Understanding the role of automation in enhancing airport passenger operations

Abstract

With the development of technologies, concepts like automation are becoming increasingly popular. The gaining traction has attracted significant interest among industries. From the first industrial revolution to the digital age and the modern world, automation technologies are shaping how we work and interact. Automation is a widely used technology in multiple domains and has also been widely adapted in the aviation industry. Its adaptation has enabled many benefits, such as operational efficiency, sustainability, and customer satisfaction in different domains. Thus, automation adaptation in the aviation industry has become a major strategy that maintains efficiency and accuracy in line with key operational activities. However, automation adaptation in commercial aviation is still in an exploratory phase, where the entire ecosystem tries to understand the potentials, contexts, and functions. As a step forward, this paper aims to explore the role of automation in airport operations, and its influence on traditional passenger processing methods. How can it enhance the overall passenger experience, including differently abled passengers, and what are the possible challenges? Service-Dominant Logic (S-D logic) theory was employed to validate value co-creation in service offerings and also to address the research question, purpose, and findings.

The research methodology involved a qualitative research approach, and thematic analysis was used to analyze the data. The primary data was collected through semi-structured interviews, and manual thematic analysis identified ten first-order themes and three second-order themes in the process. The findings of this study reveal factors influencing customer insights and areas for growth in commercial aviation. The findings also reveal opportunities for improvement, possible challenges, and customer perception.

Since this study was conducted based on passenger interview data and available literature, the limitations include insights from the industry perspective. The initial approach to get meaningful insights from Finnair or Vantaa Airport wasn’t successful. Therefore, the study was conducted primarily based on literature, passenger interviews, case studies, business blogs, and statistics.