Airports In Spain Research Articles

Segmentation of passengers on the autism spectrum in their use, preferences and acceptance of digital technology at airports in Spain

PurposeFollowing the COVID-19 pandemic, airports have begun implementing more digital technologies. While these technologies can enhance the airport experience for passengers on the autism spectrum, this population tends to be studied as a single segment. However, people on the autism spectrum have different preferences, skills and abilities and levels of acceptance of digital technologies. We aim to explore the acceptance of recently implemented digital technologies, self-service kiosks and other digital technologies such as biometric facial recognition in the airport environment among passengers on the autism spectrum, who are not a single segment.Design/methodology/approachWe carried out an academic-industry collaboration project in 2022 at Barcelona’s Josep Tarradellas Airport with the Spanish airport operator Aena, Vueling Airlines, three associations representing people on the autism spectrum (stakeholders) and 60 participants on the autism spectrum recruited by the three associations. Interviews were conducted during the airport visits to compare airport experiences: Group 1 provided input on the traditional airport experience using manual or analogue processes, and Group 2 provided feedback on the airport experience using digital technologies.FindingsThe use of cluster analysis revealed three distinct segments: traditional, automated with assistance from others and digital. Our findings provide airports with insights into recently implemented digital technologies at airports for passengers on the autism spectrum.OriginalityThis article brings new knowledge about passengers on the autism spectrum and their relationship with digital technologies in the airport environment, a topic that has not been previously studied.

Benefits of public–private cooperation: The case study of Seve Ballesteros-Santander Airport in Spain

Seve Ballesteros-Santander Airport (SDR/LEXJ) is a success story among Europe’s small regional airports. This success is due, among other factors, to: 1) the commitment to the promotion of connectivity and tourism by the successive regional governments of Cantabria, one of the 17 regions making up Spain; 2) the management of the infrastructure carried out by Aena, with intense modernisation and expansion of the airport; and 3) the commitment of the airlines to Cantabria through the development of a large network of air routes, especially Ryanair, but also Air Nostrum, Vueling, Iberia, Volotea, Wizz Air and Binter. In the last 20 years, the airport’s traffic volume has quadrupled from 250.000 passengers to one million. The number of destinations has increased from just a few frequencies to Madrid and Barcelona to 30 destinations covering the whole of Spain and providing connectivity to the main European capitals and major cities. This paper will analyse some of the factors, including supply and demand, that have given rise to this success. It will also discuss the economic impact of the airport on the region and some of the main opportunities and challenges it will face throughout the coming years.

Two-stage network structure with undesirable outputs approach

Articles in which nonparametric data envelopment analysis (DEA) is applied to estimate the efficiency based on a network structure usually consider the desirable intermediary parts that are the first stage’s outputs to be used as the second stage’s inputs. In many real-life situations, the intermediary parameters include desirable and undesirable outputs. This issue has drawn much attention from DEA researchers in recent years. The main motivation for this application is weak disposability for modeling the networks with undesirable intermediary parts. Undesirable outputs have been investigated in this study in two forms, i.e., the final outputs or intermediary parameters. In both cases, the non-cooperative game theory is offered for evaluating the relative efficiency of the executive units. In 2008, a real case was explicated for 39 airports in Spain in applied analysis of the proposed approaches.

A Study on Network Construction Strategies for Long-Haul Low-Cost Carrier Operations

