Management Planning for the New Sydney Airport - Case Study Example

Introduction In the era of globalization multinational businesses, air transport plays a key role in shrinking distances between countries and continents. Be it traveling or cargo, growth of airlines has reduced the travel and transportation timelines significantly. After the introduction of low cost air travel model, air travel was a rare thing for a common man, has become a normal thing. The passenger volumes and cargo volumes have been constantly increasing. In this scenario, it’s not just the aircrafts and airlines which have to evolve, but also the airports. In fact they are the integral and one of the most important parts of the airline industry. Providing proper facilities and efficient management of the airports is as crucial as flying the aircrafts. Most of the areas of airports are busy with passenger traffic 24 hours in a day, hence changes and improvement in infrastructure during operations is very difficult. This makes the planning phase of the airport very important. The planning and implementation has to be flawless since there are very less scope of rectification after the operations start. About Sydney Airport Kingsford Smith Airport, better known as Sydney Airport is situated eight kilometers south of Sydney CBD. Sydney Airport holds the record for being the oldest and continually operational airports in the world. It is also the busiest airport in Australia in terms of people and planes movement. The airport handles traffic of 31.9 million passengers and 290,346 aircraft in 12 months. It was also part of the 30 most busy airports in the world. Sydney airport is a major economic hub and a significant part of Sydney’s employment and wealth comes from it. The airport spans across 100 hector land. The airport is under the management of Sydney Airport Corporation Limited. Currently the CEO is Russell Balding. Sydney airport has three runways and three passenger terminals. The runways are known as the "East-West", "North-South" and "Third" runways. Sydney Airport has three passenger terminals. Terminal 1 is the international terminal. Terminals 2 and 3 are for domestic passengers. The runway is situated between them so it takes more time to reach terminal 1. A shuttle system assists people in faster transfer between terminals. The airbase is surrounded partially by major roads, namely General Holmes Drive, the M5 East Motorway and Southern Cross Drive. The airport is also connected by two on-airport train stations which connect the airport to Sydney’s CityRail passenger network. Development Objectives Aviation industry has always been a high tech industry, and the technology keeps improving by the day. Airports also need to be equipped with the technology to support the advancements. The development project of Sydney airport keeps the following points in view: The International terminal T1 in currently undergoing expansion and renovation which will cost $500 million. This development is done keeping in mind that Sydney airport retains its position as Australia’s premier airport. For this development process, responses and views were collected from all stakeholders like passengers, staff, etc. The process highlighted following points: Increase in area of departure section bby 7300 sqm. this will include the best possible facilities for passengers like a single point processing, consumer goods stores, wider connecting ways, waiting areas and transit lounge, etc. A sophisticated and fast luggage sorting and transferring system for departures. To handle multiple flight arrivals at the same time, three additional luggage claim systems will be installed. To provide adequate parking facilities, building an eight level car parking for more than three thousand cars at cost of over $60 million. It will be directly connected to the terminal 1. Apart from the passenger facilities, there are plans for commercial purpose also. These will include a large admin section for customs, goods transfer department for DHL, a world class first class lounge for transit and a F1 hotel in domestic area. In the light of events like 9/11 and the need for safety, and to ensure safety a cent percent baggage screening systems are installed at all three terminals. To ensure no terrorist activities take place, checked luggage is screened by an x-ray scanner. This high tech equipment is capable of handling thousands of parcels in an hour. Approximate cost for this is $90 million. As we know, aircraft manufacturers keep updating the aircrafts so as to be on the cutting edge. This has results in ultramodern aircrafts which ate bigger and faster, and also environment friendly. They make less noise; use fuel efficiently spread less pollution. Airports also have to evolve in order to support seamless operations of the new aircrafts. This will be ensured at Sydney airport by the improvements in aerobridges and gates, longer and stronger runway and taxiways and hangers. These improvements are done mainly by keeping new generation aircrafts such as Airbus A380 and Boeing 787. These upgrades will cost around $127 million. The domestic terminal T2 will also get much required improvements and upgrades in terms of passenger hold-up areas, duty-free shops, meal facilities, IT infrastructure, aero-bridges, etc. These improvements are done so as to support the commuter’s traffic which is very high in this terminal. Approx 11 million passengers use terminal T2 every year. Airlines which use this terminal include Quantaslink, Rex, Virgin Blue and Jetstar. Since passenger traffic at airport continues 24 hours, adequate illumination facilities are a must. About $51 million have been invested in providing lighting facility at the airport. These include modification of lightings in terminal areas, guiding lights of runways and changing the cables of runways and taxiways. As per the new aviation safety