Individual Reflection
Done by Mr. Johan Fadli
YOUR CONTRIBUTION
How have you contributed to the team to prepare and complete the project?
1. Making sure the team understands the project’s objective
Being the group leader, I felt that it was important that I make the first step in setting the right direction for my team to progress in. First and foremost, I need to make sure that my team understands what Airport Operations & Management is all about. It’s not just about finding information and copy-pasting it into the portfolio. It’s about understanding why this is like this and that is like that. Airport Operations is a very complex system. Hence, I was able to use the PowerPoint slides to educate the team on what our project is all about. This was also the opportunity for them to share thoughts about the subject.
2. Setting-Up of Gantt Chart and Delegation of Tasks
Having worked with the team ever since year 1, I know the strengths and weaknesses of all my teammates. This made it easy for me to delegate tasks in such a way that it enables them to understand the contents of the project instead of just doing the project because it has to be completed. For example, I grouped up two of my members in-charge for a certain task. I believe these two would be able to help each other whenever the rest of the team is busy.
Also, creating the foundation for the Gantt Chart is vital. That way, my teammates can easily keep track of their schedules – since we already have so many other projects at hand.
3. Quality Control of Content
Apart from doing the parts of the project, I am in charge of, I love to take the extra effort of monitoring my team on the field. Be it if they require help or not, or if they’re done with the work or not, I always love to check-in with them about their status. I will always review the content and images they put up on the portfolio to make sure we are on the right track. It is a win-win situation. If I review and spot any mistakes, I can easily tell them. If I do not understand their content, they can easily educate me on this area of Airport Operation. At the end of the day, I am confident to say I have their backs and if anything goes wrong, I’d be there to help.
(369 Words)
TEAMWORK (POSITIVE)
What are the areas that you have observed which your team has done well during the project? What have you learned from these observations which you can apply in future?
1. Teamwork makes the Dreamwork
I say this because I am very proud of my team. Despite the delegation and assignment of tasks, all of us decided to help one another even if we were not in charge of that particular task of the project. From the Gantt chart, some of us have deadlines that are still far. Hence, all of us used the opportunity to help others that are in need or are having trouble with their project. I like the fact that it wasn’t just about “if it’s not my part, why to bother?” but more of like “My part or not my part, we will do this together – even if your part is easy to do”. Hence, no one was left behind to suffer. I would incorporate this skill of helping others even if it does not concern me. At the end of the day, this portfolio is still a team’s effort. If we succeed, we succeed together. If we fail, might as well fail it and recover stronger, together.
2. Ability to be present at every meeting despite busy schedules
Everyone is busy. Everyone has many assignments and projects. Some might even be working part-time in the midst of this busy and challenging time. The fact that all of us were able to delegate part of our busy life into coming together and working together shows the team spirit among us. It shows one for all and all for one. This is because if they are able to delegate part of their busy lifestyles into coming together and working together, it would be selfish if I did not do the same. There is no excuse “I am very busy” because everyone is busy. It shows that the team has a sense of camaraderie and trust. This skill, the ability to give in, the ability to show that we care, is something I would use in the future. All of us are very busy and the fact that all of us take time out of our busy schedules to meet and do the project together is something that I am really proud of.
(340 Words)
TEAMWORK (TO BE IMPROVED)
What are the areas that you have observed which your team could have improved? What have you learned from these observations which you could take note of when you work in teams in future?
1. Discipline to stick to the Datelines
Our team always had the mentality of “Why wanna do now? There is still so much time left”. This mentality is unhealthy and if it does not catch on to us now, it will catch on to us someday later. Despite having the Gantt charts, we always wanted to delay the completion of varying tasks to the very last minute. To be really honest, this actually takes a toll on our health. Rushing work last minute is not healthy and there were times where we missed the datelines of the Gantt chart before.
In the future, one way that I think we as a team can do better is to remove such negative thoughts and to complete it early. The benefits to reap if we do it earlier definitely outweighs doing the tasks later – nearer to the dateline. Moreover, if we are able to complete tasks earlier, there would definitely be ample time for us to review the tasks repeatedly and check for any mistakes. In addition, as long as one person in the team has the drive to complete the project early, this motivation could easily motivate the rest of the team to complete the project earlier – eliminating the risk of not meeting the datelines
2. Copy-pasting without understanding concepts
Airport Operations and Management is a complex subject that has lots of in-depth content. At times, researching such content for the project may be difficult as we have to keep digging in. Once we dig in and find the answer, we would just copy-paste it into the website without understanding. To us, at least it gets the job done right?
