Rebecca Maloney
Americas Press Office ,Boston
Arup’s Future of Air Travel report predicts the trends and challenges confronting the aviation sector, and offers an expert framework for dramatically improving the travel experience.
With the number of airline passengers expected to exceed 6bn by 2030, the aviation industry faces challenges to its growth on many fronts, including security, sustainability, infrastructure, and financial issues. The Future of Air Travel report examines key elements that are vital to renewing the industry, and offers innovative design solutions that aim to improve the passenger experience:
- The travel experience will be more personalised from beginning to end. By harnessing personal data, the smart airport of the future will be able to respond to the passengers’ needs at every stage of the journey. Terminals will be planned and designed more efficiently, as processing functions are increasingly integrated into the Smart City grid.
- Passenger screening will be streamlined. Currently focused on gauging the capability to do harm, airport security stations consume substantial floor space and resources to screen for prohibited items. Risk-based screening, which assesses an individual's intent to harm, offers the promise of reducing the need for traditional checkpoints through virtual, data-based screening.
- The passenger terminal will be more dynamic and efficient. By consolidating functions such as flight check-in, customs, and screening, the layout of passenger terminals can be condensed into more operationally flexible footprints, eliminating extended, multi-stop treks from the ticketing counter to the departure gate.
- Checked bags will travel on their own. Smart-suitcase technology will free travellers from hauling luggage to and through airports. From a remote drop-off location, bags will be automatically routed to destinations, reducing on-site airport baggage handling systems.
The report is based on conferences held in San Francisco and Istanbul that were attended by thought-leaders from the aviation field and beyond: operators, planners, developers, engineers, economists, and technologists. The forums were held to help build a detailed understanding of the diverse influences shaping the future of air travel across socio-cultural, technological, economic, environmental, and political domains.
“By inviting a broad group of aviation stakeholders to participate in the conference, we are able to better define the needs of the industry. This knowledge enables the Arup team to develop efficient, resilient, and practical solutions for the future of air travel. It's a model we look forward to applying to upcoming forums in other locations.
Susan Baer, Project Director for the forums and Arup’s Global Aviation Business Leader