DEGREE PROJECT IN COMPUTER ENGINEERING, FIRST CYCLE, 15 CREDITS STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN 2021
Passenger Information at Stockholm-Arlanda Airport
Examiner Fredrik Kilander
OSKAR KUSHWAHA
KTH ROYAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY SCHOOL OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING AND COMPUTER SCIENCE
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Table of Contents Figures of contents ...... 5 Abstract ...... 7 Sammanfattning...... 9 Acknowledgements ...... 11 1. Introduction ...... 13 1.1 Problem Statement ...... 13 1.2 Purpose ...... 14 1.3 Goal ...... 14 1.4 Research Method ...... 14 1.5 Target Audience ...... 14 1.6 Scope and Delimitations ...... 14 1.7 Benefits, Ethics and Sustainability ...... 15 1.8 Thesis Outline...... 16 2. Background ...... 17 2.1 International Air-Transit Hubs ...... 17 2.2 Airport Infrastructure and its Components ...... 19 2.3 Essential Services at an International Airport...... 21 2.4 Passenger Movements at Airports ...... 23 2.5 Modernization and Technology in Airports ...... 24 2.6 Physiological and Psychological Effects on Travel ...... 26 2.7 Educational factors, Language barriers, and Intercultural Competence at airports .... 27 2.8 Stockholm-Arlanda Airport- ARN ...... 30 3. Methodoloy ...... 35 3.1 Research Strategy ...... 35 3.2 Research Phases ...... 35 3.3 Research Methods ...... 36 3.3.1 Literature Review ...... 36 3.3.2 Interview Review ...... 37
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3.3.3 Survey Review ...... 37 3.4 Research criteria ...... 38 3.5 Ethical Requirements ...... 38 4. Result ...... 39 4.1 Methodology Execution ...... 39 4.2 Survey Results ...... 40 5. Analysis and Discussions ...... 49 5.1 Survey Presentations ...... 49 5.2 Survey findings ...... 50 6. Conclusion and Future Work ...... 55 7. References ...... 57
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Figures of contents Figure 1 - Figure credit: Author; Passenger Hall, Terminal 4, Stockholm Arlanda Airport.
Figure 2 - Figure credit: Swedavia; Stockholm-Arlanda Airport Map.
Figure 3 – Figure credit: Author; Departure hall Terminal - 5, Arlanda Airport.
Figure 4 - Figure source credit: Reference [26].
Figure 5 - Figure credit: Finnish Border Control; ePassport-gates at Vantaa International Airport.
Figure 6 - Figure credit: Author; Self check-in kiosks in Terminal 5 at Stockholm Arlanda Airport.
Figure 7 - Figure credit: Author; Arrival hall F-pier Terminal 5, Stockholm-Arlanda Airport.
Figure 8 - Figure credit: Author; Arrival Hall Terminal 3, New Delhi International Airport.
Figure 9 - Figure credit: Author; Airport train, O’ Hare Chicago International Airport.
Figure 10 - Figure credit: Author; Departure airport screen, F pier Terminal-5, Stockholm- Arlanda Airport.
Figure 11 - Figure credit: Author; Airlines serving Stockholm-Arlanda Airport.
Figure 12 - Figure credit: Author; Airport map of terminal 5.
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Abstract Technology and the latest modern infrastructure have uplifted airports worldwide, creating them to be mini-town of their own consisting of all necessary resources from airport ground handling firms, airlines, different government entities, retails, and commercial spaces. The performance of an airport depends on several factors in which passengers are the most crucial resource.
There exists no comprehensive, detailed information on passengers' travel at Stockholm- Arlanda Airport. The paper describes the agenda of passenger movements. It reflects on the issues and depreciation of passenger knowledge when transiting through Nordic busiest airport, Stockholm Arlanda Airport.
The paper commences with an introduction to a brief, relevant literature study on airport infrastructure technology. Methodology briefs on methods conducted for this study, and consequently is the result presented and discussed from the surveys. Research result compromise of primary interviews from actual passenger transiting through Stockholm- Arlanda Airport.
According to the research, the most navigational issues could not be concretely derived due to an on-going pandemic that had several impacts to execute this research detailed. Mainly the drastic impact on the aviation industry during this period affected the result of this paper. This paper needs further examination during no uncertainty in the aviation industry to further develop a tangible result.
Keywords: Stockholm-Arlanda airport, passenger management, airport infrastructure technology, airport navigation
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Sammanfattning Teknik och den senaste moderna infrastrukturen har höjt flygplatserna över hela världen och skapat dem för att vara en egen ministad som består av alla nödvändiga resurser från flygplatshanteringsföretag, flygbolag, olika myndigheter, detaljhandeln och kommersiella utrymmen. Prestanda för en flygplats beror på flera faktorer där passagerare är den viktigaste resursen.
Det finns ingen omfattande, detaljerad information om passagerares resor till Stockholm- Arlanda flygplats. Uppsatsen beskriver agendan för passagerarrörelser. Den reflekterar över frågor och försämring av kunskap om passagerare vid transitering genom Nordens mest trafikerade flygplats, Stockholm Arlanda Airport.
Uppsatsen inleds med en introduktion till en kort, relevant litteraturstudie om flygplatsinfrastrukturteknik. Metoderna sammanfattar metoderna för denna studie, och följaktligen presenteras och diskuteras resultatet från undersökningarna. Forskningsresultat kompromiss av primära intervjuer från faktiska passagerare genom Stockholm-Arlanda flygplats.
Enligt forskningen kunde de mest navigationsfrågorna inte härledas konkret på grund av en pågående pandemi som hade flera effekter för att utföra denna detaljerade forskning. Framför allt påverkade resultatet av denna uppsats drastiskt för flygindustrin under denna period. Denna uppsats behöver granskas ytterligare under ingen osäkerhet inom flygindustrin för att ytterligare utveckla ett konkret resultat.
Nyckelord: Stockholm-Arlanda flygplats, passagerarhantering, flygplatsinfrastrukturteknik, flygplatsnavigering
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Acknowledgements
I would like to thank my adviser Fredrik Kilander at KTH Royal Institute of Technology. His consistent support and feedback provided throughout the thesis were of excellent appraisal.
I also want to thank the particular passengers transiting through Arlanda and my airport colleagues for contributing their participation in the interviews, which was the paper's backbone.
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1. Introduction
Airports around the world are the gateway to a country. Each year millions of passengers travel through its doors. International hubs play a crucial role in the forefront and economic influence, although this gigantic real-time sensitive infrastructure comes with many possible challenges, we as travellers cannot imagine. Airports are the outside face of any nation to their own foreigners and citizens. International hubs play a crucial role in developing economic, government bilateral relationships and therefore require a standard on a global level in coordination with air concessionaire such as IATA.
