Advanced simulation software is transforming airport design. Tom Bell, Adrian Bullen and Dave Cope at Ridge explain how we’re using it to help facilities of all sizes to reduce costs, improve efficiency and create a better passenger experience.

Airport design is never linear. All airports are highly dynamic environments, with complex interdependencies between passengers, aircraft, buildings and infrastructure. That’s why we use advanced modelling and simulation software to bring our designs to life and understand how people and aircraft will move through them.  

We take this data-driven approach across new builds, extensions and retrofits, to improve efficiency, identify cost savings and resolve potential pinch points before they become real-life operational challenges. 

Here are just a few examples of the value it can bring for aviation clients across the UK and internationally.  

Benefit #1: Maximising airside efficiency  

Airports, airlines and operators face constant financial pressure. Our modelling tools help meet regulatory and safety standards efficiently, maximising throughput, minimising delays and reducing land requirements for new infrastructure. 

Our Civil Engineering teams simulate aircraft movements in two and three dimensions to identify the most cost-effective routes between runway, taxiway, apron and gate. The software accounts for specific aircraft models and runway constraints, enabling us to assess how development plans will impact operational capacity and aircraft movements. 

Benefit #2: Creating a better passenger experience  

Passenger experience is a critical factor in airport design. Expectations are rising across the sector, margins are tight and competition is fierce – so it has never been more important to create environments where people actively want to spend time.   

Our Architecture team designs for both aesthetics and functionality. To offer a great experience, it’s important that a terminal is visually appealing, but it’s also essential to understand how people will move through and interact with the space. At Ridge, we use pedestrian modelling software to simulate movement patterns and test design scenarios, helping us identify congestion points, optimise layouts and ensure smooth transitions from arrival to departure.  

Benefit #3: Making progress towards Net Zero 

Decarbonisation is a pressing challenge for the aviation sector, increasing scrutiny of new facilities and driving retrofits of older ones. Modelling and simulation software can help airports to reduce operational emissions, and the embodied carbon and land requirements of new infrastructure. Beyond the terminal, it can also reduce congestion and emissions associated with private cars, by aiding the development of more sustainable transit options – especially important as passenger numbers increase.  

Our Transport Planning team supports the development of new infrastructure by taking a data-driven approach to analyse how people will travel to an airport and transition between different modes, and the operational impacts of any disruption. We can also simulate freight movements, or help airports to understand how new technologies such as automated vehicles could support smoother onsite operations. 

Whether we’re delivering infrastructure for a major international hub or a regional terminal, advanced simulation and modelling has become integral to the way we work at Ridge. Airport design is an ever more complex balance between operational efficiency, passenger experience, safety and sustainability: we believe that a data-driven, multidisciplinary approach is essential to unlock long-term operational and commercial performance.  

Read more about our work as Design Partner at RAF Akrotiri’s new passenger-handling facility and freight terminal here. 

Tom Bell is a Senior Associate Architect at Ridge, involved in designing regional and international airport facilities. Contact him at tombell@ridge.co.uk.  

Adrian Bullen is Associate Partner in the Civil Engineering team at Ridge, specialising in aerodrome design and helping airport clients use landside facilities efficiently. Contact him at ABullen@ridge.co.uk.  

Dave Cope is an Associate in the Transport Planning team at Ridge, specialising in using microsimulation to model pedestrian and vehicle movement through complex environments. Contact him at davecope@ridge.co.uk.