Genève Aéroport

Geneva's position as a centre for the worlds of luxury goods, banking, the United Nations and the International Red Cross has seen the numbers of Genève Aéroport passengers grow by almost a third over the last ten years.

Passenger numbers were up last year by 4.91% to 11.88 million. London was the most popular destination with 1.9 million passengers, followed by Paris with 859,000 passengers.

The high numbers of connections between Geneva and other leading business destinations in Europe and the United States underlines how important this international gateway is for business class frequent flyers often with little time to spare between leaving the office or home and getting on the plane. Geneva is also a holiday gateway to the Alps and host to one of the world's most successful low-cost carriers which accounted for 35.8% of traffic last year.

For the second year in a row, Genève Aéroport has been recognized by the Air Transport Research Society as the most efficient airport in the world in the category of airports with less than 15 million passengers. Genève Aéroport is expanding and expects to handle more than 15 million passengers by 2030.

The airport's well-deserved reputation for efficiency is partly built on its clever use of technology to maximize use of the available space and IT infrastructure.

Passenger self-service check-in has been introduced throughout the airport and at the nearby train station. This has created a desire among passengers for more control over other aspects of the journey particularly around speed of access to the airside of the airport.

A desire to allow passengers faster access to security control points has now resulted in the introduction of two control access gates and priority lanes, initially for limited use by first class, business class and other priority passengers.

Business issues

In recent years significant improvements have been made to passenger management systems at the airport including kiosk check-in and better-flow management at security control. However, there was no stand-out service differentiator between economy and first/business class passengers. The latter group was entitled to use a priority lane for access to security control but the verification process made extra demands on staff especially during peak periods.

A more general issue was that there was no passenger tracking capability prior to boarding for passengers who had checked-in online or via mobile check-in. Before the installation of the control access gates it was not possible to know if passengers who had checked-in online or completed mobile check-in were actually at the airport until they reached the boarding gate.

A further consideration was that security staff had to be assigned the task of checking boarding documents for all passengers. And finally, there was no revenue generation for the services provided by the airport through the access- to- airside phase of the passenger journey.

Solution

SITA which has unrivalled experience in all aspects of airport systems integration and a long history of cooperation with Genève Aéroport, entered discussions with the airport to address these issues. SITA and Genève Aéroport have worked together on the improvement and maintenance of the airport's check-in platform since 2002.

Control access gates are an excellent way to provide first and business class passengers with a differentiated service. Another benefit is that they provide some tracking capability and business intelligence on passenger flow and habits at the airport.

Ultimately, the introduction of control access gates can assist Genève Aéroport to engage with passengers in real time with appropriate service levels as they make their way from security to the gate.

While end-users can reach the security check-point with minimum fuss the new solution also allows the airport to charge the airlines a flat fee for each passenger who accesses airport security through the control access gates. The clear benefit for the airlines is the appreciation of their high-value customers for this exclusive, stress-free access to security control.

What the solution does

Just a few months after implementation, some 20,000 people now use the two control access gates each month. There has been great acceptance of the benefits this innovation brings to priority passengers by the39 user airlines.

One satisfied passenger said: "Although the airport is overall well-managed, it is hard to know how much time you will have to spend queuing before you get to security and therefore what time one should leave for the airport. Thanks to this new system, I can plan a lot more easily and actually leave home feeling more relaxed."

It is estimated that it can save priority passengers up to fifteen minutes at peak periods.

The access control gates check the following information on each boarding pass:

Date is correct
Origin is correct
No duplicate boarding passes allowed
Verifies airline code and ticket class

A key consideration in the project was SITA's future ability to provide full system integration to meet Genève Aéroport's specific requirements. Integration with CUTE and elements of SITA's Passenger@Airport product suite will ensure the airport is leveraging the common-use platform for boarding pass validation and tracking.

It also opens the possibility for additional business intelligence benefits through improved understanding of passenger flow for the purposes of operational efficiency and to maximize retail revenue potential e.g. analysis of dwell times by flight.

Results/ benefits

Pierre Germain, Commercial and Finance Director, Genève Aéroport, says: "This priority lane project based on automatic gate readers has created value for all stakeholders. Number One it has increased passenger satisfaction; two, it provides airlines with a smart way of recognizing the value of selected premium passengers according to the airline's own specific criteria; and, three, it provides additional, if marginal, revenues for the airport through its offer and control of a new commercial service."

Improved passenger satisfaction
Reduced level of uncertainty/ no queues
Longer dwell time for potentially high-spending passengers
Service differentiator for airlines
Exclusive new service for premium passengers
New income stream for airport
Improved passenger identity validation
Improved understanding of passenger flows
Better use of security staff time
Image of Swiss efficiency and customer service

Genève Aéroport is currently evaluating the possibility of extending this service to passengers who would be willing to pay for access, particularly passengers who fly frequently in economy and pay for priority boarding. Again, this would boost revenues and provide the airport with more business intelligence on passenger dwell time in the airport.

The intelligent airport

The challenge facing airports today lies in the complexity of players and processes, and the inability of multiple systems to share and analyze data. SITA believes that the airport ecosystem must become more 'intelligent' to optimize its supply chain, share real-time information and track, manage and locate all of its assets.

The intelligent airport has real time control and knowledge of the following:

Agility

Who its customers are and when they are travelling so that it can predict peak demands, minimize queues throughout the terminal, plan staff utilization, optimize parking spaces, and help customers navigate from long-term parking to the plane in real-time; it will also be able to maximize retail revenues by marketing the 'right' products to the 'right' passenger at the 'right' time based on their location and preferences and with their permission.

Efficiency

The location of the airlines' planes to reduce delays on the tarmac, minimize fuel consumption and trim turnaround time.

Effectiveness

Where its staff is in real-time, and has the ability to communicate to all stakeholders to ensure that the right people and services are on the right flights at the right time, while ensuring passenger security and keeping everyone informed of changes and disruptions.

For more information, read SITA’s New Frontiers Paper 'The Intelligent Airport - unleashing the potential'.