An Example of the Impact of Technology (airports)

Given the need for airports to provide quick, efficient and seamless service on a large scale, automation is the only way to go. There is already a high degree of automation in the in-flight kitchen and our focus in on the gateway services and ground handling for aircraft and luggage. 

An example is what Singapore's Changi International Airport is planning and implementing (2018). 

"...As the plane joins a long line to land, detected, identified and monitored by an array of cameras and technology that bypass the traditional control tower. Once at the gate, a laser-guided aero-bridge positions itself to let passengers disembark, while automated vehicles below are unloading baggage. dodging others that are delivering robot-packed meals or processing cargo. The passengers head to automated immigration turnstiles that face-scan and thumb-print them, then head to collect their baggage, which baggage bots have already delivered to the carousel...... they head out to the queue for a driver-less taxi..." 

Kyunghee Park, 2018 

Some of the testing Changi and other parties are conducting include 

- remote-controlled vehicles that can collect luggage from a plane and move it to the luggage handling area in less than 10 minutes

- autonomous electric vehicles to ferry documents from air cargo

- light detection

- mapping routes to deliver trolleys with up to 200 kilograms of food

- smart tower that enables air traffic controllers to monitor aircraft by digital infra-red cameras that can increase visibility, especially when conditions are hazy or dark

- self-driving vehicles that can transport people and luggage.