Purpose - This study aims to analyze the characteristics of network construction by Norwegian Air and AirAsia X, which are recognized as leading airlines in the long-haul LCC market. Based on this analysis, this study intends to provide implications for networking strategies for Korean LCCs that seek to enter the long-haul market when the aviation market stabilizes again upon the end of the COVID-19 pandemic. Design/methodology - To conduct the network analysis on long-haul low-cost airlines, the Official Airline Guide (OAG) Schedule Analyzer was used to extract long-haul data of Norwegian Air and AirAsia X. To analyze the trend of the long-haul route network, we obtained the data from 3 separate years between 2011 and 2019. The network was analyzed using UCINET 6.0 in order to examine the network structure of long-haul low-cost airlines and the growth trend of each stage. Findings - Analyzing the network of long-haul routes by visualizing the network structure of low-cost carriers showed the following results. In its early years, Norwegian Air’s long-haul route network, centering on regional airports in Spain and Sweden, connected European regions, the Middle East, and Africa. As time passed, however, the network expanded and became steadily strong as the airline connected airports in other European countries to North America and Asia. In addition, in 2011, AirAsia X showed links to parts of Europe, such as London and Paris, the Middle East and India, and Australia and Northeast Asia, centering on the Kuala Lumpur Airport. Although the routes in Europe were suspended, the network continued to expand while concentrating on routes of less than approximately 7,000 km. It was found that instead of giving up on ultra-long-haul routes such as Europe, the network was further expanded in Northeast Asia, such as the routes in Korea and Japan centering on China. Originality/value - Until the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, Norwegian Air actively expanded long-haul routes, resulting in the number of long-haul routes quintupling since 2011. The unfortunate circumstance, wherein the world aviation market was rendered stagnant due to the outbreak of COVID-19, hit Norwegian Air harder than any other low-cost carriers. However, in the case of AirAsia X, it was found that it did not suffer as much damage as Norwegian Air because it initially withdrew from unprofitable routes over 7,000 km and grew by gradually increasing profitable destinations over shorter distances. When the COVID-19 pandemic ends and the aviation market stabilizes, low-cost carriers around the world, including Korea, that enter the long-haul route market will need to employ strategies to analyze the marketability of potential routes and to launch the routes that yield the highest profits without being bound by distance. For stable growth, it is necessary to take a conservative stance; first, by reviewing the business feasibility of the operating a small number of highly profitable routes, and second, by gradually expanding these routes.

Effect of Insulation on the Energy Demand of a Standardized Container Facility at Airports in Spain under Different Weather Conditions

Airports, broadly spread world-wide, present continuously increasing energy demands for heating and cooling purposes. Relocatable facilities within them could be built on recycling shipping containers provided with the right insulation layer, to reduce the outstanding consumption of the heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems (HVAC). This research focuses on studying the effect of added insulation on the thermal performance of a construction in the scope of an airport facility, based on a recycled shipping container. Passive heating and cooling insulation strategies have shown good results in terms of energy savings. A series of simulations were performed along six different Spanish airports locations, selected to represent several climate conditions. Temperature evolution inside the container, and energy demands of the HVAC system were obtained to show that the insulation provided by phase change materials (PCM) is performing better than traditional insulation, or a raw container. Although there are slight behavior differences according to the climate, PCM can increase inside temperature even with no HVAC under certain circumstances.

Impact of Continuous Climb Operations in ATC workload. Case-study Palma airport

This research assesses the impact of the integration of Continuous Climb operations (CCOs) on Air Traffic Control (ATC) workload. The methodology encompasses different modules: CCO, standard departing and arriving trajectories extracted from an external database, an ad-hoc algorithm for detecting and solving conflicts, and an ATC-workload model with the inclusion of CCO-task modifications. Monte Carlo simulations evaluates different combinations of these modules. Then, a sensitivity analysis is performed to evaluate two parameters: the impact of the calibration of the maximum ATC workload and the percentage increase of the CCO tasks on the ATC workload. The methodology is applied to a case study at Palma airport in Spain. Extensive numerical simulations are executed based on the integration of CCOs into the system from 0% to 100%. The integration of CCOs implies the increase of the ATC workload in the Control Tower (TWR) and the reduction in the Approach Control Centre (APP). The sensitivity analysis shows that the decrease in the increase of CCO-task workload barely affects the number of CCOs that can be operated without exceeding the workload limits. Conversely, the reduction of the ATC workload calibration allows the integration of CCOs around 50% in the case of 90% TWR calibration and up to 100% in the case of 80%.

