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Theme: Safety & Security Airport report: Nashville Special report: Vertical take-off and landing taxis Plus: Airport design, IT innovation & People matters

In the spotlight: Safety & Security Volume 26 – Issue 1, 2021 www.aci.aero

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Airport World Editor Joe Bates +44 (0)1276 476582 joe@airport-world.com Design, Layout & Production Mark Draper +44 (0)208 707 2743 mark@airport-world.com Sales Directors Jonathan Lee +44 (0)208 707 2743 jonathan@airport-world.com Gary Allman +44 (0) 7854 239 426 gary@aviationmedia.aero Advertising Manager Andrew Hazell +44 (0)208 384 0206 andrewh@airport-world.com Subscriptions subscriptions@aviationmedia.aero Managing Director Jonathan Lee +44 (0)208 707 2743 jonathan@aviationmedia.aero

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Carefully does it Airport World editor, Joe Bates, considers some of the health and safety challenges facing airports in this ‘safety and security’ themed issue.

early a year on from the global outbreak of COVID-19 and with vast parts of the world still in lockdown, in some ways it feels like everything, and yet nothing, has changed over the last 12 months. Hands up those of you who, upon first hearing about the threat of the coronavirus, thought that it wouldn’t spread to where you live, and if it did, it would all be over in a matter of weeks? I know I did, yet exactly a year on from the first national closure of UK plc, the country is still in lockdown and like millions of others, I haven’t seen most of my family or any of my friends in this time. It has been tough, and obviously much harder for those that have lost jobs and most devastatingly family and loved ones to this dreadful disease, but maybe, just maybe we are at last beginning to see the beginning of the end of the pandemic with the global rollout of vaccines now in full swing and countries starting to talk about lockdown exit plans. What happens next in terms of the re-opening of borders and relaxing of existing quarantine rules – on February 15, the UK introduced a new law effectively requiring all new arrivals to quarantine in government sanctioned hotels for 10 days at a personal cost to them of £1,750 each – will determine how quickly the aviation industry recovers from the worst downturn in its history. In the meantime, all that airports can really do is to continue to demonstrate that they are going out of their way to ensure that they are COVID-19 safe environments for both passengers and staff. We have, of course, covered many of these initiatives before and, as you would expect, we touch on many again in this ‘safety and security’ themed issue, along with a combination of some of the more unusual, new and ACI World driven developments.

But it’s not all about the pandemic, as the themed section also contains features about airfield safety and the safe return of operations post-COVID; the drone threat to airports; and how digital solutions can help ensure healthier and safer airports. We also hear from INTERPOL’s secretary general, Jürgen Stock, and take a look at some of the latest security news and developments from around the world. Elsewhere in the issue, ACI World director general, Luis Felipe de Oliveira, shares his thoughts on the challenges of the year ahead and how, with more government assistance, the industry can eventually get back on track, and still allow passenger numbers to double over the next 20 years. Our main feature is on Nashville International Airport, where we learn more about the gateway’s ambitions – and some exciting infrastructure development projects – from Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority’s president and CEO, Doug Kreulen. We also shine the spotlight on IT innovation at Qatar’s Hamad International Airport and, in a global airport design feature, report on Bahrain International Airport’s new terminal and a host of planned new facilities in Helsinki, Seattle-Tacoma, Dublin and Delhi. Looking even further into the future, we report on plans for new electric vertical take-off and landing air taxi services in Singapore and the United Kingdom, whose development might be nearer than you think. The latest news, views and developments from ACI’s World Business Partners and our regular ‘People Matters’ column, which this time out addresses the topic of psychological safety, rounds-up the editorial content of this issue. I hope that all sounds good and makes for an interesting and positive read in our first issue of 2021, which looks set to be another eventful year for the world’s airports. AW

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CONTENTS

Theme: Safety & Security Airport report: Nashville Special report: Vertical take-off and landing taxis Plus: Airport design, IT innovation & People matters

In the spotlight: Safety & Security Volume 26 – Issue 1, 2021 www.aci.aero

ISSUE 1 Volume 26

In this issue 3 Opinion Airport World editor, Joe Bates, considers some of the health and safety challenges facing airports in this ‘safety and security’ themed issue.

8 World in motion Continuing to prioritise customer service and listening to the needs of passengers is more important than ever in these uncertain times, writes ACI World’s corporate affairs manager, Bojana Jeremic.

11 View from the top ACI World director general, Luis Felipe de Oliveira, reflects on what lies ahead for the aviation industry in 2021 and beyond.

12 The best of Nashville President and CEO, Doug Kreulen, tells Joe Bates why expansion and future traffic growth continue to be a key focus for Nashville International Airport.

19 Nashville’s news We report on some of the companies that are helping transform Nashville International Airport into an even more modern, passenger friendly gateway.

21 Safety report ACI World’s vice president for safety and operations, Thomas Romig, reflects on some operational safety considerations for airports in 2021.

24 Health and safety Airports and the aviation industry continue to go to extraordinary lengths to combat the health risks caused by COVID-19, writes Joe Bates.

26 Digital solutions The road to recovery for airports starts at the intersection of health and security, writes Johnson Controls’ Ramsey Nuwar.

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CONTENTS

Director General Luis Felipe de Oliveira (Montréal, Canada) Chair Martin Eurnekián (Buenos Aires, Argentina) Vice Chair Aimen Al-Hosni (Muscat, Oman) Immediate Past Chair Fredrick J Piccolo (Sarasota, USA) Treasurer Candace McGraw (Cincinnati, USA) ACI WORLD GOVERNING BOARD DIRECTORS Africa (3) Emanuel Chaves (Maputo, Mozambique) Zouhair El Aoufir (Rabat, Morocco) 1 Vacancy

28 Crime fighters

INTERPOL secretary general, Jürgen Stock, tells Airport World more about some of the key challenges facing it today and how the organisation works with local law enforcement agencies to help combat crime at airports.

33 Flying problems! Fortem Technologies co-founder and CEO, Timothy Bean, provides his thoughts on the challenges airports face from the 1% of drones that pose a threat to aircraft and airfield safety.

34 Safe and secure Airport World reviews some of the latest security developments and news stories from across the globe.

36 Lift off for flying taxis? Airport World considers whether taxi services using electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft are the shape of things to come at the world’s airports.

38 Build and grow Despite today’s tough operating climate, airports continue to invest in new infrastructure to enhance their capabilities. Joe Bates takes a closer look at some of the most exciting recent developments.

43 Always innovating Hamad International Airport’s senior vice president for technology and innovation, Suhail Kadri, discusses his gateway’s IT strategy.

44 WBP news A snapshot of the latest news from ACI’s World Business Partners.

46 People matters Terri Morrissey and Richard Plenty give their perspective on how to create a psychologically safe work environment.

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Asia-Pacific (9) Aimen Al-Hosni (Muscat, Oman) Mohamed Yousif Al-Binfalah (Bahrain) Geoff Culbert (Sydney, Australia) SGK Kishore (Hyderabad, India) Fred Lam (Hong Kong) Seow Hiang Lee (Singapore) Xue Song Liu, (Beijing, China) Nitinai Sirismatthakarn (Bangkok, Thailand) Akihiko Tamura (Tokyo, Japan) Europe (7) Daniel Burkard (Moscow, Russia) David Ciceo (Cluj-Napoca, Romania) Elena Mayoral Corcuera (Madrid, Spain) Jost Lammers (Munich, Germany) Yiannis Paraschis (Athens, Greece) Stefan Schulte (Frankfurt, Germany) Nazareno Ventola (Bologna, Italy) Latin America & Caribbean (3) Ezequiel Barrenechea (Guayaquil, Ecuador) Martin Eurnekián (Buenos Aires, Argentina) Andrew O’Brian (Quito, Ecuador) North America (6) Lew Bleiweis (Asheville, USA) Joyce Carter (Halifax, Canda) Deborah Flint (Toronto, Canada) Joseph Lopano (Tampa, USA) Candace McGraw (Cincinnati, USA) Sam Samaddar (Kelowna, Canada) Regional Advisers to the World Governing Board (10) Diego Arrosa (Montevideo, Uruguay) Chellie Cameron (Philadelphia, USA) Arnaud Feist (Brussels, Belgium) Pascal Komla (Lomé, Togo) Bashir Ahmad Abdul Majid (Delhi, India) Hector Navarrete Muñoz (Merida, Mexico) Augustin de Romanet (Paris, France) Brian Ryks (Minneapolis-St Paul, USA) 2 Vacancies WBP Advisory Board Thomas Duffy (ADB SAFEGATE) Tunde Oyekola (El-Mansur Atelier Group) Correct as of March 2021

RUNNING ACI WORLD HEAD NEWS

World in motion Continuing to prioritise customer service and listening to the needs of passengers is more important than ever in these uncertain times, writes corporate affairs manager, Bojana Jeremic.

ith many borders still closed and travel restrictions in place, the recovery process and kick-starting travel is taking longer than we had anticipated. It is clear that people want to travel again, but there is also concern about how they can navigate travel safely, and which restrictions they will be subjected when they fly. According to the ASQ Global Traveller Survey, when asked at the end of 2020, 48% of travellers considered themselves likely to travel “within the next three months”. Despite this eagerness to travel, however, around 80% of those taking part in the survey said that having to quarantine would discourage them from going forward with their travel plans. Even before the pandemic, parts of the passenger journey had the potential to cause some stress or anxiety, even for the most experienced of travellers. Airports take pride in the way they have prioritised making the customer experience, stress-free, smoothing the experience so that passengers have an enjoyable journey from kerb to gate. As the pandemic unfolded, airports capitalised on this approach in introducing hygiene and health-related measures to ensure that passengers feel comfortable and confident to fly. As we pivot from managing the current crisis to preparing for tomorrow’s opportunities, it is clear that recovery will be boosted if passengers continue to have confidence in the health and safety of air transport.

Shifting passengers needs The pandemic has impacted virtually all aspects of our lives – it has changed the way we work, study, shop, communicate, and inarguably it will bring about permanent changes to the way we travel. Passenger behaviours and expectations will evolve, and the provision of airport customer experience will need to follow suit to accommodate new needs. While it is difficult to predict exactly what the new trends will look like, in times of crisis, humans want to know that they matter. And, for airports, this means listening, understanding and adapting to shifting passenger behaviours, values and needs. These changes will also bring about the need for higher degrees of personalisation, predictability and authenticity. Successful organisations are already tapping into these shifts in behaviour to improve consumer relevancy and differentiate themselves from the competition. Rather than make assumptions about people’s needs, the most successful ones are those that seek a better understanding of the people rewriting the new rules: the consumer. This information is crucial, especially once airports enter the period of full-speed recovery, and will be an important tool to help them regain the trust of passengers. Understanding travellers needs will give airports an opportunity to tailor their services and take a human-at-the centre approach to rebuild passenger confidence and encourage them to travel again.

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Listening to the Voice of the Customer Airports around the world continue to go above and beyond to provide an airport experience that is safe, hygienic and responsive to the changing needs and expectations of passengers. To celebrate their achievements, ACI has launched the Voice of the Customer recognition for airports that continue to prioritise their customers and remained committed to ensuring that their voice was heard during the pandemic. This initiative highlights those who have made significant efforts in gathering passenger feedback through the Airport Service Quality (ASQ) programme to help them better understand their customers and better position themselves to build back safer and more satisfying experiences for travellers. The Airport Service Quality programme is the world’s leading airport customer experience measurement and benchmarking programme. The ASQ Departures programme measures passengers’ satisfaction across 34 key performance indicators. More than half of the world’s travellers pass through an ASQ airport. Congratulations to all 140 airports that have been recognised and we applaud you and your team for your untiring dedication and fortitude during this difficult time.

The silver lining One thing that has not changed during the crisis is people’s passion for adventure and appetite for international travel. The new normal for travel will bring many changes, which in turn will require flexibility and adaptability from our industry. Now is the opportunity for airports to listen to their passengers to better understand their needs in order to redesign the end-to-end passenger journey and better prepare for the future.