The growth in demand among air travellers since the beginning of the year 2000 has put immense pressure on the existing airport infrastructure. Regardless of the challenges faced by airport authorities worldwide, they are an important segment of entries into countries. Each operator faces its own respective challenges when it comes to operations of this marvellous infrastructure. When talking about an airport, usually we think of aircraft, safety, and security. But beyond these perspectives, there are numerous elements airports require to put inline the main concerns of airports. Main concerns such as through-put efficiency among airlines and ground handlers, time management, passenger management are often oblivious. Architectures, engineers, and government officials collaborate to design a smooth and prosperous airport infrastructure for all kinds of operators at the airport.
Airport infrastructure has a strategic layout to handle the large number of flows passing through its pipelines. Airport distinguishes direct and indirect streams of passengers' flow from different airport parts to the respective gate, concourse, or terminal.
Several information technology-based devices play a significant role in manipulating various inputs from different ground handling operators. Modernization of airports worldwide with more automation being introduced has left many air travellers traveling for the first time to acquire this knowledge abaft. Navigation at airports is getting more complex and modern. Usually, passengers with a higher age difference than today's youth introducing these modernizations leave such passengers stranded in navigating these mega-complex buildings. Similarly, airports such as Stockholm Arlanda airport operated by the state-owned airport authority Swedavia reside in similar characteristics when down airport technology. Receptive challenges arrive with new technology. However, Arlanda airport has an organization working on the passenger's efficiency and convenience.
1.1 Problem Statement The problem is finding and analyzing the requirements on what is hindering passengers when navigating at Stockholm-Arlanda Airport (ARN).
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1.2 Purpose The purpose is to explore if there exist any concealed complications passengers face in the movement at Stockholm-Arlanda Airport.
1.3 Goal The primary goal that perceives; is to be able to help the passenger throughput at Stockholm Arlanda Airport, such as improve passenger flow through the concourses, halls, and gates of the airport.
1.4 Research Method A research study followed several approaches of relevant literature segments and interviews. Selected literature was carefully explored from similar studies of major international air-hubs. In order to verify the full findings, discussions and interviews were taken on-site in real-time on different occasions of the day. The participants were passenger customers to numerous airlines, airport employees, business owners at Arlanda Airport, and employees of airline operators to ARN and ground handlers at ARN.
1.5 Target Audience Anyone operating a retail shop, ground handling company, operating airlines to ARN, and other essential service providers will find this paper to a handful of knowledge when deriving the passenger management at Arlanda airport. This work may be coherent to existing major consulting firms on a bigger scale providing access to solutions; however, it provides a new narrow funnel of handpicked information from Arlanda airport during the uncertain flying times in this pandemic.
1.6 Scope and Delimitations Since, this paper was written during a degree project provided at KTH Royal Institute of Technology; the heftiest limitation floating was time. The second highlighted considerable limitation persisting was this particular year of 2021, a pandemic of the SARS Covid-19 outbreak. Even though most areas were researched of ARN, there was tremendous room for analysis of ARN in all segments such as passenger diversity and ARN's infrastructure, Figure [1]. 70% of the operating terminals were closed, and significant airlines such as Singapore Airlines[1], had withdrawn their operations to ARN due to government restrictions and a fall in air-traveling demand.
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Figure 1 Passenger hall, Terminal 4, Stockholm-Arlanda Airport
1.7 Benefits, Ethics and Sustainability The study prompts the underlying information among passenger flow at Stockholm Arlanda Airport, such as improving passenger flow through the airports' concourses, halls, and gates. Significantly business operators at ARN and Swedavia should benefit from this study.
This study includes a series of interviews with passengers arriving and departing from all around the world. All passengers, regardless of nationality, race, or professional background, were all treated with equalism. All passengers prior to the interview were fully informed that the information would be collected and implemented in the writing of this paper. The purpose of the data given by the passenger was informed beforehand and was complete voluntary participation from the passenger end.
The outcome of this work should benefit passengers, ground operating handlers, and businesses established at the airport in numerous aspects such as saving time economically, sociability, and environmentally. Long-term, more information technology airport hardware may be decommissioned to cope with the latest generation of technology and improved seamless technology.
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1.8 Thesis Outline The following demonstrates the chapters of the thesis and their outcomes:
Chapter 2: Background: This chapter provides comprehensive knowledge of other major international hubs and aims to familiarize the reader with the general concept of passenger flow at airports.
Chapter 3: Methodology: This chapter elaborates the research strategy, research phases, and research method conducted in the study.
Chapter 4: Results: This chapter documents the collected findings through the study and examination of various literature papers, research, surveys and interviews.
Chapter 5: Analysis and Discussions: This chapter analyses and discusses the findings from the survey, literature, and interviews.
Chapter 6: Conclusions and Future Work: This chapter benchmarks conclusions based on the above chapters and commissions potential of future work.
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2. Background
This chapter is divided into several subsections to make each reader familiar and generally aware of Stockholm Arlanda airport and give insight into several of its components. Section 2.1 Provides insight into major international air-transit hubs. Section 2.2 Presents airport infrastructure and its essential components. Section 2.3 Summoned the brief essential services required to run an airport. Section 2.4 This section studies the general movement at airports. Section 2.5 Describes the modernizations and technology implemented at airports. Section 2.6 Describes the air travel impacts on the human body and mind. Section 2.7 Showcase educational, language, and intercultural competence at airports. Section 2.8 Detail presentation of Stockholm-Arlanda airport.
2.1 International Air-Transit Hubs The dream to fly is no longer a dream for many people as flying is being more accessible to people worldwide, with new airports expanding and existing airports expanding their infrastructure. As per the previous CEO of Boeing, Mr.Dennis Muilenburg, in an interview with CNBC host Jim Cramer, [2] Mr.Dennis mentioned that still, only 20% of the world population has experienced a flight, and The Boeing Company [3] is ready to leverage this growth.
As the world population is increasing, the demand for flying both domestically and internationally is constantly growing. Global air traffic has become immensely networked and connected. It obviously means a constant requirement for airport infrastructure expansion to meet demand. The travel course has periodically changed over time as the major aircraft manufacturers such as Airbus, Boeing, and Bombardier have evolved in bringing cutting-edge technology to revolutionize their aircraft models and the complete flying experience. Passenger no longer on long-haul, or ultra-long-haul flight feels equally exhausted and overwhelmed when disembarking at their point of destination. It brings more frequent traveling with shorter stay-away and more repeatedly accessing various airports across the globe.
Infrastructure needs to be relatively updated and expanding to meet the demand of such an extravagance trend. It is essential to fetch some numbers on how the passenger numbers were looking pre-covid-19 levels. Following table [1] describes, source data, [4].
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Table 1 Top 20 busiest airports in the world, 2019
An international hub is a gateway to a country and fundamental economic support for several thousand workers and usually an economic drive for megacities. London Heathrow airport, for example, will be undergoing enormous expansions such as the building of a completely new concourse with a designated new runway parallel to the existing runway [5]. It is apparent that additional capacity can generate additional traffic for road transport. Increasing airport capacity is likely to influence people to factor low-cost flights into their strategic changes, culminating in more foreign holidays, second homes abroad, and geographically dispersed networks of relatives and friends [6].
