Surveillance of bio terrorism at airports is necessary

Each airport should have a medicare center for preventive treatment testing services or a lab for non-documented travelers, for analysis of Covid19 infected conditions, says Mahendra Pawar, Director, Zen Bulls.

What are some of the major changes in airport design  one will be witnessing in the post Covid-19 era? 

Changes can or should be expected, with respect  to the circulation of arrival & departure with  major segregation of transiting passengers, visiting  passengers, VIP passengers, at the time of check in or  before security check. In case of infected passengers,  they should be enclosed or segregated in incubation  zones or deportation zones in case of International.  

Each airport should have a Medicare center for  preventive treatment testing services or a lab for non documented travelers, for analysis of Covid-19 infected  conditions. Sanitized lounges, which should be treated  with airlock systems, from the infected or possible  spread areas. During security check the surveillance of  bio terrorism should be taken into consideration, can  of major concern since airports are very vulnerable to  such attacks.  

Especially for large airports what kind of facilities  are needed to ensure navigating within the airport is  easier?  

Indoor positioning, navigation, mobile tracking are some  of the facilities which are desired to address this issue. 

Attractions, such as retailers, food courts, restaurants,  airport lounges should be highlighted. Medicare and information on disability services, such as wheelchairs,  indoor shuttles, elevators. Direct alternate routes, in  the event of a bio hazard emergency, fire hazard,  security services, maintenance and terminal closures  should be made easily available. This can be done  with guide stations besides which visual displays of  various types can be used for navigation. Fixed digital  displays and virtual holographic projection signage  can be used and on request can be integrated with  the cell phones so that navigation becomes a lot  easier. Terminal mapping apps or tracker, pertaining  to the specific airport infrastructure, with respect  to the transit of passengers can be integrated with  the airport system, for mobile information on airport  activities.  

In India as also in some other parts of the world,  major airports are limited to metros alone. Do you  see any kind of decentralization happening there in  the near future?  

Yes, most of the developed airports are in metros.  The airports in other cities need to be planned at  an international level, since the world is getting  closely connected. These days roads and highways  too are being built on a rapid scale, international  travelers now need not travel to all the way to  metros, they can directly board their respective  flights at the local airports. Nationally India is the runway, creating multiple at various  location on the flight landing decent path  or circulation, for a particular city (which  can be considered in urban design), this  will evenly distribute the overall traffic,  to sublocation, with nuclear terminal  facilities, for take-off and landing, with  synchronized pattern of flight paths.

This shall save the travel timings,  taxiway waiting timing, over all rush  hour to airports. Creating sub terminals  or runway network, shall save time,  compared to new terminals of a similar  size. Sub Terminals can be connected  to the main terminal by underground  pathways, likewise, metro lines network  which emerges from the airport can be in the process of decentralization of  airports such as Mumbai airport as also  the upcoming Navi Mumbai airport, in  doing so the passenger’s density will be  distributed and reduce the overloading at  the Mumbai Main Terminal. An attempt  is being made to set a similar example  by Jewar International Airport in UP in  context with the New Delhi Airport.  

What kind of multi-modal integration is  necessary to ensure that access to the  airport becomes easier?  

Multi-modal integration in brief it is  complete integration of all forms of  movement or moving entities, model of  modern-day traffic pattern, with respect  to usage of vehicular traffic, private,  public, MRT/LRT, utilities, pedestrian etc.  Which needs to be integrated with the  source destination. Accessibility to the  airport can be connected with various mode of transportation; metro trains  can be connected directly to the main  buildings of the terminal, and airport  shuttle services from various locations  of the city need to be in place. Baggage check in can be done in pre advance, from  various locations or stations, The major  aspect of this integration is to save time  and cost, which eventually saves energy  aids sustainability and reduces carbon  footprint.  

The objective of ease and efficiency of  mobility on ground and above ground can  be conceptualized in a way to decentralize the runway location, at various urban  locations, connected to the main  terminal or sub terminal, this will ensure  heavy congestion at single main terminal  leading all transit modal integrating at  one point. The illustration mentioned  below a brief sketch of decentralizing integrated with some metro stations and  vice versa. .  

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