Critical Analysis of Two Research Papers on Airport Terminals 2527NSC

This report presents a critical analysis of two research papers focused on airport passenger terminals. The first paper, by Magalhães, Reis, and Macário (2018), introduces a new methodological framework for evaluating flexible options within airport terminals, emphasizing the need for resilience against unforeseen events and exploring the Dublin International Airport, Mombasa International Airport, Pease International Airport and others. The study utilizes grounded theory methodology and case studies to assess the viability of flexible approaches, highlighting the importance of economic evaluation and decision-making in airport extensions. The second paper, by Postorino et al. (2018), investigates the airport passenger arrival process, specifically focusing on estimating earliness arrival functions. This study employs probability density functions to describe passenger arrival patterns at security checkpoints, using data from Bologna Marconi Airport. The analysis emphasizes the need for effective resource management and the impact of passenger waiting times. The report compares the methodologies and findings of both papers, noting the strengths and limitations of each study and suggesting areas for further research, such as the need for more extensive datasets and a deeper exploration of flexible options.

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Aviation Research Method
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Analysis of Two Aviation Related Research Papers Dealing with Airport Passenger
Terminals
The following paper will provide evidences of critical analysis of two research papers
linked with the operation of airport passenger terminal. The paper evaluates the flexible options
that are available at airport passenger terminals. Flexibility is needed in maintaining the smooth
functioning of the critical airport operations as it helps in increasing the resilience of the airport
to manage unforeseen and unexpected events such as early arrival of the passengers. Airport
terminals are considered to be complex nodes where processing is done under limited capacity
conditions. Therefore, congestion problems in the terminals largely impact the level of customer
satisfaction (Sidiropoulos, 2016). The paper will be evaluating two articles associated with
airport passenger terminals. The first article is written by Liliana Magalhães, Vasco Reis and
Rosario Macário; “A new methodological framework for evaluating flexible options at airport
passenger terminals” and the other article is written by Maria Nadia Postorino, Luca
Mantecchini, Caterina Malandri, and Filippo Paganelli; “Airport Passenger Arrival Process:
Estimation of Earliness Arrival Functions”.
Magalhães, Reis and Macário (2018), evaluate the resilience of the flexibility of airport.
Flexibility in operations of the airport mostly intensifies the dependence on the airport
functionalities and the methods. The authors have made use of grounded theory methodology in
this research to investigate the previous researches that has been carried out in this field. Through
this methodology, the flexibility in the operations of the airport terminal was evaluated by
comparing a number of scenarios in context of the Dublin International Airport, Mombasa
International Airport, Pease International Airport and others. The authors have chosen inductive
process in collection of primary data for the study. Primary data has been collected from
interview. Therefore, the main source of data collected for the study is both primary and
secondary. The use of both primary and secondary data establishes the viability of the findings.
Magalhães, Reis and Macário (2018), have conducted semi structured interviews and the
respondents of the interview were chosen from nine different airports. One of the striking
inclusion of the study is the use of a new methodological framework for implementation of
flexibility in airport terminal. The framework acknowledges the fact that flexibility might be
requires in terms of airport extension, which further indicates that although additional capacity is

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needed the airport terminals cannot be expanded further (Magalhães, Reis & Macário, 2015).
The framework evaluates the operation of the airport along with the economic evaluation of the
option associated with the extension. Along with that the article provides evidence of extensive
research and data collection by the method case study. The case study involves evaluation of
flexibility options of Lisbon airport which is one of the busiest airports across the globe.
The results obtained from extensive data collection and analysis in the study presented by
Magalhães, Reis and Macário (2018), reveals that there are certain shortcomings in all the airport
regarding the flexibility options that increases the uncertainty. Therefore, alternative approaches
that include flexible development is needed to be sought to assist the airport in times of needs.
The assistance is required when the airport cannot increase their footprint, build new
infrastructure or decrease the in passenger demands (Mota, 2015). The study aimed in making a
contribution in overcoming the key limitation by advising a new framework that sufficiently
evaluates the critical options available for airport extension. The study shows evidences of
economic evaluation of each of the perspectives in pursuit of a highly dependent trade off. The
proposed framework is quite viable as it has been presented in a comprehensive manner in the
study. The framework proposed in the study is organized in two decision making steps and three
critical steps. Phase 1 defined the moment of decision, phase two defined the decision input, and
phase three evaluates the operational evaluation, phase 4 is considered as a moment of decision-
making and phase 5 resembles to the economic evaluation. The case study was implemented in a
real world scenario of Terminal 2 pf Lisbon Airport. The findings indicate that presence of
certain flexible options can enhance the presentation of the decision variable considered in the
study, which is the waiting time. The application of the effective options will be capable of
reducing the waiting time of the customers and in turn can enhance the customers’ satisfaction.
The framework proposed in the study is found to be an organized approach for evaluating the
flexibility of the operations related to passengers in the airport terminal.
Postorino et al. (2018), in their study has demonstrated the need of effective resource
management of the airport in increasing and managing the major security operations. The right
allocation of the resources enhances the operations of the airport. For example, an effective
check in and security control helps in enhancing the customers’ satisfaction. The study aimed in
evaluation and estimation of the probability density functions in describing the arrival patterns of

