Genève Aéroport (GVA) says it has been able to reduce the average waiting time at security by 51% from an average of 7 minutes to 3.5 minutes by increasing staff levels and improving the layout of the security area. In addition, the airport says it has increased the number of days with satisfactory performance more than five times (from 54 days in 2014 to 297 days in 2015).

The airport is also using a system from Denmark-based BLIP Systems and Copenhagen Optimization (C-OPT) to help real-time measurements of the security process.

At GVA, which annually handles over 15 million passengers, the system is providing checkpoint plans on what the supplier calls a “no cure – no pay” contract. The work of C-OPT includes passenger forecasts converted into a lane opening plan securing the waiting time SLA as well as staff demand plans. The system also allows GVA to evaluate the performance of the checkpoints on a daily basis.

It measures and analyses all the key factors for queue development, such as real-time queue and dwell time measurements, using Bluetooth / Wi-Fi sensors, passenger forecasts vs actual, how actual opening of lanes complies with the plan and production per lane.

With this information, the airport is today able to quickly pinpoint the drivers of poor performance, such as inaccurate forecasting or the lack of staff. According to the supplier it has enabled GVA to better plan staffing patterns and response promptly and effectively to irregular operations and disruptions, preventing bottlenecks.

“The security planning organization has been taken to new levels with accurate and trusted plans. This has allowed us to plan for the days ahead, but also to make unique daily plans for a whole year in advance. This has significantly increased the quality of the budgeting and capacity planning.” says Ruben Jimenez, Head of Security at Genève Aéroport.

Today the airport aims for 85% of all passengers experiencing less than seven minutes of waiting time in the security process and that no passengers are allowed to wait more than 20 minutes.