Airport queues: root cause analysis – as simple as supply and demand?

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28th October 2014

Queues, queues, queues… where have they all come from? Why was the airport functioning smoothly at this time last week, last public holiday, last holiday season? We have the same plan, the same methods, and the same pool of staff, so where has it gone wrong?

 

Demand – always on the move

It might be time to consider how well you really understand current demand, not just numbers but how volumes are made up, how well informed other stakeholders are and how well information is shared. How well can you answer some key questions?

• Have volumes changed? Are you still monitoring the accuracy of your forecast?
• Have demand patterns changed?
• Have passenger demographics changed? Is the passenger mix still the same? Do they use the airport and its facilities differently?
• How do you plan to manage the larger volumes?
• How effective are the information flows between the airport, airlines, ground handlers and other third parties? Is information in sufficient detail to make informed decisions? Is it provided early enough to take action?

Arrival profiles

When was the last time you measured your arrival profiles?

Think about what influences when passengers arrive at the area experiencing queues, and what may have changed to impact the passenger journey to and through the airport.

• What are the preferred arrival modes for passengers? Perhaps more are arriving by train?
• What information/instruction is provided to the passenger?
• Do surges of arriving passengers intensify queues? Have you considered arrival patterns from the transit train between terminals or a change in public transport timetables?
• Are passengers interacting differently with airport facilities? Are more passengers printing boarding cards at home, travelling without hold baggage and heading directly to passenger security rather than using traditional check-in desks?
• Do you understand how upstream processes are affecting key production areas? For example, are passengers struggling to find space in the car park and therefore arriving late at check-in? Or are changes to check-in desk plans affecting arrival patterns at passenger security checkpoints?

 

Transaction duration

A good understanding of transaction durations helps you to better plan your resources and identify opportunities to improve efficiencies and service. Many things can influence and change the length of transactions.

• Have there been changes to rules, regulations, procedures etc that affect how the transaction is carried out? Perhaps new document checks at check-in, a change to which items can be carried through security, or additional health checks at immigration?
• Could the transaction process be improved to speed it up? Are passengers fully prepared before the transaction?
• Could additional processing be removed from the main production area and completed elsewhere? For example visa checks or paying for excess baggage.

 

Supply – keeping up with demand

If you don’t fully understand current demand into and through your airport and how your facilities are used, then the likelihood is that your supply patterns are not aligned with demand.

What are your supply patterns based on? There is naturally no point in having all desks, lanes or reclaims open all of the time but they need to be opened at the right point in time, being proactive rather than reactive to avoid queue build up.

Do you work with other stakeholders to ensure your plans are aligned? And when they are open, are your staff using them as prescribed?

So many factors to consider, the challenge is identifying what is relevant at your airport and bringing it together to create an effective solution that will reduce queues, waiting times and congestion.

In our next blogs we look at the role of improved processing and planning in tackling airport queues. In the meantime, if any of these points sound familiar and you would like to discuss options for your airport, please contact fionarees@oandiconsulting.com.

Categories: Blogs, Operations Planning, Uncategorized

Tags: baggage reclaim, Check-in, customer service, efficiency, immigration, operations design, Operations Improvement, Operations planning, passenger security, queues