Advanced Technologies to Take Flight at Airports
Goal is Easier, More Efficient Experience for Travelers
The Signal - Business Section, November, 2006
Software solutions are infiltrating the airports like never before, creating a real-life Tomorrowland for travelers. But wait, we haven’t seen anything yet. The technology expected to arrive at an airport near you in coming years will make today’s advancements seem like child’s play.
With the ultimate goal to get passengers processed from the terminal door to their seat on the airplane and ready for take-off at the scheduled time in 30 minutes or less, software engineers are working overtime to develop workable, cost-effective ways to make it happen. We already have benefited from new technologies allowing for ticketless travel. There are the self check-in electronic kiosks, automated boarding passes, baggage check, and in some locations, electronic passports, all designed to speed the process and reduce delays in getting to our seats on time.
Some of these advancements were the result of increased security and safety measures in light of September 11. Some are simply for the sake of delivering efficiency in a 21st Century fashion to create high-tech airports. Either way, the challenges in moving new ideas from concept to reality are the issues of cost and security. How much does it cost to install state-of-the-art devices throughout an airport, who will pay for it, and will travelers be safer and their privacy secure?
Lots of big answers here. While I am not the expert on airport security and technologies, I do understand the value of streamlining the boarding process from terminal to tarmac and would like to see technology solutions in operation to help make this happen. Some airports already have adopted techniques for boarding and exiting an aircraft at both ends simultaneously as an effort to keep the process moving along on schedule. Other soon to arrive processes include multiple-access jetways, landing airplanes with less time in between touchdowns by relying on sophisticated software systems, and better controlling the taxiways for more efficient docking at terminal gates.
Even passing through the security checkpoint will be a speedier process thanks to technology applications now in development. Some airports are considering installing sophisticated biometric identification devices that allow passengers to walk through the security check without removing shoes or coats.
Let’s go past the drawing board now and imagine how far technology can actually take us in coming decades. Some technologists predict we’ll see a day when commercial airplanes are flown by ground-based controllers sitting at computers receiving real-time data. The concept is expected to be a safer and more efficient alternative to having skilled pilots onboard to drive the aircraft. It is a real possibility and the technology to fully navigate and control the take-off and landing of an aircraft already exists.
This is not your father’s airport experience, that’s for sure. But the generation of 20-30-somethings now completely immersed in technology and virtual living can accept and imagine these possibilities. It’s not just the engineers who develop the software who see the need to keep progressing down the high-tech superhighway, or in this case, fly-way.
While these software solutions may be years away, they are definitely underway. Until the officials figure out the balance between security, safety, cost-effectiveness and delivering efficiency to travelers, the implementation of new technologies will be in holding pattern. As travelers, we’ll be waiting for these sophisticated high-tech systems to make our experience at the airport easier and more efficient. Hopefully there won’t be a delay in take-off.
For more information
contact Nicole Stinson, Public Relations
(310) 312-3368