London-Heathrow airport has successfully managed to handle its constant growth in passenger number until 2019. The airport, while in operation, has parallel built new terminals such as Terminal 2, also known as Queen's Terminal, and new pier attached, which is usually a hub for Star Alliance. Construction of the airport attracted a value price
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(2014) of £2.4 Billion, and the accomplishment of the new pier terminal at Heathrow has recently met its target deadline. The new terminal has proven to improve the flow of passengers from various parts of the terminal from a shift from indigenous integrated technology to state-of-the-art world-class technology [7].
2.2 Airport Infrastructure and its Components Mega infrastructure is usually managed through governance institutions or organizations such as the Stockholm-Arlanda airport is operated by the state-owned company Swedavia AB. However, there are scenarios where mega international airport hubs are operated and owned by private sectors, such as the Delhi International airport, which is overviewed by the Airports Authority of India [8], whereas operated by GMR Groups [9]. Ownership of an airport and its infrastructure comes with huge complications and is nowhere close to the ownership of any other mega organization. On the above, the ordinary elements of airports come with a diverse and unpredictable routine. Natural calamities can affect airport operations.
Different zones build up an airport and its complex infrastructure such as Airside and Landside premises of the airport. These zones are usually not directly noticeable to passengers but are essential background knowledge all airport staff acknowledges. [12][13].
Definitions of Airside: The airside of an airport denotes the aircraft operations area and surrounding terrain, along with secured zones of (terminal-)buildings or segments of same, in which aircraft and ground assistance vehicles operate. Under aviation regulations, access to the airside is confined, controlled and demands passing through security checkpoints. All parts of the airport concerning the aircraft and sections of the terminals strictly limited to staff are included in the airside area, as are parts of these extended to traveling, airside shopping, dining, or waiting passengers. Before giving access to the airside premises, passengers and all staff must pass through a security screening [14], [15].
Definition of Landside: The landside of an airport is characterized as the terminal area in the rest of this article, and it encompasses all passenger operations from arriving at the airport to boarding the aircraft. Baggage mechanisms are presently only included as long as the baggage is in the owner's ownership, i.e., until it has been dropped off at check-in counters or self-service checkouts, to reduce redundancy. The same can be said about intermodal airport interconnection, which are mostly used as an information source for arrival time distribution [14], [15].
Although all systems and process sequences can vary from one airport to another, all definitions in this document are cantered on a generic airport prototype and will need to be customized to a particular airport. Further to that, passengers may not be applicable to all systems based on different attributes such as the destination of the flight. Nevertheless, check-in, safety, and boarding are mandatory for all passengers [14].
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International airport infrastructure consists of usually everything anyone can imagine; it is usually a mini-town on its own. Several components such as runways, taxiways, parking lots, substantial terminal concourses, air-traffic control room infrastructure play a vital role in making airport infrastructure distinguishable from usual towns. Inside the infrastructure, there are subsequent infrastructure compromising check-in counters, retails, restaurants, hotels, medical care, lounges, arrival and departure halls, and aerobridges. To get an early overview from a reader's perspective following are some of the essential points for a smooth operation of an airport [10];
• Take off/Landing-Runway(s)
• Taxiways
• Terminal and aprons for passenger-, cargo- and General Aviation transport
• Tower for Air Traffic Control
• Navigation means and installations
• Illumination of all airport areas and buildings
• Jetfuel Reservoirs
• Aircraft maintenance hangars
• Airport maintenance and winter service
• Short-term-, Long-term-parking
• Catering-Services
• Motorway-, Railway-, Metro-connection
• Energy systems (electricity, air, heating, etc.)
• Water and waster system
• Safety fences and doors, surveillance cameras
• Medical Care system
• Fire brigade
• Services like hotels, restaurants, meeting rooms, etc.
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2.3 Essential Services at an International Airport Maintenance of airports demands an immense task force from different backgrounds and professions. Examples of such task force, mobile security personal over watching the airport premises from introducers and airport terminal security in the screening of the luggage, goods, and passengers. Ground handling firms require office spaces for their commercial and administrative operations and airside located parking spaces for their ground handling equipment. Similarly, all major organizations located in the airport premises have diverse bilateral requirements among each other. It is a very complex network on how everyone in the airport is interconnected. For example, a non-Schengen flight from the Schengen territory will not be able to depart without border control guards.
This terminal building is meant to protect passengers toward bad weather when progressing from land to air and vice versa. Therefore, the terminal area should always integrate all the necessary facilities including certain parking, access to underground, train and bus stations, taxi positions and certain hotel and conference facilities, which correspond to around all modern airports. All passport controls and border control services must always be implemented into all flights and all safety protocols to access the protected and cautious terminal part so called the airside part of the airport.
Passengers visiting new airports, especially international gateway airports such as Stockholm Arlanda Airport, Los Angeles can face many barriers and difficulties in navigating through the complex network in an airport. If looking into inside of these airports figure [2]. When proceeding from arriving at the security check to their respective gates, passengers might come across many services offered inside the airport's terminal area[19], [20].
Figure 2 Stockholm-Arlanda Airport terminal map
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Figure 3 Departure hall Terminal 5, Stockholm-Arlanda Airport
Following are some for the typical services one may come across before arriving at its respective destination [18], [Figure 3].
- Financial Services: Currency exchanges, Banks, ATM's - Communication Services: Wi-Fi zones, Teleservices boots, - Medical Services: Hospital, Pharmacies, Emergency equipment - Lounges: Waiting areas, Premium lounges for premium services, smoking area, newspaper, and magazines area, - Personal necessities: Toilets and showers, Prayer room - Convenience Services: Fast track services, Smart Passport controls, Remote check-in, Baggage services, Car rental boots, Airport chauffeur, and coach services, Spa, Travel Services, Meet & Assist Services - Assistance Services: Persons with Reduced Mobility, Porters, Trolleys & Buggies, Transfer Bus Services - Family Services: Baby Strollers and Baby Changing Rooms - Business services: Offices, airport staff, ground handling companies, ticket offices - Retail Services: Restaurants, Duty-free shops, High-end fashion stores
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2.4 Passenger Movements at Airports Airports across the globe demonstrate large number of people passing through its doors annually, and these people have a variety of backgrounds wherein they come from different backgrounds, nationalities, and professions. People in such criteria would be known as passengers who use the airport infrastructure to begin or end their journey. Passengers are the real backbone of any airport organisation.
In general, the dimensions of international airport terminals can be massive. The physical environment representing infrastructure can be very complex. This infrastructure is composed of a very diverse background. Passenger airport experiences are directly impacted by the various services, areas, and airport staff [14]. Organizations at airports need to be strictly organized to display a seamless passenger experience. Security checks should be smooth for a passenger who may never have experienced air travel, or the geographical area can be entirely new for a passenger exposure.
