MITMA Group companies, including Ineco, have joined the STEAM Alliance for female talent. On 9 February, the signing ceremony of the protocol took place with the Ministers of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda and Education and Vocational Training, Raquel Sánchez and Pilar Alegría, respectively, and the presidents of Adif, Renfe, ENAIRE, Aena, Puertos del Estado and Ineco, Sergio Vázquez (third from the left). 

Under the slogan ‘Girls in Science’, the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training is promoting this initiative in the public and private sectors to “encourage the interest of girls and young women in disciplines related to science, technology, engineering and mathematics” (STEAM).

Supporting the STEAM vocations of girls and women in education is a priority issue not only for the United Nations, which includes it in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, but also for the European Union and the government of Spain, which has included it in the Digital Spain 2025 Agenda. Meanwhile, Ineco has made equality one of the pillars of its strategic business plan.

Last April, Aena announced the completion of Aena’s remodelling work on the South Dock of Terminal T1 at Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat airport, a project carried out by Ineco in 2018 (see ITRANSPORTE 65).

The works were aimed at increasing the capacity of the Dock to cater for the growing number of wide-body aircraft operations, which now have five new parking positions. The south wing of T1 has also been remodelled with the construction of four new boarding bridges and the extension of an existing fifth, all equipped with moving walkways for large aircraft.

The interior of the building has been divided into three levels, separating incoming and outgoing passenger flows.

Every activity, both individual and collective, regardless of whether it is the manufacture of a product, the provision of a service or the operation of an organisation, generates a measurable impact on the environment due to its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions: this is what is known as the ‘carbon footprint’. Specifically, GHG emissions are the cause of global warming and, therefore, of climate change, which is why the 13th objective of the United Nations Sustainable Development Agenda 2030 is Climate Action. The first step is to measure these emissions and, from there, to define and implement the necessary actions to reduce or offset the emissions, all in accordance with the methodologies established by international organisations.

According to 2019 data from the Ministry for Ecological Transition, the transport sector is responsible for 26% of greenhouse gas emissions in Spain, with 3.5% of those emissions attributed to aviation. In the current situation, and despite the inevitable impact of the pandemic on the air sector and tourism, the need for connectivity still remains. Airports are planning to begin the recovery gradually and will have to adapt to the new demand, without losing sight of environmental factors in airport management.

At the 29th Annual Congress and General Assembly of the Airports Council International Europe (ACI Europe), held in June 2019 in Cyprus, most European airport operators formally committed to the goal of zero carbon emissions by 2050 and to work towards accelerating the decarbonisation of the aviation sector. Aena, Spain’s airport operator and one of the largest in the world, also joined this initiative, called NetZero2050. This agreement marks a significant milestone in the actions that airports are taking to combat climate change, and requires the aviation sector to set ambitious targets for emission reduction. These targets, in line with the ones established in the Paris Agreement, must support the EU’s climate change strategy, which is aiming for carbon neutrality by 2050.

ACI Europe issues the only existing certification in the airport field dedicated to the recognition of voluntary efforts to reduce CO₂ emissions, the Airport Carbon Accreditation (ACA), created in 2008 and with a total of 297 airports around the world currently accredited. Ineco is carrying out the carbon footprint calculation and verification work for Aena in order to obtain this accreditation, which to date covers eight Spanish airports, including the two with the largest number of passengers: Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas (for which only the verification is being carried out) and Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat.

Four levels of accreditation have been established within the ACA programme, from the lowest to the highest level of action on an airport’s emissions: level 1 ‘inventory’; level 2 ‘reduction’; level 3 ‘optimisation’ and level 3+ ‘neutralisation’.

Currently, the airports in Alicante, Menorca and Santiago de Compostela have renewed their level 1 ‘inventory’ certification; and Madrid, Barcelona, Lanzarote and Palma de Mallorca have renewed their level 2 ‘reduction’ certification.

Level 2 accredited airports have implemented a Carbon Management Plan with measures to reduce their CO₂ emissions, which in turn forms part of the framework of Aena’s Climate Change Strategy. These measures include the Photovoltaic Plan, which will make it possible to generate 70% of the energy for self-consumption by the network starting in 2026. According to Aena, the percentage will avoid the emission of 167,000 tons of CO₂ into the atmosphere each year.

The purchase of energy from renewable sources and other actions to improve energy efficiency, together with the offsetting of the remaining emissions, will make the main Spanish airports, Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas and Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat, carbon neutral by 2030, giving them level 3+ accreditation, the highest level of the ACA. Ineco is collaborating with Aena on the preliminary studies to achieve this objective.

In practice, this accreditation indicates that the airport that has obtained it has managed to neutralise its carbon footprint, both by reducing its emissions as much as possible and by offsetting any remaining emissions. This requires investment in carbon sequestration or reduction projects.

How the carbon footprint is calculated

The carbon footprint must be calculated according to international standards. In order to obtain the ACA accreditation, emissions must be calculated using the GHG Protocol (Greenhouse Gas Protocol) methodology developed jointly in 1998 by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and the World Resources Institute (WRI), together with companies, governments, and environmental groups around the world. This methodology complies with the requirements of the UNE EN ISO 14064-1 standard, for the quantification and declaration of greenhouse gas emissions and reductions.