ACI WORLD NEWS ACI World welcomes industry climate change action ACI World has welcomed the new Airport Carbon Accreditation Interim Report 2019-2020, which reveals the latest results of and developments in the global carbon standard for airports. The report reveals robust participation growth across all regions, illustrating the extent of airport industry’s readiness to decarbonise even in the toughest of conditions. Since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak, 34 airports have become accredited for the first time and another 31 have progressed to a higher level of the programme. This trend is set to continue in 2021, driven by the enduring leadership of airports in CO2 management and reduction. As the financial situation of airports across the world deteriorates rapidly, however, the necessary investments to cut carbon are weighed against survival. This will be a factor of concern for further decarbonisation in the sector and should be considered as one of the grounds for urgent government aid. “Even as the impacts and effects of the COVID-19 pandemic has devastated passenger traffic and revenue at airports across the world, it is very heartening to see airports continue their commitment to decarbonisation,” said ACI World director general, Luis Felipe de Oliveira. “The industry is further demonstrating that efforts to address the climate emergency cannot wait for the pandemic to end, and I commend the 334 airports actively addressing their carbon emissions in the Airport Carbon Accreditation programme.” The Report explores one of last year’s main developments, aligning airport climate action with the ambition of the Paris Agreement. The introduction of two new accreditation levels – Level 4 Transformation and Level 4+ Transition – has been documented through in-depth testimonies from the three trailblazing airports which have already achieved these levels: Dallas/Fort Worth International, Indira Gandhi International and Christchurch International.

The programme’s expanded framework providing airports with the tools and knowledge to pursue carbon reductions in line with the goals enshrined in the Paris Agreement, following the pathways laid out by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), has been applauded by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

ACI offices ACI World Luis Felipe de Oliveira Director General PO Box 302 800 Rue du Square Victoria Montreal, Quebec H4Z 1G8 Canada Tel: +1 514 373 1200 Fax: +1 514 373 1201 aci@aci.aero www.aci.aero

ACI Africa Ali Tounsi Secretary General Casablanca, Morocco Tel: +212 660 156 916 atounsi@aci-africa.aero www.aci-africa.aero ACI Europe Olivier Jankovec Director General Brussels, Belgium Tel: +32 (2) 552 0978 Fax: +32 (2) 502 5637 danielle.michel@aci-europe.org www.aci-europe.org

ACI Asia-Pacific Stefano Baronci Director General Hong Kong SAR, China Tel: +852 2180 9449 Fax: +852 2180 9462 info@aci-asiapac.aero www.aci-asiapac.aero

ACI Latin America & Caribbean Rafael Echevarne Director General Panama City, Panama Tel: +507 830 5657/58 jmartinez@aci-lac.aero www.aci-lac.aero ACI North America Kevin Burke President & CEO Washington DC, USA Tel: +1 202 293 8500 Fax: +1 202 331 1362 postmaster@aci-na.org www.aci-na.org

Airports Council International (ACI), the trade association of the world’s airports, was founded in 1991 with the objective of fostering co-operation among its member airports and other partners in world aviation, including ICAO, IATA and CANSO. In representing the best interests of airports during key phases of policy development, ACI makes a significant contribution toward ensuring a global air transport system that is safe, secure, customer-centric and environmentally sustainable. As of January 2021, ACI serves 701 members, operating 1933 airports in 183 countries.

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ACI VIEWPOINT

View from the top ACI World director general, Luis Felipe de Oliveira, reflects on what lies ahead for the aviation industry in 2021 and beyond.

t is safe to say that 2020 will go down as the most challenging year ever in the history of aviation. We have, of course, weathered many storms over the last few decades, but we have never experienced anything like this before. The current crisis has had a ripple effect on every aspect of human life as we know it and will continue to have dramatic economic and social impacts for years to come. Although the situation remains tough, 2021 had a promising beginning with the news of further vaccine successes bringing fresh optimism. Undoubtedly our industry will face significant challenges again this year, with the first few months, in particular, likely to be very difficult. There is light on the horizon, however, especially as the vaccine rollouts take effect across the globe marking a major turning point in the pandemic. As with most developments over the last few months, it feels like every time our industry took a step forward, we were than immediately forced to take two steps back. Concern over new and fast-spreading strains of the virus has resulted in even more severe border lockdowns and quarantine measures, hampering the efforts of the industry to recover. While these mutations do not appear to pose a threat to the success of COVID-19 vaccines, they do give the virus some new energy. In the midst of the storm one thing is certain – people are eager to travel again. According to the latest ASQ Global Traveller Survey, when asked at the end of 2020, 48% of travellers considered themselves likely to travel within the next three months. Airports are certainly going above and beyond to provide an airport experience that is safe, hygienic and responsive to the changing needs and expectations of passengers. Despite this eagerness, however, around 80% said that having to quarantine would discourage them from going forward with their travel plans. Going back to how things were at the beginning of the crisis – closing borders and applying severe travel restrictions – is truly exacerbating what is already an existential crisis for aviation. The rapid deployment of vaccines is, of course, welcomed, but the aviation industry simply cannot afford to wait until they become available worldwide. Just as quarantine measures effectively halted the industry, a universal requirement for vaccines could do the same. As vaccines become more available for travellers, there must be a proportionate approach to vaccination before travel balanced with a risk-based approach to testing. It is important for the recovery of the air transport industry that a co-ordinated approach to testing be introduced now to promote travel and do away with restrictive quarantine measures.

While the second half of 2021 looks promising, there is still a long way to go. According to the newly released World Airport Traffic Forecast, markets that have significant domestic traffic are not expected to recover to pre-COVID-19 levels before 2023, while those with a significant share of international traffic are unlikely to return to 2019 levels before 2024. If aviation can be supported through government assistance and sensible policy on testing and vaccination, global passenger traffic worldwide can still double over the next twenty years. Asia-Pacific and Latin America-Caribbean regions are predicted to experience the fastest growth, while others will see a more modest expansion. China is projected to continue to dominate passenger rankings by 2040 with just over 3.6 billion passengers. The US and India follow, with 2.9 and 1.3 billion passengers, respectively. Together, the three countries will handle almost 40% of global passenger traffic. If this positive future is to be realised, however, we need policy support and assistance from governments now to lay the foundation, and this means delivering a consistent approach to testing and vaccination. The extent to which COVID-19 will leave a lasting legacy is far from clear, but with every crisis there is opportunity, and we should see the pandemic as an accelerator that will enable our industry to make the necessary changes to move forward. While the journey to recovery will not be an easy one we must continue to take a whole-of-industry approach to collaboration to ensure that the industry can recover together. AW

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AIRPORT REPORT: NASHVILLE

The best of Nashville

President and CEO, Doug Kreulen, tells Joe Bates why expansion and future traffic growth continue to be a key focus for Nashville International Airport.

ashville International Airport (BNA) is an airport with a plan, it aims to become one of the most modern gateways in the US and future large hub, and despite the impact of COVID-19, it is well on its way to achieving at least one of those goals. Arguably, when most people think of Nashville and the State of Tennessee, they think of the city as being the spiritual home of country and western music and the Grand Ole Opry. However, to those in the know, the city of Nashville is much more than that. Indeed, it is one of the top medical centres in the US, a significant player in the automotive and high-tech industries, a growing location for finance and logistics companies and an established conference venue. While the Great Smokey Mountains National Park, the nation’s most visited national park, is on its doorstep and attracts millions of visitors each year, many of which arrive in Tennessee via BNA, which is a vital economic generator for the entire region, being directly and indirectly responsible for some 76,000 jobs and $8.1 billion in economic activity. The combination of Nashville’s robust economy and business and tourism appeal led to seven successive years of often double-digit growth, which ended on a high with the record 18.3 million passengers that passed through the airport in 2019. The dramatic upturn in traffic up until the outbreak of COVID-19 is likened to 21 years’ of growth in seven years by Metropolitan Nashville Airports Authority (MNAA) president and CEO, Doug Kreulen, who notes that the airport started work on its $1.4 billion BNA Vision master plan in 2017 to ensure that it did not become a victim of its own success and run out of capacity. Now in full swing, the game changing master plan last year delivered a new Concourse D, two expanded ticketing wings each with their own security checkpoint, and two new parking garages. Still to come is a spacious new terminal lobby, International Arrivals Facility and an on-airport Hilton hotel, while BNA’s runways and roadways

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will be renovated and improved, and a host of new retail and F&B outlets opened in a new central marketplace. The ultimate plan for this phase of BNA Vision is to have an airport capable of handling in excess of 36 million passengers annually by 2024. And for those of you thinking that the timing couldn’t have been worse, think again, as the airlines are fully supportive of BNA’s upgrade and the MNAA has actually used the current decline in passenger numbers to bring some projects forward by a year or more. Explaining the reasons behind the decision to fast track some BNA Vision projects instead of putting them on hold or cancelling them all together, Kreulen says: “With challenges come opportunities, and having less people to work around provided us with the chance to minimise any future disruption by completing some projects earlier than originally planned. “Make no mistake about it, we need these new facilities as we are fast outgrowing our existing ones and the new additions will significantly improve our operational efficiency and customer service levels and ensure that we are better placed to achieve our long-term ambitions. “Pre-COVID, Nashville was ranked the 31st busiest airport in the United States and basically one of the biggest medium-sized hubs in the country. What we want to do is catch up with our friends in Portland and Honolulu to enter into the large hub system, and I firmly believe that the new facilities will help us achieve this goal.”

New Concourse D and other 2020 highlights Opened in July 2020, the airport’s new $292 million Concourse D is a key element of the airport’s billion dollar BNA Vision master plan. The 115,000-square-foot complex has added six new domestic aircraft gates, public art, and a variety of traveller amenities, along with improved ramp facilities and function space.

AIRPORT REPORT: NASHVILLE

BNA’s planned new International Arrivals Facility.

Additional components of the project include a 136,000-square-foot renovation of existing terminal space and a new 11,000-square-foot Central Utility Plant to heat and cool the terminal. “If the airport is to continue as a major catalyst for economic growth and job creation in Nashville and Middle Tennessee, we need to add capacity to BNA while maintaining a welcoming and accessible environment for our passengers,” admits Kreulen. “With the new Concourse D, we’ve added gates for more flights and attractive customer amenities, all in a modern and convenient setting that brings out the best of BNA.” Just as importantly for Kreulen, the new concourse is also a sustainable development having recently gained LEED Silver certification from the US Green Building Council (USGBC). It follows 2019’s award of Parksmart Bronze certification for the airport’s new Terminal Garage. Awarded by the Green Business Certification Inc (GBCI), the accolade recognises the sustainable design, construction and operation of the facility, which opened in 2018. “We wanted to show the community that we are efficient and sustainable and care about how our buildings are being constructed and operated,” enthuses Kreulen. “We’re building not only a bigger airport, but also a better, ‘greener’ and more sustainable airport.” He cites saving around $1 million per year in energy costs for BNA’s air conditioning system by using water pumped under the airfield and onto the airport campus from a nearby quarry as an example of how investing in sustainability also has its economic benefits. Another, he points out, is the use of glass in Concourse D that can be programmed to tint during the brightest and hottest parts of the day to improve visibility and help control the build-up of heat, subsequently reducing the air conditioning needs.

Other BNA Vision projects completed in 2020 include the airport’s 200,000-square-foot North and South Terminal wing expansions to provide additional space for interim TSA checkpoints, permanent ticketing check-in counters, baggage claim devices and support offices.

Next phase of BNA Vision The ongoing expansion of the now closed central portion of the airport means that BNA is currently operating with separate North and South terminals instead of one passenger complex with four concourses or spokes as Kreulen refers to them. The North Terminal with concourses A and B serves United, Delta, JetBlue, WestJet, Frontier, Spirit and the handful of international carriers serving BNA, while the South Terminal with concourses C and D is home to Southwest, American, Allegiant and Alaska. The airline locations are unlikely to change any time soon but when the new facilities open in late 2023 the airport will once again go back to having one central terminal with four concourses, only this time it will boast a number of new, passenger friendly facilities and new retail/F&B outlets. The extra revenue generated by the new shops and restaurants – the number will grow from 50 today to 90 spread across the terminal in three years’ time – will be used to help keep BNA’s airline fees down as agreed under MNAA’s compensatory business model. Describing the ongoing construction work in the central part of the airport, Kreulen says that the existing building is being stretched to accommodate the new terminal lobby and its impressive roof that will be extend over new access roadways to the recently opened parking garage. “When the new central terminal opens in September 2023, it will be as wide as a football field and contain an expanded security area and a shopping mall,” he says.