Is the reusable tableware the best option? Analysis of the aviation catering sector with a life cycle approach

Annually, around 7.7 billion passengers travel by plane. The menus served during the flight are quite similar between different airlines and are composed of the food itself, packaging (paper envelopes, film, etc.) and tableware (mainly trays, plates, glasses, cups and cutlery). In 2016, 1522 tonnes of tourist class menus were served in Iberia aircrafts landing at Madrid Barajas airport in Spain. From this amount, 51% by weight was packaging and tableware, and the remaining 49% food. As changes in the food has little room for maneuver, since the same amount would be delivered regardless how it is served, this study focus on the possibilities of packaging and tableware to reduce GHG emissions. The assessment has been done using life cycle assessment methodology (LCA) in order to identify the hotspots along the whole life cycle of packaging and tableware items. The case study chosen was the catering service of Iberia, the national airline of Spain. The functional unit used was “the service of 1,000 tourist class menus on Iberia flights that landed in Madrid in 2016”.The results show that the impacts of reusable and single use items take place at different stages of their life cycles. For reusable ones, 76% of the impact is produced during the flight phase, meanwhile, for single use ones, 53% of the impact comes from the production stage.Variables such as material, weight and the number of reuses can greatly influence greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. From the results of the analysis some eco-design strategies has been proposed and analysed. The paper reveals that the lighter single-use packaging and tableware for airline catering are less harmful under a life cycle perspective become.

Statistical Postprocessing of Different Variables for Airports in Spain Using Machine Learning

The results of a deterministic calibration for the nonhydrostatic convection-permitting LAM-EPS AEMET-γSREPS are shown. LAM-EPS AEMET-γSREPS is a multiboundary condition, multimodel ensemble forecast system developed for Spain. Machine learning tools are used to calibrate the members of the ensemble. Machine learning (hereafter ML) has been considerably successful in many problems, and recent research suggests that meteorology and climatology are not an exception. These machine learning tools range from classical statistical methods to contemporary successful and powerful methods such as kernels and neural networks. The calibration has been done for airports located in many regions of Spain, representing different climatic conditions. The variables to be calibrated are the 2-meter temperature, the 10-meter wind speed, and the precipitation in 24 hours. Classical statistical methods perform very well with the temperature and the wind speed; the precipitation is a subtler case: it seems there is not a general rule, and for each point, a decision has to be taken of what method (if any) improves the direct output of the model, but even recognizing this, a slight improvement can be shown with ML methods for the precipitation.

A study on the impact of easements in the deployment of wind farms near airport facilities

In this work we propose a method to explore the impact of aeronautical easements in the design of urban wind farms near airports. We provide a comprehensive review of airport easements, their classes, shapes and regulations, along with how and to what extent the different types of easements may affect the prospective installation of wind energy generation facilities near airports. We consider not only the physical easements, called Obstacle Limitation Surfaces (Approach Surface and others), but also the electromagnetic or radio easements associated to Communications, Navigation and Surveillance systems (radars and other air navigation aids). As a practical application, we study different cases of potential deployments of both isolated wind turbines and large wind farms, both around and/or inside four different airports in Spain. We give quantitative guidelines that could be used as a reference in the design process, easing the quick approval by the corresponding national air safety authority.

Determining important attributes for assessing the attractiveness of airlines

The attractiveness of airlines is a topic of great interest to researchers and professionals wishing to understand the ability of airlines to attract and satisfy air passengers. However, there is a lack of consensus on which attributes of the airline are important for attracting and satisfying passengers. In general, previous studies have mostly focused on a limited number of attributes affecting a passenger's choice of airline, satisfaction, behaviour and loyalty. This study aims to develop a model to measure the importance of airline attributes, a model which could be adopted by future research on airline attractiveness. Besides a review of previous empirical research on the topic, an empirical study was conducted among air passengers at a major international airport in Spain. Results revealed the existence of eight categories of attributes that are important for airline passengers. The most important categories were: ‘safety and punctuality’, ‘ticket price’, and ‘attention and service during the customer journey’. In addition, air travel frequency and socio-demographic characteristics affected the perceived importance of the categories of attributes. For instance, air travel frequency had a positive influence on the importance passengers attach to ‘safety and punctuality’, ‘flight schedule and connections’, and ‘in-flight space’.