Emissions accounting is performed on the activities included within the organisational boundaries based on the criteria of the GHG Protocol. In the case of Aena’s airports, this refers to the activities over which it has authority to introduce and implement its operational policies.

Aena aims to make the Madrid and Barcelona airports carbon neutral by 2030, giving them the highest level accreditation: 3+

Three scopes are defined based on the limits of the organisation, the operations it carries out, and its influence on those limits.

Scope 1 includes direct emissions such as stationary combustion, mobile combustion and process emissions such as leakage of refrigerant gases from air conditioning equipment.

In this approach, direct emission sources include those for which the airport management is responsible: stationary combustion, which includes generators, portable generators, boilers and fire extinguishing service (FES) drills; mobile combustion, which includes both light and heavy vehicles belonging to the airport itself; and lastly, processes, which include emissions from possible leakage of refrigerant gases from air conditioning equipment and emissions from water treatment.

Scope 2 comprises emissions deriving from the generation of the electricity acquired and consumed by Aena at each airport.

Scope 3 includes emissions that correspond to third parties, or in other words, the remaining indirect emissions. These include, among others, the emissions produced by airline aircraft operating at the airport during the LTO cycle (landing and take-off cycle); vehicles and machinery providing handling or assistance services to passengers and aircraft; energy consumption by concessionaires, ground access and employee work travel, among others.

Once the calculations have been completed, a final carbon footprint report is generated, containing all the results, factors used, activity data, etc. According to the GHG Protocol, all data provided must be documented and calculations must be made in accordance with recognised methodologies. The report must be certified by an external entity and include proposals for improvement.

Some key questions

CARBON-FREE HORIZON: 2050. Image of the 29th Annual Congress of ACI Europe,
held in 2019 in Cyprus. / PHOTO_ACI EUROPA

• What is the carbon footprint? The carbon footprint of an organisation measures the total direct and indirect emissions of GHG (represented in carbon dioxide equivalent, CO₂e) generated by the organisation’s business activity.
• What is it for? The carbon footprint is used to measure the impact of human activities on the environment. Once an organisation’s carbon footprint has been determined, it provides data that can be used to plan steps to reduce it, making it a useful method to quantify, reduce and neutralise carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions and contribute to the mitigation of climate change.
• What are GHGs (greenhouse gases)? According to the Kyoto Protocol, greenhouse gases are: carbon dioxide (CO₂), methane (CH₄), which comes in 61% from agriculture and livestock, about 31% from waste and about 8% from fuel combustion; nitrous oxide (N₂O), which comes in 74% from agriculture, 16% from fossil fuel combustion and 4% from the chemical industry and wastewater management; hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), which are generated entirely by refrigeration, air conditioning and fire extinguishing equipment; perfluorocarbons (PFCs), which originate 100% from the production of aluminium and fire extinguishers; sulphur hexafluoride (SF₆), which is produced by electrical equipment; and nitrogen trifluoride (NF₃), which is generated during the manufacture of semiconductors, LCDs and photovoltaic cells. Of these, the most important is CO₂, because its contribution to the greenhouse effect is greater than that of other gases emitted directly by human activity. The tonne of CO₂-equivalent is the universal unit of measurement that takes into account the global warming potential or GWP of each of these gases.
• How are the calculations made? After the activities to be studied have been selected, and the data has been compiled and the period of time for the analysis defined –usually the calendar year immediately prior to the year being calculated– the data for each activity (for example, electricity consumption) is multiplied by its corresponding emission factor (adjusted periodically in official sources). This factor indicates the amount of CO₂ produced by the activity. The result of this formula is a certain amount (usually tonnes) of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO₂e).

Sources: Guide for calculating the carbon footprint and for drafting of improvement plans organisations (Ministry for Ecological Transition of Spain); Aena.

Apps that predict the location of traffic jams; optimised street lighting and irrigation for green spaces; train stations that communicate with taxi and bike operators; smart airports that recognise passengers; and digitalised ports that connect ships to the power grid to reduce their engine emissions… The functionalities provided by artificial intelligence, Big Data and robotics are already a reality that is transforming the mobility of our cities, which, according to the UN, are home to 55% of the world’s population. The goal is to exploit all of our technological resources to make them more efficient and, above all, more sustainable and environmentally-friendly.

With this in mind, the UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) convened the tenth session of the World Urban Forum, which was hosted by the emirate of Abu Dhabi from the 8 to 13 February 2020. A group of businesses backed by the Ministry for Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda together operated a 100m² stand at the event: Adif, Aena, Puertos del Estado, Renfe and Ineco were among those in attendance to present their proposals for more sustainable, inclusive, safe and resilient cities.

The forum, under the motto of Cities of Opportunities: Connecting Culture and Innovation, is the principal international stage for debating and sharing experiences related to urban issues

At the forum, the Spanish government also presented Spain’s Urban Agenda, the result of its commitment to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. The Agenda, approved in 2019, is a roadmap that aims to guide all of Spain’s towns and cities, regardless of their size, towards a more economically, socially and environmentally equitable, integrated and sustainable future by the year 2030. The Agenda offers a Decalogue of Strategic Goals, which, in turn, feature a total of 30 specific goals and 291 lines of action.