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AIRPORT REPORT: NASHVILLE

“It will have its own distinct sense of place, so passengers will know that they are in Nashville and Tennessee, but in terms of concepts it will look much like the newer sections of London Heathrow and be a place where people will enjoy shopping and relaxing before they get on their flights. “We are building a modern new airport that really reflects the warm and welcoming city of Nashville.” The new shops and F&B outlets will certainly be welcomed by passengers as Kreulen concedes that the current lack of food and retail choices at BNA is one area where the airport has to improve, based on customer satisfaction surveys. Its concessions developer, Fraport USA, is responsible for the management of all retail and F&B operations at BNA and is expected to invest some $17 million in Nashville’s concessions development over the next decade, with further investments to be made by individual sub-tenants that include HMSHost, Delaware North and Hudson. He notes that the new retail/F&B outlets will include a healthy smattering of local favourites in line with MNAA’s desire to create a sense of place.

Airlines and traffic trends Four airlines essentially drive traffic growth at BNA today – Southwest Airlines, which accounts for around 52% of all travellers, along with American (15%), Delta (14%) and United (8%). The mix ensures that BNA is effectively a domestic O&D gateway, with transfer traffic accounting for just 20% of all passengers. But it hasn’t always been this way, as up until 1992 Nashville was a hub for American Airlines, and its network of flights to and from BNA meant that back then 80% of travellers transited through the gateway. Southwest moved to Nashville following American’s de-hubbing of BNA and its market leading position today and, of course, the global

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All systems go! Doug Kreulen checking on the progress of the airport’s BNA Vision master plan.

LEED Silver certification for Concourse D Nashville International Airport’s new Concourse D has become the fifth newly constructed airport facility in the US and only the ninth airport building worldwide to earn LEED Silver under the US Green Building Council’s (USGBC) rigorous LEED v4 standards. The Hensel Phelps/Fentress Architects led Progressive Design-Build Team behind the project note that the certification highlights the project’s sustainable, wellness-oriented design and construction process. The new complex features the use of electrochromic glass that blocks out excessive sunlight and heat for passengers’ comfort while reducing glare and energy consumption for climate control; energy efficient and programmable lighting that dims when natural light is adequate for visibility; and geothermal cooling to reduce its energy consumption and costs for climate control. Fentress Architects notes throughout the planning and design process the team kept a strong focus on human health and wellness, which were incorporated into Concourse D through features such as an abundance of daylighting, green cleaning practices, water bottle filling stations and public art installations. “Fentress Architects has been at the forefront of green building design for over four decades,” enthuses Curtis Fentress, principal in charge of design at Fentress Architects. “Energy conservation is a key element of not only our design approach, but our values as a firm. We are proud to have leveraged our expertise, along with the commitment of all partners involved in this significant project, to realise BNA’s forward-thinking sustainability standards.”

AIRPORT REPORT: NASHVILLE

impact of the pandemic on air travel, means that this 80/20 mix of O&D/ transfer traffic isn’t likely to change for a while. However, Kreulen believes that there is more scope for through traffic and more international services, when the time is right. “I am happy with today’s traffic mix, and it’s worth noting that we announced 31 new services in 2020, but we can always do better and expand our route network and the international services we offer, but I don’t expect anything to change until COVID-19 is beaten,” he comments. In terms of the airport’s traffic performance in 2020, Kreulen reveals that BNA was actually on target for a record breaking year after its busiest ever January and February marked by 13% to 14% rises in passenger numbers, but then COVID-19 hit and air travel plummeted, particularly from mid-March to early May. April 2020’s low of just 62,533 passengers was, thankfully, as bad as it got last year for BNA, which accommodated an annual high of 729,293 passengers in December to end the year on 8.2 million passengers – 54.7% less than in 2019, but considerably better off than many other US airports. Like at most gateways across the US, BNA only lost a handful of domestic routes as the airlines continued to operate most services with reduced frequencies, but it did lose a few key international services, such as British Airways’ non-stop flights to London, which Kreulen admits that the airport is already working hard to get back. Ironically, last year’s passenger total will almost certainly see BNA jump up a few places in the rankings for the busiest airports in the US, but Kreulen for one, won’t be celebrating. He does, however, take satisfaction out of the way that the airport responded to the pandemic and how MNAA, working with its airline partners, managed to safely keep the airport open throughout 2020,

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even during the darkest days of April when just 500 passengers a day were passing through its facilities compared to the usual 50,000.

Living with COVID-19 In response to the pandemic itself, on the health side of things, the airport reinforced and enhanced its cleaning and sanitising protocols, launched a public awareness campaign about CDC best practices, began distributing free face coverings, increased the number of hand sanitiser stations and installed plastic shields at airline counters. And more technology advances have been incorporated or are on the way, including touchless elevator buttons and germ-killing UV lighting for the handrails of escalators and HUVC air-handling systems. ‘Be Safe. Be Healthy. Be Nashville’ emerged as BNA’s message to reassure travellers of the precautions being taken at the terminal. Kreulen, who never once stayed at home on a working day, says: “I’m enormously proud of how our team responded to the pandemic. From enhancing our cleaning programme to adding the latest in sanitising technology and more, we have focused on keeping our passengers safe and the airport operational. “I laugh about it now, but everyone here was so keen to follow the new protocols that at the start of the pandemic we went through 30 days of hand sanitiser in three days. We’ve got better at it now. “As a result of our efforts, the airport has remained open throughout the pandemic and I have made sure that I come into work each and every day as I don’t believe that you can convince people that Nashville International Airport is a safe place to fly from if the guy who runs it is at home.” From a financial perspective, Kreulen reveals that MNAA has introduced a series of cost saving measures that have shaved $58 million off its operating budget and helped keep BNA’s expenditure down.

AIRPORT REPORT: RUNNING NASHVILLE HEAD

The move has included saving $9 million through freezing pay raises, bonuses and the planned hiring of 40 new staff and another $9 million by stopping shuttle bus services to BNA’s basically empty parking lots. “We were quick to act and make cuts to all unnecessary expenditure to help keep our heads above water and deliver on our promise of not raising our airline fees,” says Kreulen. “I am positive about the future. We are not going into debt, our credit ratings are great and we are building new facilities that will transform the airport experience for passengers. “Once COVID wanes, we fully expect BNA to help lead the economic recovery for Middle Tennessee and beyond.”

Future traffic forecast The airport’s bold master plan and determination to not only finish it but bring it forward by 12 months shows BNA’s confidence in its ability to overcome COVID-19 and get growth back on the agenda. However, like many, Kreulen believes that the speed of BNA and Nashville’s recovery will be determined by the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines locally and across the United States. So much so in fact that BNA has drafted three future traffic recovery scenarios based on the timing and success of the vaccine rollout. The most optimistic scenario predicts that traffic levels could be back to 2019 levels by the summer of 2022 if most travellers are vaccinated by Q3. It is a possible future I suspect Kreulen would take right now, especially as BNA’s worst case scenario forecasts that a protracted vaccination rollout might mean that it is 2024/2025 before passenger numbers return to the previous high. He says: “In every scenario we expect to be between 30% and 50% down over the next 12 months with everything depending on the success and speed of the vaccine and opening up of the market.” Explaining where BNA is at today in terms of its traffic throughput, Kreulen reveals that the airport is currently handling around 334 flights a day compared to 618 in 2019. The airlines have also been hit hard when it comes to their high yield business customers, with the number of passengers travelling

on business in and out of Nashville slumping from a 40% share of the market in 2019 to just 15% today as companies have shelved business trips and an ever increasing number of people work from home. He sums up the past 12 months by saying that BNA has gone from 100mph to zero, and now back up to 50mph again, with most other US airports probably about eight to ten miles per hour behind it.

Tennessee matters As well as spearheading MNAA, Kreulen is also president of the Tennessee Association of Air Carrier Airports (TAACA), the trade association for the five commercial airports in Tennessee – Nashville, Memphis, Knoxville (McGhee Tyson), Chattanooga and Tri-Cities. And TAACA’s newly re-elected president has no doubts about the value of the organisation, which advocates for airport interests and priorities, particularly as they relate to state government. He says: “We may be the largest commercial airport in Tennessee, but we need all our airports and, arguably, it is more important than ever that we work together and where possible help each other out during these difficult times. “Tennessee’s large commercial airports are engines of great economic activity and job creation, and we look forward to leading a robust recovery once the pandemic wanes.” Although the former United States Air Force colonel has lived in many places throughout his life, he has certainly taken to Nashville and Tennessee since joining MNAA in April 2012, and his determination to oversee the completion of BNA’s master plan, and equip it for an even brighter future since becoming CEO just over three years ago, comes through loud and clear during our conversation. An airport with an ambitious master plan and a leader who is optimistic about the future whilst acknowledging the challenges ahead, Nashville International Airport is certainly well placed to resume its growth pattern when the world finally recovers from the pandemic. And, after months of writing about the negative impact of COVID-19 on aviation, hearing such positivity coming out of Nashville, is like music to my ears. AW

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AIRPORT REPORT: RUNNING NASHVILLE HEAD

Nashville news

We report on some of the companies that are helping transform Nashville International Airport into an even more modern, passenger friendly gateway. BNA’s dynamic glass Nashville International Airport (BNA) is a major through-point and economic engine for the Middle Tennessee region. Its BNA Vision master plan is transforming the airport into a more modern, efficient and comfortable space, including a terminal renovation, an on-airport hotel, roadway improvements and more. BNA’s Concourse D has high ceilings and a large western exposure, which could lead to undesired heat and glare from the windows. As a result, the design team needed to balance those concerns with the desire to offer passengers (and employees) lots of natural light and outdoor views. Robert Ramsey, BNA’s senior vice president and chief operating officer, says: “We chose SageGlass electrochromic glass for Concourse D because of the orientation of the concourse and the large expanse of windows that face the western exposure. This smart glass is programmable and makes such a big difference, whether it is daytime or night-time and fully tinted or at a lower tint setting, it helps create a very dynamic environment.” The electrochromic glass auto-tints to reduce glare and heat, and is a key component of the “modern, relaxed environment” in the concourse.

On the menu New retail/F&B additions brought to Nashville International Airport in recent months by concessions developer, Fraport USA, include Tootsies and Tennessee Brew Works – both of which are big on food, drink and live music. They have also been joined by a Green Beans Coffee Co outlet, which in addition to coffee and freshly baked pastries, is also handily located next to seating from where customers can enjoy live music performances. “Tootsies and Tennessee Brew Works represent the pride and joy of Tennessee,” enthuses Matt Jennings, vice president of Fraport USA subsidiary, Fraport Tennessee, the manager and developer of the airport’s new concessions programme.

Fraport’s 1-800-ITS-FAIR pricing guarantee ensures customers pay the same amount for their purchases at BNA’s shops and restaurants as they would at a similar site outside the airport. “We are committed to this programme and serving BNA travellers well throughout the development,” adds Jennings.

Smart parking at BNA Park Assist’s M4 smart-sensor Parking Guidance System (PGS) has been installed in the new parking garages at Nashville International Airport. The colour-coded M4 smart-sensor system guides drivers through each facility to vacant spaces using red and green lights to indicate occupancy, guaranteeing reduced search and park times, and decreased traffic. The installation includes Find Your Car, which enables travellers to quickly locate their vehicle upon returning to the facility by entering all or part of their license plate number into a Park Assist kiosk or mobile app.

Flexible IT solutions Amadeus is supporting Nashville International Airport’s needs through its technology for airport passenger services and its Airport Operational Database and Resource Management System, in order to plan, schedule and allocate facility resources such as ticket counters, gates and baggage carousels. BNA now enjoys the latest flexible technology for check-in counters and kiosks. With the new kiosks provided by ICM Airport Technics, an Amadeus company, passengers have the ability to manage their own check-in process without the need to visit the check-in counter serviced by an airline agent, reducing face-to-face interaction, avoiding queues and expediting their journey. Passengers on some airlines will be able to check in, print their boarding pass and bag tags without going to a specific airline kiosk. In the future, these kiosks can be upgraded to provide contactless services as well as biometric features. AW

AIRPORT WORLD/ISSUE 1, 2021

SPECIAL REPORT: SAFETY & SECURITY

Safety report

ACI World’s vice president for safety and operations, Thomas Romig, reflects on some operational safety considerations for airports in 2021.

he last year has brought some significant changes to society as a whole and has had a huge impact on the aviation industry. The most significant of these impacts is the dramatic decrease in passengers and aircraft movements. This change in ‘operational rhythm’ has some interesting safety consequences that have to be considered not just during the period of reduced activities but also when returning to operations and increasing operational intensity. Pretty much all segments of the industry have been subjected to this change in operational intensity, with many frontline and operational staff being asked to stay home, put on temporary furlough programmes or in some cases losing their jobs. For many, shift plans have been adapted to cater to reduced activities or to ensure that teams are segregated and can’t cross contaminate each other if one member was to be infectious. Either way, the underlying result is a reduction in normal activity for many aviation personnel with potential consequences on their ability to safely return to operations. On the other hand, there are also groups of staff within organisations which have seen their workload increased and significantly impacted as they take on ad-hoc planning and management activities necessary to face the crisis and organise operations, adapt procedures, plan for the future, ensure the sustainability or even survival of their organisations. In many cases, these individuals have been equally subjected to significant change with an increase in day-to-day rhythm as well as having to adapt to working in a virtual world, with hours and hours of

web meetings. This increase in rhythm can have as much impact as being underemployed. Either way, particular attention needs to be taken to accompany aviation personnel into the return to operations, that will be coming at some point in the near future. This is relevant to all personnel who will undergo a shift in their daily activities and be subjected to a normalisation of their activities and duties.

