海角视频

Airport leaders face a strategic inflection point: global air travel is back to pre-pandemic levels and climbing 鈥� and airports worldwide are scrambling to expand and modernise.

In India alone, are expected by 2030 to meet demand. The Airports Council International (ACI) predicts that global passenger traffic is forecast to Meeting this level of demand requires rapidly expanding capacity. Effective decision making on infrastructure investment will ensure competitiveness and revenue resilience in the years to come.

Operational continuity during an airport鈥檚 transformation to deliver this new capacity is the expected standard.

Operational and commercial pressures leave little tolerance for disruption. For COOs, stand reliability and queue performance underpin airline confidence; for commercial teams, construction sequencing shapes retail revenue performance; and for customer teams, disturbance to the passenger experience can impact brand.

The requirement is significant: expand capacity, renew ageing assets and evolve the passenger experience while maintaining uninterrupted aviation and commercial operations. Leaders who effectively evaluate how construction decisions alter these metrics are those who will be best positioned to safeguard continuity of operations throughout transformation.

The true cost and complexity of airport construction

Every intervention and design decision in an airport terminal affects not just construction efficiency but operator鈥檚 concerns of stand reliability, queue performance and creating bottlenecks that affect flow and retail revenue. Meanwhile, airlines depend on predictable gate availability, runway access and the flow of passengers: disruption to this impacts the bottom line.

Moving contractors and materials airside without interfering with aircraft operations is essential. A single misalignment can cascade into delayed departure slots; the very scenario leaders plan to avoid. There is another commercial angle: because airport income from non-aviation activities accounts for roughly  (according to Airports Council International), even temporary reductions in retail visibility, circulation space or dwell time can materially impact performance.

This perspective shows that there is no single solution to stay operational during construction and expansion. Instead, success comes from harnessing a range of levers:

1. Procurement and collaborative delivery models that reduce operational risk
2. Offsite, modern methods of construction for speed and flexibility
3. Phased and sequenced design and delivery
4. Passenger flow modelling to protect the journey
5. Stakeholder engagement and communication
6. Wayfinding during construction

1. Procurement and collaborative delivery models that reduce operational risk

The key question is which commercial models provide the greatest predictability and transparency when expanding in a live operational environment.

Airports have long built in these live environments, but the industry has significantly matured its playbook, tools and procurement models in recent years. For example, the UK鈥檚 aviation sector has shifted since the implementation and adoption of the , whose subsequent evolution was strongly influenced by the highly critical Latham (1994) and, more broadly, by the collaborative principles reinforced in the Egan (1998) report into poor collaboration within construction.

Julian Sheppard is a director at 海角视频, with decades of experience in structural engineering. He spent many years working onsite at Heathrow. He said, 鈥淭he NEC caused a paradigm shift in how construction projects were procured within the UK 鈥� bringing suppliers and designers together, creating an environment that was less adversarial and more collaborative. It was really embraced by Heathrow: Terminal 5 is an example of how the dial was shifted for changing global construction practices.

The NEC allowed for what we largely see now: the kind of partnerships that are necessary to deliver complex aviation projects.

Julian Sheppard, director, 海角视频.

Operational continuity starts with the right commercial structure. The NEC and other collaborative procurement models are the foundations for managing risk in live operational environments.

New procurement and collaborative delivery models offer:

• Greater predictability/transparency
• Improved risk management
• Shared risk management
• Alignment with operational priorities.

2. Offsite, modern methods of construction for speed and flexibility

As they expand and grow, airport operators need techniques that deliver schedule certainty, product quality and predictability.

Offsite, modern methods of construction allow most of a structure to be made in a factory as separate 鈥渕odules鈥� and then transported to site to be assembled, solving the challenge of construction getting radically more complex and risk-laden once materials, equipment and people are airside. This can change the operational risk profile of construction, compress programme durations and protect both revenue and stand capacity.

The benefits and outcomes are:

• Speed: Significant reduction in .
• Flexibility: Modules can be installed in phases, swapped or relocated.
• Resilience: Factory-controlled fabrication reduces weather delays.
• Consistency: Higher-quality, safer builds.
• Environmental benefit: and waste footprints
• Practical application: Building components 鈥渙ver the fence鈥� landside, then installing them airside overnight.