The forum, under the motto of ‘Cities of Opportunities: Connecting Culture and Innovation’, is the principal international stage for debating and sharing experiences related to urban issues The event was attended by more than 18,000 delegates from approximately 170 countries, representing mostly institutions, ranging from national and local governments, non-governmental organisations, the private sector and the academic world.

One of the organisations in attendance was Spanish railway operator Renfe. The rail operator, which presented the Haramain project at the stand, is working on its new ‘mobility as a service’, ‘Renfe as a Service (RaaS)’ platform back in Spain. The platform aims to integrate different modes of both public and private transport into one single application.

In addition, Puertos del Estado, which comprises and coordinates the 28 port authorities in charge of Spain’s 46 ports, presented its Ports 4.0 project. The Ports 4.0 project establishes an equity fund to finance innovative projects in new technologies and business models based on the 4.0 economy, via a public requests for tenders.

In the aviation sector, Spanish airport operator Aena is focusing on the concept of smart airports: its lines of action include a pilot project for biometric technology and digital identity (facial recognition) at its Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas airport and its airport in Menorca, as well as testing drones for different uses within the airport environment.

Adif, Spain’s railway infrastructure administrator, has activated a plan to digitalise its network of long-distance and AVE train stations, aiming to convert them into ‘intelligent stations’ that will connect to other transport systems and different city services. 

Smart projects from Ineco

Cityneco: LAUNCHED IN GRANADA

The Director of Ineco, José Ángel Higueras, (first from the right) presents the Cityneco model to the Ministry of Transport’s Deputy Director of Urban Policy, Ángela de la Cruz (centre). / PHOTO_INECO + LUMIERE ADVERTISERS

Ineco demonstrated its Cityneco Mobility model at the stand. The model city, constructed from Lego pieces, allowed delegates to observe the functions of its Cityneco platform through its augmented reality application. The company developed the technology platform for the smart management of different urban services in 2016, as part of an innovation project in which it partnered with the Granada City Council to pilot the platform in the city. The platform has since been updated to a new version 2.0.

Specifically designed to facilitate mobility, the model’s modular architecture and layered structure make it easily scalable and interoperable. A Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) version makes Cityneco available to medium-sized cities without their own infrastructure.

A visitor tests virtual reality glasses. / PHOTO_INECO + LUMIERE ADVERTISERS

The platform features several vertical modules, one for each of a local council or organisation’s management areas. Its modular architecture facilitates the incorporation of new vertical levels to adapt to new requirements. Its IoT functionality (the Internet of Things), allows it to connect to sensors located throughout the city while simultaneously integrating and processing multiple sources of information, from social networks to video feed.

The information is displayed simply and intuitively through dashboards, based on both real-time data and management indicators, and in the case of mobility, with a GIS viewer (Geographical Information System).

A connected campus for the University of Almería

The University of Almería (UAL), founded in 1993, is not the first Spanish university to introduce smart-management projects for its services and infrastructure, but it is the first to have a Master Plan for their implementation, which it asked Ineco to design. With a few methodological adjustments, the document incorporates smart-management proposals similar to those that would be applied to a small city.

The work, which was carried out over the course of 2019, includes a model for a smart campus, a diagnosis of the University’s current state of technological or smart development, the objective to be achieved and a roadmap of necessary actions.

View of the UAL campus. / PHOTO_UAL

At just over five kilometres east of the city of Almería and a few meters from the sea, the UAL is a small to medium-sized public university situated very close to the Natural Park of Cabo de Gata-Níjar. Despite being located in a water-deficient province, the university benefits from abundant sunshine and regular winds that it can use to obtain clean energy. The plan, therefore, concentrates on environmental initiatives to create a green smart-campus with particular emphasis placed on optimising its water and energy consumption. Given its location outside of the city centre, which makes access on foot difficult and generates high levels of private vehicle use, another priority is to improve the university’s mobility framework.

The UAL is the first Spanish university to have a Master Plan for the implementation of SMART-MANAGEMENT initiatives thanks to Ineco

In total, the plan covers 21 services, grouped in nine sub-areas: urban environment (maintenance and irrigation of gardens, air quality, noise and light pollution), waste management (cleaning roads and buildings, and waste collection), energy (electricity and gas consumption in buildings, public lighting, clean energy generation), water (water consumption and quality, sanitation and sewage network management), parking (car park management), traffic control (vehicle influx, internal bicycle and scooter traffic, charging points for electric vehicles, information on modes of transport), accessibility, public infrastructure and urban equipment, (management and maintenance, incident detection) and an innovation ecosystem.

Below: bicycles parked in front of lecture theatre IV; promoting sustainable mobility is a cornerstone of the plan. / PHOTO_UAL

In order to establish the current technological advancement of the services, six levels were defined: basic, initiation (UAL’s current level) intermediate, advanced, very advanced and connected. The objective is to reach the ‘connected’ level, which specifies that at least 80% of the services must be interconnected.

The Master Plan includes indicators to measure UAL’s smart progress and establishes a Steering and Coordination Committee and a Monitoring Committee, as well as suggesting a two-yearly revision of the document to keep it up to date.