Return to operations With the vaccination programmes underway, opening of borders and improvements in the general health situation on a global scale, flight operations will start to increase, albeit probably fairly gradually at first. This will mean that operational and frontline staff will be bought back into their operational environment to support passenger and flight operations and allow for the resumption of travel that many are longing for. This return to operations for aviation personnel will need to be accompanied in such a way to ensure safe and efficient operations. The significant changes in operational rhythm that many staff have experienced, means that they have not been subjected to the high intensity operations that the industry was accustomed to in the recent past. The habits, reflexes and confidence that individuals had when accomplishing their day-to-day operations in the past will, in many cases, not be the same due to long periods of inactivity; this capacity will need to be built up again.

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SPECIAL REPORT: SAFETY & SECURITY

Safety has stayed in the focus of all aviation organisations throughout this crisis, with multiple adaptations being made to operations, in particular to ensure the ‘health’ safety of passengers and staff. And as always, safety remains a fundamental pillar for the industry, it is therefore important that all organisations ensure that a risk based approach, including a safety risk assessment of the return to operations, is taken so as to identify any actions that may be needed in increasing the intensity of activities again. The results of the safety risk assessments should be used to develop an action plan and relevant mitigation measures allowing for the safe resumption of operations and reintegration of personnel in operations. These actions will be identified on an organisational level, but can include various means such as training, on the job briefings, adapted shift plans, allowing for a safe resumption of daily activities.

2021: The year of GRF The consequences of 2020 on the aviation industry extended in some cases beyond the reduction in passenger and aircraft traffic all the way into the regulatory domain. Many adaptations to the aviation regulatory framework, in a multitude of domains, have been necessary and continue to be discussed and developed to this day. The rapidly evolving nature of the crisis has meant that regulatory bodies, as well as industry organisations, have had to adapt the applicable regulations and guidance material in a fast and agile manner over the past twelve months. The continued collaboration with industry by the global regulatory bodies is vital. One prime example of this collaboration is the support provided by ICAO to industry in deciding to delay the introduction of the new Global Reporting Format (GRF) for Runway Conditions. According to the previously agreed regulatory roadmap, GRF should have been introduced in November 2020. However, due to the impact of the current crisis and the fact that many of the aviation organisations could not dedicate the time necessary to adapt procedures and train personnel, ICAO agreed to differ the implementation by one year.

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GRF will now be globally applicable on November 4, 2021, with an implementation on August 12 for some states. ICAO and the industry have developed the Global Reporting Format to ensure the harmonised assessment and reporting of runway surface conditions. This is expected to result in an overall improvement in the safety of flight operations with, in particular, improved flight crew assessment of the conditions to be applied to take-off and landing procedures. However, this system will only be fully useful if applied consistently across the industry. Airport operators have a key role in the introduction of this new methodology as in most cases they will provide the initial inputs for the information on the runway conditions that will be reported to flight crews, it is therefore important that the community be adequately prepared. Many airports have already developed an implementation plan to manage this important change. Among others, this plan needs to ensure that airport operator staff are fully trained in the new process. It is also important to consider that similarly to compliance requirements in other domains, liability issues may arise if an airport operator does not follow the applicable regulations in the implementation of the new ICAO GRF. To assist airports in the implementation of this important change and support the work of ICAO to improve aviation safety, ACI has developed and made available an airport specific checklist summarising the essential steps needed in the implementation of this new reporting methodology as well as a web-based training course, developed in collaboration with ICAO, for affected airport staff. A virtual classroom course is also available upon request. These resources can be found on the ACI World website. The industry may have undergone massive changes over the past 12 months, but safety remains front and centre as a key consideration not just for operations but also for staff and passengers. This is continuously reinforced by the collaborative efforts of representatives from all industry segments and aviation regulators to find the best possible solutions to reduce the level of risk and improve the global level of aviation safety. AW

SPECIAL REPORT: SAFETY & SECURITY

Health and safety Airports and the aviation industry continue to go to extraordinary lengths to combat the health risks caused by COVID-19, writes Joe Bates.

rom deploying mobile medics, the opening of COVID-19 test centres and new cleaning regimes to embracing new industry health standards and the use of some of the most sophisticated technology on the planet, arguably, the world’s airports could not have done more to make themselves as safe as they can for passengers and staff. The sight of thermal temperature detection technology at airports has become almost commonplace, as have hygiene technicians, Perspex glass at check-in and immigration desks, hand sanitiser stations and signage and floor markings warning about the importance of social distancing. We have seen airport cleaning taken to a new level through the introduction of automated robots equipped with ultraviolet disinfection technology capable of eliminating the virus that causes COVID-19. While pressing elevator buttons and the need to physically touch any self-service machines or equipment could soon be a thing of the past thanks to a raft of new touchless technologies already being phased in around the globe. The battle against the pandemic has also led to some airports introducing compulsory COVID-19 testing for all staff and upgrading their heating and ventilation systems to improve the air quality in terminals. Although the motivation behind such actions for airports is simple – the need to show that they are safe environments to use to help restore confidence in air travel – the actions taken by individual airports and the industry as a whole, through organisations such as ACI, ICAO and IATA, has been far from it.

Industry response In terms of the airport industry’s response to the pandemic, ACI has led from the front, introducing two key new initiatives – the Airport Health Accreditation (AHA) programme and the Airport Health Measures Audit. The former was launched in July 2020 to assist airports by assessing new health measures and procedures introduced as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic against global standards. While the latter,

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developed in partnership with Bureau Veritas, supports airports by addressing their specific risks and by reassuring passengers through an on-site audit. Topics covered by the AHA include cleaning and disinfection, physical distancing (where feasible and practical), staff protection, physical layout, passenger communications and passenger facilities. Istanbul Airport become the first in the world to gain Airport Health Accreditation in August 2020 and has since been joined by another 300 plus gateways, Munich and Brisbane being among most recent recipients. ACI director general, Luis Felipe de Oliveira, said: “The Airport Health Accreditation programme promotes best practices and helps align efforts across the industry to harmonise measures, processes and procedures. “This will be crucial as our industry begins to restart and then prepare to sustain continuing operations, providing to passengers and employees high globally-recognised standards on health and hygiene, which will help to restore public confidence in air travel.” Rome’s Aeroporti di Roma (ADR) run Fiumicino and Ciampino airports became the first to successfully complete the Airport Health Measures Audit programme in January 2020 and earn the right to display the SafeGuard label, demonstrating their compliance with a harmonised set of measures, aligned with the recommendations of national and international authorities. ADR’s CEO, Marco Troncone, said: “Since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, we have implemented a series of measures to provide passengers and employees with the highest health and hygiene standards, seeking cutting-edge solutions that combine safety and comfort. “It is with this spirit that we will relentlessly strive to further improve our performance on safety and quality, which are the ideal grounds to pose innovative safe travel protocols and to support traffic recovery.” ACI World has also led the call for airport employees to be recognised as essential workers and as such among the first to be vaccinated after healthcare workers and the vulnerable.

SPECIAL REPORT: SAFETY & SECURITY

Doing things differently

Airline initiatives

Some of the more unusual sights and sounds of the battle against COVID-19 have been seen in Hong Kong, San Antonio and Singapore Changi which are among the growing list of airports to have deployed automated cleaning robots. While Helsinki Airport probably wins the prize for the most novel way of preventing the spread of the pandemic, deploying COVID-19 sniffer dogs to detect passengers who might have coronavirus. Indeed, Finavia’s canines – Kössi, Miina, ET and Valo – have proved so successful that their trial has been continued into 2021 and they have received Special Hero Dog awards from the Finnish Kennel Club for valiantly testing samples taken from over 2,000 passengers a month. Trained by Wise Nose and able to carry out each test in around two minutes, Finavia enlisted the canine help when the University of Helsinki indicated that dogs are able to smell the virus with almost 100% certainty and can even identify the virus days before people start to show any symptoms. Elsewhere, Doha’s Hamad International Airport uses high-tech smart screening helmets to help identify passengers with elevated body temperatures (see more on page 43) while the Hygiene Team at Istanbul Airport are highly visible, bedecked in stylish anti-microbial and anti-viral uniforms as they whizz around the giant new terminal on electric scooters. While San Diego International Airport (SAN) in the US is turning to its Airport Innovation Lab to try and find new touchless journey solutions for passengers as part of an upcoming focus on health and safety at airports. Six companies with solutions that enhance the touchless journey or advance queue management have been welcomed into the programme to test and refine ideas in a real-life airport environment. “COVID-19 has taught us a lot about mitigating the spread of the virus in a large public venue,” said San Diego County Regional Airport Authority president and CEO, Kimberly Becker. “As we focus on recovery and plan for the redevelopment of our Terminal 1, we are very interested in concepts that add to creating a safe and healthy environment for all who travel through our airport. “Those innovations that succeed at SAN, now in the midst of the pandemic, will add to our ability to be ready for when passenger volumes return to normal.”

The world’s airlines have also not been slow in introducing a number of pioneering initiatives to ease their customers’ health concerns and make themselves more appealing to passengers. One of the most pro-active carriers has been Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways, which has introduced wellness ambassadors and in February 2021 became the first airline in the world to have all its pilots and cabin crew vaccinated against COVID-19. Others going that extra mile have included Emirates, which introduced the industry’s first COVID-19 hygiene kit for passengers and in January 2021 launched a vaccination programme for its UAE based staff, and Delta Air Lines, which was one of the earliest adopters of pre-flight COVID-19 testing for pilots. The big three airline alliances – oneworld, SkyTeam and Star Alliance – were also quick to join ACI World in backing ICAO’s Council Aviation Recovery Task Force (CART) and subsequent ‘Take-Off’ guidance for the industry.

Over the worst? The latest ASQ Global Traveller Survey, conducted at the end of 2020, discovered that 48% of travellers would consider flying in the first quarter of 2021. And a recent Honeywell survey of almost 900 people across Central and Eastern Europe, Turkey and the Middle East appears to show that the industry’s measures are having an effect in easing health concerns about flying, with 34% of respondents admitting that they have flown at least once during the pandemic and 81% revealing that they would be ready to fly again in the next 12 months. Much depends on the global vaccine roll out, of course, and then the willingness of countries to reopen their borders and remove the current restrictions and quarantine rules that exist today and are crippling the aviation industry. Nobody expects a quick fix, but with the global vaccine roll out beginning to gather pace, hopefully the darkest days of the pandemic are now behind us. The world’s airports would certainly appreciate more traffic and are more than ready to safely welcome back a significant increase in passenger numbers when that time arises.

AIRPORT WORLD/ISSUE 1, 2021

SPECIAL REPORT: SAFETY & SECURITY

Digital solutions The road to recovery for airports starts at the intersection of health and security, writes Johnson Controls’ Ramsey Nuwar.

lthough it might not seem like it at the moment, the air travel industry can expect a strong rebound in passenger volumes this year, with a recent study finding that 70% of those surveyed plan to take a vacation in 2021. This projected uptick means that airport operators must be prepared to welcome and manage these passengers while prioritising measurable health, safety and efficiency. Through the strategic, enterprise-wide integration of building technology and processes, and by leveraging new partnership and funding opportunities, airport administrators can create a smart, safe and secure airport that can handle the incoming influx of passengers and remain prepared for any future requirements.

First steps in creating the modern, safe and healthy airport Getting started on infrastructure improvements to facilitate a healthier and safer passenger experience can be daunting, especially as administrators and facility managers’ time and budgets are already stretched thin. To streamline the process and keep the project goal-focused, airports can work with a technology partner experienced in digital transformation to support the planning, design and implementation of all technology to create healthier, safer buildings. Early engagement with solution providers is critical to ensure technology is deployed and integrated in an orderly manner, reducing risk, construction and operation costs, and the overall project timeline.

