UK/FINLAND. Veovo has launched a new AI-powered solution – named Live Passenger Forecasting – which is designed to help prevent airport crowding, improve capacity planning and boost operational efficiency. It is also aimed at reducing the impact of recent travel volatility and supporting new distancing initiatives.
Some of the manifold benefits of Veovo’s Live Passenger Forecasting solution, which will help improve airport capacity planning and operational efficiency (click to enlarge)
Veovo – whose various technologies to unlock insights across the airport ecosystem are already used by more than 110 international airport clients – observes that as flights begin to resume globally, the ability for airports to cope with air travel fluctuations and new processes will be imperative to minimise crowding and ensure smooth journeys.
The Live Passenger Forecasting solution draws data from many available sources, including various sensor technologies, airline schedules and booking files, the Airport Operational Database (AODB), queue wait times and lane productivity, event calendars and boarding pass scans.
Isavia’s Thordis Bjornsdottir praised the capabilities of the Veovo Live Passenger Forecasting solution
This creates an accurate by-flight forecast of how passengers will arrive and transit through the terminal, Veovo said. The airport can then build a robust resourcing plan to match demand.
The solution continually re-forecasts, based on live data, and alerts the operator immediately when predetermined thresholds are reached. Resourcing and operational actions are recommended to minimise bottlenecks and prevent crowding, such as by adjusting call-to-gate time, changing border control lane openings or reallocating baggage belts.
It also allows the airport to understand the cause of the deviation from the plan, which could be anything from a late arrival, to a slower than predicted security process. This insight is then fed back into the future plan to continually improve the forecast accuracy, based on local conditions.
With a configurable, visual dashboard, Veovo said airport partners such as security, border control agencies and retailers, are also kept informed, as to when passengers will show up, and any impact on operational areas.
The Live Passenger Forecasting dashboard, configured for the needs of initial user Keflavík Airport (click to enlarge)
Available as part of the Veovo Airport Intelligent Platform, Live Passenger Forecasting can be customised to accommodate an airport’s access to data and planning needs and does not require any specialised skills to use.
Iceland’s Keflavík International Airport has become the first travel hub to adopt the new technology.
Thordis Bjornsdottir, Specialist in Operation Research at Isavia, operator of Keflavík Airport, said: “During this COVID-19 period, new air traffic patterns and changing passenger behaviour means that we can no longer depend on plans based only on historical show-up patterns.
“Veovo’s new live re-forecasting capabilities provide us with an early heads-up on changes to passenger presentation profiles. This allows us to easily adapt plans and rosters to reflect the current situation, improving journeys and keeping costs down.”
Veovo CEO James Williamson said: “Thanks to our continued partnership with Keflavík Airport, we have been able to quickly launch these new enhancements to our Intelligent Airport Platform. We’re delighted they’ve been able to realise the benefits of real-time passenger forecasts since re-opening their borders to most travellers last month.”