Technology selection in airport passenger and baggage systems Michael Pitt Fong Kok Wai and Phua Chai Teck Introduction There are many different configurations for airport passenger buildings. Nearly all of them can be categorised on the basis of their geometrical characteristics and functionality. In addition each can be divided into centralized and decentralized sub-categories, the later having passenger processing facilities in separate buildings. Although reducing the walking distances for arriving and departing passengers, decentralized configurations result in both increased walking distances for transfer passengers (de Neufville and Rusconi-Cleria, 1978) and costly duplication of labour and equipment usage. The gate arrival, or linear design is the oldest and simplest configuration (e.g. Dallas- Fort Worth International). This provides the most direct access (short walking distances) to and from aircraft for all arriving and departing passengers. As passenger numbers increased there was a need for greater aircraft frontage which helped bring about the second- generation pier configuration (e.g. Frankfurt/ Main Terminal 1). Walking distances were increased with the introduction of piers. The third generation is the satellite concept which gave increased maneuverability of aircraft. This is particularly so if satellite concourses were connected to the land-side building with below-grade connectors (e.g. Paris Charles de Gaulle Terminal 1). The most recent generation is the midfield design. Similar to the satellite concept, individual passenger buildings are separate from the land-side building but located between parallel runway systems in the middle of the airfield. This allows for greater aircraft maneuverability with the provision of dual taxiways and increased aircraft frontage along the concourse perimeter. Arriving and departing passengers often access the concourses through some sort of people moving device whereas transfer passengers generally remain ‘‘midfield’’ (e.g. New Denver International Airport) (BNP, 1990). Each of these configurations can be combined to form ‘‘hybrid’’ designs. Such designs have the potential advantage of using the most desirable features from each design to create a configuration that will provide a higher level of service to different passenger types and may be more flexible to changes in future demand patterns. A hybrid design may also be tailored to the specific needs of an The authors Michael Pitt is a Lecturer based at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, UK. Fong Kok Wai and Phua Chai Teck are both based at Singapore Civil Aviation Authority, Singapore. Keywords Airports, Management, Design, Passenger transport, Premises management, Air transport Abstract Design errors in an airport passenger building can be extremely costly. Failure to plan may result in configurations and systems that are inappropriate for the future. The performance of an optimal building configuration depends to a large extent on the kind of technology provided for the transportation of passengers and baggage. Poorly selected technology can undermine the operational efficiency of a good configuration and vice versa. With massive growth in air travel and the scale of modern passenger buildings, more reliance will be placed on transport technology to achieve acceptable walk distances and travel times. Therefore it is critical to consider in the overall design strategy how a particular building configuration and its associated technology will perform under conditions of change. Good design practice dictates that performance be assessed using multiple criteria over a broad range of possible conditions. The difficulty in predicting future conditions makes the selection of a robust system critical to the long-term success of an airport. This paper examines the various systems available and concludes that different system combinations are appropriate for airports with different levels of passenger throughput. Electronic access The research register for this journal is available at http://www.emeraldinsight.com/researchregisters The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at http://www.emeraldinsight.com/0263-2772.htm 314 Facilities Volume 20 . Number 10 . 2002 . pp. 314±326 # MCB UP Limited . ISSN 0263-2772 DOI 10.1108/02632770210442992