The Barcelona-El Prat Airport has seen an increase in the number of wide-body aircraft operations in recent years. To manage this growth, Aena considered it necessary to increase the number of aircraft stands and boarding gates to accommodate aircraft that require a passenger boarding bridge and larger stands.

With the addition of two floors along the whole of the South Pier –approximately symmetrical to the North Pier– and the installation of several pre-boarding bridges, the airport will be able to serve more large aircraft on international routes.

Terminal T1 of Barcelona Airport has three boarding docks: the Longitudinal Pier, North Pier and South Pier. The Longitudinal Pier is generally used for Schengen flights, the North Pier for international flights (and also for the shuttle), and the South Pier for regional flights.

With the Addition of two floors and the installation of passenger boarding bridges, the South Pier of El Prat’s Terminal T1 will be able to serve greater numbers of large aircraft on international routes

Because of the different kinds of operations carried out in each one, the docks have different configurations: the Longitudinal Pier has a single level on floor P10, through which boarding and deplaning take place; the North Pier has three levels (P10 for domestic boarding and deplaning, P20 for international deplaning and P30 for international boarding); and the South Pier currently has a single level for boarding and deplaning.

Along both the North and South Piers, there are a number of aircraft stands that are used for operations with large-capacity aircraft (type-E and F). Due to an increase in the number of operations with these aircraft at Barcelona-El Prat Airport, the number of aircraft stands and boarding gates that can accommodate these types of aircraft needs to be increased, since they require two and sometimes even three passenger boarding bridges (at different levels) at the same time, and larger stands on the apron.

Aena will be undertaking two main infrastructure projects in the airport’s Terminal T1: the first one involves reconfiguring the apron of the South Pier to create 9 type-C positions, 3 type-E and 2 type-F. The second consists of redesigning the South Pier to adapt it to the new operations, namely, arrivals and departures of international flights and accommodation of large-capacity aircraft.

Redesign and enlargement

The South Pier redesign and enlargement project drafted by Ineco proposes an expansion of the constructed areas of the Terminal T1 building, with the completion of the P20 and P30 floors along the entire length of the dock (approximately symmetrical to the construction arrangement of the North Pier) and the construction of four new walkways with separation of departure/arrival flows.

Later, 10 new passenger boarding bridges will be added to the new walkways (two or three per walkway) to enable type-E and F aircraft to board and deplane with at least two boarding bridges simultaneously, in addition to a second boarding bridge attached to the existing walkway (P37) of the South Pier so that type-E aircraft can operate.

On 30 July 2018, Aena awarded the works to Sacyr Infraestructuras and Sacyr Construcción.

Focal points of wildlife attraction (water points, landfills, dovecotes, etc.), favourable habitat environments in airports and their adjacent areas, aspects related to bird migration or any other circumstances that encourage the presence and concentration of wildlife in and around airports must be properly managed to prevent conflicts with aircraft operations.

Aena, as an airport manager, implements measures at its aerodromes to monitor and control wildlife populations in order to reduce the risk of animal strikes. These are implemented in accordance with the regulations of technical guides produced by the Spanish Aviation Safety and Security Agency (AESA), in particular CERA-09-GUI-001 for the preparation of Airport Manual AUP-17-ITC-113 Preparation of wildlife and habitat studies in airport environments and CSA-14-IT-025-1.0 Special technical instruction for the drafting of airport wildlife strike risk studies.

Ineco has produced information guides describing the most common birds for Aena’s staff at the airports of El Hierro and Jerez (pictured). / PHOTO_ MIKEBERT4 (FLICKR)

Airports and heliports, in turn, manage risks by implementing the guidelines in these guides, as established by Procedure 4.12 of the Airport Manual and in the respective wildlife control programmes. The scope of use includes aerodromes covered by Commission Regulation (EU) No 139/2014 of 12 February 2014, which establishes aerodrome requirements and administrative procedures in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 216/2008 of the Parliament and of the Council, and by Royal Decree 862/2009 of 14 May, which approves the technical standards for the design and operation of aerodromes for public use and the certification and verification regulation for airports and other aerodromes for public use.

In order to manage wildlife, it is necessary to implement methodologies that provide data for understanding basic population dynamics, habitat selection and movements within the airport

Within this context, since April 2017, Ineco has provided technical assistance to Aena for the implementation and monitoring of programmes that offer different alternatives for wildlife population management at airports. The company has also drafted training documents to help staff at certain airports to identify species and improve the reporting of sightings of birds that could interfere with air operations.

Wildlife monitoring methodologies

In order to manage wildlife populations, it is essential to implement methodologies that provide data for understanding basic population dynamics, habitat selection and wildlife movements, mainly of birds, within the airport. Ineco’s technical assistance includes the implementation of methodologies for the monitoring of wildlife based on basic parameters related to abundance, density, distribution, flows and sampling of focal points of attraction in order to assess their significance in terms of potential risk of collisions with aircraft. Census methodologies for birds and mammals are currently being designed in compliance with AESA’s instructions. The idea is to carry out repeatable and comparable standardised samplings over time to enable analysis of the evolution of animal populations and determination of wildlife flows/movements that could affect operations.

