Airport Terminal Facilities Software for Low-Cost Carriers: Development and Evaluation at a Case-Study Airport
Source abstract
Abstract
The growing dominance of low-cost carriers (LCCs) in global air transport has intensified the need for airport terminal facilities that reflect their simplified, efficiency-driven operating principles. Traditional Level of Service (LOS) standards, based on International Air Transport Association’s Airport Development Reference Manual (IATA ADRM), were primarily designed for traditional air carriers or full-service network carriers (FSNCs) and may lead to over-dimensioned or misaligned airport terminal facilities when applied to airports with dominance of LCCs. This study presents the first newly developed computational tool called Airport Terminal Facilities Software (ATFS) as a methodological and conceptual advance in airport terminal planning, that integrates LOS guidelines differentiated by airline business models. The methodology integrates spatial–temporal LOS parameters, specific facility capacity formulas, and peak-hour demand calculations of airport terminal facilities. Results from the case study conducted at Pula Airport show substantial differences between IATA and LCC LOS outcomes, i.e., applying LCC LOS guidelines can significantly reduce required areas for the several airport terminal facilities. Findings confirm that new LCC LOS guidelines and the ATFS tool can optimize airport terminal facilities, reduce or reconfigure excessive or empty space, and improve passenger flow efficiency at LCC-dominant airports.
Source: crossref · Quality: baseline
Research context
OpenAlex topics: Aviation Industry Analysis and Trends · Air Traffic Management and Optimization · Maritime Ports and Logistics
SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.
Affiliations
University of Zagreb, Faculty of Transport and Traffic Sciences, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
References (59)
Show source-provided references
1. Hello major airports, goodbye regional airports? Recent changes in European and US low-cost airline airport choice10.1016/j.jairtraman.2016.11.005 ↗
2. Strategic behavior of European low-cost airlines: A review and economic analysis10.32368/FJES.20181401 ↗
3. Preferences of low-cost passengers, low cost airlines and airport management on low cost terminal (LCT) facilities development model
4. Development of business models of low-cost airlines10.7708/ijtte.2013.3(1).07 ↗
5. Doganis, R. (2019). Flying off Course: Airline Economics and Marketing, Routledge.10.4324/9781315402987 ↗
6. (2025, September 13). Centre for Aviation (CAPA). Available online: https://centreforaviation.com/analysis/reports/.
7. (2025, August 10). Statista. Available online: https://www.statista.com/topics/6024/low-cost-carrier-market-worldwide/#topicOverview.
8. Kazda, A., and Caves, R.E. (2000). Airport Design and Operation, Emerald Group Publishing.
9. De Neufville, R., and Odoni, A.R. (2003). Airport System Planning, Design and Management, McGraw-Hill.
10. Orsini, F., Gastaldi, M., Mantecchini, L., and Rossi, R. (2019, January 5–7). Neural Networks Trained with WiFi Traces to Predict Airport Passenger Behavior. Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Models and Technologies for Intelligent Transportation Systems (MT-ITS), Cracow, Poland.10.1109/MTITS.2019.8883365 ↗
11. (2025, August 19). International Air Transport Association (IATA) Publications. Available online: https://www.iata.org/en/publications/.
12. International Air Transport Association (IATA) (2019). Airport Development Reference Manual (ADRM), International Air Transport Association. [11th ed.].
13. Service quality and customer satisfaction in the airline industry: A comparison between legacy airlines and low-cost airlines
14. Service quality and customer loyalty in the commercial airline industry10.1177/004728759303200203 ↗
15. Transportation Research Board, National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) (2016). Improving the Airport Customer Experience, The National Academies Press.
16. Pivac, J., Vince, D., Štimac, I., and Boc, K. (2021, January 9–11). Service Quality Analysis at the Airport Passenger Terminal from the Passengers Aspect. Proceedings of the 22nd International Symposium on Quality—Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow, Poreč, Croatia. (In Croatian).
17. Livingstone, A., Popović, V., Kraal, B., and Kirk, P.J. (2012, January 1–4). Understanding the Airport Passenger Landside Retail Experience. Proceedings of the Uncertainty Contradiction Value—Design Research Society (DRS) International Conference, Bangkok, Thailand.10.21606/drs.2012.78 ↗
18. (2025, October 13). Airport Customer Experience, Between Management and Execution. Available online: https://blog.aci.aero/airport-customer-experience-between-management-and-execution/.
19. Zografos, K.G., Andreatta, G., and Odoni, A.R. (2013). Modelling and Managing Airport Performance, John Wiley and Sons. [1st ed.].10.1002/9781118535844 ↗
20. (2025, October 15). Deconstructing the Airport. Available online: https://www.newyorker.com/video/watch/deconstructing-the-airport.
21. Pivac, J., Štimac, I., Bračić, M., and Steiner, S. (2020, January 18–20). The Impact of the Level of Service on Dimensioning Airport Passenger Terminal. Proceedings of the 21st International Symposium on Quality—Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow, Crikvenica, Croatia. (In Croatian).10.30657/hdmk.2020.20 ↗
22. Transportation Research Board (TRB) (2010). ACRP Report 25—Airport Passenger Terminal Planning and Design Volume 1: Guidebook, Airport Cooperative Research Program, Transportation Research Board.
23. Self-service technology in aviation: A systematic literature review10.1016/j.jatrs.2024.100016 ↗
24. Optimizing the passenger flow for airport security check
25. Pavlin, S. (2014). Aerodromes II, University of Zagreb, Faculty of Transport and Traffic Sciences.
26. Optimization of resource demand for passenger services at airports during system failures such as blackouts10.1186/s12544-020-00446-2 ↗
27. Ratio-based design hour determination for airport passenger terminal facilities10.1016/j.jairtraman.2021.102125 ↗
28. (2025, September 16). Regulation (EU) 2016/399 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 March 2016 on a Union Code on the Rules Governing the Movement of Persons Across Borders (Schengen Borders Code) (Codification). Available online: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32016R0399.