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Because the process requires more than just installing a few sensors or smart applications, airport operators should seek out experts who have experience assessing an airport’s risk and unique safety and security needs. A trustworthy partner will help identify and clarify priorities and strategy, ensuring customised solutions that fit both operational requirements and budget. Getting a clear definition of the desired business outcomes supports a holistic approach that looks beyond the physical infrastructure to examine the existing systems within the facility and how they are integrated, identifying the systems investment necessary to ensure readiness for future technologies while protecting the existing investment. Once they’ve engaged a technology partner, airport administrators can begin transitioning their facilities into healthy buildings. Digital technologies that protect occupant wellbeing by reinforcing healthy behaviours, monitoring for anomalous symptoms, and facilitating touchless experiences are all part of today’s healthy airport. Solutions should also include real-time information related to the health of the airport facilities and their sanitisation status. The best way to connect and optimise these solutions through a single interface is by leveraging a Software as a Service (SaaS) solution. By integrating healthy airport solutions through a cloud-enabled SaaS product, facility managers can gain in-depth insight into their buildings’ overall health status, allowing them to optimise systems when needed and achieve their physical and digital goals.

SPECIAL REPORT: SAFETY & SECURITY

TRAVELLING AGAIN IS ON THEIR MIND At This Time Would You Say You Are...

Dreaming of the Time You Can Travel Again

1% 23%

Starting to Plan Your Next Vacation 54% 22%

Already Booked a Future Vacation Planning to Stay Home Forever Graphic courtesy of Travel Leaders Group

Of course, these state-of-the-art improvements don’t come free. With non-aeronautical airport revenue at an all-time low, many airports’ budgets are already reduced, leaving many operators searching for available funds to make these updates. By leveraging alternative funding solutions, such as performance contracting and Buildings as a Service (BaaS) funding, airports can realise rapid ROI while achieving business goals.

Integrating safety and security technologies for greater outcomes To mitigate increasingly sophisticated security and safety threats, airport administrators must leverage the latest technologies to more quickly detect and identify significant threats. Security as a Service solutions inform Security Operations Centre (SOC) teams of threats and calculate risk scores for assets in near real-time, constantly ingesting, correlating and filtering threat event data from multiple data sources. Risk scores are consistently calculated for life-safety, asset protection and business continuity, helping prioritise a security focus and response while automating threat impact assessments to simplify the monitoring experience for SOC teams. Non-aeronautical revenue can be a significant component of overall airport profits, so safety and security can have an incredible impact on the bottom line, as passengers are more likely to spend when they aren’t distracted by safety and health concerns. To increase traveller time spent at in-airport stores, airport leaders should enhance the efficiency and security of passenger processing. This can be achieved by integrating biometrics and touch-free technology with other airport authentication solutions used for check-in, bag-drop, security, immigration and boarding. Additionally, airport operators can leverage AI-powered monitoring technologies to assess both security and public health threats, from elevated skin temperature (indicative of fever), to social distancing non-compliance, to concealed weapons. With efficient passenger processing and upgraded, connected technologies, airport leaders can bolster security, reduce passenger wait-times and boost operational and financial performance.

Powerful data management to identify all risks and opportunities When creating a healthy airport, it’s crucial to have access to building data that merges the physical and digital aspects of a building and gives facility managers insight into the overall health and safety of the space. By constantly collecting and interpreting actionable data, facility managers can be empowered to make informed decisions. Powerful data automation also minimises the possibility for human error. Whether this data includes indoor air quality rates or occupant traffic flow information, strategic data management allows facility managers to assess and address risk factors, identifying patterns and any anomalous activity. A true healthy building ultimately needs to be maintained through active monitoring fused with intelligent data management, allowing managers to measure against their desired KPIs to establish long-term success. Of course, when data is involved – especially vulnerable and sensitive data generated by an airport – cybersecurity is always a concern. By working with a trusted technology provider who can identify areas that require greater defence, airports can mitigate the risk of cybersecurity and better protect their passengers, employees and revenue.

Building public trust in the new healthy airport Airports are at a turning point, as is the aviation industry at large. Airport operators are now tasked with providing returning passengers with an even healthier, safer and more efficient airport experience to inspire confidence and build back public trust. By partnering with an experienced technology provider and thoughtfully installing and integrating building technologies that merge physical solutions with digital capabilities, airports can usher in a new era of safe and healthy air travel.

About the author Ramsey Nuwar is the vertical market director for transportation for Johnson Controls, a specialist in the development of smart, healthy and sustainable buildings.

AIRPORT WORLD/ISSUE 1, 2021

SPECIAL REPORT: SAFETY & SECURITY

Crime fighters INTERPOL secretary general, Jürgen Stock, tells Airport World more about some of the key challenges facing it today and how the organisation works with local law enforcement agencies to help combat crime at airports. When, where and why was INTERPOL founded? The INTERPOL story began in 1914 when police and lawyers from 24 countries met at the first International Criminal Police Congress in Monaco to discuss identification techniques and catching fugitives. After the First World War, the idea of an international police body was revived, and the International Criminal Police Commission was established in September 1923 with its headquarters in Vienna. This was the precursor to the INTERPOL of today, which with 194 member countries makes the organisation one of the world’s largest international bodies with its General Secretariat headquarters now in Lyon, France. A secure communications network, I-24/7 (INTERPOL – 24 hours a day, seven days a week) connects police in our member countries as well as providing access to our 18 global databases, including for Stolen and Lost Travel Documents, wanted persons and forensics such as DNA and fingerprints.

What are the main challenges facing INTERPOL today? With our membership spanning the globe, different countries and regions each have their own priorities and challenges across all crime types. However, one of the biggest problems facing law enforcement around the world is cybercrime, which is increasingly being linked to other crime areas.

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What also makes this difficult for countries to investigate is that the crime can be committed anywhere in the world, from anywhere in the world. The COVID-19 pandemic has thrown into sharp relief just how quickly criminals will adapt to changing circumstances. As the virus spread, we saw a wave of criminality follow around the globe. For example, the 2020 edition of the annual Operation Pangea co-ordinated by INTERPOL, saw new trends in the sale of counterfeit medicines, counterfeit facemasks, sub-standard hand sanitisers and unauthorised anti-viral medication. And with financial frauds, again we have seen criminals taking advantage of the pandemic, especially as countries scrambled to purchase protective equipment for medical staff. One sophisticated fraud scheme using compromised emails, advance-payment fraud and money laundering was as part of a case co-ordinated by INTERPOL in which German authorities were nearly duped into paying €2.4 million for masks they never received. Eventually two suspects were arrested in Nigeria. The pandemic has also clearly affected other crime areas, especially where travel restrictions were implemented. But here again, criminals proved to be adaptive and changed their ‘business models’ for example in relation to drug crime.

SPECIAL REPORT: SAFETY & SECURITY

INTERPOL secretary general, Jürgen Stock, addresses a UN Counter Terrorism Conference in New York.

In April 2020, INTERPOL issued an alert about criminal organisations using food delivery services to transport drugs and other illicit goods as countries implemented lockdowns. People smuggling and human trafficking continue around the world, and the difficult economic situation the world now finds itself in means that we are unlikely to see any reduction in these crimes, as well as many others, in the future.

How much of these crimes happen at airports? As regional, national or international hubs, airports are often focal points for drug trafficking, organised crime and acts of terrorism with criminal groups and terrorists using stolen travel documents to conceal their identities and cross borders undetected. INTERPOL has developed several tools to enhance security at airports, even before a potential threat arrives at the terminal. One example is I-Checkit, which complements and enhances national border security systems. It allows trusted partners in the private sector to submit travel document information for screening against INTERPOL’s database of stolen and lost travel documents (SLTD) which contains more than 100 million entries. A database match triggers an instant alert so the situation can be investigated. In countries where INTERPOL’s network is accessible at airports, with just one swipe a passport can instantly be checked against both national and INTERPOL databases. When officials have just moments to decide whether or not to allow a person into their country, time is of the essence, and with search results against INTERPOL’s SLTD database returned in less than half a second, this is a vital policing tool. However, in addition to these ‘physical’ crimes there is also the cyber threat, where critical infrastructure such as airports are a key target. Criminals will always target the weakest point of any chain. This can mean identifying an official who can be corrupted or sending

phishing emails containing ransomware which can be opened by staff not fully trained in identifying this type of cyber threat. Just as airports can often be viewed as small cities, so too do they face the same crime threats as any other city in the world.

Does having a number of law enforcement agencies doing different jobs at airports complicate matters? Each of the different agencies working in airports has their own area of expertise and responsibility. They do however, all share a common goal: Keeping passengers safe, and detecting and preventing illegal activity. The key is ensuring that these come together seamlessly. INTERPOL has helped co-ordinate a wide range of operations at airports including combatting human trafficking, drug smuggling and trafficking in illicit goods involving various different agencies. We have seen significant results in identifying criminals and fugitives, especially when the operations have involved direct access to INTERPOL’s global databases. Strong security measures are essential at airports, which is why it is vital that all involved agencies work together, share information and can access INTERPOL’s global network and databases to help identify fugitives, criminal activities and intercept illicit goods. This was one of the drivers behind the creation of the Airport Communication Project (AIRCOP), a multi-agency initiative by INTERPOL, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the World Customs Organization (WCO) in 2010. The project aims to strengthen the capacities of international airports across the globe to detect and intercept drugs, other illicit goods and high-risk passengers, including foreign terrorist fighters, in origin, transit and destination countries. Since its launch, co-ordinated operations around the world have resulted in a significant number of seizures and arrests as well as rescuing victims of human trafficking.

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SPECIAL REPORT: SAFETY & SECURITY

Has new technology aided crime prevention for law enforcement agencies but also made it easier for criminals to commit offences?

Would law enforcement agencies ever get involved in dealing with situations such as the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic?

Technology improvements have impacted on crime rates over the years. For example, a drop in car thefts due to the increased use of vehicle immobilisers and a reduction in burglaries as intruder alarms have become more sophisticated. However, at the same time we have seen the use of new technologies quickly embraced by criminals and organised crime networks. Unfortunately, it is challenging for law enforcement to adapt as quickly, often due to funding or regulatory issues. What is clear is that criminals do not have the same constraints as the police. This is particularly true in the cyber domain where public and private sector co-operation is needed to tackle these threats. The expertise in identifying cyber-attacks comes primarily from the private sector which also develops the necessary tools to protect the online community from harm. This is why is it essential for law enforcement to remain innovative, especially when facing a lack of resources, to ensure that we can at least try to keep pace with the criminals or identify threats before they become a reality.

Law enforcement has been playing a key role in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic from the very beginning of the outbreak and is often the first line of defence for the community it serves. Officers have been on the streets helping to implement the measures to keep us safe, often at the expense of their own health. In my discussions with police chiefs over the past year, I have been saddened to hear about the number of officers all over the world who have been victims of COVID-19. This role continues to evolve, which has now expanded to include assisting with the safe and secure delivery of vaccines as they are being rolled out around the world.

Do you believe in passenger profiling, or perhaps to put it in a more acceptable way, behavioural analysis when it comes to security and crime prevention? Each country has their own data protection laws and protocols when it comes to security and crime prevention and national sovereignty is one of the main principles of INTERPOL’s constitution. Airports are high-volume, high-stress environments where security staff need to make appropriate assessments of risk. INTERPOL provides the means of exchanging intelligence on particular criminal methodologies and trends in order to assist countries in developing their threat and risk assessments. This is why Advanced Passenger Information/Passenger Name Recognition is a vital part of effective security in air travel.

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Can environments like an airport ever have 100% security? Unfortunately, history has shown us that no environment can be 100% secure. What we can do is work to minimise risks. A vital part of that is ensuring that police and other law enforcement officials have access to information when and where it is needed, and clearly airports are on the frontline when it comes to identifying criminals and fugitives. Here, INTERPOL’s Stolen and Lost Travel Documents database plays a critical role. Officers with direct access to the database can instantly verify whether the person standing in front of them is using a fraudulent travel document and further checks should be made.

