MOVE WITH THE FLOW Date:   Tuesday , October 21, 2014 Airports are learning to harness the power of networks to offer new levels of service convenience to passengers and other stakeholders. On an average day, 60,000 passengers will pass through an average airport. They all have their own journey plan, their own concerns and expectations. Some will be in a hurry. Others will arrive at leisure to enjoy a meal or drink, or some shopping. It\'s the same pattern every day. And every day, the airport infrastructure has to be in working order. Movable assets must be in place ready for use where needed. Thousands of staff will be focused on making the passenger experience as straightforward as possible. Manage the unpredictable Balancing service provision against cost and unexpected consequences is a complex task. It\'s made more difficult because of the inability to predict accurately how a mass of people will behave from minute to minute - let alone day to day. Most passengers are channeled as soon as they arrive at the airport - through check-in, security and passport control, for instance. A lot of that is predictable because of timetables that help to manage capacity and flow. But in the detail, much can - and does - go wrong. Real-time answers Intelligent airports will resolve this. They encompass a set of business intelligence and other tools so that airport staff can track, manage and share real-time information about assets, passengers and other key elements. The intelligent airport sees all stakeholders empowered to make better decisions more quickly, such as: 1. Should we deploy more resources to reduce passenger wait times at security? 2. How can we persuade more passengers to use retail? 3. Should we off-load bags or wait for passengers? Many of these decisions are familiar. But they\'ve tended to be made on instinct or through simulation modelling. Predictive analytics Now, ubiquitous tools and technologies such as Wi-Fi, real-time data and predictive analytics can drive more effective decision-making. In particular, new passenger flow monitoring capabilities will allow airports to capture and access data in real-time at all stages of the passenger journey. Passenger flow It\'s thanks to these new passenger flow monitoring capabilities that intelligent airports are able to deliver five game-changing benefits: 1. Reduced wait time at security through the automation of boarding pass validation. 2. Reduced queue lengths through predictive staff scheduling and better deployment of resources. 3. Increased operational efficiency from analyzing passenger dwell time patterns and passenger flow. 4. Increased non-aeronautical revenues from better understanding of passenger behavior and delivery of location-based marketing. 5. Enhanced passenger experience from being better informed on waiting times. Enablers So how exactly are these benefits enabled? What capabilities need to be in place to deliver them? The first relates to validation. Security officers need to scan both paper and mobile bar-coded boarding passes; then they need to validate passes against travel documents and flight information, simply and quickly. (This is enabled by SITA\'s Airport iValidate.) Second, bar coded boarding pass information must be easily collected. The data includes commonly requested information such as the time the last passenger checked-in for a specific flight and how much time passengers spent in the airport. (SITA\'s own Airport iTrackenables this task to be performed.) Third is passenger tracking. Based on Wi-Fi, this will monitor passenger location and movements through configurable zones - allowing real-time and historical data analysis. SITA Lab has worked in collaboration with Cisco Systems to T test this capability at Copenhagen Airport. The technology enables airports to monitor and prevent potential pain points using data obtained from passengers\' mobile phones. It doesn\'t matter if a person\'s device is in use or not, triangulation calculations between three or more access points identify passenger positions. At no stage is the device\'s MAC address associated with the person - helping ensure that the individual remains completely anonymous throughout the process. Fourth, the intelligent airport must be able to measure passenger queue wait times. It needs to detect, report and flag queue overflows. And it must have the ability to display a predicted wait time to passengers, all in real time. Maximize return These passenger flow capabilities will create a smoother process for passengers in real-time, but perhaps the greatest benefit lies in the quality and volume of data that\'s accumulated - which can form the basis for intelligence-based service evolution at airports. For example, an extra 10 minutes spent in security can reduce average passenger retail spend by 30%. Using data from passenger flows, airports can plan or amend their layouts to maximize the return on investment for retail areas. Data such as this also enables real-time information, such as queue times, to be passed on to passengers. This reduces the potential for frustration and dissatisfaction, particularly at peak times. Monitoring capabilities can be put to other uses, including tracking assets such as cleaning equipment, wheelchairs and vehicles for helping passengers with reduced mobility - and ensuring they\'re in place as and when needed. Results-driven Airports face increased passenger numbers and a squeeze on space. But by understanding passenger flows - by having the ability to respond in real-time and even anticipate concerns and requirements - airport managements can turn passenger movement into valuable information that generates tangible results.