Manchester Airport optimizes passenger journey with BlipTrack™
Manchester Airport improves efficiency and planning capabilities by replacing manual sample measurement ofpassenger queue and dwell time with a BlipTrack™ automated tracking solution based on Bluetooth technology.
Providing greater passenger service
A key objective of airport managementis to make the passengers experienceas positive as possible, at all times.Smooth and effective processes aretherefore of great importance to theairport’s operations and its competitiveposition. Both are crucial to the airportand its airline partners – which is whythe efficiency of airport operationsis measured against a service levelagreement (SLA) between the airlinesand the airport authority. This is doneto ensure that passengers get througha number of checkpoints within a certaintime period. With the BlipTrack™solution from BLIP Systems, ManchesterAirport now has access to real-timedata about the passenger time spentfrom check-in to departure, 24-7-365.Currently, Manchester Airport is checkingpassengers dwell time relating tothe security scanning process.
Measurement and documentation
As part of its partnership approach toimprove the passenger experience,Manchester Airport reports the timespent by passengers from check-into completion of the security scanto the airlines. These reports includeperformance against agreed targettimes. Over the last two years,Manchester Airport has invested over£50 million in redeveloping its threeterminals following extensive passengerresearch. The research confirmedthat, prior to security, departing passengersthrough security as quickly aspossible.
Once in the departure lounge, passengersbegin to relax. As a result, thesecurity search areas were expandedand re-located next to check-in,creating a larger airside space whichhas been extensively refurbished toinclude new retail space, catering,seating and gate areas – all based onpassenger feedback. Thus the airportdepends on the ability to track andmeasure passenger queue and dwelltime in different areas of the airportin order to shorten the time that passengersspend to get airside.
From approximate data to accurate and intelligent data
Through automatic collection of BluetoothIDs collected from passengermobile phones and PDAs, ManchesterAirport gets a significant amount of rawdata on which the required analysis,modelling and reports can be based.
The BlipTrack™ solution has enabledManchester Airport to replace legacymanual measurement systems witha modern and reliable automatic method.
This enables them to achieve far greater visibility of passenger queuing and dwell time.
Stored data about passenger movementsgives Manchester Airport apowerful tool for statistical modellingand forecasting. This is used in order topredict trends and future needs withthe added crucial ability to plan morestrategically in the long term.
Rick Mernock, Head of Performance, Manchester Airport, states:
”Making the passenger journey easyis the heart of our business andmanaging/reducing queue lengthsis a critical part of our ability toachieve this. As aviation revenuedecrease, the delivery of improvedbusiness opportunities for theairside retailers is also important toour overall business.”
“The Queue & Dwell time solution has given us a dynamic and valid tool to document our performance against the
SLA and also to ensure that the right numbers of staff are in the right place at the right time for our passengers.”