Who is your favourite TV detective and do you have a favourite airport and why? My favourite detective on TV is Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple and my favourite airport is Lyon-Saint Exupéry, for two reasons. First, because it is the place of departure for when I go on mission to visit a member country to see the work of police in our member countries at first hand, which is always a great pleasure and honour. And secondly, because when I return to Saint Exupéry I know that I will soon be back with my family. AW

SPECIAL REPORT: SAFETY & SECURITY

Flying problems! Fortem Technologies co-founder and CEO, Timothy Bean, provides his thoughts on the challenges airports face from the 1% of drones that pose a threat to aircraft and airfield safety.

he Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the US sees more than 100 rogue drone sighting reports each month, and with the number of commercial and recreational drones registered creeping close to one million, this problem will continue to grow. With that said, not all drone sightings are one and the same. One way to think about the problem is to break sightings down into two categories – the 99% and the 1%. The 99% includes drones that are carelessly or cluelessly flown into a restricted space, such as stadiums, oil fields, amusement parks and an airport’s territory. The 1% refers to drones that are programmed by malicious actors with a purpose of causing persistent disruption, chaos or physical harm.

It’s been more than two years since the drone incident that stopped more than 140,000 travellers at the UK’s Gatwick Airport from flying for about 30 hours. A few short months after this incident, climate change activists threatened to fly drones over Heathrow Airport in London to disrupt flights and make a statement about environmental changes they wanted to see. These types of planned attacks on international airports can be categorised into the 1% of drone incursions from criminal-minded people that can cause the most damage. The London Gatwick incident brought to life what leaders in the drone industry have been preaching for years. And while a drone attack has yet to cause physical harm at commercial (or civilian) airports, these recent events have shown us this is a very likely possibility.

The 99%

The solution

Let’s start with the most common category of drone sightings. Small, hobbyist drones can cost anywhere from $50 to a few thousand dollars. Some are simple toys and others are equipped with high-quality cameras to capture photos and videos from a bird’s-eye view. Since the battery life on these drones is typically about 10-20 minutes per charge, most airports do not currently have funding to remove the drone and end up having to deal with the resulting temporary delay. While the short battery life of these drones typically results in just a small disruption, it still has the potential to cause physical harm if the airport does not have a drone detection and mitigation system in place. The majority of drone sightings reported by the FAA fall into this category; and certainly, tolerance is one approach, despite the disruption they cause.

Some forward-looking security professionals have begun to adopt drone detection systems that can help them see when drones are flying into their airspace. The problem, however, is not only detection. Airport security teams need efficient solutions for mitigating (removing) threatening drones quickly and in a manner that will not cause collateral damage. These mitigation technologies are out there, are effective, and can save lives, but there are still regulatory hurdles standing in the way of our security professionals from being able to fully adopt and operate counter-drone solutions. Chief among the hurdles, in the US, is the expansion of the 2018 Emerging Threats Act that Congress must pass to allow state and local law enforcement to legally mitigate a threatening drone as the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) does at airports. The drone market will continue to grow as we begin to see air taxis and drone deliveries for common household items become more advanced and readily available. This also means bad actors will have even more access to drone technology that can be used for malicious purposes. Finding an all-encompassing drone detection and mitigation solution can prevent life-threatening attacks from coming to fruition. AW

The 1% Now let’s talk about the 800-pound gorilla of drone sightings – planned, persistent criminal and terrorist drone attacks.

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SPECIAL REPORT: SAFETY & SECURITY

Safe and secure Airport World reviews some of the latest security developments and news stories from across the globe.

altimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI) has launched a pilot programme that uses innovative technology to provide social distancing information and assessment for customers at security checkpoints. The project uses Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) technology and sophisticated software from partner CrowdVision to monitor, analyse and report on physical distancing at the airport’s B security checkpoint. The system notifies customers when social distancing is adequate and encourages greater physical separation if needed. If passengers are too close together for too long a period of time, the system presents a reminder of social distancing guidelines. BWI believes that it is among the first global airports to use LiDAR to monitor and report on security wait-times to help improve the passenger experience. LiDAR is the same laser-mapping technology used in autonomous vehicles. The technology, it notes, uses safe, invisible pulsated laser light to detect objects, both in motion and at rest. Wait-time information produced from the system has been displayed at the airport’s four security checkpoints and the BWI Marshall website since 2019. “The use of LiDAR technology to promote social distancing helps keep our customers safe and gives them comfort and confidence as they travel through BWI Marshall,” enthused Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) secretary, Greg Slater. “This innovative system is another way we’re focusing on the health and safety of the public, our partners and our MDOT team.”

Collaborating with Malaysia Airlines Malaysia Airports has collaborated with national flag carrier, Malaysia Airlines, to introduce a new Passenger Reconciliation System (PRS) at

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Kuala Lumpur International Airport in a bid to enhance safety and speed up the security screening process. “We continue to leverage technology in order to keep up with evolving security and safety requirements for an improved passenger experience,” says group chief executive officer of Malaysia Airports, Dato’ Mohd Shukrie Mohd Salleh. “With the PRS in place, we are looking at speeding up, strengthening, and simplifying the security process for the benefit of all our stakeholders. “The PRS is key to an elevated e-boarding experience as it will also allow us to implement the ‘open gate’ concept at selected boarding gates, resulting in the creation of more space for passengers to sit and wait comfortably prior to boarding their flight. “Malaysia Airlines being our first user, will also benefit from the system in terms of operational efficiency by scoring better turnaround times.” Kuala Lumpur International Airport has installed 10 PRS units in Terminal 1 and 12 units across Terminal 2.

Enhancing security at Singapore Changi Singapore Changi, one of the most innovative and technologically advanced airports in the world, has selected Genetec to enhance and upgrade its security system. The three-year project, which is expected to be completed by the end of 2023, will see Genetec Security Center – a unified security platform that blends IP security systems within a single intuitive interface – underpinning the airport’s security operations, with a specific focus on the video surveillance system across its terminals. The contract was awarded to Genetec following a rigorous competitive tender process.

SPECIAL REPORT: SAFETY & SECURITY

“Increasingly, our airport customers are understanding the deep business insights Security Center is capable of delivering, its ability to inform and create value for multiple areas of an airport business operation and improve the overall passenger and employee experience,” said Giovanni Taccori, Genetec Inc’s commercial lead for transportation in Asia-Pacific.

Scanner upgrade for Kerry Airport Kerry Airport in Ireland has enhanced its security operation by installing the country’s first Rohde & Schwarz supplied Quick Personnel Security (QPS) scanners. The new addition to the airport’s security equipment (pictured above) is the QPS201 scanner, which the company says features enhanced second-generation algorithms that increase sensitivity to further boost threat detection, while minimising false alarms and reducing processing time. It is also quick to point out that in addition to strengthening security, these performance gains reduce post-alarm manual checks and therefore help avoid physical contact to ensure social distancing. Moreover, a more efficient scanning time with R&S QPS201 balances the effects of incoming new X-ray inspection systems, which scan items inside baggage that previously had to be removed, such as laptops. Kerry Airport’s chief security officer, Tom O’Driscoll, says: “Now is the right time for this investment in the future of Kerry Airport, to meet the heightened expectations for safety and security within our industry. “Having recently installed explosives detection systems for cabin baggage, we are proud to now also adopt this state-of-the-art technology in Ireland, which will set new standards for service and wellbeing.”

New security checkpoint lanes at Charlotte Douglas The new and improved security checkpoints at Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT), upgraded as part of a major $600 million terminal expansion project, feature Vanderlande’s automated screening lanes. The upgrade has allowed the North Carolina gateway to consolidate its five security checkpoints into three high-efficiency checkpoints, all

equipped with Automated Screening Lanes (ASLs) to increase throughput and enhance security. Vanderlande was selected through an RFP process for the design and installation of the first five ASLs, which were deployed in December 2020. Featuring the latest technology and powered by Vanderlande’s premium remote screening software, the state-of-the-art ASLs will allow CLT to centralise its screening operations to further improve operational efficiency. The modular design of the lanes also eases the transition from AT X-rays to CT technology. Vanderlande’s executive vice president for airports, Andrew Manship, says: “We are proud to support CLT in its terminal expansion project. We are looking forward to building on this new collaborative relationship which will help the airport reach its objectives, as well as provide a seamless screening experience to its passengers.”

Customer friendly security Norwegian airport operator, Avinor, is to install HappyorNot customer feedback technology at the exits of the security checkpoints at eight of the country’s biggest airports. According to HappyorNot, with this in-moment, actionable customer experience feedback data, “Avinor’s management and staff will be able to identify, and immediately rectify, issues that are affecting passenger satisfaction, and make improvements based on data, rather than unscientific hunches”. It also claims that results from the first few months of operation in Oslo Airport showed that instant feedback increased engagement from team leaders in day-to-day operations. Avinor’s passenger experience manager, Terje Orskaug, says: “We want our customers to enjoy the time they spend in our airports, and by utilising the feedback data collected via HappyOrNot terminals, we have a great opportunity to transform and improve the airport experience of our customers. “This level of contextualised insight will enable us to better understand our customers, and also cater to their changing attitudes AW in light of the pandemic.”

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FUTURE TRAVEL

Lift off for flying taxis? Airport World considers whether taxi services using electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft are the shape of things to come at the world’s airports.

he UK government has awarded an industrial research grant to a consortium led by Atkins to look at the feasibility of introducing an air taxi service using electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. The project is specifically looking at the possibility of introducing the new air taxi service in the South West region of the UK and will include a demonstration of the new technology in a live environment. The £2.5 million project was awarded partial funding through the government’s Future of Flight Challenge, which was created to find innovative methods of achieving greener flight, finding new ways to travel, increasing mobility, improving connectivity and reducing congestion. The project being led by Atkins is expected to take 18 months, and will comprise an assessment of the demand for air taxi services in the South West; development of use cases for the technology; and an evaluation of the integration and impact on the wider transportation network, including the region’s airports, as well as the benefits to cities and residents. It will establish viable markets and businesses cases for these services and seek to understand public perceptions and attitudes towards eVTOL aircraft. These activities aim to culminate in a series of full-system demonstrations in live airspace across the region. James Richmond, Atkins’ advanced air mobility lead, said: “As we look to the future of travel, it’s now more important than ever that we begin exploring more sustainable methods of transport within our increasingly populated cities. “Bringing together the experience and expertise from across the consortium, we’re excited to begin developing a fully integrated system concept, using the latest digital innovations. “This is an important and tangible step towards making Advanced Air Mobility a reality, and by demonstrating that we can provide a case for air taxis, we could begin trialling these services as early as 2023.” In addition to managing the project, Atkins will provide wholesystem enterprise architecture, develop safety cases and create processes for secure passenger identification management.

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Vertical Aerospace, a Bristol-based electric aircraft manufacturer will explore vehicle integration, using their eVTOL air taxi. Skyports, an infrastructure provider for the emerging Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) industry, will be responsible for the design, development, operation and airport integration of the physical infrastructure to enable safe and efficient air taxi services. Vic Terry, head of digital systems at Vertical Aerospace, said: “At Vertical, our ultimate aim is to make air travel green and accessible to everyone. “This is a great opportunity to bring the consortiums’ products and services together showcasing that air taxis are not reserved for science fiction but achievable to benefit both our cities and economy in the UK and around the world.” Other consortium members include Altitude Angel, AirXOS (part of GE Aviation) and NATS, which will be investigating advanced traffic management solutions and the integration of conventional air traffic control. Cranfield University will lead on the communication systems required to enable flight, particularly within an urban environment. London-based IT company Neuron will focus on interconnectivity to enable safe and efficient passenger movement. One of the British Government’s innovation agencies, Connected Places Catapult, will lead the research into public perception of air taxis, the ways this method of travel would be used, and the expected demand on AAM as a service. The West of England Combined Authority (WECA) offers the backing of a regional authority and will help ensure plans align with the Joint Local Transport Plan, and foster cross-sector collaboration between the project and the likes of the Future Transport Zone and 5G developments. Bristol Airport’s sustainability and corporate affairs director, Simon Earles, noted: “We have set the airport an ambitious target to be carbon net zero by 2050. “Innovative new approaches to travel, like the air taxi service, are critical to making this a reality and also support the wider

FUTURE TRAVEL

decarbonisation agenda in the South West, and we are proud to act as a test bed for this exciting project.” While the feasibility studies and subsequent trials will be based in the South West, the project will also consider scalability and application in other cities.

