The holiday season is a hectic time for the world’s airports, with passengers travelling in their millions. Since the pandemic, the number of people travelling in December has rapidly recovered. Last year, Heathrow reported a 90% year-on-year increase in passengers over the month, while this year Airlines for America predicts that 39 million people will board US flights between December 20 and January 2.
Minimising the risk of disruption is of course a key objective for airports all year round, but it can become more difficult during times of increased passenger footfall and in a month susceptible to bad weather in many countries, such as high winds and snow. Airports therefore need to prepare as well as they can, by optimising operations.
Here are five key ways that airport leaders can minimise disruption through technology over the holiday season and New Year:
1. Optimising self service
Utilising facilities such as self-service check-in, bag drops and e-gates means passengers will pass through airports quickly and seamlessly, reducing queue times. In AeroCloud’s Getting on the Runway to Growth report, 89% of global airport leaders said that this was a crucial factor in boosting customer experience.
In the US, airport leaders cited common-use facilities – which enables various airlines to share the same resources – as a key technology when it comes to improving airport operations. Without this common-use function, there can end up being long queues for one airline’s facilities while another’s remains unused.
2. Enhancing communication
There are so many factors that can lead to flights being delayed, and with such a busy flight schedule around the holiday season, these instances must be dealt with efficiently. Nearly half (48%) of airport leaders around the world say that ineffective communication hinders collaboration and has a direct impact on airport operations and customer experience.
Scheduling changes need to be shared and addressed in real time with information accessible to all relevant staff. To achieve this, a shift from manually managing information in the likes of Excel to collaboration on shared live platforms is essential.
3. Monitoring passenger flow
As airports experience higher volumes of passengers, bottlenecks are likely to form, especially around security processes. These need to be quickly resolved to avoid disruption to passengers’ journeys, something that more than nine in ten (91%) of global airport leaders agree with.
Technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) can vastly improve passenger flow by offering a seamless kerb-to-gate experience by alerting staff of sticking points in real time throughout the journey, enabling them to be promptly rectified.
4. Boosting early shopper engagement
Enticing customers by positioning the airport as a shopping destination will encourage passengers to arrive earlier and help the flow of people through departures.
Many airport leaders are already planning to do this by making the airport a destination for pre-planned purchases (94%), providing a good range of retail opportunities (88%), offering discount vouchers (91%) and increasing time in concession areas by minimising check-in and security wait times (93%). All of which, of course, have the added bonus of boosting spending in the terminal and driving much-needed ancillary revenues.
5. Addressing staffing concerns
Staffing has been a major issue for airports since the pandemic, with 62% of global airport leaders identifying it as a top concern. This has affected all areas of airport operations, from border personnel to air traffic control (ATC). Just last week, passengers flying from London Gatwick Airport experienced several hours of delays as a result of ATC staff shortages.
This is not a simple thing for airports to overcome, but bringing in extra support over the Christmas and New Year period wherever possible will be hugely helpful in alleviating disruption. By using shared platforms powered by the likes of data analytics, AI and ML, leaders can also better respond to staffing needs in real time and enhance resource planning based on trend data.
A final thought
This time of year brings excitement around travel, but it also brings a set of challenges that airports need to address to ensure disruption is avoided as much as possible. By adopting the measures outlined, airports can ensure their passengers spend more time enjoying their pre-flight journey, and less time worrying about potential travel disruptions.
But, as the saying goes, technology isn’t just for Christmas – it should be used by airports all year round if they want to drive best practice in operations, smoother passenger experiences and commercial impact.
