In the coming months, industry workshops will be organised to come up with potential projects that the new lab will work on. - ST FILE
SINGAPORE: The backbreaking work of unloading baggage from narrow-body aircraft like the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 may soon be a thing of the past, with a new aviation innovation lab being set up in Singapore to tackle operational challenges faced by airports all over the world.
Among the new International Aviation Lab’s potential projects is the roll-out of robotics systems that can help to stack and load cargo in the belly holds of smaller aircraft, reducing the physical strain on workers.
Other possible projects include automating labour-intensive airport processes like the pushback and towing of planes, the placement of safety cones and wheel chocks after an aircraft lands, and the opening and closing of aircraft doors at arrival gates, which is done manually by ground agents.
Touted as the first of its kind, the new lab is the brainchild of the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS).
In a tie-up spanning the breadth of the aviation sector, the lab’s founding partners will include aircraft manufacturers Airbus and Boeing, airport operator Changi Airport Group (CAG), ground handler Sats, national carrier Singapore Airlines (SIA), European airline conglomerate International Airlines Group, which owns British Airways, as well as the Singapore University of Technology and Design.
On Sept 6, the parties signed an agreement to support the setting up of the lab over the next two years.
CAAS said this support will include establishing joint research programmes, sharing resources and exchanging knowledge.
In the coming months, industry workshops will be organised to come up with potential projects that the new lab will work on, CAAS added. These projects will then be tested in Singapore, with the aim of eventually deploying them globally.
The target is to initiate the lab’s first batch of projects in the first half of 2025.
CAAS said the international tie-up will help to drive airport transformation “end-to-end”.
For example, with the participation of Airbus and Boeing, potential innovations could include improvements to aircraft designs, which can then be standardised across aircraft types, so it will be easier for airlines and ground handlers to automate certain processes.
CAAS said it will appoint the International Centre for Aviation Innovation (ICAI) to oversee the overall planning and execution of the lab’s programmes.
The ICAI, which was launched in January, is a broader CAAS initiative to research ways to improve the efficiency of the aviation sector in the Asia-Pacific region.
“To realise the sector’s potential and meet growing demand, airports around the world will need to reassess airport operations,” CAAS said on Sept 6.
“Many (airports) will need to better leverage technology and innovation, to overcome capacity and manpower constraints,” it added.
CAAS director-general Han Kok Juan said the authority will work on growing the new lab, by adding more airlines and airports to the partnership.
ICAI chief executive Patrick Ky, who was formerly the head of Europe’s civil aviation safety agency, said what makes the International Aviation Lab unique from other airport labs is its blend of international and local partners, as well as the participation of the two aircraft manufacturers.
CAG CEO Yam Kum Weng said the new lab will help to shape the future of airport operations.
Meanwhile, Goh Choon Phong, SIA’s CEO, said the lab’s initiatives could help the airline overcome capacity and manpower constraints. - The Straits Times/ANN