Similarly, check-in and checkout for passengers from airside to landside or vice-versa must be smooth. Devastating passenger experience can cause delays and be diffusing and interrupted for both airport authorities and airlines. This scenario may cause havoc and likely post delays in the operation of flights.
Easy navigation through airport infrastructure is one of the biggest challenges when proposing an airport layout. Authorities and famous architectural design firms have not always been quick to take the opportunity to resolve underlying issues once they evolve [23],[25]. It is not lenient to plan an airport design on a rational basis, although airports are the leading global cross-border between cultural and technological forces. Passengers at airports have numerous distinguished backgrounds when it arrives at interpretation skills; therefore, airport authorities globally try to innovate an airport on global competence.
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Figure 4 Monthly passenger traffic by region (2010-2016)
Passenger flow in an airport during nearly all hours is ordinarily crowded, especially with the summer season in the Northern Hemisphere passenger movement’s throughput at almost all international airports increases comparatively [26], Figure [4].
2.5 Modernization and Technology in Airports The International Air Transport Association, known as IATA, has called for a summoned conclusion that airports globally and the industry modernize [27]. Air travel is predicted to double within the next two decades [28]. It is essential airports heavily invest in the modernization of their infrastructure. The area space might be limited in the various landscape, as an example of Maldives international airport, which is surrounded by water and is strictly limited to the land allocation of airport expansions [29]. The Maldives aviation authorities have brilliantly discovered an innovative method to accommodate more passengers in the same area [30]. That is by revolutionizing the infrastructure.
To accommodate more passengers and showcase a world-class airport, it is not always sufficient to just expand an airport without sophisticated interrogation in the existing technology implemented beneath the airport infrastructure, such as terminals and
24 concourses. Vantaa International airport-HEL [31] and Dubai International airport-DXB [32] have innovated their border control with a sophisticated technology known as ePassport- Gates [33]. These smart gates allow passengers to cross international borders without interacting with a border control officer. The process follows: Passenger first passes an automated gate that opens on one end stand on a designated area marked on the flooring that allows the camera to scan the face, passport, and hand. [Figure 5] is a picture of the promotion of ePassport-gates at Vantaa International airport [31].
Figure 5 ePassport-gates at Vantaa International airport
Modern technology makes an airport a world-class airport infrastructure and encourages a seamless transit experience at airports. Another example of how this technology has facilitated in passenger movements at the airport is self-check-in counters. This technology allows a passenger to check in at their respective airline kiosk in the departure hall. The language barrier is usually not an issue as these intelligent self-check-in machines allow passengers to select from various languages, Figure [6].
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Figure 6 Self check-in kiosks in Terminal 5 at Stockholm Arlanda Airport
Numerous ways airports are improving their IoT technology as resources are limited often. Methods of directly linking resources to billing have incited better throughput at airports. For example, Auckland airport [34], for their national carrier Air New Zealand [35], debits passengers a differentiated amount when self-check-in.
2.6 Physiological and Psychological Effects on Travel Travel is a process and can become a lengthy process for some passengers. Passengers may start in the southern hemisphere and terminate their journey in the northern hemisphere or likely vice-versa. A shift in time, climate, atmosphere, and even language indirectly impact passenger's body and minds.
Physiological: Travel can be certainly exhausting for several passengers, especially on the passenger with some sort of disease. A passenger who has poor cardiac reserve requires a careful assessment prior to and after a flight [36]. Quick transfers after disembarking on an aero-bridge located far from another aero-bridge can be a tough challenge. Stress and adrenaline release in the body of the passenger can make the body vulnerable and more prom to risks for incidents. The key reason for adrenaline release in the body during stressful scenarios in an airport is to tackle the surrounding environment among rush
26 corridors, concourses, and halls. The expulsion of adrenaline prepares the body for the fight against time and adoption to conquer the fear attitude [37].
Body behavioural differences not only because of a shortage of time but also due to a person's specific reason. Not all trips are leisure and joyful; there can be devastating reasons for many passengers to fly, such as a closed relative, friend death, or medical emergency reasons [38]. Body behaviour at crowded places such as an airport can change drastically. A passenger may have an illusion of a person during travel, whereas airport digital marking and navigation may not benefit at all. Therefore airports need airport information staff to fetch on the vulnerable passenger and deviate them to their original guidance [37], [38].
Psychological: The main effect of traveling on the human mind is an increase in self- confidence. Solo travellers may have the confidence to master travel through any part of the world. There are both pros and cons of such a mental approach. Some passengers may never require any physical assistance on navigation as their self boost, and intelligence can narrate airport signs such as digital displays, roof, and ceiling markings to their respective spot in the airport. For some people travel through huge airports may increase their problem-solving skills. Whereas for few people travel may hit mentally on a passenger the other way around. Passengers arriving from a place where the origin airport might be ultimately comparatively smaller to an international mega air-hub can become quite stressful for a passenger. Modern infrastructure and several people in a new place can become excessively non-hostile [38], [39].
Boost in creativity is one direct impact on passengers traveling through air-hubs. Cognitive flexibility and creativity spark a bilateral connection to a heightened neural stimulation that takes place on a person's exposure to new environments. This stimulation facilitates passenger creativity beyond the horizon, such as passengers come up with solutions on how to tackle excess weighted luggage upon check-in [40]. Passenger figures a way to carry numerous luggage pieces on a cart and navigate through the airport premises and keep track of time [39].
2.7 Educational factors, Language barriers, and Intercultural Competence at airports Historically we humans rely on directional signage and information. Where's is the departure hall, check-in, security check, respective gate, and further on. One of the most crucial tasks that float is to have travellers from the curb to their destined concourse, spot, and gate. There is fundamental research and scientific research into signing airport layouts to make them as universal as possible. Airports designers actually have people from several backgrounds, such as age, sex and profession, walked through terminals wearing specially
27 designed goggles to track the eye's movement while navigating. This data is further used to analyze and research airport layouts to their best optimal and efficient level [40]. The physical structure of an airport can straightforwardly influence passenger movement at the airport. For example, the influence of decision making from signage has direct access to the judgment of a passenger. Clear, bold, and informative signs change the overall movement of passengers at airports. Architects and designers continuously thrive and chase new solutions to facilitate a smooth passenger movement.
Passengers at international airports can possess a variety of professions, and some may carry a high-end career such as professional consultant, whereas, on the other hand, some may belong to a simple working-class background. Airports experience seasonal travellers through their gates, for example, during the summer season; Northern European airports experience an increase in farm labourers from East Asia to help local farmers harvest their crops. In Sweden, approximately 3 000 to 5 000 migrant workers, mainly from Thailand, enter the country for the berry harvest every year. Polish agriculture is heavily reliant on Ukrainian workers, especially for picking apples (Poland is the leading EU's top producer) and soft fruit (berries and strawberries) [41]. Passengers should be met on an equal moral basis no matter the possession of background to result in a smooth passenger movement without unsustainable technological pathways.
