Concept of Advanced Personal Rapid Transit at Airports

The increase in air transportation demand implies challenges on airport ground access. Using private transportation mode to reach the airport is a typical practice which results in the vast demand for parking facilities. These facilities are located farther from the terminal, increasing the access time. This research aimed to develop the concept of an advance airport Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) that connects parking facilities to the terminal as a shuttle service, and provides on-board integrated flight-related services, such as check-in and baggage handling. The system architecture and operational models were developed, thus all relevant components and functions were identified, especially focusing on information management tasks. A questionnaire survey was performed and conducted at Budapest Airport to reveal the user expectations towards an advanced PRT service at the airport. Moreover, a layout selection method was developed which was applied to Budapest Airport as a case study. The proposed PRT service provides a seamless transit by access to airport terminals from remote parking facilities conveniently and the time consumption of flight-related activities is significantly reduced too.