However, I feel this is a bad habit of the team that should stop. Yes, we may have found the answer but there is really no point if we do not understand it. I feel that in the future, we should actually analyse the content and ask our team/tutor if we do not understand such concepts. Moreover, who knows, that new content can be thought to the rest of the team and we can say – hey, this gives us a unique point-view of Airport Operations. For example, we always thought Airport Operations was about passengers and dedicating to passengers. However, we must also take into account our stakeholders, airlines, the airport staff other than just catering to the passengers themselves. Hence, in the future, I feel that we should really understand and raise questions about anything we research on. That way, not only does the team finish the project, but we learned greater insights about things we never knew existed in such a complex system.
(431 Words)
SELF LEARNING EVALUATION
What are the key areas about Airport Operations and Management that you have learnt from the project?
1. Airport Customers are not limited to passengers
When I attempted this project at the start, I thought that all the elements of airport operations and management are dedicated to serving passengers and passengers only. However, little did I know that Airport Operations and Management also serves a wide range of other groups such as Airlines, Concessionaries (Food & Beverage Outlets and Duty-Free shops), Land Tenants (Airport Hotels) and even Visitors. Every group I stated here has a vital relationship with the airport and in return, such groups have expectations of what they expect the airport to give.
For example, during my research, an example of Land Tenant in Kuala Lumpur International Airport:
Malaysia Airports launched its own Airport Hotel Brand, Sama-Sama Hotel. Land Tenants pay fees to Malaysia Airports for the monthly rental of rented premise and airport service charge (ASC)
In return, Sama-Sama Hotel expects moderate rental fees as well as the provision of facilities and services.
From this, I understand that Airports not only establish relationships with passengers and for passengers to expect something in return (eg. Good facilitation) but also establish relationships with many other groups and stakeholders.
2. Airport Access is adapted to an Airport’s Location
Other than what the slides have mentioned on what Airport Access is all about, I come to realize a unique point view while researching Airport Access on my 2 airports – Changi International Airpot and Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Although both airports have very similar access attributes like road access and rail access, I find it interesting that these 2 airports have very differentiating views on how they perceive their Airport Access.
For example, I would be comparing the Rail Access of both Changi International Airport and Kuala Lumpur International Airport:
Singapore only spans an area of 721.5km, making it one of the smallest countries in the world. You can easily travel from one side to another in under 1 hour by the varying Mass Rapid Transits (MRT) available in Singapore. As of a result, even the station at the airport, named Changi Airport is incorporated into the whole of Singapore’s MRT. There is no need for a dedicated airport shuttle or train service that serves just the airport and the airport only from the city centre. Accessibility and traveling from anywhere to the airport is just so easy and convenient through the connection of multiple train lines.
On the contrary, Malaysia is coupled with 13 official states which span an area of 329,487km in total. Kuala Lumpur is the capital and said to be the gateway to the rest of Malaysia. Traveling from one end to another would take extremely long. Moreover, not every state has its own dedicated public trains to serve commuters from anywhere in Malaysia to Kuala Lumpur International Airport. It is also very expensive and inefficient to connect every state and city in Malaysia just to KLIA. As of a result, it is vital that KLIA has its very own dedicated airport link, KLIA express. This airport link serves KLIA and directly to the city centre. This link unlike in Singapore has customised trains to cater to the needs of airport customers and is very much different from the ordinary public trains people use for the daily commute.
To sum it up, although two airports may have the same type of access modes, the purpose of these access modes differ greatly according to its operational needs. In Singapore, there is no practical need for a dedicated airport link as everything is integrated into the main train network. However, in Malaysia, it is vital a dedicated airport link is set up as it will be inefficient and not practical for the whole of big-sized Malaysia to be connected only directly to the airport.