Regardless of the design of international airports, architectures and airport authorities must consider travellers from various people originating from different nationalities. English is not the dominant language spoken across the world. One may still expect that all passengers arriving on the international border should at least have the ability to decode airport information written in English [42]. Tourists coming from mainland China into Europe typically travel in groups led by an agent from a travel agency. The language barrier is one of the most challenging factors for many wealthy Chinese people to travel solo. Several airports worldwide have retrofitted their board signage in terminals to facilitate passengers' smooth movement; for example, Stockholm-Arlanda airport has fit directional signs in the arrival hall at F concourse with mandarin [Figure 7].
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Figure 7 Arrival hall F-pier Terminal 5, Stockholm-Arlanda Airport
Cultural competence nourishes travel experience. It highlights the necessities of creative communication, convergence, and identity of the atmosphere at airports. Public entitled integration into airports is essential for a healthy airport environment [Figure 8], [Figure 9]. Implemented technology awareness is vital to airport authorities and the operating customers. A gap in the bridge of the ends in airports may have catastrophic results during peak operation at airports [43]. The most popular approaches in the past two decades have been cultural convergence to accommodate maximum foreign tourists, trade, and commerce. Airports around the world are adapting to a change in exhibiting a natural global status and moving airports to less anonymously infrastructure [44]. The new Beijing-Daxing International Airport is preferably shifting towards a popular visual cultural design with world recognition. The new airport is enlightened by natural elements bringing the Chinese culture and modern infrastructure under one room for a seamless state-of-the-art terminal passenger experience [45].
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Figure 8 Figure 9 Arrival hall, New Delhi Airport Airport train, O’Hare Chicago Airport
2.8 Stockholm-Arlanda Airport- ARN Stockholm-Arlanda Airport is an international airport located in the municipality of Sigtuna just north of Stockholm within Stockholm county. It is the largest airport in Sweden, which is also an important access point to northern Europe. The airport was opened 59 years ago on the 1st of April in 1962 by King Gustaf VI Adolf. The initial operation of the airport began with just one runway and today has three runways servicing its function [19], [46]. Stockholm-Arlanda Airport is designated as ARN on IATA'S code for airport designations [47].
Passenger flow through Arlanda airport in 2019 was more than 40 million passengers, which was a 4% decrease than 2018, which was an all-time high-record set of 42 million passengers. This decrease was mainly because of green initiated movement in Sweden, resulting in a reduction of flying domestically but had no more enormous significant impact on international sectors. Swedaiva, the airport authority running Arlanda, has committed to a more sustainable journey, such as the consumption of renewable energy for all their charging plugs and stations for their passengers spread throughout its infrastructure [Figure 10], [48].
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Figure 10 Departure board Terminal 5
ARN compromises of four different terminals. All four different terminals serve different regions and airlines and are also dominated by airline ground handling companies [49]. They offer services to and from several essential destinations worldwide among several airlines such as Air India, Qatar Airways, SAS, etc, [Figure 11].
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Figure 11 Airlines serving to Stockholm Arlanda Airport
Terminal 2: The terminal that Swedavia initially built upon request for Scandinavian Airlines System domestic, commercial operation. Later in times SAS no longer operated their domestic sectors from T2 as the demand for flying increased and space wasn't enough to meet the demand. Now until before covid-19, T2 is served by airlines handled by Menzies Aviation Sweden. They are the most significant commercial space leaser from Swedavia, who has clients such as British Airways, Finnair, KLM. Terminal 2 compromises one big terminal hall with a concise walkthrough from check-in to boarding the aircraft as this complete distance of approx some 200 meters and can be a smooth process for frequent flying passengers. The terminal consists of a duty-free store, a handful of shops, cafeterias, and lounges for passengers [19], [49]. Terminal 2 is adjacently connected with terminal 3 with a walk-bridge and terminal 4 with a pathway. Under the covid-19 outbreak, all traffic from this T2 has been diverted to T5.
Terminal 3: This terminal is the least visited terminal in terms of the passenger. Here, domestic flights are operated within Sweden to remote regional places such as Hemavan, Arvidsjaur, Karlstad. The leading operating airline from this terminal is Amapola Airlines and AirLeap. The building holds only one restaurant after security screening known as RC-Cafe. The terminal infrastructure is one of the oldest, along with T4 [19], [49]. Under the covid-19
32 outbreak, all traffic from this T3 has been diverted to T5. Aircraft continues to disembark at T3 but passengers are bus-shuttled from their respective gate and dropped off at T5.
Terminal 4: The top terminal for passengers flying domestically within Sweden, it serves cities such as Lulea, Malmo, Gotenburg, and Kiruna. The leading dominated airlines operating from here are SAS and Norwegian Airlines. The terminal consists of ample passenger area and commercial space, and Aviator Ground Service is the dominant handling-agency leasing office space. The concourse includes restaurants such as Max, retails shops such as fashion stores, and duty-free stores. Moreover, the overall speed for check-in to boarding an aircraft during peak hours can take 1 hour, but otherwise, passengers can cover over the segment quickly during non-peak hours [19], [49]. Under the covid-19 outbreak, all traffic from this T4 has been diverted to T5.
Terminal 5: This is the most sophisticated terminal made up of three different concourses. SGH- SAS Ground Handling is the dominant ground-handling firm leasing space for their operation. The building consists of several restaurants, retail shops such as Fashion, Electronic stores, duty-free stores. Altogether, this terminal serves all leading airlines.[19], [49] The terminal building has several lounges offered by a variety of airlines. [Figure 12].
Figure 12 Airport map of terminal 5
The terminal is connected with a terminal known as Sky-City, which serves as access to hotels, restaurants, and even commuter trains, regional trains, and public transport. Terminal 5 is also currently undergoing an expansion under Swedaiva's ambitious plan to construct a new concourse and more sophisticated technology to accommodate more passengers [19], [50]. During the covid-19 outbreak, all passenger traffic is diverted from T2, T3, and T4 to T5.
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3. Methodology
This chapter introduces the reader to the methodology followed throughout the thesis. Section 3.1 Presents the research strategy. Section 3.2 Presents the Research phases from start to end. Section 3.3 Reach out to the Research methods involved in this paper. Section 3.4 Enhance the Research criteria that were essential. Section 3.5 Uncover the Ethical Requirements for this research.
3.1 Research Strategy The primary research methodology consisted of on-field interviews at Stockholm-Arlanda Airport and relevant literature study. Findings through relevant literature guided on the approaches on how to conduct research of an alive airport. Further conversations with close family, airport-colleagues showcased the actual areas to be investigated through interviews. Personal past experiences had helped in fetching connections to staff from different companies and managers to airlines. This made it possible to document information from both passenger and staff perspectives. after analyzing and computing data from on-site interviews at Arlanda-airport. To collect the most data possible on-site interviews were conducted at Arlanda in correspondence with specifics arrival and departure hours of flights to collect data from a specific region and passengers.
