Technological Advancements and the Future of Airports

1. Airports Transformed by Technological Advancements

In 2018, the number of international visitors to Japan exceeded 30 million. The government is currently promoting various policies aimed at increasing that number to 40 million by 2020. To meet the ever-growing demand for air travel, an increase in flight frequencies is expected, making the enhancement of passenger handling capacity at airports an urgent priority. Major metropolitan airports in Japan are already operating at full capacity. Expanding airport capacity through the construction of new runways or terminal extensions will take time. Consequently, there is a growing need for the efficient operation of existing facilities.

Ensuring a high level of safety is a fundamental prerequisite for transportation systems. On top of that, it is necessary to improve efficiency without disrupting daily flight operations. However, with airfare prices continuing to fall, airlines face an urgent need to cut costs. Furthermore, addressing labor shortages has also become a necessity.

2. Promoting Automation at Airports: Automated Boarding Bridges, Autonomous Vehicles, and Drones

The International Air Transport Association (IATA), an organization of airlines worldwide, has begun efforts to advance and streamline various airport operations using technologies such as AI (artificial intelligence). These efforts encompass aircraft marshalling, ground power supply, boarding bridge connection, refueling for the next flight, cabin cleaning, and the loading and unloading of cargo, baggage, in-flight meals, retail items, and other goods. All of these tasks must be carried out reliably while ensuring punctuality and safety.

So, which operations will be addressed first? Below, we introduce three representative initiatives.

First is the automation of boarding bridge connections. These boarding bridges are used for boarding and disembarking passengers from aircraft parked alongside the airport terminal building. After an aircraft arrives, ground staff connect the boarding bridge to the aircraft. Once the doors open, arriving passengers disembark. After ground operations such as refueling and cleaning are completed, departing passengers board, the aircraft doors close, and the flight departs. Automating this boarding bridge connection process makes it possible to shorten operation times and reduce tasks that have traditionally relied on manual labor.

The second initiative involves the introduction of autonomous vehicles. While autonomous vehicles are often associated with driving on public roads and highways, they are also expected to demonstrate their true value in ground support operations at airports. For example, there are plans to replace terminal buses—which transport passengers to aircraft parked at remote gates—with autonomous vehicles. In fact, because airport grounds have limited space compared to public roads, there is an advantage in that autonomous vehicles can be managed with a high degree of precision and ease. Many of you are likely aware of incidents involving current terminal buses, such as mistakenly directing passengers arriving on international flights—who require immigration screening—to the domestic arrivals lobby. Autonomous vehicles not only prevent such incidents but also allow for an increase in passenger throughput. Furthermore, by making more efficient use of parking space, it becomes possible to increase the number of aircraft takeoffs and landings. Additionally, autonomous vehicles will be used for loading and unloading baggage and cargo. Specifically, they will handle many tasks in the process, including unloading and loading around the aircraft, transporting goods between the aircraft and the airport terminal, and the series of operations leading up to baggage delivery at the terminal.

Third is the active use of drones. This enables automation and unmanned operations, such as visual inspections of aircraft parts that are difficult to see from the ground, support for installing boarding bridges on arriving aircraft, and moving aircraft from the terminal or gate to a point where they can taxi on their own—all achieved through a combination of unmanned tugs and drone surveillance. Furthermore, since drones can also be used to monitor suspicious individuals, this contributes to ensuring a high level of security.

At the same time, there are challenges that must be overcome. 1. How to introduce autonomous vehicles and drones while continuing to operate existing equipment. 2. Whether autonomous vehicles and drones capable of meeting the standards for airport ground support operations—which are subject to strict operational regulations—will be developed. 3. Labor-related challenges, such as changes in job responsibilities and workforce restructuring for staff who have been engaged in ground support operations.4. How can we coordinate and manage the diverse requirements and constraints that vary by airline or airport to overcome these challenges? 5. Efforts are currently underway to address security concerns regarding data handling—which is essential for automation—as well as issues related to the scope of liability.

3. The "One ID" System: Improving Passenger Satisfaction and Ensuring Safety

The International Air Transport Association (IATA), mentioned earlier, is also promoting a project called StB. This project aims to improve the passenger travel experience and operational efficiency through the use of technology. Specifically, it focuses on: 1. Addressing the increasing variety of air and travel products and reducing operational costs; 2. Providing information to passengers during their travels; and 3. Reducing passenger wait times.

　Among the programs comprising the StB project, “One ID” is attracting particular attention. It aims to improve processing capacity for the ever-growing number of air passengers, enhance passenger satisfaction through automated airport procedures, and ensure aviation safety by screening out dangerous individuals such as terrorists. The initiative seeks to unify the IDs used for passenger authentication, thereby improving the reliability of identity verification and reducing processing times.

According to a survey conducted by IATA, the top sources of stress for passengers during travel are security checks at airports, problems with in-flight entertainment systems, and retrieving checked baggage at the arrival airport. Regarding airport security screening in particular, a high percentage of passengers cited the following as sources of stress: “having to remove shoes, belts, and outerwear” (74%), “having to remove laptops and other items for separate screening” (51%), and “security screening procedures varying by airport” (47%). Furthermore, many respondents indicated that waiting more than 10 minutes for security screening is unacceptable.

Until now, at departure airports, procedures such as check-in (issuing boarding passes and checked baggage tags, and checking passengers’ entry requirements for their destination), immigration control, and security screening have been handled separately. Similarly, at arrival airports, identity verification for immigration procedures has been conducted individually. With One ID, identity verification becomes faster thanks to the unified ID assigned to each passenger. Naturally, since the time required for each procedure is significantly reduced, this leads to a reduction in passenger dissatisfaction.

Recently, an increasing number of countries have required pre-entry authorization. Many of you are likely familiar with pre-entry procedures such as the U.S. ESTA and Australia’s ETAS. Similarly, the EU is set to require the ETIAS authorization system starting in 2021 (scheduled).One ID’s unified authentication system will be linked to these national systems. This will not only strengthen measures to prevent the use of counterfeit passports, the use of aircraft by terrorists, and travel to other countries, but will also contribute to the prevention of other crimes, such as human trafficking. Furthermore, since it can effectively identify suspicious individuals—not only terrorists but also high-risk passengers involved in economic crimes, for example—it is expected to lead to crime prevention across a wide range of areas.

Of course, since this effectively means introducing a "social security number" system for all air travelers worldwide, it is undeniable that there is an aspect of this that involves increased surveillance of individual passengers.

In any case, various initiatives are likely to emerge in the future, taking into account many factors such as improving traveler satisfaction, ensuring aviation safety, preventing suspicious individuals from crossing borders, reducing costs for airlines, and improving airport passenger processing capacity.