Future air transportation and digital work at airports – Review and developments

Air freight logistics has always been on the forefront of technological and international collaboration developments. With the increasing integration of digital systems at airports, issues in human-technology interaction are becoming important for efficient logistics processes. This paper provides a literature review with 123 analyzed papers from 2010 to 2021 about the core developments regarding the collaboration of humans and digital systems. Whereas for example autopilots were seen as a comfortable addition in the past, today digital systems emerge that fundamentally change the role of human workers and collaborative processes. This has to be integrated on all levels of management, not least due to safety and security regulations to keep up quality and efficiency. The importance of digitalization trends is also reflected in a rising number of research publications: Most topics are security, human-technology interaction and performance measurement in the wake of digitalization at airports and in the air transportation sector.