standards, safety areas have to be constructed at both ends of a runway. Five safety areas have been completed and the sixth and final one will be finished in a year. To take the increasing load of volumes, parking space for nine additional aircrafts is set up in two corners of the airport. Ensuring that all services reach in the all required areas of the airport is another challenge. These services include water supply, electricity, gas, network cables, sewage management, etc. To sum it up, development objectives include: Making and keeping the operating atmosphere of the airport secure, safe and dependable. To be a continuous and growing workplace that is look up to by the community. Also to contribute to economic growth of Sydney. Ensuring that traveling people and the visitors who come to airport get an quality experience. Enhancing capacities in all means so as to ensure that the demand growth is satisfied. Plan and execute processes to ensure that the existing resources are utilized optimally. Inducing such flexibility in the system so that demands and needs of dynamic time in fulfilled. Increase the value addition the airport does to the society by providing new business areas. Infrastructure and Facilities Now let us go thru the infrastructural growth and facilities on the airport. It can be divided in the following wide categories: Airfield Terminals Freight Aviation support Utilities Access way to the airport Airfield The airfield can be divided in three components: runways, taxiways and aprons. These three cannot function flawlessly without support equipments like: control center which looks after the aircrafts movement on airport, systems for radio and visible navigation, surveillance systems, safety services, disaster management services, etc. Runways: Sydney airport has three runways, of which two are approx 2.5km long and the third one is 4km long. All the three runways of Sydney airport are equipped with the latest “Precision Approach Path Indicator System” commonly called as PAPIS. Also present with the runway is a transmission meter; this equipment is used to gain visibility of the surroundings in case of low-visibility times like fog, etc. This helps in increasing aircraft handling capacity in times when visibility is low. Two of the runways are provided with High Intensity Approach Lighting, this helps the pilots in beginning there approach to the runway accurately and well before time. To assist aircrafts to land with precision in bad climatic conditions, an Instrument Landing System is present. This will eventually be upgraded to GPS Landing System, which is a futuristic technology and is being tested before implementation. Two other equipments, namely Doppler Very-High Frequency Omni Range and co-located Distance Measuring Equipment (DVOR/ DME) are used to enable crew to precisely carryout the landing or takeoff stage of the flight. Taxiways: Runways can be used by aircrafts just at the time of landing/takeoff, at all other times the movement between runways or between terminals is facilitated by the taxiways. They ensure that maximum aircrafts can be served with available number of runways. Special taxiways like Rapid Exit Taxiways are present near the unidirectional runways to ensure that runways are occupied for a minimum time. Aprons: They are the places which are used for parking the airplanes. These places are also called stand or a gate. The gates which are currently there can support all different types of aircrafts which are being used by airlines around the world. Presently the international terminal T1 has 42 gates for commuters and cargo operations. Additionally 51 more gates are present for servicing domestic operations from T2 and T3. Apart from passengers and cargo services, gates also provide opportunity for luggage, fuel refill, meal supplies and other utilities. Terminal: Journey for the passengers begin and end on airport, hence they have a huge part to play in making impression on passengers. The airport is like an entry gate to the air travel for commuters. Keeping in mind the increasing passenger volumes, all three terminals will be upgraded and extended. International Terminal: The international terminal T1 was inaugurated in the year 1970. Compared to that time the terminal has been significantly changed and extended. Now it is being modified to enable it to provide additional support for ever increasing commuters’ traffic and new breed of planes. Terminal T1 has 4 floors and the arrival and departure decks are divided by a wall. It can accommodate 24 aircrafts with its same number of parking. The terminal also highlights following: More than 190 check in counters Interactive outgoing luggage sorting and screening system. More than 50 passengers’ passport checking systems. Manual hand luggage x-ray screeners. More than 10 luggage distribution and reclaim systems. Food and beverage counters Shops and stores. Domestic and regional: Two terminals, namely T1 and T2 are used for domestic operations. The buildings are situated in the north-east part of the area and the two structures are not connected as of now. The terminal T2 is managed by Sydney Airport Authorities and is also owned by them. It is a three floor building with arrival and departure areas on two separate floors. Terminal T2 has 18 parking areas as of now and can cater to aircrafts of different types. The other domestic terminal, T3 is handled by Qantas solely. It has a satellite type arrival and departure gates, which connect to 13 aircrafts at once and can serve thru a single passage. Terminal T2 and T3 do not share a common wall, they are separated by some distance, but passengers can use a underground pathway which connects them. High speed baggage transfer facility is also available to reduce transfer times. The domestic terminals put together provide total area of more than hundred thousand sq. meters. For ensuring smooth passenger