is not justified by the slight gain in likelihood compared with the estimated mixed logit model. The results also indicate that high-income individuals traveling for business purposes are the most likely demand segment to use UAM services, at least initially. Moreover, highly educated individuals and employees who have their travel expenses reimbursed for work trips are less likely to choose UAM services for airport access or egress, preferring traditional ground taxis.

Dehumanizing air travel: a scoping review on accessibility and inclusion of people with disabilities in international airports.

Worldwide, one in six individuals live with a disability. Many people continue to experience disabling situations, particularly when travelling. Travel can be an important part of the lives of many people, including people with disabilities. Barriers to accessing air travel can lead to a reluctance to travel for these potential passengers. As early as the flight planning stage, options to facilitate accessibility are limited. At airports, passengers must travel long distances in areas where navigation is complex, and accessibility limited. Furthermore, few aircraft are accessible. The travel experience can have adverse effects on the health of people with disabilities. Practices are sometimes not inclusive, not always available, and may not address the full spectrum of possible needs. The objective of this study is to provide a state of art on accessibility features available to people with disabilities in the busiest international airports. A scoping review of practices in airport accessibility was done. A search strategy was deployed in 4 databases (Avery index to architectural periodicals, Medline, CINAHL, and Web of science). The official websites of the 35 busiest airports were exhaustively consulted. All information regarding accessibility measures and inclusive services were extracted. 31 scientific articles, out of 3,640 screened, and all extracted data from airports' website were considered for synthesis. While efforts are made in major airports, there is a great inconsistency in accessibility features. Both facilitators and challenges are encountered by people with disabilities at every stage of air travel. These stages include journey planning; getting to and from the airport, obtain human assistance, navigate in the premises, check in, security screening, using facilities, boarding and disembarking, customs and immigration procedures, and luggage management. Services need to be extensively planned, placing a significant burden on passengers. The disability-centric perspective disregard passengers' unique needs and capabilities, leading to a sense of dehumanization. The complexity of airport organizations, shared responsibilities, limited communication, training challenges can deter accessibility initiatives and create discomfort during travel. This study is the first step of a broader project supported by Canadian Accessibility Standards, focusing on enhancing inclusive accessibility in Canadian airports.

Who will board urban air taxis? An analysis of advanced air mobility demand and value of travel time for business, airport access, and regional tourism trips in Iran

Recent advancements in the development of a comprehensive urban air mobility ecosystem promise the opportunity for its implementation in the near future. However, the utility of this emerging mode of transportation in comparison to the existing modes varies for different trip purposes and geographical contexts. It is, therefore, imperative to assess its usage potential for various scenarios before moving forward with implementation efforts. This paper presents the findings of three stated preference surveys aimed at characterizing prospective urban air mobility travel demand for weekly business, airport access, and regional tourism trips in Iran. Hybrid multinomial logit and hybrid nested logit models are estimated for each trip purpose. The results indicate that urban air mobility for weekly business trips represents the most viable market segment. Value-of-time estimates for weekly business trips are more than two and a half times higher than those for airport access trips, and tourism trips are valued even less. There is a trend towards delaying the adoption of air taxis to gain trust, and reducing ticket prices is seen as the most effective incentive for increasing the adoption rate. This study pioneers research on urban air mobility in a developing country context, offering valuable insights into market viability for investors and policymakers.

Preferences and welfare impacts of new metro serving airport access

The construction of a new rail infrastructureto connectairportswith cities plays a vital role in enhancing the accessibility of airport ground access and mitigating negative externalities resulting fromautomobiles. To identify air travelers’ preferences for airport ground access by considering a new metro line in Taiwan, we develop nested logit models, which combine revealed and stated preference data. The results reveal significant effects of travel time, travel cost, and individual characteristics; the metro and taxis are highly substituted for airport access. Consumer surplus or accessibility is not equally distributed across air travelers. Travelers who are female, young adults, lower income, and without vehicles in the household obtain considerable consumer benefits from using the new metro. Policy incentives to time and cost have a small impact on the increase in metro share, but consumer surplus surges considerably.

Luggage Management System in order to Reduce Carbon Emissions and Ensure Sustainability

Air transport is a vital enabler of growth in the economy. It contributes to the economy by supporting trade and tourism. However, air transportation also affects our environment by increasing carbon emissions. Additionally, the use of private vehicles or taxis to access the airport also contributes to carbon emissions. With this study, considering that transportation to the airport has different difficulties in big cities, a mobile system will be developed that offers processes such as airport access, check-in, and luggage delivery in a single module, facilitates the person's transportation process to the airport and aims to protect the environment by directing them to public transportation. The main goal to be achieved with the luggage management software is to direct people's individual transportation to the airport to public transportation and thus, reduce carbon emissions. It is also aimed to automate the check-in process of luggage given to the plane and to reduce the time spent at the airport. Since the main aim of this study is to improve airport luggage handling, a business process improvement (BPM) approach will be adopted. Business process analysis and improvement will be used to identify, analyze, and optimize existing luggage processes. Additionally, user-centered design principles will be applied to add many user interface features to enhance user experience. The systems offering the same service are limited and there is a clear market in this field. The process will be digitized and streamlined. Time lost at the airport is going to be minimized and flight access is going to be facilitated.