The research strategy was built upon numerous research phases. The phases included six parts: problem statement, literature study, survey and interviews, results, analysis and discussions, and conclusions. Finally, the limitations and restrictions were presented in the analysis and discussion part of this chapter but were more briefly discussed in the discussion chapter later on in this paper.
3.2 Research Phases This thesis includes six different research phases. Primarily was the problem statement formulated. This was followed by a thoroughly comprehensive study of literature for collecting relevant study material and direction on how to conduct the survey. Interviews and surveys were conducted to fetch further and collect essential data to post results. The result was presented accordingly. Having displayed the results, data were derived, analyzed, and the discussions were brought up.
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Problem LiteratureProblem Surveys and Statement StatementStudy Interviews
Conclusions Analysis and Results Discussions
3.3 Research Methods This study followed diverse research methods from connecting inevitable studied literature and merged it with surveys, interviews, and analysis. A higher index of quantitative research for over qualitative design formula was selected, as most data came from interviews and discussions rather than literature. This way, the reader is directly exposed to the creditable data content of the research. Data was collected by using an organized framework to adhere to the schedule of interviewed passengers and airport staff from Arlanda Airport. Finally, the result data was discussed with experienced airport people to verify the credibility of the gathered data. The academic paper writing method the 4 C's, was also used in assessing this paper to end [52]. 1.Clarity, 2.Conciseness, 3.Completeness, 4.Correctness.
3.3.1 Literature Review Studying literature is a way to collect information from numerous sources like books, websites, articles, and other academic information sources. Once the initial collection phase is finished, the data can be analyzed and processed enough so meaningful conclusions can be drawn. This paper is a dominant study of quantitative research over qualitative research as most of the collected data was gathered through interviews and surveys [51]. The initial research began by investigating and thoroughly studying relevant, meaningful literature. The literature study supported the basic fundamentals on how to initialize the research process at an airport, such as systematic data methods and understanding the basic concept of airport infrastructure.
The literature study was based on a systematic fetching method posted by Karolinska University [52]. The initial steps are such: 1. background information, 2. Case Reports, 3. Cohort Studies, 4. Randomized Controlled Trials, 5. Systematic Reviews, 6. Meta-Analysis.
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3.3.2 Interview Review
Since this paper is mainly based on quantitative research, interviews were the key to accomplish the relevant data. Questions were pulled up to passengers at Stockholm-Arlanda Airport to collect their data. Airport staff from different firms at Arlanda airport was selected for interviews to assess their data. International cabin crew from leading airlines were also accounted to note the data from both aspects of beginner and experienced traveller at ARN.
The interviews were conducted throughout different premises at Arlanda-airport, both on the landside and airside premises of ARN. Landside represented the arrival hall and the departure hall of Terminal 5. Airside represented gates, restaurants, and transit waiting lounges. The other terminals of ARN were not selected for on-site interviews because of their closure due to the ongoing covid-19 outbreak.
All interviewed people were told the transparency for the interviews: This paper is mainly a part of thesis work for an engineering degree at KTH Royal Institute of Technology. No particular names but only age, region, profession were accounted for. To minimize the complications of data, only the accounted questions that were required were taken into account and the remaining irrelevant data ware disregarded. For this reason, no sound recording interviews were taken as there would be a lot of topic discussions. This is more analyzed and discussed later in this paper.
3.3.3 Survey Review
Surveys are great ways to gather the opinion of a large crowd. In this case surveys was used to understand their knowledge of ARN, and user experience of ARN. Survey questions were sent out to airport staff from different firms, friends, and relatives who once or frequently have used Stockholm-Arlanda Airport as a point of begin or end of their journey. The survey data was collected through an online survey platform SurveyMonkey [54]. The choice for approaching this survey was because of its convenience offered from its platform that creates a link and can be shared among participants easily.
Conducting a survey without the proper tools is pointless. As analyzing and concluding the study can take ample time and labor work [55]. Therefore two suitable data analysis methods for quantitative data were used to narrow down the gathered information from individuals: SWOT analysis [56] and Trend Analysis [57].
Due to the coronavirus outbreak, it was not possible to conduct surveys among a group of people. The advantage was that a specific survey link generated could easily be shared and accessed from a mobile device. However, disadvantages that could persist from a remote survey could be the inaccurate answers provided, possibly inaccurate answers from boredom, or lack of knowledge.
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3.4 Research criteria This thesis explores and elaborates on the hidden complications passengers might face on the movement at Stockholm-Arlanda Airport. Relevant research was required to follow up on similar conditions issues that might have been faced across other international airports, and if there were any, what was the systematic mapping method to adopt these changes. Other than the airport solution implemented, it was necessary to identify potential hotspots that may have occurred in other airports. Therefore several intuitive works of literature were studied to extract the most credible and relative data.
This thesis is mainly based on quantitative research; therefore, all final executed data and conclusions were made on the surveys and interviews. Surveys and interviews kept the paper through-putting data fluently to build up a framework from where data could be easily analyzed and documented. Because of an ongoing pandemic, it was necessary to keep the research here limited. People who were interviewed on-site at ARN wore surgical face masks at airports and had talking limited.
3.5 Ethical Requirements Literature investigated is mainly used to back up another research paper, albeit it is essential to have an original approach when extracting material from another research paper. Proper references in this thesis were made where a citation was made from another research paper. Also, existing literature may sometimes blindfold a hidden solution that could possibly be from a one-sided statement. But during the execution of this paper, several relevant pieces of literature were mapped, merged, and analyzed parallelly to account for at least two views. This unique approach was made for an increase in the credibility of the potential result.
Interviews and Surveys should be on no bias gender views. Everyone must be considered host as a participant, regardless of age, sex, political background, profession, or religious beliefs. During data collection from an on-going survey, the participants must be given complete transparency for the person is aware of where the data is being collected and for which purpose.
All interviewed people had the absolute right to withdraw anytime from the on-going interview and dismiss their data collection. Since the data collected is anonymously presently and cognitive, where there is no direct connection to a specific company, airline, conversely person, the majority of the interviewees had no unwelcoming opinion on sharing their views. Therefore, all interviews were conducted without any recording practices, therefore, had no personal details or voice, face, or finger recognition stored.
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4. Result This section presents the findings gathered through the examination of various literature and a survey, and an interview. Firstly the reader is introduced to a methodology execution part section 4.1. Follow up section will; section 4.2 that will present heading surveys with sub-questions from the interviews and surveys.
4.1 Methodology Execution
The methodology wasn't as easy as it initially planned. Firstly, an on-going pandemic covid- 19 drastically reduced staff and passengers at the airport to a considerable extent, and secondly, work from home climax made communication aspects weak. Work from home had changed to a more unresponsive answer, and people seemed not to prioritize work over household lifestyle when at home.