Since 2017, Ineco has been providing technical assistance to Aena to implement and monitor programmes that offer different alternatives for wildlife population management at airports

The target animal groups are diverse and their significance varies depending on the airport, but they are essentially birds and mammals. Mammals may pose a risk to operations as in the case of ungulates (roe deer and wild boar) or may cause strikes because they themselves constitute focal points of attraction by representing a food source for other animals such as birds of prey. This is the case with lagomorphs –small herbivorous mammals such as hares and rabbits– a group on which work is being carried out to develop methods of monitoring and control in places with this type of problem, through standardised censuses and population control protocols.

Habitat management

To a large extent, control of wildlife at airports involves adequate habitat management. Airport habitats should be as unattractive as possible to wildlife. It is important to identify elements that attract wildlife, such as plant species that encourage nesting, feeding and shelter, the presence of roosting spaces, puddles etc. Different technical notes have also been developed regarding the application of new vegetation cover using hydroseeding or, for example, responses to airports about the suitability of the implementation of certain vegetation cover in the airport environment, analysing its suitability and proposing alternative crops that are less attractive because of reduced palatability or method of cultivation.

Monitoring and management of lagomorph populations

The presence of lagomorphs can cause various problems, from damage to infrastructure due to burrow digging to broken wiring or creating foreign object damage (FOD) due to animals being run over by vehicles or aircraft taxiing on the runway. These prey species can also themselves be a focal point of attraction for predatory species that pose a risk to operations, such as birds of prey. Standardised methodologies are currently being developed to monitor lagomorph populations where this wildlife group is identified as the protagonist of risk, and management plans are being implemented to adapt to the population dynamics of these species in order to reduce their density on the air side of airports. Other proposals include the capture of animals during periods of the year in which successful reproduction decreases, with the ultimate goal of causing a negative population trend; management of crops in airports that require it to reduce habitat suitability; management of burrows by ploughing; and new methods of capture when needed.

Ineco works on improving lagomorph monitoring and control systems at the affected airports. / PHOTO_ARTHUR CHAPMAN (FLICKR)

Last November, Minister of Public Works, Íñigo de la Serna, presented the Transport and Infrastructure Innovation Plan 2017-2020, whose aim is to integrate and coordinate all of the innovation activities of the companies and institutions involved in the Public Works Group. With a planned investment of 50 million euros over a period of three years, the Plan starts in February 2018 with the launch of cross-cutting initiatives and projects throughout the Group so that ‘it will function as a collaborative group working within a network’, explained the minister.

Through the Plan, the Public Works Group is taking a major step forward in line with the European Commission’s H2020 programme, a financial instrument that seeks to ensure competitiveness through research and innovation. At the national level, the Plan is part of the government’s strategy on innovation, in which the Digital Agenda for Spain and the Spanish Strategy for Science, Technology and Innovation play particularly significant roles.

Thanks to the National Smart Cities Plan developed by the State Secretary for the Information Society and Digital Agenda (SESIAD) in collaboration with Ineco, Spain is a pioneer in the development of smart cities, having established a number of guidelines on platform interoperability that have become an international benchmark. The platform ecosystem proposed in the Innovation Plan follows these guidelines, ensuring that the different transport initiatives complement and can be integrated into the advances made in smart cities. The result is a common strategy based on a solid model.

The Transport and Infrastructure Innovation Plan also uses BIM (Building Information Modelling) as a cross-cutting element for all of the initiatives, given the strategic role that it needs to play in the future of Spanish innovation (see report).

A cutting-edge transport system

Transport plays a key role in the overall development of societies and their economies. The way in which people and goods move through an area largely defines its social, economic and environmental fabric, which is why actions in transport and infrastructure are a vital part of any basic strategy in the ongoing process of expansion and modernisation of societies.

For this reason, the Plan is committed to putting technology at the service of the citizen, using innovation to make advances in safety, accessibility and sustainability. These advances need to be accompanied by greater economic and social profitability through an increase in the efficiency and effectiveness of public and private investment.

The Innovation Plan is structured around four main dimensions to achieve these objectives: digitisation, Internet of the future, intermodality and energy transformation. Supported by these dimensions, the initiatives proposed in the Plan represent a great boost to the consolidation of a safer, more sustainable and accessible cutting-edge transport system, which will keep Spain at the forefront of innovation in transport.

The aim of the plan is to put technology at the service of the citizen, using innovation to make progress in safety, accessibility and sustainability, advances that need to be accompanied by greater economic and social profitability through an increase in effectiveness and efficiency in public and private investment

Four major cornerstones and 70 initiatives underway

Drafted by Ineco, the Innovation Plan included participation by the heads of Adif, Aena, ENAIRE, CRIDA, Spanish Port System and Renfe. The opinions of other institutions, such as the Spanish Rail Research Laboratory (CEDEX), Spanish Maritime Safety and Rescue Agency (SASEMAR), the Ministry of Public Works and various private entities, were also taken into account. Four strategic cornerstones have been identified in the Plan: user experience; smart platforms; smart routes; and energy efficiency and sustainability. These cornerstones are structured in turn into 22 strategic lines, which have materialised into 70 initiatives.

User Experience is aimed at personalising the offering according to user preferences, providing them with products and services on demand. To that end, the concept of ‘Mobility as a Service’ and, in general, public-private collaboration models will be promoted. Several other initiatives will focus on the elimination of barriers, with the development and implementation of new booking, payment and validation systems focused on cybersecurity and fraud reduction.