TIME AND COST ANALYSIS OF DHOHO KEDIRI AIRPORT ACCESS ROAD PROJECT USING EARNED VALUE METHOD

Delays in project completion are something that any project contractor must avoid. Because apart from having a negative effect on the credibility of the project contractor, delays in project completion also cause penalty costs to be borne by the contractor, so that the profits to be obtained are reduced.Earned Value Method. This method is used to determine project performance in terms of costs at one time, determine project performance in terms of schedule/time at one time, predict costs to complete the project after the evaluation time and predict the time to complete the project after the evaluation.By using this method in the Kediri airport access road construction project, it was found that the project was delayed from the plan. The ETC (estimate to complete) value obtained was the estimated budget value required for completion was IDR 17,470,510,292.77, while the EAC (estimate at complete) value obtained was the final total cost estimate. project is IDR 32,509,153,464.05. TE Value Results (Time Estimate) to complete the project to completion in 89 calendar days or 5 days later than the contract time of 84 calendar days.

The airport access gap in Latin America and the Caribbean

We estimate the investment gap in the provision of adequate levels of access to airports in Latin America and the Caribbean. Based on georeferenced data for population centers and existing airport locations, we estimate the region requires USD 10 billion in investments to close the gap for 23 million people living in localities of more than 100,000 inhabitants who currently lack sufficient access to airports offering adequate service standards within reasonable travel times. The gap is equivalent to approximately 18% of total investment in transport in Latin America in 2019, but is quite sensitive to variations in the criteria chosen to define access in terms of maximum access time and minimum population center size thresholds.

COST AND TIME ANALYSIS USING EARNED VALUE METHOD ON THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE NATIONAL KEDIRI AIRPORT ACCESS ROAD PHASE 1 KEDIRI - NGANJUK

Project completion delays have adverse consequences on a contractor's credibility and result in additional penalty costs, reducing potential profits. To mitigate these issues and optimize project outcomes, refining activity schedules and budgets is crucial. The Earned Value Method proves effective in monitoring and controlling project activities. In the case of the Kediri airport access road construction project, weeks 1 to 6 revealed a negative Cost Variance (CV), indicating higher-than-planned costs, while weeks 7 to 8 showed a positive CV, suggesting costs were lower than anticipated. Schedule Variance (SV) for the 1st week was unfavorable, indicating a delay, and SV>1 from weeks 2 to 8 signaled a project delay. The Estimate to Complete (ETC) is IDR 17,470,510,292.77, and the Estimate at Complete (EAC) is IDR 32,509,153,464.05. The Time Estimate (TE) forecasts project completion in 89 calendar days, five days beyond the contracted 84 days. Employing the Earned Value Method enhances project performance evaluation and decision-making to avoid delays and cost overruns.

Assessing airport ground access interventions: An integrated approach combining mode choice modeling and microscopic traffic simulation

Airport ground accessibility is an important and integral part of airport planning, which significantly impacts airport attractiveness and its environmental sustainability. In this paper, we propose the combined use of road micro-simulation with meso-scope discrete choice modeling to support the evaluation of airport access interventions. The proposed integrated framework allows us to appraise mode choice and infrastructural interventions simultaneously to accurately assess the performance of airport access road networks in accommodating larger traffic. We validate and demonstrate the benefits of the proposed approach by applying it to a real-world case study based on the Milan–Bergamo Airport (BGY), in which (i) we conduct an ex-post counterfactual analysis to assess the impact of the interventions undertaken to mitigate the large growth (54.6%) in the years 2013–2019, and (ii) evaluate future scenarios up to 2030 considering the additional expected growth and introduction of direct rail services. Results indicate that BGY’s ground access interventions have contributed to effectively accommodating traffic growth by significantly mitigating road congestion and associated pollutant emissions. Results also inform on the need and effectiveness of additional interventions to meet the substantial expected future growth.

