Our AER activity took place on 7th May 2016 at Bogazici University South Campus with the participation of undergraduate students (civil engineering, mechanical enginnering, industrial engineering), master’s students (transportation engineering, polymer science and technology, automotive engineering), a business professional employed in Turkish Airlines and 2 special guests; Haluk Nasi (Senior Project Manager at ARUP) and James Robinson (Aviation Industry Strategic Advisor at ARUP).

Participants were informed about the radical change expected in air transportation. The program started with the speech of Haluk Nasi. Then, James Robinson explained the planning and development of airline. He also mentioned the future of air travel.

After the speeches, participants started workshop in which participants imagined the prototype of the future experience of bag, end to end travel, terminal, and security. Participants were asked to provide a transportation experience to imaginary passengers while considering the bag, end to end travel, terminal, and security.

The first passenger profile was a large group traveling only from Trabzon to Mecca for a pilgrimage visit. There were several disabled people using wheel chairs. The second passenger profile was a nuclear family with a three-year-old baby and a dog traveling from Istanbul to Sydney. My third passenger profile was a chief engineer of the biomass energy company traveling to Amazon Forests and she has expensive equipment that needs to be tracked always. The fourth profile was an elderly couple circulating the world, who traveled from Istanbul to Cappadocia.

The stations of airport terminal, security, bag and end to end travel were installed at four corners of the room. The groups visited these stations and debated about problems that their passenger profiles are facing. After brain storms, participants came up with new solutions. Final presentations were made.

As a result of the workshop, many solution proposals came out. One of the solutions suggested was the usage of big data and features of big cities. One of the first big problems that people experienced during their journey was the access to the area and accommodation. So, the convenience of transportation and accommodation are important. In the future, private highways, in which automatic cars are planned strategically, will save a great deal of money and time.

Another solution is about health. Thanks to smart health practices, the system showing the health status of passengers to doctors at the same time will improve the quality of the journey. These smart health systems will also keep people informed about pets.

Other solution is luggage optimization. The passenger will not have to wait for their baggage because the courier system will take the baggage to the house. This will improve productivity and make the journey experience even better. Using RFID tags, passengers will be informed about the location information of their luggage by their smart phones.

The resulting innovative solutions had two different approaches to the aviation sector. Some of the groups supported the union of companies serving the aviation sector. The other groups supported that the companies should work in harmony while specializing in their fields. Although the output points were basically different, the groups had too many common points at the end.

Aviation Engineering Re-Imagination 2016 took place thanks to your participation.

See you again next year.