HOME MyTRB CONTACT US DIRECTORY E-NEWSLETTER FOLLOW US RSS


The National Academies

ACRP 03-52 [Final]

Guidelines for Adapting and Managing Airport Common Use Programs

  Project Data
Research Agency: Barich, Inc.
Principal Investigator: Samuel Ingalls
Effective Date: 4/30/2020
Completion Date: 8/26/2022

BACKGROUND
 
Common use programs currently at many airports may not be able to provide the needed level of customer service to airlines and passengers. ACRP Synthesis 8: Common Use Facilities and Equipment at Airports (2008) introduced airports and airlines to common use facilities and equipment and ACRP Report 30: Reference Guide on Understanding Common Use at Airports (2010) focused on assisting airports and airlines in understanding and evaluating the business case for integrating common use into their operations. 
 
Since the release of these publications, both the technological solutions and the implementation strategies have changed significantly.  For example, a greater focus is now placed on making the passenger journey "seamless,” providing new common use options, introducing new technologies, overcoming space constraints, and adapting to new business models. Additional research is needed to assist airports in responding to continual passenger growth while managing costs, limited facilities, and resources related to common use programs. 
 
OBJECTIVE
 
The objective of this research is to produce guidelines for airport operators and airlines to develop, implement, and manage common use programs at airports of different types and sizes. The guidelines should build off of ACRP Report 30 and ACRP Synthesis 8 and incorporate the following considerations, to include but not limited to: 
  • Adaptability and flexibility of program development and/or expansion;
  • Identification of current, emerging, and gaps in technologies (e.g., biometrics, wireless, self-service, paperless processing, etc.);
  • Incorporating the passenger and stakeholder experiences and expected level of service to provide a seamless passenger journey;
  • Facility planning to maximize efficiency of limited space and resources (e.g., hardware equipment, check-in counters, gates, labor, etc.);
  • Defining new common use opportunities throughout the airport (e.g., common baggage service offices, lounges, wheelchairs); 
  • Financial (e.g., cost-recovery models, capital investments, operations & maintenance);
  • Leasing strategies;
  • Legal, safety, and risk implications;
  • Audio, visual, and electronic communications;
  • Wayfinding;
  • Data sharing among customers and stakeholders;
  • Airline buy-in through partnerships and collaboration (e.g., maintaining brand identity);
  • Standardized operational common use best practices (e.g., universal curb-to-gate queuing strategies);
  • Gate assignment management (i.e., ownership, gate use policies, scheduling functions, and standard operating procedures); and
  • Airline models with differing needs and requirements (e.g., domestic vs. international operations, low cost carriers (LCC) vs. legacy carriers).
  
The final deliverables will include: (1) guidelines that meet the stated objectives and include executive summaries from both airport and airline perspectives with an annotated bibliography; (2) a series of presentation templates to justify initiatives and implementation of common use programs that would encourage stakeholder buy-in; and (3) (a) a Summary of Key Findings; (b) a Further Recommended Research Memo; and (c) a technical memo titled  “Implementation of Research Findings and Products”.
 
STATUS: RESEARCH COMPLETE. Results published in ACRP WebResource 17: Developing a Holistic Airport Common Use Program.

To create a link to this page, use this URL: http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=4840