29. (2025, September 16). Schengen Area. Available online: https://home-affairs.ec.europa.eu/policies/schengen/schengen-area_en.
30. Variables influencing performance of air terminal buildings10.1080/03081069108717468 ↗
31. Ashford, J., Stanton, H.P., Moore, C.A., Coutu, P., and Beasley, J.R. (2013). Airport Operations, McGraw-Hill. [3rd ed.].
32. Mumayiz, S.A. (1985). A Methodology for Planning and Operations Management of Airport Passenger Terminals: A Capacity/Level of Service Approach. [Doctoral Dissertation, Loughborough University of Technology]. Available online: https://repository.lboro.ac.uk/articles/thesis/A_methodology_for_planning_and_operations_management_of_airport_passenger_terminals_a_capacity_level_of_service_approach/9214295?file=16787780.
33. A review of airport passenger terminal operations analysis and modeling10.1016/0965-8564(92)90041-5 ↗
34. Airport simulation based on queuing model using ARENA10.14257/ijast.2018.115.12 ↗
35. Guizzi, G., Murino, T., and Romano, E. (2009, January 28–30). A Discrete Event Simulation to Model Passenger Flow in the Airport Terminal. Proceedings of the 11th WSEAS International Conference on Mathematical Methods and Computational Techniques in Electrical Engineering, Athens, Greece.
36. Factors influencing the intentions of passengers regarding full service and low cost carriers: A note10.1016/j.jairtraman.2009.11.005 ↗
37. International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) (1987). Doc 9184-AN/902 Airport Planning Manual—Part 1—Masterplanning, International Civil Aviation Organization. [2nd ed.].
38. Modelling of queuing process at airport check-in system: A case study of Manchester and Leeds-Bradford Airports10.4314/njt.v37i1.5 ↗
39. Modelling regional airport terminal capacity10.1016/j.proeng.2017.01.083 ↗
40. A model to optimize the airport terminal departure operations
41. An analytical optimisation framework for airport terminal capacity expansion10.1155/2020/2976281 ↗
42. Oprea, C., Rosca, M., Rosca, E., Costea, I., Ilie, A., Dinu, O., and Ruscă, A. (2024). Analyzing passenger flows in an airport terminal: A discrete simulation model. Computation, 12.10.3390/computation12110223 ↗
43. Simulation modeling of passengers flow at airport terminals to reduce delay and enhance level of service10.1016/j.cstp.2024.101312 ↗
44. (2025, October 16). One Size Does Not Fit All: A Study of How Airline Business Models Have Evolved to Meet Demand in Europe. Available online: https://www.iata.org/en/iata-repository/publications/economic-reports/one-size-does-not-fit-all---airline-business-models/.
45. (2025, October 17). 10 Tech Trends Airports and Airlines Should Watch Out for in 2022. Available online: https://www.futuretravelexperience.com/2022/01/10-tech-trends-airports-and-airlines-should-watch-out-for-in-2022/.
46. Di Mascio, P., Moretti, L., and Piacitelli, M. (2020). Airport landside sustainable capacity and level of service of terminal functional subsystems. Sustainability, 12.10.3390/su12218784 ↗
47. Passenger terminal design10.1016/0965-8564(92)90042-6 ↗
48. Andreatta, G., Brunetta, L., Righi, L., and Jacur, G.R. (2001, January 26–29). Simulation VS analytical models for the evaluation of an airport landside. Proceedings of the 4th International EUROSIM Congress: Shaping Future with Simulation, Delft, Netherlands. Available online: https://www.eurosim.info/fileadmin/user_upload_eurosim/EUROSIM_OA/Congress/2001/pdf/159.pdf.
49. An operations research model for the evaluation of an airport terminal: SLAM (Simple Landside Aggregate Model)10.1016/S0969-6997(99)00010-1 ↗
50. (2025, December 13). CAST Software. Available online: https://www.castsoftware.com/.
51. (2025, December 13). AirTOP Software. Available online: https://www.transoftsolutions.com/aviation/software/airport-airspace-fast-time-simulation/airtop-terminal/.
52. How do the demands for airport services differ between full-service carriers and low-cost carriers?10.1016/j.jairtraman.2003.10.006 ↗
53. How passenger preferences influence low-cost terminal development10.69554/TBEU2069 ↗
54. Low cost airport terminal locations and configurations10.1016/j.jairtraman.2011.03.009 ↗
55. Pivac, J., Štimac, I., Bartulović, D., and Vidović, A. (2025). Determining the optimal level of service of the airport passenger terminal for low-cost carriers using the analytical hierarchy process. Appl. Sci., 15.10.3390/app15041734 ↗
56. (2022). Study of the Passenger Terminal Capacity, Pula Airport. [1st ed.]. (In Croatian).
57. Departure lounge sizing and optimal seating capacity for a given aircraft/flight mix—(i) single gate, (ii) several gates10.1080/03081068808717388 ↗
58. Pula Airport (2025). Internal Reports & Data 2009–2019, Pula Airport. (In Croatian).
59. Pivac, J., Štimac, I., Bartulović, D., and Lonjak, I. (2025). Planning the airport terminal facilities based on traffic demand forecast and dominant share of airline business model: Case study of Pula Airport. Appl. Sci., 15.10.3390/app15052547 ↗