Passenger Terminal World - June 2024
19 August 2024

Previously blind to possible delays during the turnaround process, more and more airports are turning to AI and computer vision to see ‘inside the box’

Everywhere you looked at this year’s Passenger Terminal Expo in Frankfurt in April, it seemed t here was a new solution designed to help airports improve aircraft turnaround performance.

“Until very recently, the turnaround has been a ‘black box’,” says Royal Schiphol Group’s Jeffrey Schäfer, process owner, aircraft turnaround. Traditionally, Schäfer says, airports allocated a gate to an airline for a flight, but what happened beyond that point was largely out of their control.

“Most of the processes are not carried out by the airport; instead, they are conducted by the handling agent or the airline. As a result, we didn’t have any insight into what was happening. For decades, we only knew we had a problem when we noticed the flight should have departed – there 
was no early warning or ability to predict off-block times.”

Handling agents kept their own records, applying time stamps to mark the completion of each stage (Figure 1). However, they were not always the most robust in their application. “Getting high-quality data is challenging,” notes Schäfer. “But we need to know because there are other flights – your delay might not be a problem for you, but it is for the next aircraft waiting to use your gate.”

Delays are a particular concern during peak times, when the airport needs the stand back immediately for the next flight. “It’s a revolving process,” says Schäfer. “The next flight has to wait until the stand is available, which creates extra emissions – so it’s not just about waiting times. The 
impact can quickly snowball.”

The airport could switch the incoming flight to a new gate, but this is never popular – with passengers or the airport: “A gate change incorporates so much movement, for staff on the ground, vehicles, baggage, cargo – everything must be moved, often at the last minute. This is why so many airports are now looking for better information – we want to have a predictable delay.

Read on: Pages 22 - 28 - Passenger Terminal World - June 2024 - 19 August 2024

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