Big Data will be the technological foundation that will enable personalisation of services and improved user experience.

The second cornerstone, Smart Platforms, is designed as a cross-cutting element that provides technological support to all of the initiatives in the Innovation Plan. Through these Platforms, information is collected and processed by the companies in the Public Works Group, improving efficiency, quality and security of the services offered.

The proposed platform ecosystem covers all modes of transport and is integrated with city platforms. The application of the BIM methodology in stations, airports and ports, and the promotion of the Single European Sky will play a special role in this ecosystem, which will also consider the inclusion of unmanned aerial vehicles.

Smart Routes are aimed at the digitisation of roads and railways, with the development of a framework for the implementation of connected and autonomous vehicles. One of the fundamental aspects will be the standardisation and regulation of vehicle-vehicle and vehicle-infrastructure communications.

In addition, modelling and forecasting systems based on automatic learning and data science will be developed to enable smart transport planning and management. Dynamic traffic control, early recognition of congestion conditions on roads and dynamic driving management are some examples of the application of these developments.

The fourth cornerstone of the plan, Energy Efficiency and Sustainability, focuses on achieving transformation towards a sustainable and energy-efficient transport system in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, rationalise the use of fossil fuels and facilitate the switch to new transport solutions. This line includes initiatives that promote the use of renewable energy generation systems, use of surplus energy for self-consumption or feeding back into the grid, promotion of electric vehicles and other vehicles with alternative energies in transport networks, among others. All of these measures seek to adapt transport elements and direct them towards more sustainable and effective models in order to enable Spain to position itself as a benchmark in the international sector.

Facilitating open innovation and encouraging start-up entrepreneurship through synergies with companies in the Public Works Group is also part of the initiatives of this fourth cornerstone.

The Plan aims to set up an innovative network that integrates and connects all sectors of society, encouraging investment in innovation by large companies and SMEs and actively involving universities, technology centres and entrepreneurs. Within this line, the creation of an ‘Innovation Rail Hub’ seeks to launch collaborative R&D projects that promote railway technology on an international scale.

ILLUSTRATION_JAVIER JUBERA

Experts in public transport innovation

To draft the Plan, Ineco’s Department of Cooperation and Innovation collaborated with a team of experts in innovation from the companies and institutions in the Public Works Group. Adif, Aena, ENAIRE, CRIDA, Spanish Port System and Renfe, together with other institutions such as Cedex and SASEMAR, worked with Ineco on the drafting of a common project:  “We set out a road map –says Rocío Viñas, Ineco’s deputy general director of Cooperation and Innovation– for the next three years with a strategy based on digitisation, the Internet of the future, intermodality and energy transformation.” For Rocío Viñas, analysis of the current situation of innovation projects “reflected the importance not only of sharing knowledge and creating synergies in the Public Works Group, but also of reinforcing collaboration with universities, startups and other companies, fostering and promoting our innovative culture inside and outside the EU.”

According to Javier Rodríguez Barea, Renfe’s manager of Transformation and Digital Innovation, the interesting aspect about this project is that “citizens are at the centre of the Innovation Plan, which acts a great prescriber of a new, more personalised, door-to-door mobility service in an interconnected and smart world, where technology and digitisation are put at the service of the companies in the Public Works Group in order to transform our value proposition towards society and improve user experience in our services.”

For Antonio Berrios, deputy director of Strategic Innovation at Adif, “one of the great contributions and challenges of this Innovation Plan is its cross-cutting vision within the Public Works Group, involving all companies making a technological leap to facilitate solutions that improve the capabilities of all of the modes of transport that travellers and goods units can use in their door-to-door mobility process.”

Along this same line, Juan Puertas Cabot, head of Aena’s Quality, Excellence and Innovation Division, adds that “effective innovation is always orientated towards known customers. The plan has combined the vision of the customer as a passenger on all modes of transport and as a citizen with their needs and expectations. This global vision is necessary to focus on effective innovation in global transport.” Juan Puertas points out that instead of highlighting a single initiative, he would stress the importance of including energy efficiency and sustainability as one of the main cornerstones: “It links with the whole strategy of the Plan, which puts society as a whole at the centre. I believe that a company of the future must necessarily be responsible and innovation is an essential tool to incorporate sustainability into transport processes.” In the case of Aena, within the framework of the Plan, the company is implementing the “digital transformation of the relationship with the passenger, where not only the necessary economic return is taken into account but also a focus on improvement of the passenger experience in the different steps of a customer’s journey at an airport. The firm commitment to this project has been reflected in 15 digital innovation initiatives that will be implemented during the next year.”

Thanks to ICT, transport services can be better designed and managed, addressing the real needs of citizens and interacting with them in real time and within an integrated and sustainable transport system that improves its economic and social profitability

Of the 70 initiatives, Jose Damián López, head of the Infrastructure Technology Department of the Spanish Port System, highlights the Intermodality without barriers (E3L4-2) initiative, because the project “will enable the planning and optimisation of services and infrastructures dedicated to intermodal transport, as well as simplifying administrative procedures through centralisation in the Goods Platform, providing one-stop services and monitoring the status of goods at the same time.” For José Damián López, the Plan also develops –in the field of R&D and innovation– the necessary relationships of trust between the companies in the Public Works Group, diversifying the risks and benefits associated with innovation, and increases “the value of expected results in all of the initiatives by adding to them the talent, knowledge and experience accumulated by the different organisations.”

