How do you design airport services for passenger convenience and efficiency?

Passengers today are quite demanding, and rightly so it’s the need of the hour. If one has the power of purchase then one has the right to choose. On this the take is to make a segmentation and profiling of passengers by either airline and or Airport and sending soft feeds to expect things in that way. And to monitor loads of passengers using AI or conventional systems to either upsell or upgrade or move parallel to control passenger traffic.

Adding one cent more to this. AI is the future we need to see that business are based on traffic and also on low usage places. To offer more discounts / freebies at low usages restaurants/ lounges and or clubbing higher turn around airlines to further ends and offering low prices meals / discount coupons by way of magazine based subscriptions

Adding innovative tools with the latest technology is definitely the current trend in modern airports. However, it's important to understand "why" we need it, rather than implementing it to follow such trends. Airport touchpoints can be optimized by deploying biometric solutions for example. In the other hand, Self Service Kiosks (SSK) can also reduce number of passengers going to the check-in counters. Before implementing such solutions, we should always put ourselves in the customer (passenger)'s place. Would I use an SSK if I had to check-in my baggage at the counter regardless? If not, deploying a self-baggage drop would be more ideal. Understanding "why" we need it and how customers perceive it is vital for its success & ROI.

Facility enhancement should always be customer-centric. There might not be a right or wrong airport layout, but some may work for a specific audience better than others. Does the airport currently have a higher ratio of transfer passenger compared to Origin & Destination (O&D) passengers? Then the design should cater for it. Even in the previous example, we should consider future projections. Will we continue to have this projection in the next 10 years? Are there any governmental initiatives to increase O&D passengers, which would greatly impact the current ratio? When we are implementing long-term facility changes, future projections must always be considered in order to determine if the proposed investment is worthwhile.

Diversifying revenue streams is increasingly important, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic. Aeronautical revenue has always ranged around 50% of an airport's total revenue, while the remaining were non-operating and non-aeronautical revenues. The highest two revenue generating charges for aeronautical revenues are Passenger Charges (Joining & Transfer) and Aircraft Landing Charges. The pandemic taught us to spread the revenue streams to sources that aren't influenced by something dynamic, such as number of passenger movements. Retail concessions were the highest source for non-aeronautical revenues, but it did drop post-pandemic and airports have focused more on renting areas/property as well as external investments.

It's important to set a target, even when there is no where to start with. Not all airports gauge their performance through credible sources, and in an automated manner. Establishing Key Performance Indicators (KPI) for airport processing points is essential, these points typically include: 1. Check-in 2. Boarding Pass Checkpoint 3. Emigration 4. Security Screening 5. Boarding The above points are the bare minimum touchpoints for a passenger departure journey, and each touchpoint can be assessed differently. Once realistic KPIs are set, Service Level Agreements (SLA) should be agreed upon with service providers (who are one of many key stakeholders within an airport). If KPIs are repeatedly not met, a root cause analysis is crucial.

In an airport environment, remaining flexible is important as it's inherently dynamic. There are many variables that could shift an airport's mode of operations entirely. Successful airports establish principles for staff to follow, and flexible procedures are then made out of those principles. Of course, safety and security should never be compromised in the pursuit of having an all-round procedure. By defining the principles required to provide the best service possible, we allow ourselves to understand "why" this is considered as best practice and "how" we can implement it. To have a flexible mentality, one must remember that there is more than one way to do things. It's not about who is right or wrong, it goes back to adaptability.