traffic, it has 67 ticketing counters and more than 10 luggage receipt units. In future development plans, it is proposed that the terminal complexes to be linked to each other. Also in purview is developing an additional pier in the airport complex. It is proposed that the Qantas owned terminal T3 to be extended to be ready for the future. The proposals keep future plan in mind that domestic operations will continue from T2 and T3. This concept of interlinked terminals also provides opportunity to introduce facilities like mass rapid inter-terminal transportation, multi-storied vehicle parking and transit hotels. To meet the growing volumes extra check-in counters will be installed in all three terminals. To enable people movement within and between all three terminals, they have to be connected at two levels, before security check and after security check. This helps passenger’s movement in all three terminals without a security breach possible. The hallways in which luggage claim equipments are installed are also scheduled for an extension so as to accommodate additional units. Freight Most of the cargo transfer to and from Australia is handled by Sydney airport. The volumes are expected to double in next 10 years. As per a proposed plan, a new complex dedicated to cargo transport will be developed in north end of the airport. This new facility will enhance the cargo volume handling capacity of the airport and be ready for the future needs. A number of commodities are exported from Australia to various parts of the world. Major exports from Australia include items which can perish such as food items, meat, grains and fruits, livestock etc. Imports from other countries are also routed thru Sydney airport. Major items included in imports are vehicle parts and electronic items such as computers. Parcel service and mail service are also a part of international and domestic cargo service. Aviation support facilities: The airport requires a number of support utilities for aviation operations to run smoothly. These systems are present to enable airlines to perform its core activity of transferring people and cargo from one location to another. A lot of such activities continually happen at the airport. These services are distributing and refilling aviation fuel, performing maintenance activities of planes, providing and maintaining equipments which are meant for ground support, preparing and supplying food and beverages for flights, providing necessary utilities like power, fuel, telephone connections, fresh water, drainage systems, data communication, etc. Aviation Fuel: Apart from the cost of aircrafts, a major cost of airlines operation is fuel expenses. This makes timely and economic supply of aviation fuel a very strategic requirement of a profit making airline. If the fuel distribution network faces any problem, and fuel supply is disturbed then it can create havoc in flight operations schedule and managing passengers at the terminals. It becomes even more significant in case of Sydney airport since it consumes more than 40% of Australia’s total consumption. Sydney airport receives the supply of the necessary fuel straight from two refineries namely Shell and Caltex. The fuel is transported to the airport by underground pipelines laid by the companies. The fuel received by the airport thru these pipelines is transferred to Joint User Hydrant Installation (JUHI). It is situated at north corner of the airport complex. For small aircrafts and helicopters, a separate smaller facility is present at the airport. The fuel which is stored in JUHI is transferred to different parts of the airport a network of pipelines. A refilling hydrant is provided near each parking facility so that aircrafts can get timely fuel supply. Aircraft Maintenance: Sydney airport is the base location for domestic as well as international operations of Australia’s biggest airliner Qantas. This means that aircraft maintenance services are very important for Sydney airport. There are number of hangers which are used for this purpose. They are located at east part of the airport complex. Qantas has taken a lot of hangers on long term lease and uses them for regular repairs and maintenance of its aircrafts. Keeping in mind the future, these hangers will also be redeveloped and also the number will be increased. Utilities The airport requires all the basic utilities to be provided on a timely basis to operate without problems. Following are a few of these utilities: Electricity: Electricity is supplied to the Sydney airport by Energy Australia. The airport grid is directly connected to EA grid at two different places. According to agreement between the two, EA provides 60 MVA power supply. This supply is supplied to all parts of airport by two 10.25 kV feeder. In the next few years the power requirement is expected to increase substantially and negotiation with EA is in progress for installing a 132 kV substation. Water The water requirements of Sydney airport is satisfied by the water from Sydney water supply mains. Number of motors and storage capacity are installed to supply water for fire safety service. Also it is supplied for catering demand for potable water. To meet the increasing demand a number of solutions are being suggested. Some of them include Recycle water treatment plant, water cycle management, groundwater extraction, etc. Other utilities include sewage pipelines, storm water clearing, gas and telecommunication. Reference List: About us, available at www.sydneyairport.com.au/ Alexander T. Wells, Seth B. Young , Airport planning & management‎, 2004. Richard De Neufville, Amedeo R. Odoni , Airport systems: planning, design, and management‎ , 2003. R De Neufville , Management of multi-airport systems A development strategy, Journal of Air Transport Management, 1995. Airport planning, available at: www.archive.org/details/airportplanning00froerich Read More