Aviation Planning

Comparative Analysis of London City Airport and East Midland Airport

Student’s name 4/4/20 Roll no.

 Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................................. 2
TERMIAL PLANNING CONSIDERATION .......................................................................................................... 2
1. PAX MOVEMENTS ............................................................................................................................ 3
2. CHECK IN FACILITY ............................................................................................................................ 4
3. BAGGAGE SYSTEM ............................................................................................................................ 4
4. SECURITY SYSTEM ............................................................................................................................ 5
RUNWAY PLANNING CONSIDERATION ......................................................................................................... 6
1. CONTROL TOWERS: .......................................................................................................................... 7
2. AVAILIBILITY OF ENGINEERING FACILITIES: ..................................................................................... 7
3. NUMBER OF AIRPORT STANDS: ....................................................................................................... 8
4. RUNWAY CAPACITY:......................................................................................................................... 9
CONCLUSION............................................................................................................................................... 10
REFERENCES. ............................................................................................................................................... 10

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 INTRODUCTION

Airport planning is a process which proposes guidelines and indicators for development of airport

that is linked with state and national goals. The fundamental reason of planning an airport is to

ensure proper utilization of resources in order to take off the aviation industry which is feasible

financially. London City Airport and East Midland Airport both are considered to be the largest

airports in UK. London City Airport lies at the heart of East London. According to its latest report,

the airport welcomed 4.8 Million passengers in 2018. It serves 45 destinations across UK, Europe,

and USA. In 2019, the airport has been awarded the best airport in Europe while EMA lies in the

East Midland of England, close to Castle Downingtown. The airport is a vibrant economic hub

providing thousands of jobs. In 2018, East Midland handles 4.7 Million passengers in a year which

is expected to increase to 10 Million in the next ten years. This report is a comparative analysis

audit of the planning consideration of both the mentioned airport on the basis of runway and

terminals. The terminal analysis includes Pax Movement, Check In, Baggage system, Queuing

System etc. while analysis on Runway includes Aircraft Movement, No of Taxiways, Engineering

facilities and others. The report also highlights the estimative profile by identifying and justifying

the significant planning challenges of both the airports.

TERMIAL PLANNING CONSIDERATION

Airport terminal is a portion of an airport where passengers are able to get in and off the aero plane.

In Terminal, the passengers can buy their ticket on arrival basis, checking of customer’s luggage

and checking of passengers by security staff. The airports can have one or more than 1 terminal.

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The airports can also have 1 terminal with multiple concourses as well. London City Airport and

East Midland Airport both have 1 terminal, so comparative analysis between the two airports will

be easy. For both Airports, London City Airport and East Midland Airport, we have made a

comparative analysis of Terminal audit report so that we can compare their terminal consideration.

It includes Pax movements, Check In, Queuing system, Baggage systems, Security lanes, border

control, way findings and walking distances. Let us discuss the important terminal considerations

that we have developed in our audit report.

1. PAX MOVEMENTS

Passenger movement is the most important consideration for any airport terminal planning. It

tells you how much traffic, passengers will find in their way towards aircraft, in boarding, in

ticketing etc. So, every airport prepares a Master Plan for its airport to analyze how much

things will change in future and do we have the enough capacity in the current system which

can handle this. According to the Master Plan of East Midland Airport of 2015 (Sustainable

Development Plan | East Midlands Airport, 2020), 4.5 Million people uses its terminal and the

Master Plan forecasted that this value would rise up to 10 Million till 2030-2040. On the other

side, 4.8 Million people uses London City Airport in 2018 which is expected to rise to 11

Million people annually including 5000 business aircrafts till 2035 according to London City

Airport Master Plan 2020-2035 (Draft Master Plan Consultation 2020-2035 | London City

Airport, 2020). Thus, according to Master Plan of London City Airport published in 2006, the

no of aircrafts predicted were greater than this new Master Plan as because aircrafts are re-

equipped with more seats than before. Thus, on comparing, we can conclude that both the

airports in passenger movement density is on the same footprint and both have predicted the

same no of passengers in future.

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2. CHECK IN FACILITY

Check in Desks counter helps you in getting boarding card for your flight. In East Midland

Airport, there are 52 Check in desks available for the passengers. Self-service check in machine

is also available for the participants (Sustainable Development Plan | East Midlands Airport,

2020) whereas LCY also provides Check in desks, self-service kiosks at the main terminal

building (Checking-in LCY | About London City Airport Check-In Process, 2020). In 2015,

huge investment done at Check in facility installing 26 state of the art self-check in service,

FID’s, and mobile check in service (Draft Master Plan Consultation 2020-2035 | London City

Airport, 2020). The SITA common use kiosks to make the check in process more interesting

while mobile wireless check in desks are deployed during peak hours in Christmas vacations

and at time when terminal gets too much traffic. A total of 89 FID’s are installed at airport to

support the check in process. Both the airports provide online check in through which they can

print their boarding passes in homes or at offices. For Check in, passengers in both East

Midland Airport and London City Airport have to check in 3 hours before for International

Flights, 2 hours for European flights and 90 mins before domestic flights (London City Airport

Main Terminal - London City Airport Guide, 2020). In comparison to both of these airports,

LCY airport has a better Check in facility than East Midland Airport.

