Hola,
Os subo un
trabajo que hice algunos años sobre los aeropuertos como sistemas complejos
para una presentación, está algo des-actualizado en cuanto a cifras, pues es
del 2012, pero creo que es bastante interesante, ya que todos hemos estado
alguna vez en uno de ellos y no somos conscientes de toda la logística
que hay detrás. Espero que os parezca interesante y suerte con los exámenes ;)
Airports as
a complex system.
Since the
beginning all the things in the universe have tent to complexity, the small
things group together to form bigger things, planets and starts group together
to form solar systems and these systems group together to form galaxies.
It is the
same with life, the small cells group together to form all the different kinds
of living organisms like us, we are complex system, but even we associate to
form families, councils and countries, and these countries at the same time
form organizations like the European Union, so everything is leading to
increasingly complex systems more and more complex every time there is a new
association. Since we start to progress we had the need of organization, and this
organizations leads as to complex Systems.
This is why complex systems are really
important nowadays and even if we don’t realise it they form part of us since
the moment we are born in a hospital, we raise in a family, we go to school,
use the public transport, buy something in a shop or when we take a plane,
there is a complex system behind every simple action we do.
This
assessment will try to explain what makes one system complex and what
complexity means, the dynamics of them, the non-linearity, and the way they are
open to changes, the adaptation and in resume all the things that makes a
system complex. At the same time it will try to explain why airports can be
considered as complex systems and all the elements that work together every
time we take a plane.
So are
airports complex systems? What is a complex system?
A complex
system is a group of systems that work together to form a new and more complex
system but it has to accomplish a number of requirements before the system can
actually be defined as a complex system. These characteristics complex systems
must have are heterogeneity of elements and objects, dynamics, non-linearity,
openness and adaptation (Larsen-Freeman,D,
Cameron L. 2008)
In the
case of an airport there are a big number of agents and elements working
together like a perfect gear assembly, some of them have to be
compulsory in a close relationship and in perfect communication, not just to
make the things in the airport soft but because of safety reasons.
Actually
we can define two main parts within an airport, the land zone with all the
terminals, parking services and different kind of shops and the air zone with
all the hangars, runways and planes, this two zones are working together that
closely that it is difficult some times to notice if you are in one or another.
The
airport of Atlanta, the Hartsfield-Jackson is
the busiest airport in the world it
accommodated more than 90 million passengers in 2011.
And during the month of September this year it did 74,951 aircraft operations with a total of 7,599,914 passengers and with 53,929 tons of
cargo and mail (Department of Aviation,
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport).
This
statics means that there are in average 2500 flights operations in this
airport, more than 100 per hour what means that there is more than one plane
landing or taking off every minute. In terms of people there are more than
250000 people using it every day, a quarter of a million. And there are 77 passenger
and cargo airlines working together to satisfy all this need.
In terms
of flights and safety all the operations have to be perfectly organised and
controlled and programed showing the landing and departure times in screens all
around the airport, but the control of the air space it is probably one of the
most important things in an airport and it is also itself a real complex
system.
There were
of 30 million of commercial regular flights in 2010 and only 121 accidents with
a total of 707 deaths, this is not a matter of casualty and give an idea of the dimension of security and safety measures, as
regulation and inspection and how all the traffic is perfectly controlled since
the airports all around the world making flying a safe way of travelling.
Before it Lands or take off the commander of
the aircraft must request for authorisation from the control tower and wait
till they get the authorisation required but also before it start to move on
the airport ground or face towards the runway, this a very dedicated operation
and sometimes it is done in conditions of low visibility where the
communication between the control tower and the pilot it is even more important
most aircraft accidents occur in the airports or their surrounding
area because the number of planes concentrate and flying in a single point.
To
organise all these traffic there are a large team of air controllers, radars
system, computers and instruments, so all the flights operations are being
controlled in all moment, there is also a strict legislation about the minimum
distances two aircrafts must be separated in all moment and the different kinds
of conditions in which planes are allowed to operate in one way or another or
if it is not safe stop all the operations.