Fernando Fernández Martín, head of ENAIRE’s European Convergence Division and responsible for the Innovation Plan, points out that it is difficult to choose from among the initiatives included in the Plan. While the Smart ATM initiative is key for ENAIRE (it addresses the evolution of the Spanish Air Traffic Management System to adapt it to the Single European Sky initiative), it would be unfair not to mention the Platform for the management of unmanned aerial vehicle traffic, because it faces the challenge posed by the arrival of unmanned aerial vehicles in our environment, on the one hand to encourage the development of new business models, while preventing this type of vehicle from posing risks for manned aircraft or citizens.

For José Miguel de Pablo, director of CRIDA⁽¹⁾, the Ministry’s Innovation Plan “will enable the promotion and consolidation of the incipient implementation of Big Data techniques at the service of ENAIRE, therefore, improving the efficiency of aerial navigation services. The computing power that is currently available and the increasing degree of maturity of technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Big Data and Machine Learning offer an alternative to the use of conventional techniques, allowing them to overcome their limitations.” The Plan, he adds, “opens up a new horizon of possibilities that can range from improvements in available information and reliability and streamlining of decision making to the automation of processes through the development of intelligent predictive models. And all with one sole purpose: to improve the service provided to the passenger.”

⁽¹⁾ CRIDA is the ATM R&D+innovation Reference Centre, A.I.E. formed by ENAIRE,  (66.66%), Ineco (16.67%) and the Polytechnic University  of Madrid (16.67 %).

Ineco has collaborated with the company Arcadis on the definition of the scope of the project for the commissioning and Operational Readiness and Transfer (ORAT) of the new terminal at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, for the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey. Terminal A will replace the old building, which was constructed in 1973 and exceeded 9 million passengers, handling 10 million in 2015. The new project will increase capacity and significantly reduce travel times to boarding gates.

The company has extensive experience in ORAT in more than 20 airports, from its first works with Aena in Spain (Madrid, Barcelona, Alicante and Malaga) to the current contract, in collaboration with Aena, to carry out the Operational Readiness and Transfer of the new terminal at the airport at Abu Dhabi, the Midfield Terminal Complex, designed by KPF, which is expected to serve more than 30 million passengers. This work is included within the framework contract for the Project Management of the expansion programme and is the first contract executed by Ineco in the USA.

Nothing in an airport is superfluous. Everything is controlled and that is how it should be because, although it impossible to guarantee absolute safety, risks can be eliminated or mitigated to an acceptable level without causing injury to people or damage to property. Aeronautical safety studies are designed precisely to consider each and every one of these cases in order to identify, prevent and minimize any risk of accident or incident at airports, either on the land side or on the airside. Thanks to this work done by the entire aeronautical community, today’s world air transport has very high levels of safety, and is constantly reviewed through an ongoing process of hazard identification and risk management.

The rapid development of new technologies introduces factors that did not previously need to be taken into consideration. The advance in business models is focused on the construction of increasingly large aircraft that must operate at airports with all safety guarantees. These constraints generate added difficulty to maintain the quality standards that have been achieved. This is a constant effort, and in many cases it is necessary to propose alternatives, for example, aeronautical safety studies that guarantee an equivalent level of safety.

In general, these studies will be used in cases where the correction of a deviation is not feasible or is technically, operationally, environmentally or economically excessive, and the safety degradation can be overcome by means of procedures that offer reasonable, practical solutions.

The airport operator, airlines and air navigation providers have their own safety management systems, but it is of little use if each group pursues its own objectives in a way that is not coordinated with the other agents involved in the operation. The different safety management systems have to be integrated to form part of an interlocking system in which all pieces operate in a synchronized manner.

The levels of safety guaranteed by global air transport today represent an achievement based on the determination and efforts of the aviation community as a whole

International regulations

In the Convention on International Civil Aviation (1944), also known as the Chicago Convention, the main rules of aeronautical law were laid down in order to achieve adequate safety in air transport: at the end of World War II it was important to review the international agreements on civil aviation in a period of consolidation and development of the world aviation sector, and commercial aviation in particular.

The Convention was the seed of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a specialized agency of the United Nations created that same year to promote the safe and orderly development of international civil aviation around the world. The ICAO established, and continues to establish, the necessary standards and regulations for aviation safety, efficiency and environmental protection worldwide. Strengthening the safety of the global air transport system is its primary objective. The ICAO Global Aviation Safety Plan (1998) was developed to reduce the number of accidents regardless of the number of flights.

As the increase in air traffic leads to an increase in the risk of accidents, a progressive improvement in safety management has become necessary in order to maintain adequate safety levels. Its objective is to progressively reduce the number of accidents regardless of the growth of air traffic, taking into account that:

• No human activity or human-designed system can be totally free of risks and errors.
• The elimination of all accidents (and serious incidents) is impossible.
• Failures will continue to occur, despite the most successful prevention efforts.
• Risks and errors are acceptable in an implicitly secure system, provided they are under control.

