Thesis (MBA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2011. / Ground handling is a key component of the air transport logistics supply chain as it facilitates the mobility of cargo and people from one destination to another. Ground handling facilitates international trade hence its existence is critical to the competitiveness of a nation. Airline businesses usually overshadow ground handling due to the historical dominance of airlines in the aviation industry. The importance and effectiveness of the ground handling function as part of the air transport business is fast becoming a global issue as the industry is slowly emerging. The following tenets of ground handling are fast becoming key issues in the air transport business: passenger handling, cargo handling, handling ramp handling, baggage handling, equipment, safety, security, and human resources. Ground handling players are mainly concerned with productivity, profitability and maximising returns on investment. Dwindling revenue, unsustainable profit margins, low productivity and low customer satisfaction and loyalty are terms no shareholder or business leader wants to hear. This research will give insight into ground handling best practices that are a panacea for the industry. The ground handling business is time sensitive and requires massive investment. Therefore, sustainable best practices are the right ingredient for customer loyalty and business success. The focus on ground handling in South Africa and Zimbabwe will help in assessing the level of development in each country. This will aid in recommending best practices for the industry taking into account different country-specific risks and operational conditions. There are few studies in the field of ground handling and it is an industry not many individuals know about. Many ground-handling executives admit that the industry absorbed them by accident and not by design. They only realise the importance of the industry when they are in it. This research is a practical study meant to bring out solutions to the industry.

La croissance du trafic aérien a rendu critique l’opération de la gestion des plateformes aéroportuaires. Celle-ci fait appel à de nombreux acteurs (autorités aéroportuaires, compagnies aériennes, contrôle du trafic aérien, prestataires de services, …). Le concept d’Airport Collaborative Decision Making (A-CDM) développé depuis une dizaine d’années est basé sur un partage d’informations opérationnelles en temps réel entre les différents acteurs de la plate-forme, permettant de prendre des décisions en commun pour rechercher une utilisation optimale, en toutes conditions, des capacités de l’aéroport. L’objectif principal de cette thèse est de contribuer à l’organisation de la gestion des opérations d’escale dans une plateforme aéroportuaire. Il s’agit de proposer une structure d’organisation de cette opération qui soit compatible avec l’approche A-CDM. La structure proposée introduit un coordinateur des opérations d’escale (GHC) qui joue le rôle d’interface de communication entre les partenaires de l’A-CDM et les différents gestionnaires des opérations d’escale (GHM). Cette structure hiérarchique permet d’une part de partager des informations avec les partenaires de l’A-CDM et d’autre part d’interagir avec les gestionnaires des opérations d’escale (GHM). Les processus de prise de décision basés sur des heuristiques ont été développés à chaque niveau de l’organisation proposée et sont évalués aussi bien dans le cas de conditions nominales que dans le cas de la présence de perturbations majeures. / The increase of the world air traffic growth of the last decades has generated a permanent challenge for civil aviation authorities, airlines and airports to supply sufficient capacity to provide a safe transportation service with acceptable quality standards. New traffic management practices, such as A-CDM, based on multi-agent and collaborative decision making concepts have been introduced at airports. However, within the turnaround process of aircraft at airports, ground handling management of aircraft has not been developed specifically in the A-CDM approach, even if it has an important role in the fluidity of aircraft operations at airports. The main objective of this thesis dissertation is to contribute to the organisation of the ground handling management at airports. It consists to provide a structure organize the ground handling management compatible with the A -CDM concept. The proposed structure introduces a ground handling coordinator (GHC) which is considered as an interface for communication between the partners of the A -CDM and the different ground handling managers (GHM). This hierarchical structure allows sharing information with partners in the A -CDM on the one side and on the other side, interacting with ground handling managers (GHM). Decision making processes based on heuristics have been developed at each level of the proposed organization and have been also evaluated in the case of nominal conditions and in the case of the presence of major disruptions.

The sustainability of air transport relies on proper and timely aircraft ground handling. Lack of manpower and current ground handling industry conditions makes innovation and automation the only way to support existing growth rates. This research presents the state of the art of aircraft ground handling at airports, identifying the challenges to overcome in building safe, efficient and environmental friendly automated ground operations. The greatest opportunity lies with automated docking of ground support equipment to aircraft, with further autonomous vehicles moving around the aircraft and automated systems within the aircraft later on. The problem formulation for resources assignment for ground handling in a fully automated environment is undertaken. On-line solutions for the fleet assignment problem are proposed and applied to an airport case. / La durabilité du transport aérien est basée sur le bon déroulement de la manutention des avions. Le manque de main d’œuvre et les conditions existantes sur l’industrie de la manutention au sol fait que l’innovation et l’automatisation sont la seule façon de maintenir le rythme de croissance actuel. Cette recherche présente l’état de l’art de la manutention au sol des avions, identifie les défis à résoudre pour parvenir à des opérations au sol sécurisées, efficaces et respectueuses de l’environnement. La meilleure opportunité est dans l’accostage automatique des matériels au sol à l’avion, avec des véhicules autonomes qui vont évoluer autour de l’avion et des systèmes automatisés dans l’avion lui-même. La formulation du problème pour l’allocation des ressources pour la manutention au sol des avions dans le cadre totalement automatisé est entreprise. Des solutions en ligne pour le problème d’assignation des flottes sont proposées et appliquées dans un aéroport.