Apart of
that all the planes must be checked before they do their operations and they
are given a thorough overhaul periodically. Eventually if there is any kind
of problem during a flight, a hard landing, strong turbulences or anything that
makes the pilot suspect the plane must be pass an exhaust checking test. This
exhaust test has to be done also periodically.
The
security an customs controls, are the responsible of checking everyone identity and if
they have book their flight for the day before they are allowed to get in this
part of the airport, apart from that they are checking the people and their
belongings to avoid weapons and all the thing that are considered as dangerous
aboard the plane, this legislation is due to changes and security measures
have been tightened in recent years mainly due to the attacks of September 11th. To do this
security process is not difficult to find different agents as police or airport
security and elements as metal detector or security cameras.
Another major airport system are check-in points systems where customers
get their flying tickets and left their luggage to be transported by another
system to the plane to travel with the client so he can pick it up once it gets
to its destination. Behind this baggage system hundreds of miles of conveyor
tracks, detection of dangerous objects and drugs, people in charge of loading
the luggage into trucks, transport them through the aircraft tracks and upload
them into the plane is another system whose complexity nor can question and
that is perfectly integrated and linked to the airport as a part of it.
It is
impossible forget the leisure and shopping services that depending of the size
of the airport they may be even bigger in size and number than a shopping
centre or a mall. The Atlanta airport for example has 263
concession outlets throughout the Airport - 114 food and beverage locations, 90
retail and convenience outlets, three duty-free stores and 56 service outlets,
including a banking centre, a U.S. Postal service, Georgia Lottery outlets, a
shoe shine, ATMs, vending machines and spas. Concessions space covers
approximately 21368 square meters more
than 21 square kilometers, and makes it possible to find anything.
We have to the
refuel systems, the transports between the different terminals inside the
airport, the information services, the current exchange shops, the different
runways, terminals buildings, car renting services, parking areas, medical
services, emergency services, salt dispensers, cars, trucks, snowplough, fire detectors, fire trucks, lost items department,
ATMs, Baggage reclaim, baggage trolleys, baggage storage services, business
services, and a lot of different services.
Actually
the Hartsfield-Jackson is the largest employer in the
state of Georgia. There are over 58,000 airline, ground transportation,
concessionaire, security, federal government, City of Atlanta and Airport
tenant employees.
So in
terms of agents and elements Airports can be considered as complex system since
there are many of different kinds interacting one with others.
But
airports are also Dynamic, actually since they are a way of transportation
their own name have this movement inside, everything is moving and changing
every time, planes are landing and taking off, new people is coming to the
airport while another people is leaving, the screens are constantly changing,
we see a big difference in the affluence of people during the day and night
since regulations in most countries does not allows planes to fly during
certain hours., but also depending of the time of the year, holydays,
Christmas, etc. Actually despite all the organization there are behind them,
they can be chaotic with hundreds of thousands people running one way to
another while others are patiently waiting for their flights.
But
apart of all these instant movement there is also a movement and adaptation
through the years and this is also an important characteristic in complex
systems, they have to adapt or die, and the airports adapted their selves in an
incredible way, not just in number but in size and in security resources, they
are constantly adapting.
During the last
decades at an incredibly growing speed till almost triplicate the number of
flight and passengers during the last 20 years reaching the number of 30 million
of commercial regular flights per year in 2010 which means that there is about
82200 flights per day.(Ocai)
In just 20 years
airports had adapted to attend the growing demand of flights, but it wasn’t
just a small chance since the number of flights operations was triplicated.
Also the size of
the planes has augmented, this means wide and longer runways since bigger
planes needs more space for landing and taking of, and the best example is the
Air Bush A-360, the biggest commercial plane till the moment. Some airports
made changer in their runways and installation to allow this model of plane
operate in them, and actually it cannot operate in most of the airports
worldwide since the size is too big for them.