3. Phased and sequenced design and delivery

When working in live, operating terminals, a structured and phased design means that one portion of the new facility can be built, opened and used before moving on to the next portion. This allows passenger processing and airport operations to continue while construction progresses.

Sequencing is not a scheduling exercise per se, but the output of a collaborative, interconnected design process. Julian Shephard said, 鈥淲hen we design airport infrastructure, we design it in sequences. This phasing is key: jumping ahead to early solutions that are not derived holistically will not achieve the well planned out, mini-sequences approach that will keep operations running.鈥�

This includes extensive surveys to understand the infrastructure 鈥� utilities, tunnels, roads 鈥� that may impact what is worked on when. This minimises the 鈥榰nknowns鈥� that often trigger operational disruption and allows leaders to make informed trade-offs.

4. Passenger flow modelling to protect the journey

As passenger volumes grow, operators must expand without impacting on current throughput, creating bottlenecks or committing to design choices that later prove inefficient, creating risk when airports can least afford it.

But early-stage visibility planning and optioneering, powered by passenger flow modelling and airport analytics, de-risks design choices and allows for passenger behaviours to be measured and modelled. Early, evidence-based visibility into how operational decisions will impact flow, queues and service levels is crucial for avoiding operational breakdown during construction and expansion projects.

Dr Becky Hayward is associate director, analytics and crowd dynamics, at 海角视频. She said, 鈥淪martMove (海角视频鈥檚 BIM-integrated software that measures and models behaviours) models real passenger behaviour under different scenarios, revealing where constraints will emerge and guiding client decisions that improve performance. Critically, it happens early on in the design process, before a spade goes in the ground.鈥�

The ultimate benefits for clients and passengers are:

• De-risked, evidenced design/construction decisions
• Protection of throughput and service levels/prevents overcrowding and bottlenecks
• Early identification of constraints and pressure points
• Protects the passenger experience.

5. Stakeholder engagement and communication

Effective stakeholder engagement is a core competency for both operators and contractors. With so many involved 鈥� airlines, retailers, car park operators, security, baggage handlers and the interconnected web of other designers and contactors 鈥� true understanding of each other鈥檚 processes and constraints is key to success while constructing, building and expanding.

Clear, jargon鈥慺ree, visual communication reduces confusion, stress and operational risk.

Julian Sheppard emphasises that communication and engagement 鈥� early on, continuously 鈥� are practical, not 鈥榮oft鈥� skills. He said, 鈥淜eeping operations open involves a suite of stakeholders, and many of them are not designers. 3D models, simple sketches and clear visuals help people understand spatial change and temporary impacts 鈥� and critically, the why of a design decision.鈥�

Effective stakeholder engagement becomes a strategic tool for maintaining resilience: it aligns expectations, avoids operational conflict and ensures that planned works do not compromise the airport鈥檚 ability to function day to day.

6. Wayfinding during construction

Good signage and wayfinding are always necessary in an airport, but during construction their importance is elevated. Sustaining operations during construction depends as much on people and processes as it does on engineering, so clarity on what has changed and what remains the same in a terminal is key for returning and new passengers to navigate their journey in a way that safeguards their experience 鈥� and ultimately, brand.

Poorly planned diversions can heighten passenger anxiety and cause slow flows, which is precisely the conditions operators are under pressure to avoid as construction reduces available space. But clear, intuitive temporary wayfinding ensures passengers feel confident navigating altered routes.

Benefits of clear wayfinding during construction:

• Maintains passenger confidence and reduces anxiety
• Prevents congestion in reduced/constrained spaces
• Protection of passenger experience and brand.

Investing now to stay operational, competitive and prepared

Keeping airports open during major works is not an aspiration, but a strategic necessity and a marker of operational maturity. The most successful construction programmes are defined by a suite of approaches.

Operational continuity safeguards the passenger journey and the revenue it supports; faster, better鈥憇equenced delivery brings upgraded retail, parking and processing space onstream sooner; and offsite, modern methods of construction give airports the capacity to respond to new demand and regulatory shifts without starting from scratch.

Because of the forecasted growth in passenger numbers and capacity, the airports that invest in these capabilities now will find themselves better placed to expand, compete and evolve in an environment where downtime simply isn鈥檛 an option.

To explore strategies to minimise risk, costs and disruption during airport expansion, contact Karl Lyndon, our global aviation sector leader.