Cost Efficient Solutions for Airport Mobility Needs

Today's Airport Planners have to come up with tough solutions. In order to find room for new development and for rising passenger demand, distances from terminal to terminal and to the surrounding infrastructures like parking garages, hotels, business parks become to long to be handled by walking or even by moving walkways. And by dealing with existing infrastructures and land use limitations, airports must find ways to plan new terminals to reduce aircraft taxi time, reduce passenger handling times, heighten security and improve the flow of passengers, employees and visitors. And all of this for reasonable, justifiable initial investment costs and low, long term operation Dollars. But instead of finding cost efficient solutions, a large number of Airport People Movers get overdesigned and overspecified and thereby the pricetag is inflated unnecessary. Sometimes the costs are pushed up so high that the realisation of the transport system must be abanded. This paper addresses the topic of Airport Mobility by pointing out the problems different airports like Toronto's Pearson International, Canada, Birmingham International, England and Amsterdam's Schipol, Netherlands have and had, and how in particular low cost rope propelled people movers did or will solve their mobility needs. This paper will also explain, how for some of the Airport People Mover Projects, some simple changes in the specification of the transit system will allow for a more competitive tender and more important for a lower overall cost of the Airport Transportation System. DCC Doppelmayr Cable Car has not only installed such rope-pulled APM systems, but is also operating e.g. the Cable Liner Shuttle at Birmingham's International Airport since March 2003 under a 20 year O&M contract. At Toronto's Pearson International Airport, the testing and commissioning phase of the People Mover System will be well under way by the time of the 2005 APM conference.