The role of airports in the tourist market development on the example of Spain

The role of air transport in the development of tourism has been crucial for the last decades. Among others, it opens the tourist market for new destinations, and induces the development of tourist infrastructure and tourist services. The main purpose of the article was to investigate the influence of air transport on tourism in one of the world’s most important tourist destinations – Spain. A brief historical background was provided. The authors then analyzed the functioning of the most important part of the infrastructure, i.e. airports in Spain, in the context of passenger transport, tourist motivations or preferred tourist destinations. The study indicates that Spain, located peripherally on the European continent and receiving more than 60 million international tourists per year, owes its success to the air connections. New destinations appeared on the tourist map of Spain that had earlier been less accessible for international and national tourists. Tourism in Spain is based in 80% on air transport, which is the reason for its dynamic development.

A comparative efficiency analysis of Spanish and Turkish airports

AENA in Spain and DHMI in Turkey operate a large majority of the airports in their respective countries. These two airport operators share some similar characteristics, but also present many differences with respect to their management strategies. For instance, the Turkish DHMI introduced a Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) model and concession agreements, which enables active private participation in airport management. In contrast, management and operation responsibilities at all airports in Spain –with a few exceptions-have remained with AENA. This paper utilizes a data envelopment analysis (DEA) to compare the relative efficiency of airports within AENA and DHMI for the years between 2009 and 2011. Based on the efficiency scores, it further identifies the sources of inefficiencies resulting from various management strategies and other external factors. The results indicate higher average efficiency levels at Spanish airports, but private involvement enhances efficiency at Turkish airports. The majority of the airports in Spain and Turkey operate under increasing returns to scale. Certain policy options, including a higher private involvement and improvement of the airport network by closing some inefficient airports, should be considered in order to increase the airport efficiency in both countries.

Agent-Based Distributed Control for Improving Complex Resource Scheduling: Application to Airport Ground Handling Operations

Recent research on highly distributed control methods has produced a series of new philosophies based on negotiation, which bring together process engineering with computer science. Among these control philosophies, the ones based on multiagent systems (MASs) have proved to be especially suitable to address distributed decision making in highly volatile environments. Furthermore, this agent-based approach allows using new manufacturing concepts in scheduling problems because of its scalability, ability to negotiate, and distributed capabilities. However, MAS models have the drawback of excessive dependence on up-to-date field information. In this paper, a theoretical and experimental MAS is presented to test new strategies for managing handling operations supported by radio-frequency identification information feedback. Based on this new visibility framework, these strategies applied to scheduling control have been structured on a new distributed organization model to enforce the idea of the division between physical elements and information and communication technologies. This division into two platforms simplifies the design and development of the MAS, providing a higher level of abstraction and preserving the independence between platforms. The proposed MAS, called MAS-DUO, has been validated using a test bench simulator and at the Ciudad Real Central Airport in Spain.

Environmental benefits of air–rail intermodality: The example of Madrid Barajas

The environmental impact of transport is a growing issue in transport infrastructure planning. The construction of a high-speed rail station at the Madrid Barajas Airport in Spain is an example of the integration of different transportation modes, with expected environmental benefits. We construct a model to assess modal choice and environmental benefits. The results show that with high-speed rail the number of people choosing air travel and the private car is reduced leading to important environmental benefits: a reduction of close to 5kg of CO2 per passenger, or 10% of all emissions on the corridor. Our results also show that increasing the cost of using the private car is picked up by air transport rather than high-speed rail, leading to an increase in total emissions.

Distributed decision support system for airport ground handling management using WSN and MAS

The economic situation in the air transportation industry claims for new business models supported by accurate management processes, which need constant feedback of the real status of the environment. The objective of this work is to achieve an updated/real decision support systems (DSS) to allocate resources in an airport even when disturbances occur by combining artificial intelligent techniques with visibility technologies. This work proposes the combined use of Multi-agent systems (MAS) along with Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) to provide the required information on the status of the resources and the environment. The MAS is based on a double layer of decision-taking levels and on a Markov reward function whereas the WSN is based on a Zigbee network of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) readers with active tags as end nodes, which are carried by the physical resources. The proposed distributed DSS has been tested at Ciudad Real Central Airport in Spain.