3. There are so many types of parking facilities
Initially, I thought that all parking facilities are the same where it is a place to just park your car and get your car back once you’re done with everything you need to do. When looking at the slides, I could not initially apply the 4 types of parking facilities into the application of real-life. To me, a parking spot means a parking spot, just park the car. However, as I delve deeper into my research, it became more and more apparent how the 4 types of parking facilities cater to different groups of people. Yes, it also means that I should not park anywhere whenever I see a parking lot.
For example, the four types of parking facilities can easily be applied as real-life examples when I researched about what Kuala Lumpur International Airport is able to offer:
KLIA is an international airport that serves lots of international and domestic flights. As such, it must implement varying parking facilities that serve varying passengers, visitors, and stakeholders.
These 4 types are known as Short term parking, Long term parking, Long term remote parking and other parking (Valet Service or Contractor Parkings)
KLIA expects lots of visitors almost every day and hence, the need for short-term parking is essential to accommodate such visitors. However, how about passengers or airport workers that would want to park their vehicles?
This is where Long term parking come into play. At KLIA, the LTPs are not situated very far from the terminals making it convenient for those who would want to park in such parking facilities. I find that long term parking suit those who would be away for a couple of days as the rates charged in such parking facilities are way lower than in short-term parking facilities, making it more cost-efficient.
Overall, the need for having varying parking facilities goes a long way. With such varying facilities, it actually caters to what the airport customers demand at the end of each day. Every airport customer is different and it is vital the Airports cater to the needs of varying airport customers.
4. Types of passengers and why?
In the past, I never really gave much thought to as why at times there is a high volume of passengers arriving early for check-in while at times why there is a high volume of passengers arriving late for check-in. Through understanding and research, I found out that the reason for such has to be looked back at what types of passengers they are. Generally, there are 2 main types of passengers – Business Passengers & Leisure Passengers
I understood that Business Passengers tend to arrive later at the airport for check-in. Business Passengers are usually frequent flyers and they know all the procedures and processes they are going to go through at the top of their heads. Business Passengers also come in pairs or either individually when they arrive. When we talk about baggage count, they usually travel with a way lighter load as the only purpose they’re flying to the destination is for business. Business Passengers also promote the usage of an automated system given the fact that they prioritise time and hence, prefer less processing time for check-ins.
In contrast, Lesuire Passengers tends to arrive as early as possible to the airport for check-in. Leisure Passengers are infrequent flyers and coming to the airport late is never a good option for them. They are unfamiliar with the processes and procedures and thus requires time for them to understand and check-in for the flight. Furthermore, these Leisure Passengers tend to come in big groups due to the presence of tour groups. As such, they place a heavy emphasis on the time required to check-in the massive number of luggage for the flight. Also, the earlier they check-in, the more time for them to be able to spend in the shops/restaurants for the airport.
However, it must be taken into account that this is not always the case. At times, Business Passengers may also prefer to check-in early so that they can utilise the time before their flight to complete their work at the airport. Nonetheless, it’s fascinating to understand the types of passengers and why do they arrive early or late to the airport.
(1129 Words)
PROJECT EVALUATION
How do you find the project? Is there anything you will like to feedback to improve the project?
Being honest, I find this project extremely unique and interesting. Who would ever think I would ever create a website. Not just any website, a website as an airport specialist providing airport operations & management consultancy services to potential clients.
Throughout the journey of this project, putting myself in the shoes of an airport specialist really broaden my view on Airport Operations & Management. It is no doubt that the PowerPoint slides and lectures educate me on the varying aspects of this subject. However, what it cannot give me is the application of such knowledge. Through this project, I am able to see how all the things mentioned in the PowerPoint slides are being applied real-life to the airports we researched.
For example, we normally commute to the airport via cars/buses/taxis. However, when I came across the PowerPoint slide of Air Access Modes. I was thinking, how can one fly to the airport with the purpose of flying out of that airport to another place. Apparently, there are helicopter shuttles offered by companies like Uber which allows passengers to take a helicopter ride to the airport. I find that very interesting and cool.
If there is anything I’d like to feedback for improvement, it would be cool if our portfolios researched the airside of the airports researched. Most airports have very standardised check-in processes. However, they differ in how they conduct operations at the airside. For example, some airports might conduct centralised security screenings while some airports might conduct decentralised or gate security screenings. These varying methods would definitely create an impact on the facilitation of passengers and stakeholders, which our potential client might find as valuable information.
(278 Words)