[Already Implemented] Ideas for the Terminal Update. (Security, Domestic and International, Standby Gates, Staff Rooms and more)

Airport CEO Support
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Hi, I would like to propose some ideas that I have for the upcoming terminal update in Alpha 35. I believe some of these have been suggested by other people on the forums but I would like to give my input on how I think they should work. Hope these ideas are interesting and helpful. I left the main points in bold if you are too lazy to read the whole thing.

1. One Way Movement

I think something that is lacking in Airport CEO currently is the ability to control the movement of the passengers in the terminal buildings. For example, I tried building a terminal with a designated baggage claim hall. However, it seemed that departing passengers would enter the hall even though the way to security was the opposite direction. I suggest implementing one-way doors and one-way paths to allow separation of departing and arriving passengers, and also allowing players to control the flow of passengers in the terminal.

2. Security Upgrades

I feel that it is time we move away from the current security set up we have in Airport CEO. Currently, the only forms of security are Baggage Scanners, Checkpoints (Scans Handcarry and Metal Detectors), and “Security Exit”. I feel that these security measures when implemented are only suitable for a domestic terminal. However, with the game seemingly scheduling international flights, more needs to be implemented. Immigration & Passport Control is one thing I would like to see. In every international airport in the world, passport control is a must. Traditionally, we have manual immigration, with queues for immigration officers to check your passport. Today, in modern airports, we have airports opting for Automated Immigration for Citizens and some other groups, and even airports who have moved to fully Automated Immigration for All Travellers on Departure. These 3 ways of Immigration and Passport Control would give players different alternatives, and I think can be implemented into the “Tech Trees” that is coming in Alpha 34 the gameplay update. Customs should also be implemented after baggage claim with the goods to declare and nothing to declare channels, with passengers randomly being stopped by Custom Officers to do checks in the nothing to declare channel, and passengers stopping to declare in the goods to declare channel. Animal and Plant Quarantine can also be implemented as part of customs. I briefly touched on a few types of Security staff (Immigration and Customs Officers), and I think it would be cool and interesting if there were different security staffs rather than the generic security staff we have now. Patrols is something seen in the game but I am not sure has been implemented. Currently, in the “Shifts” tab in the game, we see a slider to adjust the shift time for patrols done by security staff. However, I do not see any patrols being done by security officers. I think we can implement patrols in two ways. Have the game automatically determine where security staff patrol, or have patrol routes determined by the players manually.

3. Cargo, Domestic and International Terminals

I saw in the Dev Blog for upcoming updates that the terminal update would allow for multiple terminals and was thinking if it was possible to assign terminals specifically for Domestic flights, and terminals only for International flights. Additionally, I think there could be Cargo terminals with planes only carrying cargo. I am not sure Cargo is an area the developers are going to bring into the game but I feel would definitely be interesting. Domestic terminals could have lighter security, with immigration and customs (from the suggested security upgrades) removed while International terminals would have tightened security.

4. Separation of Arrival and Departure areas

In some airports today, such as Incheon International Airport in Seoul, South Korea. Passengers who have just disembarked from a flight are immediately directed to a separate area from the departing passengers where they will go through security and so on. I think this could be interesting with certain floors dedicated to departure and other floors for arrivals. Currently, in Airport CEO, this is impossible as arrival passengers choose to go wherever they want. I think the idea of one-way paths and one-way doors could help with this.

5. Above Ground Roads, Separated Pickup and Dropoffs

In Changi International Airport in Singapore, Departing passengers taking private vehicles to the airport can be dropped off at the road that goes to the second floor. Meanwhile, arriving passengers taking cars or buses are picked up on the first floor. Taxis or Cabs picking up passengers have their own dedicated areas with queues on the first floor as well. I think Airport CEO can implement these Above Ground Roads, Separated Pickup and Dropoffs, as well as Taxi Stands, and they would also help with the separation of arrival and departure areas.

6. Standby Gates

In Airport CEO, it is rather common to have flights that get slightly delayed and depart late. This would sometimes result in the next flight taking the stand being unable to land. As a result, I would like to suggest Standby Gates where gates of all 3 sizes can be designated as a standby gate and planes with their stands still taken up would use the standby gate instead for their turnaround.

9. Staff and Staff Room Upgrades

Currently, in the game, many delays can be caused by Ramp Agents not arriving at the stand on time, Airport Staff not arriving at the Boarding Desks on time and so on. I feel that some of the aspects of the staff are rather unrealistic. In which of the world’s best airports, does airport staff only arrive when boarding or check-in starts? I think that players should be allowed to choose when Airport Staff are to be at the gates and also be able to choose if Ramp Agents should be at the gates before the plane arrives. Another thing that I suggest would be to give the players the ability to assign all staff in the game their work areas. For example, Airport Staff Andy Holmes could be assigned to the Boarding Desk of Gate A1. The staff could also be assigned to multiple work stations if the timings do not clash, and allow multiple staff to be assigned to one work station which would allow for shifts. In the game currently, there is the ability to create multiple staff rooms. However, it seems that staff can choose whichever staff room they want to go to to take breaks even if it means walking across the entire airport, as long as that staff room is open for their specific staff type. I think it would also be good to allow players to assign staff to a staff room while also being assigned to their work stations. Additionally, Staff Rooms could have more facilities, such as Water Dispensers, Food Vending Machines and so on, to use during their breaks.

