Industrials

<p style="text-align: justify;">Traditionally, airport terminals are designed to cope with the peak hour rush of the forecast travel in each city. Since the number of air passengers are growing in most markets, terminals must cater to this by increasing size and area to meet that demand.&nbsp;</p><p style="text-align: justify;">A smaller airport might have 10 million passengers coming through a year and be required to have the capacity to accommodate 15-20,000 people in the terminal during its peak rush hour.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Air travel is becoming more affordable worldwide, especially with the steady growth of Low-Cost Carriers.&nbsp;Every person wants to travel by air to save time and money, but airports worldwide face a severe space crunch. This has forced many countries to build new airports to meet the growing traffic needs, which will only continue to grow.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">The automated and small terminals will not only be cheaper to build compared to traditional terminals. Still, they will also have almost zero environmental impact and provide a convenient and better customer experience due to the adoption of many new and exciting technologies.</p><h2 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Turn Around Terminal Technology&nbsp;</span></h2><p style="text-align: justify;">One of the solutions is a new product that will solve problems like space, money, and most importantly, on-time performance of aircraft.&nbsp;</p><p>This technology is "Turn Around Terminal." This technology would change the airport's working methods and timely departure of aircraft from parking spaces. The process is automated, and every operation is time-bound. Airports need space, on-time performances, and fast aircraft turnaround, which will benefit airports in terms of revenue and growth.</p><p>We need to encourage airports to adopt the technology for better performance. The main benefactor will be airlines, which most often face delays due to many reasons such as manpower shortage, delays by fuel trucks, catering, etc.&nbsp;</p><p><strong>Function</strong></p><p>The Turnaround Terminal is a logistics machine in which the docked airplane moves at a fixed speed from one zone to the next.&nbsp;</p><p>During that time, the necessary handling steps must be completed, and the through-flow must not stagnate. All of this place's huge demands on the airport's logistics organization.&nbsp;</p><p>For example, waiting for passengers who arrive too late would be no longer possible. As is the case now, delayed planes are assigned a later slot in the handling system.</p><p>The primary element of this new concept is the circular terminal building, around which rotates a turntable and docking stations.&nbsp;</p><p>From the runway, an airplane enters its docking station and then gradually rotates through the different zones of the circular building</p><ul><li style="list-style-type: none;"><ul><li>In the first zone, passengers and baggage are disembarked.</li><li>In the next zone, the plane is cleaned, and refueling commences.</li><li>The final zone is where passengers and luggage are boarded.</li></ul></li></ul><p>&nbsp;</p><p>These advancements don't just save terminal space and money. The reduced scale, travel distances, and new technological advancements will also improve the overall customer experience.</p><p>About eight years ago, one of the biggest airports in Europe had the choice to extend its present airport with 8 Cat C gates adapting the Turnaround Terminal. However, they did not opt for this and now face double the cost and lack sufficient personnel.</p><p>Today, low-cost carriers are very important for any airport because of their business model for a faster turnaround. Still, they are facing issues in timely performance and turnaround because of many challenges at current airports. Many low-cost carriers cannot sustain operations for long and are therefore forced to close down.</p><p>The direct and indirect effects of the economy can be identified for the sustainability of airports like passenger services (check-in, security, and boarding) which need to be upgraded and managed in the simplest way. Hence, there are no bottlenecks in the delay of aircraft.</p><p>The other part is refuelling, cleaning of aircraft, and power unit to aircraft, which is beneficial for the airport in terms of timely departure and arrival of new aircraft.</p><h2><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Future of Aviation Industry&nbsp;</span></h2><p>The aviation industry is recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, and many domestic markets have recovered faster than international ones due to fewer local restrictions imposed by many countries.&nbsp;</p><p>Indian aviation is bouncing back, and the government plans to build 80 new airports by 2030. Turnaround terminal may be a more sustainable, automated, and better solution for small cities under the UDAAN scheme.</p><p>An airport is the gateway and identity of a city and a country, and new automated technologies could prove to be most beneficial in terms of saving space and driving profitable operations for both airlines and airports.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><em>This article was contributed by our expert <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/gauravshorey/">Gaurav Shorey</a> &nbsp;</em></span> &nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><h3><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Frequently Asked Questions Answered by Gaurav Shorey&nbsp;</span></h3><h2><span style="font-size: 12pt;">1. Is Udaan scheme successful?</span></h2><p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">As of today, 58 Airports, eight heliports and two water aerodromes have been connected under UDAAN scheme and many of them are working successfully. We can say that Udaan scheme is successful as on date.</span></p><h2><span style="font-size: 12pt;">2. What is the market value of low-cost airlines market ?</span></h2><p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Globally, till 2021, the low-cost airlines market value was US$ 172.54 Billion.</span></p><h2><span style="font-size: 12pt;">3. What is the future of airlines in India ?</span></h2><p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Airlines are growing fast due to UDAAN scheme and fastest growing aviation industry in India. In future, we will witness new airlines starting operations.</span></p><h2><span style="font-size: 12pt;">4. What is the future of airport management ?</span></h2><p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Future of airport management is secure and bound to grow. We had witnessed during Covid-19 Pandemic that airlines and airport worked together to bring or send medicines and medical instruments to many counties across the globe via air and not a single airport across world closed down during Pandemic and the airports managed all process smoothly.</span></p><h2><span style="font-size: 12pt;">5. What are some of the technological advances that enhanced aviation industry?</span></h2><p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The introduction of Artificial Intelligence in airports is playing a major role along with software advancement (Biometrics, in flight connectivity, automation). The introduction of new automated terminals will be an added advantage in the aviation industry and bring on time performance for airlines.</span></p><p>&nbsp;</p>