COMMENT
20 October 2018 · AV I A T I O N B U S I N E S S http://www.aviationbusinessme.comT
om is fl ying to New York for a
long weekend. He worked late
the night before but luckily
didn’t take long to pack in the
morning before his luggage was whisked
from his apartment by drones, security
scanned and packed on the plane before
Tom even arrived at Sydney Airport.
Upon arrival, Tom easily strolls to
his gate without queuing thanks to au-
tonomous biometric screening that has
automatically processed him through im-
migration, security, and boarding checks
since stepping into the terminal. Seated
on the plane, he decides to surprise his
New York-based girlfriend with a new
coffee machine, ordering it from the air-
port’s duty-free retail offering, timing its
arrival in New York to coincide with his.
Millennials like Tom get a bad rap
these days: often dismissed as special
entitled snowfl akes, glued to their
screens and expecting the good life on a
silver platter. But what if the maddening
habits of millennials are actually paving
the way for a better future? This gen-
eration’s expectations will be the true
disruptors for air travel, resulting in a
better journey for all of us to enjoy.Radical change is forecast
The industr y is well aware that airline
demand and passenger expectation
continues to test airport design in its
current format, and this evolution is
happening at breakneck speed. At
the 2018 Global Passenger Terminal
Conference in Stockholm, innovations
ranged from seamless 3D facial scan-
ning, self-driving luggage vehicles and
biometric bag-drop solutions.WILL RUNWAYS
BECOME RUINS?
Stephen Symons and Alex Heather from the Just
Imagine blog discuss the future of airportsfood to Tesla cars at the airport and opt
for a home or holiday hotel deliver y?Adapt or die – but do it carefully
While airports across the world are em-
bracing change, it’s critical that current
and future innovations are considered
in the airport master planning process.
Airports need to evolve smartly while
continuing to expand. The rapid pace of
change means it may be impossible to
know what the future will look like exact-
ly, but designers and engineers need to
keep fl exibility top of mind so that innova-
tions can ideally adapt in years to come.
The Airbus A380 example is a cau-
tionar y tale that springs to mind. At
signifi cant cost, airports invested in
terminal and airfi eld infrastructure to
house these ‘next generation’ aircraft,
and airlines ordered fl eets of A380s due
to anticipated passenger demand.
However, with questions being asked
around the A380, and in some quarters
their predicted extinction due to low
load factors and lack of freight space,Wayfi nding robots are already in use
in Tokyo Airport and Auckland Airport
providing directions, cleaning, dis-
pensing duty-free goods and language
translations. Yet extreme change is on
the horizon that will make airports as
we know them virtually unrecognisable- if not extinct – and will happen within
the life expectancy of current airport
master plans.
What is the most critical asset of an
airport? Its runway. If you remove a
runway, you remove the fundamental
reason for an airport’s existence. This
is a distinct future prospect made pos-
sible by vertical take-off and landing
(VTOL) technology that will see Uber
launch fl ying taxis, expanding on the
already available UberChopper at
Dubai International Airport.
Quieter planes and point-to-point trav-
el are changing the game. Air travel will
become more widely available with less
impact as aircraft become smaller, with
30-55 seater planes crafted from light
carbon fi bre and smarter, fuel-effi cient
engines potentially enabling pick-ups
and drop-offs from building rooftops,
parks and open spaces.
Airports are facing demand from
Millennials and Gen Z to improve their
offering as a seamless, personalised
experience between home and holiday.
With airport retail outlets facing in-
creased pressure to diversify their offer-
ing, the conversation has moved to the
limits of duty-free shopping. Why not
have an airport where you can purchase
any item in the CBD and collect it duty-
free at your terminal departure? Why
can’t we purchase anything from pet