They adapted too
to the security reinforcement measures that were taken after the terrorist
attacks in EEUU in 2001 toughing the security in airports and planes whit new
machines and regulations, after these attacks even the opinion people had about
airports and planes changed and new laws were approval.
They have also
incorporated new system as GPS.
Another
important fact complex systems must accomplish is the non-linearity, this
means, that things are not always following a single line and they are
subjected to randomness, and non-predictable things can happens and of course
this happens in airports too.
After all the
safety and security reasons an accident can occur, and then everything have to
change, the planes that there waiting for landing have to be sent to another
airport while the emergency system start to work, people has to be allocated in
other planes since theirs are probably cancelled or delayed, and depending of
the size of the accident it can be days till it recover to his normal running
operation.
But it hasn’t be
necessary an accident, there can be several and more probable conditions that
might affect the linearity of the system such as weather conditions like snow
or fog, that might delay or even paralyse the state of the flights
Workers strikes
are also an important factor to have in consideration since they use to
programme the strike in periods of great affluence at airports such as
Christmas holidays for example and that can affect to the non-linearity in
several ways depending who is supporting the strike, they can be several kind
of strikes, but since the airport is a complex system if just one element or
agent of the system does not work
efficiently it will affect the whole system, whit delays and cancellation in
several or all the flights depending of the magnitude of the strike. It can be
a pilots strike, an air controllers strike, people working in the runways
strike, refuelling systems, or flight assistant strike, the result would be
similar since all the agents are important.
The last
important characteristic of complex system is that they are open to the world
and the changes that occurs outside the system can actually affect the system,
this is applicable to airports too since for instance there is a whole complex
system working for the airport even before it is made.
The place where
the airport is allocated is not a matter of chance and nothing is left to
random. There is a plan called airport director plan that studies all the
external facts that can affect to the airport when it is done and in the future
attending to the future possible changes in the air traffic and the possible
necessities of the airport , this plan considers factors as important as the amount
of people who are going to use the airport, if there are houses or building
surrounding that might be affected by the noise and pollution, the height of
buildings around the airport, the speed and wind direction, the weather
conditions on the area and the communications.
Communications
between the people and the airport are in fact an important to have in
consideration issue when speaking about the openness of the system since they are
the arteries that let the people and merchandises go in an outside the airport.
Without these communication system the airport would be useless which confirm once more the complexity of the
chosen system.
These
communication facilities include roads, highways, taxis, public transport, and
parking places outside the airport apart from others. So the system of the
airport is affected, and actually needs of these others systems to work.
Legislation is
of course another determinant thing that affects to the openness of the
airport. This is rigorously affected by the international and national safety
laws and must accomplish all the needed measurements to guarantee the
compliment of the law. The state can also forbid the flights to a determinate
country for different reasons and the general thought of the people can also
affect the airport destinations, for example with the incidents in Egypt the
last year the amount of flights that went to that country were considerable
reduced since people was afraid of travelling there.
The economic
situation has also an important role in airports due because since the start of
the economic crisis in Europe and America the amount of flight decreased since
2008 until the 2010 when it started to recover, and in some countries like
china where air traffic is flourishing due to the develop or their economy
airports are blossoming too.
Even if this
assessment has already cited the weather or strike conditions when speaking
about the non-linearity of the complex system these can also be considerate
when speaking about the openness of the system since they are external factors
that can affect the system.
Airports have
the need of a massive organization, they receive thousands of people, suitcases
and packages every day and they have to locate everyone into a different plane
with their belongs, they have to take care of the air space to avoid accidents,
looking at the weather forecast, keeping all the planes in their places, etc.
There is an enormous complex system working for us every time we take a plane,
or even send a letter to another country.
The hearts of
all this air traffic are the different airports all around the world where all
the different kind of planes are landing and taking off thousands of times per
day, in this airports the different airlines must collaborate with the
different services offered within the airport and with another departments with
different interest as security or flight control departments in a very fluent
way to attend the necessities and safety of thousands of people every day.
Un saludo,
Javier García Sánchez. Grupo D
.jpg)
