Innovation lab to be set up in Singapore to reshape global airport operations

Transport Correspondent The back-breaking 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.

- Kok Yufeng

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, and the opening and closing of aircraft doors at arrival gates, which is done manually by ground agents.

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, ground handler Sats, national carrier Singapore Airlines, European airline conglomerate International Airlines Group, which owns British Airways, and the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD).

On Sept 6, the parties signed an agreement to support the setting up of the lab over the next two years.