Summary Aim: The aim with the study was to explore the work conditions of the Ground staff performing unloading and loading from an HTO perspective, and to identify areas for improvement. Research questions: 1. Which factors are important for the work performance? 2. To what degree do the employees follow the work instructions regarding the use of the equipment on the ramp? 3. Which recommendations can be provided to improve work performance at ramp operations and minimize risks for accidents? Background: Ramp operations have, according to Studic et al., (2017), repeatedly been estimated as one of the areas with the highest, still increasing, safety risks. Passenier, Sharpanskykh and de Boer (2015) also confirms how the work within the ramp operations, and performance of unloading and loading, is an area with high risks of injuries and deaths. Methods: The study was conducted with a qualitative research approach and Descriptive Case study design (Baxter & Jacks, 2008). Results: Five categories were found; time pressure, “safety mindset”, education, culture and equipment. The findings also showed that the employees prioritize the safety of the aircraft rather than their own safety. Conclusions: Out of the five factors, time pressure and equipment are the factors in the environment which the respondents have to work in line with to make it function in the environment.

This thesis is a simulation study aimed to improve the common-use check-in process at SAS Ground Handling operating at Arlanda Airport. The study sought to determine how to design the common-use check-in to minimize waiting times, reduce resource use, and increase the share of passengers checked in within service level targets. The simulation study was performed using Arena Simulation Software, testing different check-in setups which experimented with which flights were included in the common-use check-in solution, how many flows there would be for each booking class, and which flights would be allocated to each flow. The study found that changing how economy passenger flows are organized and how flights are divided between check-in flows could improve efficiency. The study concludes that the existing common-use check-in solution should continue to handle current assigned flights and recommends dividing the economy passenger flow into two separate flows based on passenger service times. / <p>Examensarbetet är utfört vid Institutionen för teknik och naturvetenskap (ITN) vid Tekniska fakulteten, Linköpings universitet</p>

La libéralisation du marché du transport aérien européen a également conduit à l'ouverture du marché d'assistance en escale aéroportuaire dont le domaine d'activité est très sensible à la pression économique, ce qui peut avoir des conséquences sur la sécurité. Ce nouveau marché d’opérateurs privés se retrouve ainsi avec une multitude de contrats de délégation de pouvoir. Dès lors, l’attribution de la responsabilité des évènements indésirables devient complexe et le coût de la gestion de la sécurité ou de l’insécurité devient très élevé. Dans cette thèse, nous analysons un système fait de réseaux de délégations de pouvoir au travers la contractualisation des transactions de prestations d'assistance, sur ce marché nouvellement libéré. Nous démontrons les causes, les limites et les insuffisances de formes d’organisations regroupées aujourd’hui sous le vocable de « gouvernance », afin de mieux maîtriser cet impératif absolu dans le transport aérien qu’est la sécurité. Nous recherchons également l’explication d’une éventuelle dichotomie entre le coût de la production des services d'assistance en escale et le coût de la sécurité des aéronefs, des passagers, du personnel et de l’infrastructure. Afin d’atteindre une gouvernance améliorée de ce système d’enchevêtrement de contrats, ce travail de recherche apporte un certain éclaircissement, une analyse et ouvre des perspectives opérationnelles à partir de quelques voies de réflexions, tout en conciliant le coût avec le gain engendré par ce dernier système. / The liberalization of the European air transport market has also led to the opening of the airport ground handling market whose field of activity is very sensitive to economic pressure that can have safety impact. This new market of private operators is thus left with a multitude of power-delegated contracts. Therefore, attributing responsibility of adverse events becomes complex and the cost of managing safety very high. In this thesis, we analyze a system of delegations being able to network through contracting of ground handling services transactions, on this newly released market. We demonstrate the causes, the limits and the shortcomings of form of organizations - so called today “governance” - to better control the absolute parameter in the air transport, which is safety. We also look for explanations of a possible dichotomy between the cost of production of ground handling services and the cost of safety of aircrafts, passengers, staff and infrastructures. In order to achieve improved governance of this system, this research provides some clarifications and analysis and opens operational perspectives for an appropriate model of safety while balancing cost of safety with the gain generated by the latter.