3. BAGGAGE SYSTEM

East Midland Airport provides same luggage facility to all of its Airline. Passengers baggage

are taken to bag drop areas while hand baggage does not need to be drop at bag drop area, they

can be directly proceed to security (Cooper, 2020) whereas in London City Airport, baggage

facility is somewhat different. LCY provides British airways to have its own self-service bag

drop area while other airline uses express bag drop area (Draft Master Plan Consultation 2020-

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 2035 | London City Airport, 2020. On contrary to both baggage systems provided by East

Midland Airport & London City Airport, London City Airport provides a better baggage

system to its passengers and there is no such big case reported at London City Airport which

arises due to the fault in baggage system whereas in East Midland Airport in June 2018, the

airport was at chaos when number of holiday makers have missed their flights and the

remaining passengers were facing more uncertainty to loose their flights as the baggage system

of the airport crashed. The airport authority after facing the pitfall has issued an apology to its

passengers which have been affected by the delayed flights and called relevant engineers to fix

the system and get the check in desks running and baggage system working.

4. SECURITY SYSTEM

Security System is the most important element of Airport Planning. The better and effective

security system helps in providing quality facilities to the passengers. East Midland Airport

(Sustainable Development Plan | East Midlands Airport, 2020) provides security scanning

system, fast track security system and passport control fast track system. All the passengers

are required to be screened using security scanning equipment Assessment of scanned data is

conducted using the latest computer algorithms to check travel history of passengers and no

personal data is saved to protect passenger’s privacy. London City Airport on the other hand

(Draft Master Plan Consultation 2020-2035 | London City Airport, 2020, provides 3D

scanners. The baggage in this airport are X-ray Screened. The laptop and electrical items are

placed separately in a tray after removal of outer casing for checking. Push chairs and

wheelchair are thoroughly searched. The airport also issued a guideline to pack food and

powder food products in hold baggage to avoid extra time in security check, but London City

Airport do not provide fast track lane. On comparing security lane system of both of these

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 airports, London City Airport due to its extensive no of passengers and aircrafts, it must install

fast track lane to provide more benefit to its customers and for reducing passenger’s traffic at

check in places.

In conclusion, the most challenging consideration in future for both the airport will be terminal

size and its other peripheral system, as when the passengers will start to increase yearly on such

high rate, they might need to have more than one concourses for the passengers, better check in

and security lane system, more passenger gates and passenger flow separation so that they can

handle passenger movements in their airports.

RUNWAY PLANNING CONSIDERATION

Runways are the tracks or paths specifically designed for taking off and landing of the airplanes.

It can be man-made usually made up of asphalt or concrete or can be made from both. Runways

are typically designed considering primary factors which are weather, wind speed and direction.

Usually airports have more than one runway. London City Airport has only runway which is about

1500 meters long in length while the East Midland Airport runway is 2,893 meter in length and 60

meter in width. We have already made the comparative analysis of Runway audit report so that we

will compare both airports on the basis of those considerations.

The capacity of runway, length of runway, Movement of aircraft, Number of taxiways, Number of

airports stands, Level of slots at airport, Availability of engineers, Control of towers and Size of

apron are the factors considered during the planning of runways. Location where runway is to be

built, catchment area of runway, Pax movements every year, Movement of aircraft per year, Types

of operation and Type of market are considered as current situational factors.

Let us discuss the important runway considerations that we have developed in our audit report.

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1. CONTROL TOWERS:

Control tower is the most important part of the aviation system as it requires the huge

responsibility and full concentration all the time. Moments of lack-ness in concentration can

cause a great destruction and damage physically and financially. Control towers is a long

building constructed inside the airport that controls the movement and all the activities of

planes and the controlling staff inside the control tower also provide instructions and directions

to the aircraft during taking off and landing. It also deals the actions of aircraft during any

mishap or unnecessary situations whether due to weather or any other reason. East Midland

Airport is headed and operated by the United Kingdom leading group named Manchester

Airport Group that also leads and operates two more United Kingdom airports Manchester and

London. According to Manchester Airport Group Master Plan 2020, control tower has been

created above fifty-two meters of height and the construction has been done with 750 tons of

concrete. On the other hand, in 2020 London City Airport has installed control towers having

high-definition cameras that covers almost 120 miles of distance, having 360-degree view, air

traffic controllers having accessibility to watch it live and also remotely operated digital

system. It can be concluded that both the towers are well designed according the needs and

requirements of latest technologies.

2. AVAILIBILITY OF ENGINEERING FACILITIES:

Airport is the most sensitive part of the country from where people and luggage transport from

one place of the world to another. It requires high security, full attention of guards and concern

people, 100% availability of electricity, 24 hours of internet availability, presence of

digitization in every possible area, confidential data recording and time to time maintenance

and audits of each department. These are not possible without engineers and engineering.