Safe, silent and environmentally friendly There can be little doubt that a journey to and from an airport can be challenging. Road or rail connections between an airport and the city it serves are coming under ever-more pressure and often that trip can take as long, if not longer, than the actual flight. However, Duncan Walker of Skyports, is convinced that all this is about to change with the introduction of eVTOL aircraft and taxi services. “Electric vertical take-off and landing vehicles have recently hit the mainstream in a big way. Announcements from Joby, Archer, Lilium and Volocopter about public listings on the NASDAQ stock exchange have confirmed that billions of dollars are flooding into the sector,” says Walker. “Archer’s deal also included a pre-order of in excess of $1 billion of aircraft from United Airlines. The share price of eHang, the Chinese passenger drone manufacturer listed on the NASDAQ, is up 500% year to date.” But what makes the eVTOL such a compelling proposition? And how can these craft be compared as an alternative to the helicopter? “All-electric vehicles are much quieter than traditional helicopters powered by combustion engines,” says Walker. “Depending on which type of helicopter we’re talking about, many have ‘a single point of failure’, meaning one motor, or one connection with the rotor. This makes them relatively unsafe compared to norms in the aviation industry, which is the safest of all forms of transportation. “The configuration of an eVTOL is different. They have what’s called ‘multiple points of redundancy’, so you have multiple rotors, multiple motors, multiple batteries, and that adds further degrees of safety.” All of the current vehicles are certified by either the European Air Safety Agency in Europe, the Federal Aviation Administration in the

US or the other regulators in the manufacturers’ own countries, so the level of safety threshold for all of these vehicles is no less than a commercial airliner. This, says Walker, is important for the industry as a whole, but also for public perception in terms of safety and efficiency. The relative simplicity of these vehicles also gives them an advantage over their more traditional predecessors. “They have far fewer moving parts in their motors,” he explains. “This means less down-time and cheaper maintenance. They will ultimately be capable of being flown automatously, without the need for a pilot (which is the biggest cost and the biggest cause of accidents), making them even more economical to operate. “Increasing scales of production will drive prices lower, meaning this transport will be something that is affordable by the masses, not the elite few.” Another plus point for the eVTOL is that it can take off and land vertically. “Although many of them have a wing for lift during forward flight, they can all land in constrained environments within city centres,” notes Walker. “This brings a great opportunity for airports in adding a quick, safe, environmentally friendly alternative to current city-centre-toairport transportation for people and cargo without the huge infrastructure costs associated with ground transportation.” It was Walker and his team that were behind the proof-of-concept construction of the world’s first “vertiport” (a take-off and landing area for eVTOLs) in Singapore in 2019. The company aims to launch commercial operations there within two years, in partnership with German-based company, Volocopter, one of the world’s leading eVTOL manufacturers. The vehicle used here, called Volocity, can carry 200 kilograms or two people. “It’s very quiet, and when we flew around Marina Bay in Singapore, people walking along the pavement with the Volocopter behind them at 70 metres didn’t even turn around,” he says. “You can’t hear that it’s there unless you know it’s coming, and even on landing, it’s not that much more noisy than existing city environmental noise.” AW

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AIRPORT DESIGN

Bahrain’s new terminal (above) and the shape of things to come at Helsinki (centre) and Seattle-Tacoma (right).

Build and grow Despite today’s tough operating climate, airports continue to invest in new infrastructure to enhance their capabilities. Joe Bates takes a closer look at some of the most exciting recent developments.

ecent announcements about a number of potentially gamechanging infrastructure development projects in Europe, North America, Asia and the Middle East shows that despite the continued devastating impact of COVID-19 on global traffic levels, faith remains in the long-term future of aviation. Projects in the pipeline include the multi-million dollar revamp and expansion of Helsinki Airport in Finland and a state-of-the-art International Arrivals Facility at Seattle-Tacoma and new $1.5 billion main terminal at Portland International Airport in the USA. Elsewhere, Dublin Airport in Ireland is planning a major facelift for Terminal 1; the future operators of India’s new Delhi Noida International Airport have unveiled the designs for its new terminal; and developers in Saudi Arabia have revealed the stunning designs for a new Red Sea gateway. The projects follow the respective December 2020 and January 2021 openings of new terminals at Bermuda’s LF Wade International Airport and Bahrain International Airport in the Gulf state. While in Serbia, Belgrade’s Nikola Tesla Airport has opened a new-look central terminal area and London City Airport in the UK has completed the construction of a full-length parallel taxiway and eight new stands capable of handling larger and more fuel-efficient aircraft. In London City’s case, its parallel runway taxiway and aircraft stands have been built on a new 70,000sqm concrete deck created by drilling 1,000 piles of concrete 20 metres below the waterbed of London’s King George V Dock. The project, notes the airport, was one of the most challenging and complex civil engineering and inland marine construction projects in Western Europe.

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In this article we turn the spotlight on Bahrain’s new terminal and the planned developments in Helsinki, Seattle-Tacoma, Dublin and Delhi.

Take-off for Bahrain’s new terminal Bahrain International Airport (BIA) celebrated a major milestone on January 28 when its eagerly awaited new $1.1 billion terminal opened for business. The new state-of-the-art facility is a key element of the Kingdom of Bahrain’s Economic Vision 2030 and is expected to transform air travel to the Gulf state by providing the airport with the facilities that will allow it take operational efficiency and customer service standards to new levels. Spanning 210,000sqm, the new facility is four times larger than the airport’s old terminal and will increase BIA’s capacity to 14 million passengers a year. Its facilities include eight baggage reclaim belts; 104 check-in counters; 36 passport control offices; a total of 20 e-gates for arrivals and departures; a 4,780sqm Departures Hall; 6,600sqm Arrivals Hall and 10,002sqm of retail space. Its duty free area is three times larger than in the old terminal and offers 30 new top brands in Bahrain for the first time. The new terminal – the key project of BIA’s Airport Modernization Program (AMP) – also features its own hotel and spa for transit passengers and a airport clinic where a dedicated team of healthcare professionals will be on hand around-the-clock to provide medical services to visitors. Fittingly, a Gulf Air flight to Abu Dhabi with Bahrain’s Minister of Transportation and Telecommunications and chairman of Bahrain

AIRPORT DESIGN

Airport Company (BAC), His Excellency, Kamal bin Ahmed Mohammed, and BAC CEO, Mohamed Yousif Al Binfalah, on board, was the first flight to depart from the new terminal. HE Kamal bin Ahmed Mohammed said: “Through the provision of world-class facilities and services and backed by robust infrastructure, the new airport will sustain the growth of Bahrain’s aviation sector for decades to come. “This, in turn, will help drive investment into the Kingdom and stimulate national economic growth in line with Bahrain’s Vision 2030.”

Revamp and expansion of Helsinki’s Terminal 2 The ongoing renovation and expansion of Helsinki Airport is the biggest development project in the airport’s history, which when complete in 2024, will ensure that it is capable of handling up to 30 million passengers annually. According to Finnish airport operator, Finavia, the renovation work will completely revamp 35,000sqm in the existing Departures and Arrivals halls as well as integrate them into the gate area and centralised baggage claim hall. While the existing terminal is being expanded by 42,000sqm allowing for the construction of an impressive new entrance and easier access for passengers to the airport’s public transport and car parks via a weather-protected passageway linking it with Ring Rail Line, new P1 and P2 parking garages and new bus docks. And like Nashville International Airport (See page 12), the airport has opted to accelerate the timing of the €1 billion upgrade to take advantage of the opportunity to carry out the bulk of the building work while operating at a reduced capacity. “We are able to start the renovation work one year in advance, as the number of passengers and flights has decreased significantly due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In this way, passengers will also be able to enjoy the new facilities earlier than planned,” says Tuomo Lindstedt, Finavia’s T2 extension project manager. Finavia notes that the development programme also includes an expansion of Terminal 1 and the expansion of the terminal section serving long-haul traffic, or non-Schengen traffic.

Altogether the development programme will add an extra 103,000sqm of floor space to ensure that the airport is equipped with 250,000sqm of terminal space by 2024. The expansion of Terminal 2 and the new entrance to the airport was designed by ALA Architects. The working group also included HKP Architects and Ramboll Finland.

Sea-Tac’s new International Arrivals Facility Seattle-Tacoma International Airport’s much anticipated new International Arrivals Facility (IAF) is due to open this year. The IAF programme includes three new elements: A 450,000-square-foot Grand Hall for baggage claim and customs processing, an 85-foot-high aerial walkway that will directly connect it to the South Satellite, and a new international corridor connecting arriving international passengers on Concourse A. Supporting projects to expand power, fibre optic technology and high-efficiency baggage services will significantly speed-up processing during peak international arrival periods. Commenting on the improvements for international passengers, Ron Peck, the Port of Seattle’s director of international tourism development, noted: “We are building a new, expanded International Arrivals Facility (IAF) at SEA to significantly enhance the international passenger experience and advance the Puget Sound region as a leading tourism and business gateway. “With these new facilities, we will have the capacity to serve the travelling public well into the future. “This is the largest capital development programme in the history of the 71-year-old airport and it will significantly improve the arrival process for international passengers to accommodate Seattle’s growing demand for international travel.” In a separate development project, the airport has also hired The Miller Hull Partnership and Woods Bagot as joint project design leaders to create a dynamic, performative and sustainable facility expansion of Concourse C. According to Woods Bagot, diversity, performance, sense of place and sustainability are the driving design principles behind the expansion project, which is due for completion in 2027.

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AIRPORT DESIGN

Bold new look for Dublin Airport’s Terminal 1 Dublin Airport’s Terminal 1 is to undergo a major facelift, which will see its core façade and roof replaced with a new modern, energy efficient structure that the Irish gateway says will transform the facility’s external appearance and give it a new visual identity. The existing concrete fins, which are near the end of their life and need to replaced, will make way for a combination of glass and solid panels to create a fresh look for T1 that will improve the overall visual appearance of the airport campus. The planned works to the façade follow a major upgrade to both the Departures and Arrivals areas of Terminal 1 in recent years. New floors and lighting were installed and both areas were reconfigured to introduce more natural light to the building. “Terminal 1 has been at the heart of Dublin Airport since 1972 and has welcomed more than 450 million passengers during 48 years of use,” says the airport’s managing director, Vincent Harrison. “These works are part of an overall programme to ensure that T1 can continue to successfully serve Ireland for many decades to come. “While passenger traffic had been hit by the impact of COVID-19, as custodians of Dublin Airport on behalf of the State, daa must always take a prudent long-term view in relation to managing the facility. As certain elements of T1 are approaching the end of their life, it makes sense to seek planning permission now for these works, which will be carried out over the coming years.” As part of the project, planning permission has also been sought to repurpose the top two floors of Terminal 1 as airport offices, which were originally designed as a multi-storey car park. The designs for the T1 facelift project, drafted by Atkins, are currently lodged with Fingal County Council. Carlos Muriel, Atkins’ lead architect, commented: “Our proposal gives T1 a new identity that is based on a deep understanding of the historical transformation that the airport has experienced during the last 50 years and Dublin Airport’s ambition to become a highlysustainable and energy efficient campus. “The design addresses the challenges of the present and future, whilst being respectful to the past.”

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Responding to daa’s sustainability agenda, the changes will generate a significant improvement in the terminal’s energy efficiency, as it will move the upgraded elements of the building from their current BER rating of F to B3.

Delhi’s green new gateway India’s planned new Delhi Noida International Airport will boast a passenger terminal designed by architects Grimshaw, Nordic – Office of Architecture, Haptic and Indian practice STUP. The team was selected from a shortlist of three for “demonstrating a proficiency in balancing passenger comfort with sustainability, and timeless design with flexibility for future needs”. The winning design (seen below) is said to “Merge Swiss efficiency and Indian hospitality to create a modern and seamless passenger experience that will set new benchmarks in sustainability for airport terminal buildings in India”. It is claimed that the concept creates a future airport city by envisaging green spaces inside and around the building, and flexible expansion options with capacity to serve up to 50 million passengers per annum by 2037. Andrew Thomas, a partner at Grimshaw, said: “Our design will provide the best possible experience for passenger and staff while focusing on the key issues in aviation today, such as passenger flows, digital services and rigorous carbon minimisation targets.” Once complete, Delhi Noida International Airport will serve the fast-developing industrial region between Delhi and Agra, and its investment will support the Indian government and Uttar Pradesh through infrastructure development and job creation. Grimshaw notes: “In a country that is already pushing the boundaries for sustainable aviation infrastructure, the project aspires to achieve LEED Gold standard and to operate at Carbon Net Zero. “Design proposals include an internal landscaped courtyard deep within the terminal plan delivering ventilation, daylight, and an enhanced passenger experience. “Externally, a new landscaped forecourt will create a regional destination for the public, staff and passengers with an unforgettable AW sense of place.”

