Departure and Arrival Zones

[faandean]

i might be late to this post, but i manage to sparate departure and arriving pax buy managing the flow of pax in the terminal,

Basicly i make the ground floor for checkins and some stores, departure pax have to go to security check before going to 1st floor for waiting room and some more stores.
Then the international pax going to -1 floor to go to international terminal via underground tunnel.

Arriving pax from the jetway are going down the escalator to the back of the terminal, later they have to go through escalator down to -2 floors for baggage claim before going back up to ground floors to exit or connecting flights (if any).

here is the picture of the ground floor of my main terminal:

[craigwats]

The issue here is more about this…

Can be segregated

• Airbridge Stands
• Remote/Bussed Stands

Can’t be segregated (full zoned segregation, beyond just splitting the crowd/queue near the doors)

• Walk on Walk off Stands (Zebra crossing, with no airbridge)

A key element with this discussion is, that we can indeed physically divide arrival and departure passengers based on the left and right sides of the stand path entrance (the door at end of zebra crossing into a terminal or onto a pavement).

The issue with Walk on Walk off stands, is that the secure zone from the departure side of door, merges out onto the stand and back in the arrivals side of door. The passengers will not walk back out and around any physical barriers between the two sides of the door, but they will attempt to pathfind to facilities either side of the physical barrier.

It seems to be one of the final frontiers in the development along with putting availability slots or templates onto the planner (that’s a separate discussion!)

A few ideas, some are from myself now as I type this, many though have been raised in forum already (this is a wishlist of options, there are very important reasons why none of the below are easy options and why this is a really complex discussion)

• Improvement to stand zoning, keep a stand zone seperate to any others (like a remote stand or airbridge stand). This is the underlying issue that the zones merge and cause pathfinding issues. We almost need some kind of invisible airbridge at ground level to let passengers get from their ground level boarding desk, out onto the stand and up the stairs without touching the lava (the stand with an unmerged zone)
• Arrival/Departure zoning in some form, maybe able to set a secure zone as Arrival or Departure or Both, but this would not resolve the merging via the stand issue. I’m not a fan of this personally, as what would happen if a zone merges and complications with expanding/changing layouts? could get messy.
• Option to give all stands an arrivals only shuttle bus - To some this will sound crazy but this is very common in many airports in Europe especially seasonal airports or airports where flights may come in as Int’l and out as domestic or vice versa so they need bussed for Arrival or Departure but not both, even hubs like Heathrow see this commonly. We already assign arrivals shuttle bus stops to remote stands, it has been requested by another player before to have this option on all stand. We could then have a workaround for segregation for where an airbridge can’t be used such as small stands. For many airports realistically they use this method to avoid costly terminal reconfiguration and to presserve space for shops and McDonalds and pretty premium lounges rather than extra doors and corridors.
• Pathfinding enhancements to factor in physical barriers or staff zone tiles. If there is a wall or staff zone tile blocking the route (remember, stands are staff zoned), the passenger won’t flag an error but instead will then try the next nearest facility until one is physically accessible, only flagging an error if none are physically accessible. (Currently, if for example a passenger in departures needs the bathroom, and the level below for Arrivals has a bathroom and the secure zone is merged, they’ll flag an error if the route is across a staff tile or in and out of a stand crossing. It isn’t accessible, but strictly speaking it is the same secure zone due to the merging issue). I’m guessing this would be a coding nightmare and result in so much extra calculations in background and cause game lag so it would not be worth it at all.

The comments about issues with dividing revenue. Arrival customers rarely use shops and food facilities until they’ve had to wait a while for bags or customs desks (this in the game is very realistic). We’re talking about what is already possible in the game and is entirely optional with segregation already in quite a fair place courtesy of the developers airports in real world have exactly those same thoughts and opt to keep their “airside” secure zone as combined. It’s usually security or immigration reasons which force an airport to segregate the two groups

Airport CEO brilliantly combines being playable by all types of gamers whilst also doing a very good job of simulating what happens in the real world. I’m posting this as I say to give more detail to the discussion and some ideas

[88ekke]

My “problem” is passengers pathfinding into areas i want to be “arrival” only, example seats or restrooms. For example i have a stand with jetbridge, upper floor for departure and a stairway down to an arrival corridor. One possibility would be to add a slider on restrooms, shops, cafes and seating stating “arrival only” , “departure only” or “Departure and arrival.” Thus preventing passengers to pathfind from gate area to a toilet or seat in “arrival area”

[craigwats]

That “problem” is what i’m talking about, but that is a good idea to apply to switch to the facility rather than the zone it is in. But issue could be needing to do that for so many different objects and facilities to make it work in larger airports.

[humoresque]

Um, as of the new update at least, you can segregate ar/de. Here:

And yes, this works after save and reloaad

[andyc]

Thats since Alpha 35 but now just with indicators. Therefore only on jetways you had markings.

[craigwats]

Irony is in the real world, everyone is currently amazed at how bad we are as humans, noticing signs for social distancing and entrance vs exit to get into supermarkets and all that stuff…

Finally the world is learning what aviation workers have to tolerate inside airport terminals dealing with the public leaving their brains and eyes in the revolving doors or carpark shuttle bus

(Curious though anyone who understood the zone merge issue previously, is this still present in v3 currently on experimental branch for full segregation layouts for Walk on Walk off? Optimistic that one day this might be improved)

[vtk]

Can we set car / bus / taxi stops to arrivals only / departures only? Every airport I’ve been to that puts check-in and baggage claim on separate levels also has clearly separated paths for arrivals and departures in the road access. Here’s how I think it would work:

Passenger behavior:
Unchanged, except passengers for departing flights don’t spawn from vehicles at “arrivals only” vehicle stops, and passengers from arriving flights don’t seek “departures only” vehicle stops to leave airport

Person car behavior:
Go to a “departures only” or “general” car stop to spawn a passenger for a departing flight or an employee, then leave airport OR go to a “arrivals only” or “general” car stop that has persons waiting at it, pick up person, then leave airport

Taxi behavior:
If there are “departures only” and “arrivals only” taxi stops:
If there are passengers for departing flights or employees entering the airport landside, go to a “departures only” taxi stop to drop off a passenger or employee, otherwise skip this; THEN go to a “arrivals only” taxi stop and pick up any passenger or employee waiting there; then leave the airport
If there are “general” taxi stops:
Go to a “general” taxi stop, drop off a passenger or employee (if there are pax or employees entering the airport landside) and pick up a passenger or employee if one is waiting there to leave the airport; then leave the airport (current taxi behavior)
These two behaviors can both exist at an airport that has all three of “arrivals” “departures” and “general” taxi stops.

Bus behavior:
If there are “departures only” and “arrivals only” bus stops:
Go to a “departures only” bus stop to drop off passengers and/or employees (if there are pax or employees entering the airport landside), then go to a “arrivals only” bus stop and pick up any passengers or employees waiting there, then leave the airport
If there are “general” taxi stops:
Go to a “general” bus stop, drop off passengers or employees (if there are pax or employees entering the airport landside) and pick up passengers or employees if one or more is waiting there to leave the airport; then leave the airport (current bus behavior)
These two behaviors can both exist at an airport that has all three of “arrivals” “departures” and “general” bus stops.

[88ekke]

AGREEEEED 100%. This is one major issue i have.