Measuring seasonal demand for Spanish airports: Implications for counter-seasonal strategies

Using Gini coefficients, this paper investigates the seasonal concentration of passenger demand at airports in Spain. It finds that seasonal concentration in Spain is low but varies greatly by airport. It is generally higher at airports that serve holiday areas versus heterogeneous metropolitan areas, except at airports that serve year-round holiday areas. There is no significant relationship between airport size and seasonal concentration. A decomposition of seasonal concentration at Ibiza Airport finds that international and charter markets enhance seasonal concentration. Domestic and scheduled markets reduce seasonal concentration, except scheduled low-cost markets that enhance seasonal concentration. The findings have implications for airport management, especially concerning counter-seasonal marketing strategies.

New business opportunities along the air tourism supply chain: The combination of identification technologies and just-in-time

The objective of this study was to address the possibilities of using radio-frequency identification technologies (RFID) in conjunction with just-in-time (JIT) philosophy in key stages of the tourist air transportation process to improve the perceived service and open new market possibilities. JIT called for simpler tasks for tourists with the corresponding reduction of waiting times at queues; automatic processes using RFID technologies reduced process times as well as increased the security and provided a means of reconciling luggage and/or travelers along the supply chain of the air tourist. The possibility of developing new services for tourists managed by the supply chain players, in particular, destination travel agents and tour operators has been demonstrated. The adequacy of new baggage handling and reconciliation procedures has also been addressed so to benefit handling businesses, as shown by a novel application in airports in general and within a small airport in Spain in particular. Key words: Just-in-time, radio frequency identification, tourism supply chain, new markets, tourism quality.

Agent-based decision-making process in airport ground handling management

Recent research on highly distributed control methods has produced a series of new philosophies based on negotiation, which bring together the process engineering with computer science. Among these control philosophies, the ones based on Multi-agent Systems (MAS) have become especially relevant to address complex tasks and to support distributed decision making in asset management, manufacturing, and logistics. However, these MAS models have the drawback of an excessive dependence on up-to-date field information. In this work, a theoretical and experimental MAS, called MAS-DUO, is presented to test new strategies for managing handling operations supported by feedback coming from radio frequency identification (RFID) systems. These strategies have been based on a new distributed organization model to enforce the idea of division between physical elements and information and communication technologies (ICT) in the product scheduling control. This division in two platforms simplifies the design, the development, and the validation of the MAS, allowing an abstraction and preserving the independency between platforms. The communication between both platforms is based on sharing the parameters of the Markov reward function. This function is mainly made up of the field information coming from the RFID readers incorporated as the internal beliefs of the agent. The proposed MAS have been deployed on the Ciudad Real Central Airport in Spain in order to dimension the ground handling resources.

Application of a pedestrian portal monitor at Madrid International Airport in Spain

Abstract Three pedestrian portal monitor systems, designed to detect illicit trafficking or inadvertent movement of radioactive materials carried by passengers at airports, have been evaluated. The systems were supplied by three manufacturers: Bicron, Exploranium and Thermo-Eberline. In an initial evaluation, conducted at the Laboratory of Nuclear Engineering of the School of Civil Engineering, it was observed that the FHT-1372 system manufactured by Thermo-Eberline gave a more sensitive response and allowed the measurement of total photon dose rate and artificial photon dose rate. Therefore, this system was installed at Barajas International Airport in Madrid in 2002 for a period of 108 days in order to select an appropriate investigation level (defined as the radiation level that is selected as the trigger for further investigation). During this period 1,339,931 passengers were screened and a total of 39 alarms were triggered, 5 of which with a value 10 times the mean value of the natural background from photon radiation (which was 85 nSv/h), and no alarms exceeded 100 μSv/h at 1 m distance, which is the level of response for legal transport of radioactive materials set by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). An investigation level of approximately 1.3 times the natural background was finally selected. This value coincides with the results obtained in the ITRAP (Illicit Trafficking Radiation Detection Assessment Program) carried out by the IAEA.

Selection of the simulation software for the management of the operations at an international airport

A new airport in Spain is looking for tools that will help not only with the scheduling of resources but also with their real time control during normal operations. The selection process of the software has been based on the study of the capabilities of the commercial and general-purpose simulation and visualization tools available as well as on the quantification of user requirements and the development of trial versions. Analytical Hierarchy Process has been used to choose the platform, which is composed of a simulation model developed in JAVA and two visualization screens, one in JAVA and the other in Visual Basic.