Enhancing Airport Apron Safety Through Intelligent Transportation Systems: Proposed Feda Model

The safe operation of an airport apron is a vital part of aviation safety. The fact that accidents and incidents are still experienced in aviation indicates that safety is still an essential agenda. Therefore, airport apron safety has continued attracting researchers' attention for years. Although some comprehensive studies on aviation safety are in the literature, studies that directly discuss ITS solutions for apron safety problems are extremely limited. This study aims to explore apron safety problems and develop a procedure for detecting problems. This study also presents the possible ITS countermeasures that can be used in apron operations and their practical and theoretical implementations. The study adopts a qualitative research approach and employs a semi-structured interview technique for data collection. The snowball sampling approach, one of the purposive sampling methods was employed for the selection of the participants. This study’s sample size consists of 10 participants, including the pilot interviews. The study proposes a model called FEDA which is a managerial support model that can support managers in making decisions. The emerging safety issues such as technology acceptance, user adoption, and techno-stress are among the significant findings of this study. This study also highlights the importance of human and cultural factors in improving apron safety. Considering that ITS technology will soon be utilized in the entire airport airside, focusing on these apron safety issues, and ITS countermeasures is a timely topic. The study is expected to guide decision-makers in the aviation industry by aiding them understand problems affecting safety.