The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on the Future Airport Passenger Terminals Design

Štimac, Igor Pivac Jelena Bračić Matija Drljača Miroslav

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a huge influence on air transport. For the first time two thirds of the global aircraft fleet were grounded;airports recorded a decrease of 70-95% in passenger traffic, and many airlines went bankrupt. The negative trends of air traffic operations automatically decrease airport aeronautical and non-aeronautical revenues, bringing airports to the very bottom level of financial survival. However, after several months and after implementing the World Health Organization anti-COVID-19 measures, a small positive trend starts to be seen. The measures that need to be implemented have presented an additional problem for passenger terminal planning and design, especially if the introduction of new subsystems into the existing traffic flow, such as health control, is taken into account. Considering that current international recommendations from IATA ADRM are no longer valid, it is necessary to redefine the traffic flows inside the terminal and adjust the procedures of passengers and baggage handling to the new conditions of social distancing. Following that, ICAO Annex 9 recommendation that passengers need to be processed on departure traffic flow in 60 minutes went under question. New requirements for terminal space to keep passengers on safe distance, the implementation of new contactless technology for quick passenger processing, a thermal camera and health checkpoints, as well as other measures are now “new normal” for the airport business.