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the customers in the security check point which is mainly considered as a bottleneck of the
terminal system (Suárez-Alemán & Jiménez, 2016).
Postorino et al. (2018), have chosen the methodological framework associated with the
identification of probability function that describes the arrival of the passengers at a medium
sized airport. The outcome of the proposed study include probability density functions describing
the passengers’ flow at the security check points. The methodology chosen for the study was
applied at the Bologna Marconi Airport. The study indicates that the detection-system at the
“bologna security checkpoints” collect a significantly huge number of data related to the
customers’ arrival and customers waiting in a queue. The chosen methodology outlines the
proposed approach of probability density function (Bezerra & Gomes, 2015). In this study, the
arrival profiles are derived in the security control desks of the departing passengers. The study
outlines the fact that the choice of security control desks in collection of the data mainly
represents the unavoidable barrier associated with all the departing passengers. The chosen
methodology for the study involves the use of “Bar Coded Boarding Pass Technologies” that
allows automatic data detection. The use of BCBP system enabled the researcher to collect data
by scanner reading the barcode of paper and the “mobile boarding cards” (Postorino &
Mantecchini, 2018). The study did not consider inclusion of personal data from storage and
processing for the research sue to privacy issues. The methodology used , that is BCBP scanned
can safely be linked with the actual flight data available to contribute to the process of computing
the differences between schedule time of departure with the time a passengers scans the boarding
pass at the point of data processing. In this framework, the data is aggregated at the time interval
of 15 minutes.
The study by Postorino et al. (2018), provides evidences of the data used in estimation of
the arrival distribution function. The findings from the study is reliable as real data is gathered at
“Bologna airport” in early morning and periods at late afternoon. The data reveals that majority
of the passengers reach at the security checkpoint more than 120 min prior their planned flight.
Therefore, reduction in this huge waiting time can help in addressing the concerns linked with
decrease in customers’ satisfaction.
On analysis of the content of the two research papers, it is found out that the research
conducted by Magalhães, Reis and Macário (2018), is more explanatory and descriptive in

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comparison to the study conducted by Postorino et al. (2018), which is more mathematical. The
results obtained from both the studies are interrelated as one study outlines the framework
evaluating the flexible options of passenger terminals while the other study aims in analysis of
airport passenger arrival process (Bosson, Xue & Zelinski, 2015). The former study aims in
understanding the process in which the customers’ satisfaction can be enhanced while the other
study aims analysing the factors that can cause passengers’ dissatisfaction.
The analysis of two articles indicate that both the articles had clear aims and objectives.
The articles are readily available in different database including google scholar. The purpose of
the study undertaken by Magalhães, Reis and Macário (2018), was to analyse the different
flexible options that should be introduced in the airport in context of airport capacity extension.
The other study is based on the arrival process of passenger. Approximation of the earliness of
the arrival functions and the trends of customer arrival by analysis of the data of Bar Coded
Boarding Pass which help understanding the trends of early arrival of the passengers (Janer
Rubio, 2017). Majority of the passengers arrives early at the airport which leads to increase in
the queue. Standing in queue often leads to customers’ dissatisfaction and therefore, flexibility
options in the airport can be enhanced (Casas, Casanovas & Ferran, 2014). The study outlines the
fact that flexibility can be functional at different levels of airport including ‘components,
building design, space design and master plan’. In an environment of flexible development
situation, the ability of the airport can be coordinated with the demand.
However, there are certain limitations associated with both the study that are needed to be
discussed. The study by Magalhães, Reis and Macário (2018), provides an idea of the flexible
options however, the viability of each of the flexible options in airport could have been studied
further. This is one of the major limitations of study. The key limitation associated with the other
study is that it lacks the use of a larger data set (Narciso & Piera, 2015). Larger data set will help
in testing of a larger number of hypothesis, which would have contributed to better mathematical
modelling of the arrival process of the passengers in the airport. Therefore, it can be commented
that both the studies have scope of improvements.
References

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Bezerra, G. C., & Gomes, C. F. (2015). The effects of service quality dimensions and passenger
characteristics on passenger's overall satisfaction with an airport. Journal of Air
Transport Management, 44, 77-81.
Bosson, C., Xue, M., & Zelinski, S. (2015). Optimizing integrated arrival, departure and surface
operations under uncertainty.
i Casas, P. F., Casanovas, J., & Ferran, X. (2014). Passenger flow simulation in a hub airport: an
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Janer Rubio, M. L. (2017). Simulation Modeling Approach for Evaluating a Solution Designed
to Alleviate the Congestion of Passenger Flow at the Composure Area of Security
Checkpoints.
Magalhães, L., Reis, V., & Macário, R. (2015). Can flexibility make the difference to an airport's
productivity? An assessment using cluster analysis. Journal of Air Transport
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Magalhães, L., Reis, V., & Macário, R. (2018). A new methodological framework for evaluating
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Mota, M. M. (2015). Check-in allocation improvements through the use of a simulation–
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335.
Narciso, M. E., & Piera, M. A. (2015). Robust gate assignment procedures from an airport
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Postorino, M. N., & Mantecchini, L. (2018). An Agent Framework to Support Air Passengers in
Departure Terminals. In WOA (pp. 75-80).
Postorino, M. N., Mantecchini, L., Malandri, C., & Paganelli, F. (2019). Airport passenger
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Procedia, 37, 338-345.

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Sidiropoulos, S. (2016). A framework for the optimisation of terminal airspace design in Multi-
Airport Systems.
Suárez-Alemán, A., & Jiménez, J. L. (2016). Quality assessment of airport performance from the
passengers' perspective. Research in transportation business & management, 20, 13-19.