The on-going pandemic brought in the sense of extra cautiousness among people and passengers that brought restrictions to meetings and verbal face-to-face communication. It is so apparent everyone is afraid to speak to a stranger at an airport, especially under an undergoing pandemic. Passengers arriving from international flights brought uncertainty to the point when intervening. Some passengers were afraid to speak out, keeping in mind the spread of the virus, and some were just exhausted after their journeys.
Upon intervening passengers, other challenges arrived, among which mainly was the language barrier. Since the reduction of international flights, the diversity of passengers had hugely narrowed down. Primarily were the middle eastern carriers apart from SAS that was operating under pandemic. Arousal of fatigues from long journeys had a significant effect on people's understanding capability. Passengers were asked the same questions numerous times because of a lack of understanding, resulting in jotting down similar answers to the same questions but in different approaches. This repetitive answering even led to a loss of the seeking data.
Interviews were conducted in an open, transparent climate where passengers were beforehand mentioned that the answers would be compiled further to extract data. This data would finally be analysed for a research paper that is a thesis for an engineering degree. All arriving and departing passengers were selected for interviews without any gender or age bias. Every passenger interrogated was confronted with all respect and dignity that one would oneself like to experience during an interview.
Data collected from the passengers at the airport through the interviews could significantly vary from the listed result. A worldwide pandemic spread of the covid-19 and the fear of its transmitting characteristic narrowed socializing at public places or, in this case, airports. During the interviews, people tended to talk minimum and sometimes even avoid being
39 approached. Sometimes, passengers' indirect or incomplete answers were given to display unwillingness for a discussion with a stranger.
4.2 Survey Results
The results are the ones found through surveys and interviews at Stockholm-Arlanda Airport. Five surveys consist of various imperative theoretical backgrounds. Interestingly were some data gathered and collected on a similar question basis but variable segments of Arlanda. This characteristic was to understand if there were any variations in airport experience on separate findings.
Survey 1, Airport Infrastructure Technology: Consists of 10 questions in correspondence to airport information technology knowledge. This data is presented first and aimed to achieve global airport knowledge among international travelers. This survey focuses on an introduction view of travelers from a worldwide perspective.
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Survey 2, Geographical Profile: Consists of 8 questions which analysis geographical profile of the passenger. This data helps understanding the travellers’ background at ARN
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Survey 3, Stockholm-Arlanda Airport: Compromises of 10 questions from Stockholm- Arlanda Airport. From this round of interviews, data from travellers has focused on Arlanda airport, which provides insightful information.
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Survey 4, Arrival at Stockholm-Arlanda Airport: Consists of 10 questions and is data gathered from arriving passengers' through quick interviews in the arrival hall at Stockholm- Arlanda Airport.
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Survey 5, Departure at Stockholm-Arlanda Airport: Consists of 10 questions and data gathered through quick interviews prior to respective passenger flight and departure gate at Stockholm-Arlanda Airport.
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5. Analysis and Discussions
This chapter discusses the surveys at Stockholm-Arlanda Airport. Surveys compromises of passenger and airport staff experiences of Arlanda airport. In each survey, only 40 participants' data were stored as SurveyMonkey only provides this on free subscription. After an intensive study from the credits of the result of the surveys, it was found that no direct conclusion can be drawn on the results due to several factors. Section 5.1 Presents several useful data from all the surveys. Section 5.2 Evaluating of the data from a number of perspectives.
5.1 Survey Presentations In this section, all handpicked five surveys were gathered after an intensive literature study through on-field data gathering. This section is necessary to present data for an analysis review.
Survey 1 Airport Infrastructure Technology
This survey focuses on global airport infrastructure. More specifically, on the knowledge passenger possess when talking about technology implemented at airport infrastructure. The knowledge derived from this survey provides a foundation for further investigation into the purpose of this research paper. Otherwise, airport infrastructure technology is a very diverse topic for the concrete sector to be focused on.
Survey 2 Passenger profile
This survey focuses on the passenger background. Through conversation, has this data been collected and documented. This survey provides all necessary geographical data required before presenting further on this research paper. Following are the questions followed up.
Survey 3 Stockholm-Arlanda Airport
This survey invites the opinion of passengers on Stockholm-Arlanda Airport. This survey helped to provide overall direct lying knowledge of the airport. In addition to this round of questions, deeper surveys were able to project on specific areas of Arlanda-Airport.
Survey 4 Departure at Stockholm-Arlanda Airport
In this survey, the focus lies on the departure background, experience, and opinions from the travelers with an outbound journey. All necessary areas have been carefully investigated through the literature material and previous surveys. This survey consists of 10 questions, all in the context of departure at Stockholm-Arlanda Airport.
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Survey 5 Arrival at Stockholm-Arlanda Airport
In this survey, the focus lies on the arrival background, experience, and opinions of travellers with an inbound journey as final or transfer destination to be Arlanda. All vital areas have been carefully investigated through the literature material and previous surveys. This survey consists of 10 questions, all in the context of arrival travellers at Stockholm- Arlanda Airport.
5.2 Survey findings Survey 1 Airport Infrastructure Technology
Analyzing the results in this survey derives several interesting and crucial results. It shows a weaker demand on the frequent traveller, but fewer flying people were especially lying in the 1-4 flights segment. Majority of the passenger agrees to the observation of technology implemented at airports. It is to be noted that most travellers would choose international airports over small regional airports. A majority of travellers show a higher rate of adopting self-check-in to avoid last moment hassle. Most travellers have taken an automatic train ride within the airport premises whereas avoided online tax-free shopping. Despite the advanced technology, the paper boarding pass is preferred over e-boarding passes, although flight departure screens experience had a very welcoming observation. Overall the technology infrastructure at airports example, e-passport gates, had an excellent experience.
Data inputs were deferred from ambiguity. Transparent answers provided by travellers narrated a modern dilemma of the airport experience. The frequency of each passenger traveling remained less and could be because of the on-going pandemic and international borders restricted to foreign tourists. Passengers, in general, avoid traveling through smaller regional airports as fewer commuting alternatives might be a reason. Also, regional airports sometimes have an offshore location from the premises of the airport. Despite embracing technology people seem yet not comfortable carrying electronic boarding passes such as on their mobile devices. This phenomenon could likely be in the uncertainty of the power supply to these mobile devices or even trust issues among airport authorities as some may not accept it as a valid travel document.
Airports worldwide have adopted a wider infrastructure. Many of them have implemented technology infrastructures such as automatic airport trains, self-check-ins, e-passport gates, and pre-duty accessible shopping to meet this requirement.
Survey 2 Passenger Profile
The majority of travellers at Stockholm-Arlanda Airport were from Europe, with Asia and North America following up. South America and Africa were among the last visited or
50 departed destination continents. Duration of flights lay in the span between 6-10 hours and 1-3 hours with a dominant frequency of travel per year calendar between the span of 1-3 and 4-6 times. Dominated purpose of travel was business and leisure.
The choice of traveling class was mainly economy followed by business. The age of passengers was medieval between 30-45, followed by 18-30 and at least 45-60; no passengers were recorded above the age of 60. Mainly were they work and business profession background followed by students to be among the least.