IT INNOVATION

Always innovating Hamad International Airport’s senior vice president for technology and innovation, Suhail Kadri, discusses his gateway’s IT strategy. What is your airport’s philosophy/strategy when it comes to the trial and introduction of new technology? We are committed to harnessing the power of digital innovation and technology to deliver the passenger experience and operations of a true ‘airport of the future’. Hamad International Airport has been almost relentless in trialling and introducing innovative solutions that provide passengers with a holistic, smooth and effortless airport experience and potentially enable the transformation of operations. Any new technology HIA trials has to first, and foremost, be a candidate for addressing a specific business opportunity or a challenge that has been identified by our organisation in order to meet our tactical or strategic objectives. It is then trialled methodically to ensure that it delivers the desired business outcome and value. Our approach, and dedication, has allowed us to set numerous benchmarks for the aviation industry. We also put passengers at the heart of this strategy, prioritising their emotional wellbeing and understanding the travel-related anxieties induced during these unprecedented times.

What are your key focus areas for new IT? The comfort and security of passengers sits at the centre of HIA’s strategy and operations and this passenger-centric approach helps ensure that our technology investments offer solutions that accommodate their best interests. We are always exploring the latest technologies to improve overall airport efficiency while leading by example when it comes to innovating the passenger experience.

Has Hamad’s IT innovation extended to its response to COVID-19? HIA has made great strides in adapting to the ‘new normal’ shaped by the COVID-19 pandemic and implemented a variety of new IT driven measures focusing on detection, prevention and sanitisation. On the detection front, HIA swiftly acquired thermal imaging cameras and placed them at all passenger and staff entry points at the airport to detect elevated body temperature and manage as per defined protocols.

Going one step further, we also acquired Smart Screening Helmets for random monitoring. This is a portable, safe and effective tool that enables contactless temperature measurements through the use of infrared thermal imaging, artificial intelligence and augmented reality. Given that the pandemic is affecting different areas of the world with varying intensities, we have also been focusing on how best to prevent the propagation of the virus as people from around the world come across each other and our employees at HIA. For example, the airport has introduced a face mask detection system which utilises artificial intelligence and computer vision technologies to automatically detect if passengers/staff are wearing masks at key entry points. This innovative solution was developed and deployed fully in-house within four weeks before commercial products appeared on the market. The C2 security screening technology at the transfer security checkpoint allows us to screen cabin baggage without the need for passengers to divest their electronic devices, a process that also reduces the risk of cross-contamination. On the sanitisation front, HIA has invested in disinfectant robots as well, which are fully autonomous mobile devices emitting concentrated UV-C light, used to reduce the spread of pathogens across the terminal. Similar technology is being used to disinfect baggage trays at security checkpoints, as well as elevators and escalators.

Where are the world’s airports going in terms of new technology? The global trend is that passengers want a more streamlined and automated airport experience. We will undoubtedly see the role of biometrics, cloud and touchless technologies rising in the future of the aviation industry and become the basis of new experiences that will also include wearables, machine learning and artificial intelligence. In due course biometrics and blockchain will completely revolutionise the travel experience as we know it and hopefully replace paper based identity and travel/heath credentials.

AIRPORT WORLD/ISSUE 1, 2021

WBP NEWS

Open for business A snapshot of the latest news from ACI’s World Business Partners.

Grand Cayman’s airfield upgrade Work has been completed on the reconstruction and expansion of the airside infrastructure at Owen Roberts International Airport on Grand Cayman in the Cayman Islands. According to the Stantec led design team, the major airfield upgrades are set to increase safety and efficiency at the island’s “most vital piece of infrastructure” as it serves as its primary connection to the rest of the world. The project included strengthening and extending the airport’s only runway to allow for long-haul, wide-body aircraft to fly direct routes from Europe and North America to Grand Cayman. A parallel taxiway and a taxiway turnaround were also constructed to increase safety and efficiency at the airport by giving aircraft a viable alternative to back-taxiing on the runway. “This was a major airfield overhaul executed under the most unusual circumstances,” said Leigh Bartlett, principal with Stantec’s airport group. “My hat is off to our on-site project personnel, and I am thankful for the partnership of Island Paving/Decco/IDL Projects and the airport authority. Working together, we were able to see this to a successful completion.” Cayman Islands Airports Authority CEO, Albert Anderson, said: “This airfield expansion is part of a larger airports development master plan that will have lasting economic and community benefits for the people of the Cayman Islands.”

New safety guidelines adopted by dnata catering

The adoption of new industry guidelines issued by the International Flight Services Association (IFSA) and the Airline Catering Association (ACA) will help ensure that dnata consistently delivers the highest standards of health and safety across its global catering operations. Robin Padgett, divisional senior vice president of dnata catering, said: “The combined ACA/IFSA guidelines ensure another layer of guidance, providing an industry-wide reference point to complement the strict COVID-19 procedures and processes implemented by us at the global and local level. “Importantly, passengers can remain confident that our products and services are provided with the utmost attention to health and safety.” Launched in early February, the ACA/IFSA guidance provides a sensible approach to implementation, highlighting ways in which individual locations and processes can best be re-engineered to meet the updated health and safety standards.

AIRPORT WORLD/ISSUE 1, 2021

RUNNING WBP NEWS HEAD Adecs Airinfra BV Membership Region: Europe Type of business: IT and Communications W: www.airinfra.eu Adecs Airinfra offers consultancy and IT solutions to support airports with their development and improve airport efficiency. Active in the industry for more than a decade, its areas of expertise are airport strategic planning; airport operations management; environment and spatial planning; airport sustainability; and air traffic management.

AFCO AvPorts Management LLC (AVPORTS)

Tanzanian duty free concession for Lagardère Travel Retail

Lagardère Travel Retail is set to expand its footprint in Africa after being awarded the concession to operate two duty free stores in the new terminal at Tanzania’s Julius Nyerere International Airport. It and local partner, Bevco Limited, will build and operate the outlets in the brand new Terminal 3 at the gateway to capital city, Dar es Salaam. Frédéric Chevalier, COO EMEA at Lagardère Travel Retail, said: “We have significant growth ambitions for our operations on the African continent and hope our experience in Tanzania will continue to consolidate our position as a leading international travel retailer in the region.”

Membership Region: North America Type of business: Planning and Construction W: www.afcoinic.com AVPORTS is in the business of owning, leasing and managing airports and related airport infrastructure. Its portfolio of sixteen FAA-certificated airports makes it an undisputed leader in its field. For over 80 years, the company has enjoyed a reputation for exceptional service quality and the highest standards of safety, efficiency and accountability.

Secure Wrap

New era for Zoeftig

Airport seating specialist, Zoeftig, is once again a privately owned company after being wholly purchased by Paul and Mandy Williams. With over 50 years experience in the design, manufacture and supply of intelligent seating solutions, Zoeftig is renowned throughout the transport sectors across the globe for its high quality construction and innovation. According to the new owners, the repurchasing of the entire business, which was formally under the ownership of Figueras Seating Solutions, will drive the continued success and expansion of the Zoeftig brand worldwide. Paul and Mandy Williams said: “We are delighted to announce Zoeftig’s return to being a privately owned company. Over the last 15 years, the senior management team and ourselves have significantly expanded Zoeftig’s reputation and reach across the world. The decision to repurchase the entire business will enable us to drive this growth even further.” In addition to the aviation market, Zoeftig subsidiary, SIS Global Seating, provides auditorium seating solutions for the education, theatre and sports industries.

Membership Region: Latin-America & Caribbean Type of business: Equipment E: info@securewrap.com W: www.securewrap.com Secure Wrap® is a global leader in Baggage Protection Services for air travellers, specialising in check-in luggage security. Secure Wrap provides luggage wrapping services at international airports throughout the Americas, with operations in North America and Latin America and the Caribbean. Secure Wrap stations are conveniently located in the public terminal space of airports to allow passengers to protect their baggage prior to check-in. These stations are equipped with state-of-the-art machinery which wrap and protect passengers’ baggage in a nontoxic, 100% recyclable, tamper resistant/ evident plastic film in seconds.

AIRPORT WORLD/ISSUE 1, 2021

HUMAN RESOURCES

PEOPLE

matters Psychological safety Terri Morrissey and Richard Plenty give their perspective on how to create a psychologically safe work environment.

ave you ever felt that it would be better not to speak out, ask questions, challenge the status quo, raise issues, or simply make suggestions in your workplace because there might be a price to pay later? If so, you are not alone. Research shows that people are extremely sensitive to the emotional climate in organisations and will not take the risk of being open and honest if they feel there may be recriminations later. People know the stakes can be high, particularly during the current pandemic. If they see that this kind of behaviour has been suppressed or punished in the past, they may be scared to ‘put their head above the parapet’ in case they lose their job. Keeping quiet is not something most people feel good about. It is difficult to feel committed to an organisation which does not give you a voice, accept or trust you. At the same time, the inability to speak out matters not only for the psychological wellbeing of the individuals concerned, but also for their organisations. For example, Google, in their Project Aristotle, looked at 180 teams to see what differentiated its highest performing teams from other teams. People in the highest performing teams listened to each other and weren’t afraid to contribute and challenge the status quo. ‘Psychological safety’ was by far the biggest factor in a team’s success. Those teams where individuals felt accepted, respected, and included did much better than those that didn’t. It is not enough just to create an environment where physical safety is a priority. Psychological safety matters as well, particularly in an environment of uncertainty. It is critical for enabling creativity and sets the tone for the culture.

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Without it, as a result of an ‘excess of caution’, the organisation may lose out on valuable ideas and potential innovations. So, how can you create an environment of psychological safety? How can you create a climate where trust and openness are valued and where ideas can be freely expressed? • Firstly, treat people as individuals and human beings rather than just employees with useful skills sets. Genuinely connecting with others is key in times of uncertainty. • Secondly, it is important to be transparent in communication. This means being open to listening without judgment, looking for win-win outcomes and approaching potential conflict as a collaborator rather than as an adversary. • Thirdly, replace blame with curiosity. Instead of looking for the fault in an argument or idea, start from the position of trying to find out more about it, why the person has it and explore its possibilities. • Fourthly, try to anticipate reactions and deal with controversy with an open mind. This can be difficult sometimes as the tendency is to shut out what we don’t like, believe, or agree with. Creating an environment of openness helps to build trust, an essential ingredient for psychological safety to flourish. The key drivers in creating a culture of belonging and commitment are having a set of core values and a sense of purpose in the organisation as well as a willingness to act in accordance with those values. People are committed to organisations whose objectives they believe in. They trust leaders who are authentic and genuine.

Former IAG CEO, Willie Walsh, will become IATA’s eighth director general in April, succeeding Alexandre de Juniac, who is stepping down at the end of March after four-and-a-half years in the hot-seat. Walsh said: “Associations play a critical role in our industry and none is more important than IATA. It must be a forceful advocate for the industry – moving forward crisis recovery priorities, ensuring sustainability and helping airlines to survive by lowering costs, reducing taxes and eliminating regulatory blockers to success.” Naples Airport Authority has unveiled Justin Lobb as its new deputy director of aviation. He will oversee the fixed-base operation, airport operations, security, maintenance, planning and development activities at Florida’s Naples Airport. Edinburgh Airport’s decision to place a greater focus on cargo and enhance its freight facilities has led to it appointing Conan Busby as its new cargo business development manager. He said: “I know the airport is looking to make air cargo a more fundamental part of the business and I’m excited to play a significant role in growing and strengthening our network.” Ferrovial Airports has announced the appointment of former LaGuardia Airport CEO, Lysa Scully, as an independent senior advisor to its US division. Scully, who runs her own US advisory firm, had a distinguished 33-year career as an innovative leader at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. UK airport operator, AGS Airports Ltd, has made a number of key new appointments to its executive committee. They include former managing director of Glasgow Airport, Mark Johnston, who has become its chief operating officer, and former Highlands and Islands Airports’ finance director Gillian Burton, who takes up the role of chief financial officer. Philipp Ahrens is the new head of shopping and gastronomy at Vienna Airport. The Austrian airport notes that he has previously demonstrated his extensive know-how of innovative concepts for retail and restaurants at Munich Airport.

About the authors Terri Morrissey and Dr Richard Plenty are directors of This Is…, authors of the book Uncertainty Rules? Making Uncertainty Work for You, and deliver ACI World’s Airport Human Resources training. You can contact them at info@thisis.eu