The Northwest Arkansas National Airport Regional Airport Authority became the most recent in a growing number of airports to decide that travelers will simply have to use their own two feet to go to gates when they voted in September to remove the terminal’s lone moving sidewalk.
The airport claims that the people mover caused more trouble for travelers than it did good.
According to Olivia Tyler, a spokeswoman for the Northwest Arkansas National Airport Regional Airport Authority, it would malfunction frequently when it was operating. She added that the outdated walkway was taking up a lot of room and that she couldn’t recall the last time it operated.
The walkway will be taken out and replaced with extra chairs and terrazzo flooring. Our rate of growth is astounding. Tyler stated that we required more extra seating.
The airport’s larger terminal modernization plan includes the sidewalk removal. Tyler claims that because Tyson Foods, Walmart, and trucking behemoth J.B. Hunt all have their headquarters nearby, the airport draws an excessive number of corporate travelers. The moving walkway wasn’t helping those travelers get to their gates quickly enough.
“There’s a lot of real estate we could be using to benefit passengers, so I don’t think it will be anything to miss,” Tyler said.
In recent years, moving sidewalks have been eliminated entirely or in part at airports in Chicago, Las Vegas, Orlando, Dallas, and Cincinnati, among other locations. However, there isn’t a clear consensus; for example, other airports like Tampa, Denver, and Norfolk are installing or improving them.
The economics of airport moving walkways
The substantial maintenance expenses associated with removing the moving sidewalks are cited by several experts. Citing ongoing high maintenance costs, Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas spent $2.98 million in 2022 to remove sidewalks. While some experts point to safety concerns, others argue that airport shopkeepers suffer because the moving sidewalks can drive potential shoppers past their establishments.
Earlier this year, a group of German professors of economics published a comprehensive research on airport moving sidewalks. They aren’t beneficial for airport trade, it was found. However, if the walkways are positioned to better disperse and route traffic, they can help speed up connections between planes.
Longer parts make walkways especially helpful. Longer pathways, however, can make it difficult to get to stores, and people rarely return to a store they have already passed on a walkway, according to Nils Boysen, one of the study’s authors and chairman of the Friedrich Schiller University Jena faculty of economics. For financial reasons, airports choose to enhance shop access at the expense of user convenience.
Additionally, the moving walkways occupy a significant amount of area, and an airport’s square footage is precious real estate.
According to Dan Bubb, a former airline pilot and aviation historian who teaches at the University of Las Vegas Honors College, studies showing that moving sidewalks expedite people to their gate only hold water when the sidewalk is vacant and people are allowed to walk on it.
Otherwise, Bubb claimed, pedestrians are slowed down by moving walkways. Although the belts are useful for those who may be carrying a lot of luggage and need a little respite or have small children with them, he said that most of the time, the moving sidewalks are packed with people.
According to Bubb, their rest and phone checks slow down their speed.
A 5-10 mph trip through the terminal
Two brothers are working to upend and revolutionize the moving sidewalk industry in a facility near Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG).
Beltways was established by John and Matine Yuksel with the goal of improving and expediting the market’s walkway. According to the Yuksel brothers, most airports run at 1 or 1.2 mph, which is significantly slower than the typical walking speed, while current regulations limit single-speed moving sidewalks at two miles per hour.
It raises the question of why they exist. John Yuksel stated. The market is ready to be disrupted right now.
The Yuksels are developing a variable-speed moving sidewalk that can move people at up to five miles per hour, or on longer moving walkways, up to ten miles per hour. Therefore, you will still be moving at a good pace even if you are trapped behind someone who is using the entire sidewalk to chase their phone. A system of sensors keeps an eye on the walkway’s speed and safety. According to the Yuksels, their walkways will be operational by 2025.
The founders of Beltways also claim that their pathway design eliminates the risky aspect of the conventional approach, which is the entry and departure where sharp combs may be waiting and one must step up and over them to avoid an unwanted meeting.
According to John Yuksel, there is no stepping over because ours are flush.
Wheelchairs and strollers—which are typically prohibited on moving sidewalks—will also be more convenient for users.
According to the Yuksels, their walkways will replace trams at airports because they are far more affordable and don’t require waiting.
Airport retail sales and sidewalk traffic
The argument about whether the pathways harm or benefit stores will not go away in the interim.
Denver International Airport does not want to remove its sidewalks like other airports. According to spokeswoman Stacey Stegman, “We are a large airport and know they have an important role in passenger mobility.” Many outdated moving walkways will be replaced as part of the airport’s ongoing conveyance modernization effort, she said.
There are 68 moving walkways here at the moment. A third-party contractor (TK Elevator), who occasionally doubles as the original manufacturer, handles maintenance. According to Stegman, we also have moving walkways from Otis, Kone, and Schindler.
Stegman claims that the more than 140 vendors at the Denver airport are not negatively impacted by the rolling sidewalks. Denver International Airport’s layout places our moving walkways exactly where our gates are. Concessions are grouped at the ends of the walkways, so that isn t an issue for us, she said.
Airports where the walkway design runs past concessions isn t ideal, she said, but moving walkways aren t usually so long that people won t backtrack to get what they want. You may lose some customers and impulse buying could be impacted, but if someone is hungry and has the time, they will do what they need to.
When all else fails for the argument against the current generation of moving walkway, there is the odd accident that stands in its way. If a shoelace gets stuck in one of those, that s a big problem, Bubb said.
Indeed, Delta Airline pilot Kenneth Gow found that out the hard way. Gow filed a lawsuit earlier this year against moving sidewalk maker TK Elevator Corporation for an incident at Denver International in which his foot was caught up in a moving sidewalk. Both sides are currently litigating the mishap, with depositions being taken this month. The incidentwas caught on video, and Gow missed a couple of weeks of work and sought physical therapy.
It was a good thing he was wearing some heavy-duty shoes, said Gow s Denver-based attorney Brian N. Aleinikoff.
TK Elevator did not respond to a request for comment.
Aleinikoff said that while he doesn t think moving sidewalks are inherently unsafe, they do require regular maintenance, and he says the teeth at the end of the moving sidewalks can be pretty sharp. Gow has, Aleinikoff said, made a full recovery.
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