Micro-simulation of check-in operations: case study of Terminal 1 of Lisbon's Airport Manuel Maria Santos Dias Duarte Félix Dissertation to obtain the Master of Science Degree in Civil Engineering Supervisor: Doctor Vasco Domingos Moreira Lopes Miranda dos Reis Examination Committee Presidente: Professor João Torres de Quinhones Levy Supervisor: Doctor Vasco Domingos Moreira Lopes Miranda dos Reis Member of the Committee: Professor Maria do Rosário Maurício Ribeiro Macário October 2015 Micro-simulation of check-in operations: case study of Terminal 1 of Lisbon’s Airport ACKNOWLEGMENTS With the conclusion of the present thesis and my studies for the Master’s degree at hand, I can only think that a single page is not enough to express my gratitude to everyone who helped me in this adventure. At first, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my Supervisor Dr. Vasco Domingos Moreira Lopes Miranda dos Reis, for all the support given in the course of the present dissertation, for his insightful comments and encouragement and for the hard question which incented me to widen my research from various perspectives. Second, I want to convey my warmest and sincere thanks to Eng. Duarte Amorim da Cunha and Eng. Liliana Magalhães, without whom this dissertation would not see the daylight, for their continuous support, motivation, immense knowledge and specially, patience, which they had a lot to put up with me during the creation of the dissertation. A person that must not be forgotten is Dr. Ruas Alves, board advisor for ANA Aeroportos de Portugal, whom with his knowledge gave valuable assets and insights for the creation of the model and its validation. I am hugely indebted to my friend Eng. Luis Navarro for his help in the completion of the simulation model could not have arrived in a better time. I would like to thank the support team of AnyLogic Company for their precious on time help in the development of the model. Last but definitely not least, I could not finish the acknowledgments of my dissertation without thanking my parents and sisters who were always there for me, supporting me, encouraging me and cheering me up; to my friends, especially João Pacheco, João Reis & Pedro Barroca, for all the support, motivation and for helping me wind down when I most needed to; and a special thanks to my girlfriend Ana Fonseca, for all her patience and for staying by my side every day during this long journey. Thank you all! i ABSTRACT ABSTRACT Being considered a delicate matter for involving millions of human beings every single day, air transportation had to adopt different security processes and sub-processes with different standards to assure their safety. For involving a lot of money, time and stress, the best performance from these processes and sub-processes is expected. However, with the continuous growth of the demand, this performance can only be achieved with a constant search for improvements. The study of a scenarios such as an airport terminal, cannot be made in situ and to that end, a representation is of the reality is the best option. With the current developments in modern technology the veracity and truthfulness that could be achieved from the representation of a real case scenarios increased exponentially, especially with the possibility to include meticulous restrictions and details, being able to obtain the best possible data information. The model developed simulates the movement of passengers in the terminal from the time they enter until they reach the security area, with a special focus on the check-in sub- process. The model has the capability to identify the main problems behind the check-in sub- process and produce indicators to prove them. Being applied to Lisbon’s Airport Terminal 1, the results of the model suggested that an incentive should be made for the passengers to perform the check-in via self-service check-in methods, outside the terminal building, alongside with an increased focus for the baggage drop facilities. KEY-WORDS Airport operations Check-in Lisbon airport Queue time reduction Simulation ii Micro-simulation of check-in operations: case study of Terminal 1 of Lisbon’s Airport RESUMO Por ser considerado um assunto delicado por envolver a cada dia milhões de pessoas, diferentes processos e sub-processos com diferentes padrões de segurança foram incorporados no transporte aéreo. Ao mesmo tempo, é esperado o melhor desempenho possível destes processos e sub-processos, por envolverem um grande volume de dinheiro, tempo e stress. Contudo, devido ao contínuo crescimento do lado da procura neste sector, tal desempenho só poderá ser atingido caso exista uma constante pesquisa por melhorias. É de notar que o estudo de cenários para um terminal de aeroporto não pode ser efetuado in situ e para tal, recorre-se ao uso de representações dessa realidade. Devido aos atuais desenvolvimentos tecnológicos, a veracidade que se consegue extraír de uma representação da realidade, tem aumentado exponencialmente, principalmente através da possibilidade de incorporar detalhes e restrições meticulosas que permitem obter a melhor informação possível. O modelo desenvolvido simula o tráfego de passageiros no terminal desde que entram até ao momento em que passam para a área de controlo de segurança, tendo um enfoque especial sobre o sub-processo de check-in. Este tem a capacidade de identificar os principais problemas que se encontram por detrás do sub-processo em causa, produzindo indicadores que sustentam tal afirmação. Sendo aplicado ao Terminal 1 do aeroporto de Lisboa, os resultados obtidos sugerem que se deve incentivar os passageiros a efetuar o check-in antes de se deslocarem ao aeroporto, através de métodos de self-service check-in e que tal incentivo deve ser acompanhado por uma melhoria nos serviços de baggage drop. PALAVRAS CHAVE Operações aeroportuárias Check-in Aeroporto de Lisboa Redução de tempos de espera Simulação iii TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEGMENTS .................................................................................................................... i ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................... ii KEY-WORDS ................................................................................................................................ ii RESUMO ....................................................................................................................................... iii PALAVRAS CHAVE ...................................................................................................................... iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................................... iv TABLE OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................... vi TABLE OF Tables ........................................................................................................................ vii ACRONYMS ................................................................................................................................ viii Chapter 1 – INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................... 1 1.1 – Motivation ................................................................................................................ 1 1.2 – Thesis objectives ..................................................................................................... 1 1.3 – Methodological approach ........................................................................................ 2 1.4 – Dissertation Structure .............................................................................................. 2 Chapter 2 – COMPONENTS AND ACTIVITIES OF AN AIRPORT .............................................. 5 2.1 – Components of an Airport ........................................................................................ 5 2.2 – Characterization of Airport’s Typical Activities ........................................................ 8 2.2.1 – Aeronautical Activities ................................................................................... 8 2.2.2 – Non-Aeronautical Activities ........................................................................... 8 2.3 – Terminal ................................................................................................................... 9 2.3.1 Passengers Departure ................................................................................... 10 2.3.2 Passengers Arrival ......................................................................................... 13 2.4 – Users of the Airport ................................................................................................ 15 2.5 – The Check-in: what it is and what it involves, technology used, regulations and organization ................................................................................................................................. 17 2.5.1 Concept and definitions ................................................................................. 17 2.5.2 Types of check-in ........................................................................................... 18 2.5.3 – Passenger’s steps for each check-in type .................................................. 21 2.6 – Quality of service and perform indicators of the Check-in and Terminal