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 Engineering facilities play the key role in almost every department of life. Considering the

sensitivity of this area staff, engineers, labors, workers, managers, and the concern authorities

should be more careful and active. Airport must be provided will the facilities related to

engineers and engineering whether electrical, mechanical, technical, software, digital and

aeronautical. Following are the facilities related to engineering that have been provided

according the Master Plan of East Midland Airport in 2015. Training flights, flying school,

fuel arms, flight catering facilities and aircraft maintenance hangars while fire station, fuel

farm and corporate aviation facility “Jet Centre” are the engineering facilities provided to the

London City Airport in 2019. On the comparison of both the airports, East Midland Airport

has a better and advanced feasibility of the facilities of the engineering according to the given

Master Plan than the London City Airport which has limitations in facilities.

3. NUMBER OF AIRPORT STANDS:

Every working place must have resting or spare area for the people and machines. Not twenty-

four hours is an active hour for humans, not even for machineries and vehicles. Everything

needs to take rest and get energy when it is not working or during maintenance. Aircrafts also

have resting area where they are parked when there is no flight available. Airport stand is a

parking area for the aircraft where the airplanes usually take rest and stay. It is located outside

of the terminal area which is built inside of the airport. There are generally number of airports

stands created in the airport depends on the various factors including size of air crafts, number

of flights and availability of passengers. Every airport has different possibilities, technicalities,

needs, and requirements depends upon the country, financial stability, relation with other

countries and technology availability. In East Midland Airport, there were 25 to 27 resting slots

or airport stands for the aircraft parking. This is according to the audit analysis of 2015.

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 Currently, London City Airport has 18 operations parking stands for the aircrafts. On the basis

of comparative analysis audit of airport stands of both the airports, London City Airport has

lesser number of airports available compared to the East Midland Airport that has a better stand

or parking facility.

4. RUNWAY CAPACITY:

Runways can be both man-made and natural. Many countries are situated near the mountainous

areas or the region where naturally built runways are present. The track of runway is

constructed considering number of factors e.g. direction of air, cost and budget, material used

and many others. The number of aircraft that can be handled during the period of hour or the

specified duration is defined as runway capacity. It tells us how much airport has the capability

of handling passengers and flights. Every airport has different runway capacity. Numbers of

passengers or the number of flights also depends upon the relation and reputation of the

country. Master Plan of East Midland 2015 shows us that the capacity of runway that has been

estimated and recorded is to be between 34 and 36 aircrafts between the duration of one hour.

On the other hand, according to the Master Plan of 2018, the recorded capacity of London

Airport City runway is estimated as 76 maximum movements of aircraft for two hours. It can

be concluded that East Midland Airport is more capable for handling passengers and flights

because of the larger number of flight available in one hour compared to London City Airport.

Also, it can be predicted that East Midland Airport will remain more capable in handling

aircraft than London City Airport.

In conclusion, the most challenging consideration in future for both the airport will be runway size

and its other subsystem, as when the passengers will start to increase yearly on such high rate they

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might need to have more than one runway along its auxiliaries and beneficiaries in London City

Airport and East Midland Airport so that there would be no hurdles in handling flights.

CONCLUSION

We have done the comparative analysis audit of two largest airport of United Kingdom London

City Airport and East Midland Airport by taking several considerations. On the basis of most

significant considerations we have done terminal and runway planning for both the airports and

also predicted challenges and alternations along with solutions. The most significant challenges

occurred during the Aviation Planning of both the airports are engineering facilities and increment

of passengers in coming years. Technology is being advanced with the passage of time, so the need

and requirement of engineers is also going to increase. It is also predicted that the aircraft

movement is going to increase from 38 to 45 and the number of passengers is going to jump from

4.5 million to 6.5 million by 2025, this alternation will become a great challenge but it can be

controlled by increasing the capacity of terminal and runways.

REFERENCES.

1. East Midlands Airport. 2020. Sustainable Development Plan | East Midlands Airport. [online]

Available at: <https://www.eastmidlandsairport.com/about-us/development-plan/> [Accessed

18 April 2020].

2. Londoncityairport.com. 2020. Draft Master Plan Consultation 2020-2035 | London City

Airport. [online] Available at: <https://www.londoncityairport.com/corporate/consultation>

[Accessed 18 April 2020].

3. Londoncityairport.com. 2020. Checking-In LCY | About London City Airport Check-In

Process. [online] Available at: <https://www.londoncityairport.com/checking-in> [Accessed

21 April 2020].

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4. London City Airport. 2020. London City Airport Main Terminal - London City Airport Guide.

[online] Available at: <https://www.london-city-airport-guide.co.uk/main-terminal.html>

[Accessed 21 April 2020].

5. Cooper, B., 2020. Baggage System Fault Causes Chaos At East Midlands Airport. [online]

nottinghampost. Available at: <https://www.nottinghampost.com/news/local-news/baggage-

system-fault-causes-chaos-1635576> [Accessed 21 April 2020].

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