Europe is among the most visited or departed continent, with South America to be among the last. This could possibly be because of the international travel restrictions, especially from the non-Schengen area. However, most passengers' data states the most prolonged flight duration to be between 6-10 hours, depending on various factors such as long-haul flights operating to Arlanda consistently under the pandemic. Also, the wide-body aircraft characteristics to be considered in these long-haul sectors might have influenced the duration of flight statistics. The dominated passenger class remained economy, consequently business class.
The age of travellers remained between 30-45 and followed by 18-30, which means substantial travel hassles such as international flying ban and quarantine measures, suppressed the flying age among passengers as the risk of influence remained higher among the age group. Although discussing the purpose of travel, despite international bans, some business travels were essential, and ironically even some leisure trips that could possibly be because of leisure.
Survey 3 Stockholm-Arlanda Airport
During this round of interviews, the survey again matches previous data statistics that 1-4 times was the most frequent flying span, and 4-7 times was the second most travel span.
Travelers found, in general, airport navigation to be lenient, whereas the other half of the majority finds navigating to be complicated. On the other hand, it is transiting travel to be found easily. More than 50% find the airport spacious whereas the other half quite the opposite.
Airport convenience features had a vulnerable input, with airport lightning to be very much sufficient, but the placement of airport staff for guidance around the airport premises was extensively less in the experience of the airport. The leading experience in the direction signing is a little confusing, followed by agreeing and least disagree. The technology infrastructure at the airport is modern but as well room for more innovation.
Navigation analysis shows positive outcomes but a few adverse outcomes. This might be of two factors: firstly, due to fewer passengers and flights during the pandemic, and secondly, due to fewer passengers, halls might look easier to navigate as the usual traffic stress is not
51 dominating. Transiting was a smooth experience in the traveller’s view through Arlanda because only one terminal was open, and all traffic was diverted to one terminal that was terminal 5, including domestic from terminal 4. Airport space might be of the less travel wherein the airport could be found massive than usual, and usually is domestic flights never operated from terminal 5 of Arlanda, which can cause an illusion. Some might disagree because other major international airports, in general, are more prominent in infrastructure size. Furthermore, because long-haul flights dominated flights, Dubai International frequent flying passengers from Arlanda will find Arlanda primarily operating with just one terminal to be small.
Navigation cannot be affected by lightning since that is enough in the view of the passenger. It is interesting to see that passenger find the direction-signing elaborative in the airport, but some disagree, and this could again strongly be affected by covid stress among travellers as some found the transit to be complicated and dominated by less airport staff as good airport lightning must have illuminated up all the information signs.
Survey 4 Departure at Stockholm-Arlanda Airport
The frequency of travel remains the same here, just like in the other surveys, with a travel span of 1-4 times to be dominant.
Finding the respective departure terminal for the respective airline had a medieval response. Likewise was the departure information screens split equally, but the usefulness of the direction-signing in here were exceeding than not being easeful. Airport space was not considered to be spacious in the view of the traveller from Arlanda.
There was no uncertainty in finding the respective departure gate and the security area aside from minor travellers. However, were there comparatively more difficulties in finding respective departure gate.
The overall experience in locating the departure terminal was profound and straightforward. It be noted that only terminal 5 was open during the interview of this survey. The arrival of passengers for their respective flights shows that people were well in advance at the airport to show up for their respective flight, mainly to avoid the hassle of general airport procedures such as airport security and check-in procedures. This consequently could be the reason for locating respective departure gates as a smooth process.
People arrived at least 2-4 hours prior to their flights, and this could dominate due to extra- long check-in procedures for document verifications. Some people found none of the departure process convenient since covid-19 travel restrictions and extra safety measures might complicate the overall procedures.
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Survey 5 Arrival at Stockholm-Arlanda airport
The frequency of travel remains similar here, just like in the other surveys, with a travel span of 1-4 times as a leading span.
The airport space was viewed as spacious, and the direction-signing was considered as elaborative by the passengers arriving at Arlanda. This also viewed the baggage belt location as seamless with positive results, but prior to baggage claim, was localizing the baggage hall more convenient. Interestingly in this survey was the airport space was viewed as more minor, but the exit and customs were not challenging to locate, apart from a few numbers.
The arrival index passenger was similar to the departure exit. This might have been of an even-margin distribution of passenger throughput regardless of covid or an off-season.
Looking at the analyzing data, the navigation during the arrival process was smoother than the departure process. The arrival hall was the easiest to locate, and this could have been because of the characteristic of the airport size.
Direction-signing was a positive response that might have been because of the passenger decline in the airport due to covid-19 or smaller airport dimension. The negative side could have been due to precaution wear such as facemasks or other protective gears that block the standard optical view.
Some varying results include locating the baggage hall, exit, and customs and variable responses due to the defer in passenger age, background profile, and experience in travel. Some passengers viewed the arrival procedure part of the airport as minor, which could impact the arrival experience.
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6. Conclusion and Future Work
The varieties of airport concerns that do influence passenger management were clearly enormous. Problems were divided into different parts of the airport and during separate flight procedures. However, common performance-related issues were negligible. For example, a late traveller for a flight may obviously tend to look into possible faults on the airport or airline for the traveller’s benefit. The concrete barricades that passengers faced during navigation at Stockholm-Arlanda airport were quite diverse. No survey findings had any direct, transparent reasons for possible diversions during navigation at the airport.
After had carefully assessed, no direct conclusion can be plausibly presented on the navigation front. Although hindering reasons can be generated when looking at the executed result analyses. Due to an on-going pandemic of the covid-19, passengers were a little extra vulnerable, especially on an exposed site such as the airport. All airport traffic was diverted from all terminals of Arlanda airport to just terminal 5. It might have developed a sense of confusion among passengers. Airport dimension might be an issue to some travellers, as domestic flights were conducted from the international terminal- Terminal 5. Domestic frequent travellers fly from a minor terminal suspended for operation during the research of this paper.
Further research is needed to explore all the airport premises and during no uncertain times in the aviation industry. The surveys need to be conducted again from scratch with regular traffic from all possible destinations to establish more intercultural data on the airport navigational experience. The interpretation of more international passengers will help account for different possible guidance hindering results from travellers. All terminals of Arlanda airport need to be operational with dedicated flights to connect all terminals for a detailed airport navigation experience, and this will project more lubricated data for this research topic.
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7. References
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[39] Careers, A., 2021. Psychological Effects of Traveling: So You Want to Work in Allied Health? - Allied Travel Careers. [online] Allied Travel Careers. Available at: 60 ren%20terminal%205%20p%C3%A5g%C3%A5r%20ocks%C3%A5.> [Accessed 18 April 2021]. [51] Pickell, D., 2021. Qualitative vs Quantitative Data – What’s the Difference?. [online] Learn.g2.com. Available at: 61 TRITA-EECS-EX-2021:326 www.kth.se