The levels of safety that global air transport guarantees today represent an achievement based on the determination and efforts of the aviation community as a whole. Safety must be a dynamic process that is adapted constantly, while maintaining the objectives achieved with the goal of achieving the lowest possible risk, without forgetting the progressive adaptation to the changes that will be taking place.

TRAINING SEMINARS. In 2012, Ineco gave a Safety Seminar with Aena Internacional in Mexico. In the centre of the photo, from left to the right, Sara García Ramos, mathematician and author of this article, and Rosario González, aeronautical technical engineer, both from Ineco.

In this regard, the ICAO document Procedures for Air Navigation Services –Aerodromes (PANS-Aerodromes) (Doc. 9981), first edition 2015–, details the operational procedures to be applied by aerodrome operators to ensure safety, especially when it is not possible to fully comply with the required technical specifications.

It is important to note that the cost (economic, operational, environmental, etc.) of any action must be balanced against the safety benefit, so as to generate the least possible socio-economic impact without compromising the equivalent level of safety.

According to Article 15 of the Convention on International Civil Aviation, all aerodromes open to public use under the jurisdiction of a Contracting State must provide uniform conditions for all aircraft of all other Contracting States. Likewise, Articles 28 and 37 of the same Convention provide that each State shall provide in its territory airports, other air navigation facilities and services in accordance with the Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs) developed by ICAO. Airport operators must therefore have an airport certificate in order to be able to operate, and in the case of newly built airports or where new runways are to be put into service, this is a prerequisite before opening to traffic. The loss or modification of the certificate will result in the loss or immediate modification of the authorization to admit air transport. The certificate accredits the ability of both the infrastructure and the operator to carry out air transport operations.

In Spain, the Aviation Safety and Security Agency (AESA) is the aviation authority responsible for granting the certificate and monitoring any problems or deviations. Within the required documentation, are the aeronautical safety studies whose purpose varies from the justification of the fulfilment of the requirements to the evaluation of the deviations detected.

Ineco has been carrying out this type of study in Spain for over 10 years, working in air navigation, for all airports and heliports in the Aena network, as well as at other international airports in countries such as Mexico, Israel and Italy. Also, during this period Ineco has supported the certification processes at the airports and heliports of the Aena network – guaranteeing results and procedures.

Safety must be a dynamic process that is adapted constantly with the goal of achieving the lowest possible risk levels

Aeronautical safety studies

The objective of an Aeronautical Safety Study is to try to analyse an aeronautical problem, to determine possible solutions and select the most acceptable option, without adversely affecting safety. In short, the purpose of these studies is to:

• Detect the causes of the problem and evaluate the possible impact on the safety level.
• Present alternative means to ensure the aircraft operations safety.
• Evaluate the effectiveness of each alternative.
• Recommend procedures to act on the causes and/or diminish the effect or the occurrence of the consequences.

To achieve these objectives, the studies are based on a technical analysis. Technical analyses seek to justify deviations based on the possibility of achieving an equivalent level of security by other means. In addition, these analyses are generally applied in situations in which the cost of correcting issues that violate standards is excessive, but the negative effects on safety can be overcome by procedures that offer practical and reasonable solutions.

An aeronautical study may be conducted when aerodrome standards cannot be strictly met as a result of development or extension. This study is most frequently undertaken during the planning of a new airport or during the certification of an existing aerodrome.

Mathematical studies to determine the probability of an event

Risk analysis can be focused qualitatively or quantitatively involving mathematical models and input by groups of experts who contribute their knowledge to the process.

Quantitative models are a set of analytical techniques based on mathematical arguments used to assign probability of occurrence to a given fault or event in order to evaluate the level of risk associated with a given operation.

Runway excursion is the most frequent and catastrophic accident with respect runway operation. For this reason, a specific Mathematical model for the assessment of runway excursion probabilities has been developed for this type of incident.

Ineco has been carrying out this type of study in Spain for over 10 years, working for all airports and heliports in the Aena network, as well as in other international airports in countries such as Mexico, Israel and Italy

Severity and Probability Metrics

The accident database’s statistical model is based on the collection and processing of accident data in order to establish the quantitative relationships necessary to evaluate the safety of a system. The creation of a database with statistics on accidents, incidents and events and their analysis, makes it possible to determine the probability of occurrence for the most frequent events in an airport.

The tables show some examples as a guide, taking into account the international ICAO standard, severity classification matrix and probability classification matrix.

Severity classification matrix.

Probability classification matrix.

Last April a delegation from Abu Dhabi Airports (ADAC) travelled to Spain to visit the Madrid-Barajas airport and Ineco’s headquarters in Madrid. The company is conducting the comprehensive project management and supervision of the expansion of Fujairah Airport in the United Arab Emirates.

The works, awarded by ADAC, include the extension of the current runway, a new control tower, a taxiway, an electric substation and a fire-fighting building, as well as new navigation aids.

In addition to this work, since 2014, Ineco and Aena have been in charge of the start-up (ORAT) of the Midfield Terminal Complex, the new terminal at the Abu Dhabi International Airport.

In the photo, Ineco’s the Middle East Account manager, Javier Pérez Diestro, with the members of the delegation