Unraveling passengers’ preferences: investigating airport access mode choice in Tehran, Iran

Airports are imperative elements in fueling the economic growth of a country by reducing the distances between origins and destinations for the movement of both passengers and goods. Managing ground access modes of travel has become essential as the majority of trips are made by private cars, leading to increased environmental issues and congestion. To alleviate these problems, it is vital to identify the factors that shape air passengers' choice of ground access mode. In this work, we utilized inclusive Revealed Preference data (RP) collected through face-to-face interviews and applied a Multinomial Logit (MNL) model to study passengers' ground access mode choice behavior at Mehrabad International Airport, the busiest airport in Iran. The results showed that different factors such as socioeconomic status, travel characteristics, and distance to the airport affect the mode choice behavior of passengers in reaching the airport.

Airport accessibility surveys and mobile phone records data fusion for the analysis of air travel behaviour

Mobility surveys normally present a high level of detail, but their sample size tends to be bounded due to high sampling cost. Meanwhile, anonymised mobile network data present a significant sample size, but may lack detailed travellers’ trip information (e.g., trip purpose, mode choice, etc.). This paper uses airport passenger surveys to develop a set of machine learning models able to estimate the passengers travel purpose and access modal choice in order to reconstruct the door-to-door trip information obtained from mobile network data in future studies. The proposed approach is demonstrated and evaluated for Madrid-Barajas and Palma de Mallorca airports.

Economic impact analysis of developing the JR Haneda Airport Access Line

The East Japan Railway Company is planning a new access railway line to the Tokyo International (Haneda) Airport. This paper proposes an evaluation method for the development of the new airport access line considering the socioeconomic characteristics of the Greater Tokyo Area and indicates what is needed to increase its social value. As the evaluation method, we develop an econometric model that considers commuters’ trip behaviors across prefectures and the relationship between the increased number of Meeting, Incentive Travel, Convention, Exhibition and Event (MICE) visitors and the regional economy. We also conduct a simulation analysis using an empirical econometric model and a cost-effectiveness analysis based on multiple scenarios. The results indicate that a 50% increase in MICE visitors is needed to make the present discounted value of the total increase in the gross regional product larger than the construction cost of the line.

Assessing the Attractivity and Accessibility of the Romanian Airports

Assessing the attractivity and accessibility of the Romanian airports. The research examines the changing dynamics of Romanian airports within the framework of European air transport deregulation and the subsequent “open skies” policy. A basic accessibility assessment method was applied, which involved weighting destinations according to their relative significance. The results highlight the dominance of certain airports and the limited competition for global hubs. The study concludes by emphasizing the need for detailed airport analysis to develop an attractiveness model specific to Eastern-Central Europe, incorporating economic, geographic, demographic, political, and infrastructure factors. Keywords: accessibility, weighting, ranking, competition, airport.

Airport choices and resulting catchments in the U.S. Midwest

Air travelers originating from the catchment areas of airports – typically defined by administrative or geographic boundaries – will sometimes “leak” across these boundaries to farther, often larger airports that offer more attractive services and options. To investigate the attractiveness of different airports based on their proximity and geographic position relative to one another, we assess the airport choices of air passengers across a large region of the US Midwest that spans multiple administrative boundaries and airports. We combine a dataset of air tickets purchased by these passengers with other publicly available datasets, and apply mixed logit airport choice models based on air service attributes and airport access distance. We take multiple subsets of the total air tickets dataset using Halton sampling in order to achieve model estimation convergence. Model estimates are compared between data subsets, and consistently lead to the following key results. First, changes in air service attributes on short- and medium-length routes will have a more uniform influence on air passengers' airport choices, compared with long routes. Second, comparable proportional changes in air service attributes lead to greater changes in the catchment areas and market shares of small and medium airports, compared with large hubs. Within these service characteristics, airfare is found to impact passengers' airport preferences more than flight frequency. Finally, the catchment areas and market shares of small- and medium-size airports are influenced by the proximity and geographic location of neighboring airports; this differs from the catchments of large airports, which strongly extend into multiple jurisdictional boundaries in all directions despite the presence of surrounding airports. The study results provide further insight into the influence of air service attributes on long-distance airport choices over large geographic regions served by a diverse set of airports, and the resulting implications on multimodal transportation planning within and across such regions.

Flying high in the sky: The airports decentralization reform and regional economic development in China

This paper uses the airports decentralization reform in China, 2003–2004, to explore the impacts of management structure of transportation infrastructure on the operational efficiency and the regional economy. The DID estimation shows that the operational efficiency of reformed airports significantly increase after the reform. We use a geo-coded micro-level panel dataset of Chinese manufacturing firms to estimate the economic impact of this reform. Our triple difference estimation explores three-dimension firm-level variations: location (i.e., near versus far from reformed airports), industry (i.e., high-skill-intensive industries relative to low-skill intensive ones), and year (i.e., before and after the reform). We find out that the high-skill-intensive firms with better airport access experience 8.6% more reduction in the inventory level, 2.4% more increase in manufacturing productivity, and 2.5% more increase in the value-added after the reform. Consistent with the existing literature, we show that the reform increases external investment and expands market access. Placebo tests on unaffected airports rule out alternative explanations. Our results are robust against various alternative specifications.

