Globalization of the social economy will further increase during the 21st century. The mission of international air transportation will become more important, and all airports around the world will have a significant role to play. Furthermore, it is predicted that air transportation demand in the world will double over the next 15 years. In the meantime, since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, the environment surrounding the aviation industry has become very severe and has caused adverse impact to the entire aviation industry. Security at airports has been reinforced in all aspects, significantly deteriorated on-time performance, caused mass congestion at the airport, and caused a drastic increase in aviation management and operational costs. Owing to these issues, the aviation industry in recent years has seen a need to improve both convenience to passengers and security measures, and at the same time improve on-time performance in the most economical manner. In connection with this trend, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has been promoting the Simplifying Passenger Travel project to facilitate the process of international travel for next-generation air transportation. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have an especially significant role to play here, for it is only with the strategic, widespread, intensive, and innovative use of ICT in future airport development polices and programs that the ambitious agenda of passenger convenience and airport security becomes much more possible to achieve. But this involves the need not only to unleash the potential of ICT per se, but also the need to ensure that an enabling environment and capacities that can facilitate its aviation applications are in place.
Control of the Air Transportation System with Flight Safety as the Criterion
