Evaluation of Level of Service at Airport Passenger Terminals: Individual Components and Overall Perspectives Anderson Correia Department of Civil Engineering University of Calgary- Canada

Level of Service Definition The term Level of Service expresses the quality of the experience which passengers perceive they encounter in the terminal. It addresses the wide range of factors that influence this experience.

Establishing level of service (LOS) measures is an area of interest for both airlines and airport operators.

LOS evaluations have been individually undertaken, without a standard methodology or reporting system (Humphreys and Francis, 2000).

The TRB - FAA study (TRB, 1987) recognized that the capacity of any airport passenger terminal component can not be evaluated without LOS definitions, but there is little agreement concerning these definitions.

Literature Review

Deficiencies of Former Approaches No standard method. Insufficient passenger input. LOS developed arbitrarily. Oversimplifications. Focus on departing passengers. Focus on North-American and European airports. No airport wide LOS standards.

Research Objectives Development of LOS standards for individual components and for the airport terminal as a whole according to passenger perceptions and movement types. Complete analysis of departing passengers. Partial analysis of arriving passengers. Use of revealed preference data type. Multi-attribute analysis.

Techniques Employed in This Research Psychometric Scaling Technique: to transform qualitative data into quantitative data. Regression Analysis: (1) to correlate passenger ratings of LOS and characteristics of facilities; and (2) to obtain the degree of importance of different components in the overall LOS.

Theoretical Framework Successive Categories Method (Psychometric Scaling Technique)

Data Collection Rio de Janeiro International: June Sao Paulo International: June May Sao Paulo Domestic: June Calgary International: Jan

Surveys Content Nominal data: gender, purpose of trip (business/tourism), type of flight (international/domestic), number of checked- in bags, and party size. User responses of LOS (divided into five categories: 1-poor, 2-regular, 3- fair, 4-good, 5-excellent). Stimulus data: waiting time, processing time, availability of space, walking distance, total time, etc.

Results Provided LOS standards for individual components –Curbside –Check-in counter –Security Screening –Departure Lounge –Baggage Claim

Results Provided (cont.) Overall LOS Measures –Walking Distance –Total Time –Orientation Overall LOS evaluation as a function of individual components.

1. Waiting Time at the Check-in (Sao Paulo/Guarulhos International Airport)

Plot of the Data and Regression Line (Check-in/Sao Paulo)

Causal Relationships (Check-in/Sao Paulo) LOS = (WT) R 2 = 0.97 F = Chi-Square = (compared with at 5% significance level)

Proposed LOS Standards (Check-in/Sao Paulo)

2. Processing Time at the Baggage Claim – Calgary Airport LOSProcessing Time at Baggage Claim (min) A< 1 B C D E> 26 = (PT) (t = 5.686) (t = ) R 2 = 0.80 F = Chi-Square = Chi-Square critic = (5% signif d.f.)

3. Overall Terminal Evaluation (Departing Passengers - Sao Paulo/Guarulhos Intl. Airport)

Composite Equation (Sao Paulo/Guarulhos International Airport)

Parameters - Final Results (Sao Paulo/Guarulhos International Airport)

Composite Equation - Final Model (Sao Paulo/Guarulhos International Airport)

Main Contributions Provision of a comprehensive method to evaluate airport LOS according to passenger perceptions. Development of overall LOS measures. Analysis of the impact of each individual component in the overall LOS. Validation of the technique with 400 interviewed and observed passengers in two countries. Practical to use: provision of A-E LOS ranges.

Conclusions All statistical analyses provide satisfactory goodnes-of-fit test results. Application of the theoretical framework provide reasonable and applied standards. The methodology can be applied to any airport. Data collection is complex, but feasible.

Future Research Application of the proposed methodology to various airports nationwide to obtain a comprehensive LOS evaluation. Verification of the impact of socio- economic variables in the perceived LOS. LOS of connecting passengers.