An ILP approach for tactical flight rescheduling during airport access mode disruptions

AbstractAirport access mode disruptions, such as a subway shutdown, threaten the whole passenger door‐to‐door journey. When such a disruptive event occurs, knowledge of passengers' delays would help the airport operation centre to decide if a departure flight should be delayed. This paper proposes a tactical flight rescheduling at an airport to minimise the number of stranded passengers while considering operational constraints. An integer linear programming formulation of the problem is presented. Constraints such as terminal capacities, maximal runway throughput, minimum turnaround time or minimum transfer time for connecting passengers are considered. An exact and heuristic resolution is proposed and compared to a study case around Paris‐Charles de Gaulle airport. The new schedule satisfies the operational constraints and reduces up to 60% of the number of stranded passengers with moderate deviation from the initial planning.

Investigating the recovery of For-Hire-Vehicle, Taxi, and AirTrain at two New York City airports during the COVID-19 pandemic

For operators of large-scale infrastructure systems such as airports, predicting landside access demand amid constant exogenous changes that modify travel volumes and preferences is immensely challenging. COVID-19 disrupted travel behavior and mode preferences, making it even more challenging for airport operators to plan infrastructure and design strategies to accommodate landside access. We use time series regression discontinuity to explore to what extent the volumes of airport ground access modes changed during the pandemic, how the recovery differed across modes, and how the pandemic changed the established relationship among access modes. We do so by examining the change in the three main airport access modes at two large New York City airports, John F. Kennedy International Airport and LaGuardia Airport (traditional taxis; for-hire ride-hailing services such as Uber; AirTrain, the public transit system, at JFK only). We find the mismatch between taxi pick-up and drop-off trips that predates the pandemic widened and persisted during the pandemic; the pandemic diminished taxis’ role and exacerbated the replacement of taxis by for-hire-vehicles. For-hire-vehicle trips recovered at both airports, possibly at the expense of taxis. AirTrain continued to function as an important and resilient airport access mode during the pandemic. Our research helps to inform the airport operators’ resource allocation and traffic management strategies while showcasing the usefulness of time series regression discontinuity in examining changes in travel behavior for future planning in the aftermath of a major shock.

Kajian Teknisi Penerapan Jalan Umum di Jalan Akses Bandara Juanda

Juanda Airport Access Road, Sidoarjo Regency, East Java has a length of 3.15km with a width of 6m and there are 73 lighting points with a pole height of 12m and a distance between poles of 44m with a total of 8 single-arm poles and 65 double-arm poles. In addition, the street lighting lamps installed are 72 150 watt LED lamps and 66 250 watt SON-T type lamps. The measurement results are 26.37 lux for a 150 watt LED type lamp and 10.27 lux for a 250 watt SON-T lamp. However, from the many lights that have been installed, the lighting on the access road to Juanda Airport is still not optimal and many blackspots are found in certain areas. Therefore, it is necessary to do a re-analysis so that the road lighting for the Juanda Airport access road can meet the standards. The results of the analysis concluded that by carrying out a simulation on the dialux application according to the conditions in the field, 73 points of lighting poles were needed, the handlebar angle of the ornament was 14.06o with a total of 138 196 watt LED lights with an intensity of 15 lux which was in accordance with the standards of the Indonesian National Standards Agency 7391 : 2008 regarding the specifications for street lighting in urban areas and the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources 2014 for collector road classes for national road status, namely 15 - 20lux.

Equitable optimization of US airline route networks

Restructuring route networks (i.e., modifying the graph of origin-destination pairs) remains a promising alternative for reducing the airline industry's environmental impact. However, there exists a fundamental trade-off between emissions from flight and airport accessibility, since flights connecting underserved, low-accessibility communities tend to possess high CO2/seat-mile ratios. Thus, this work develops an open-source analytical framework and methodology that restructures U.S. airline route networks to simultaneously minimize emissions and maximize airport accessibility. To achieve this goal, this paper designs a metric to quantify airport accessibility and combines it with an open-source system-wide emissions estimation methodology. This facilitates the creation of a mixed-integer linear optimization model that returns revised flight frequencies and aircraft allotment. Using United Airlines 2019 Q3 data as a case study, this model is able to construct an alternative route network with a 25% reduction on the total number of flights, 4.4% decrease in the average emissions per seat-mile and a 17.6% improvement in the spread of the airports' accessibility scores, all while satisfying historic passenger demand.