10. Boarding

In airports today, planes never wait for passengers. If passengers do not show up, the plane will still leave on time without them. In Airport CEO however, it is the other way around, planes wait for passengers, and cause delays that have a ripple effect on the airport. I think this is something that must be changed. Players should be allowed to decide when the gate closes and boarding ends. Passengers that are late will not be allowed to board.

Another thing that would be more relevant to Alpha 36 the panic update, would be to have “Lost Passengers” that can be helped by patrolling airport staff or security staff. Or if there is a nearby information desk, “Lost Passengers” will go up to it and find their way. Airport Staff at boarding desks should go and find passengers that are going to be late and get them on board the plane before boarding ends.

11. Runway and Stand Repairs

I feel that the current way of repairing runways and repairing stands is rather unrealistic too. In real life, airports have to close a runway or a stand, in order to repair it. Repairs also do not happen instantly. I think Runway Closure for Runway Maintenance should be implemented. Same for stands. I suggest that service technicians go to the runway to repair the stand during the allocated time for runway maintenance. During days with snow, the runways could also need to close for snowploughs to remove the snow on the runway.

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I’m actually not too sure on how the game should behave in this situation. Regulations state that if a PAX is rejected from the flight, his or her baggage also has to be removed for safety reasons. Because getting the tagnumber for the correct bag, locating in which hold it was loaded and then searching for it takes a long time, the gate generally stays open while ramp agents search for the bag. At the same time some airlines that offer connecting flights might choose to wait for a (group of) PAX because that would be cheaper than offloading his luggage and rebooking.

On the other hand, if a PAX is late and travels without luggage, we always just close the gate and the reject the PAX.

Moral of the story; always travel with checked-in luggage.

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I think that could be something that players can choose in-game? Maybe an option to wait or not wait. I suggested that players can decide when boarding should end. Airlines such as Singapore Airlines, close the gate 10 minutes before departure. This gives them ample time to remove the baggage of any passengers that were late. It would be interesting to see the developers assign ramp agents to remove baggage of late passengers too.

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That depends on which role you want to give the players. Generally speaking an airline will decide where to fly, when to fly and how to perform the turnaround. The airport ‘management’ is only in charge of selling the landing and take-off slots to the airline but they cannot demand that certain things should happen.

In the big scheme of things, it would be interesting if the game would eventually offer different kinds of airlines where one might want an aircraft to wait, while the other will not.

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Perhaps this is the case where you live but not in the US. Bags fly without their passenger on the aircraft all the time.

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I did some research on the topic and context matters regarding the rules. ICAO standards state the following:

4.5.3 Each Contracting State shall ensure that commercial air transport operators do not transport the baggage of persons who are not on board the aircraft unless that baggage is identified as unaccompanied and subjected to appropriate screening .

This means that there are essentially two scenarios;

  1. The passenger chooses to fly without luggage by not showing up
  2. The airline chooses to reroute luggage to a different flight.

In scenario 1, where the passenger has chosen not to accompany their luggage item, there is a security risk that relates back to the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 in 1988 where the bag in question was not accompanied by a passenger. This is led to the Positive Passenger Bag Match (PPBM) principle that is executed while boarding/loading.
In scenario 2, where the airline has chosen to reroute the luggage, the passenger had no control over the situation and therefore couldn’t have planned it, removing the risk.

At the same there appears to be an exception for US Domestic flights because supposedly the standard baggage screening method in the US is advanced enough that this is not a requirement. However, since ACEO is not an American game, nor focussed on the American standards, luggage should be removed if a passenger is not present.

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I believe all checked baggage in the US is screened.

I build my airports in the US in the game, why shouldn’t it follow those rules?

Getting off topic here, is this really something that should be designed and implemented where there are plenty of other ideas that would probably be seen and used more often?

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UK and europe have checked bags screened for it no matter which domestic or internoianl

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All luggage is always screened. The “problem” originates from the level of screening.

Because America is the exception here, and it is only applicable to domestic flights anyway. It simply makes more sense to follow the masses. Ultimately it would be nice if the game could adapt to regional rules, but that would be a very large task with limited effect.

I don’t think it should be implemented, because as you said there are plenty of other features that are more important. The original question however was that an aircraft would never wait for a passenger, which is not true. The current implementation makes enough sense as is; an aircraft waits, but no luggage will be sought if the passenger doesn’t show up.

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Since many of these ideas are already implemented and some of them are already suggested, I am going to close down the topic.

Topic is LOCKED

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