Addressing the ‘Airport Operations Challenge’: Stakeholder Perceptions on Business Investment Opportunities and Regulatory Uncertainty in Autonomous Ground Handling

Abstract Regulation and technology innovation are crucially intertwined in many cases and industries, notably in air transportation. Airports are safety- and security-critical environments governed by detailed regulatory frameworks at multiple authority levels. The deployment of automation solutions in ground operations remains loosely regulated. Furthermore, airport operations differ from other settings, and new solutions must be as safe and reliable as existing systems, or even superior. Global regulation in this context is fuzzy and interpreted differently at regional, national, and local levels. Revisions of global frameworks are underway, including the International Air Transport Association (IATA) working group regarding the standard Airport Handling Manual, including Section 908 (AHM908) on autonomous ground support equipment. To empirically analyze regulation intent, impact and potential uncertainty consequences, we interviewed 30 members of this specific working group from 13 countries across the four established IATA regions Americas, Europe, Middle East and Asia-Pacific. The interviewees represent different stakeholder organizations, including airlines, airports, authorities, handlers, manufacturers, and providers. We evaluate how different stakeholders perceive regulatory frameworks, needs for improvement, and best practice, unveiling generalized insights on the balance between over-regulation and potential under-regulation spurring uncertainty in corporate environments. By focusing on 12 airports, four different regulatory scenarios are examined and discussed. Core findings include implications for managerial investment decision-making and full-scale implementations. This introduces a novel approach towards shaping global regulatory action and innovation pathways in airport operations, with IATA acting as an advocate between regulators and technology users. In turn, this work enables conceptual framework development for other industries and topics on a global scale, avoiding potential regulatory uncertainty.