Terminal operations
Passengers have grown used to the 100ml liquid restriction and removing laptops from bags at security. They will need time to adjust to the new rules, and information.
usual panoply of X-ray scanners – and all the inconveniences they bring – passengers will instead be faced with an array of CT equipment. Nor are the machines themselves the only thing to change. For starters, laptops can remain stowed in backpacks and suitcases. Water bottles can also stay packed, even as the long-standing 100ml limit on liquids is relaxed as well. It goes without saying, of course, that all this is good news for the smooth flow of people through Schiphol. As a representative for the Dutch airport puts it, the CT scanners make security “faster and clearer,” ensuring better queue management along the way. Fundamentally, these benefits can be understood in terms of technology. If X-ray scans show up flat, their replacements allow security officials to view bags in 3D, and even rotate images 360 degrees. In practice, FitzGerald says, that means guest convenience no longer needs to be sacrificed at the altar of security. Echoing her counterpart at Schiphol, the London City executive has seen the new machines speed up processing times from seven minutes to under four, if nothing else because fewer trays need to trundle down airport conveyor belts.
And if this system naturally keeps flyers smiling – especially as London City’s security team can now process 30% more passengers, potentially seeing a 30% cut in queue times over the years ahead – FitzGerald equally argues that staff themselves are less stressed. “The feedback from our staff,” she says, “is that they’re now having a more positive conversation” – a state of affairs that obviously makes the people they’re serving less grumpy too.
All the same, none of these systems can be implemented overnight. At Schiphol, to give one example, managers began testing their CT scanners as far back as 2015, investigating everything from throughput to maintenance needs, before finally unveiling them to travellers. Talking of travellers, customer education has proved important too. This is unsurprising: for a generation, flyers have grown drearily comfortable debagging their laptops and exiling liquids to the baggage hold. Now that times are
Future Airport /
www.futureairport.com
changing, Cullinane says that explaining the new rules is vital at both Dublin and Cork Airports. FitzGerald agrees, arguing that media campaigns and signs will ensure that any confusion at London City Airport doesn’t last long.
All going to scan It seems clear, in short, that CT scanners can offer vast benefits – both to airports and the people they serve. Even so, it’d be wrong to suggest that the deployment of new machines is a panacea. For one thing, many terminals are yet to replace their X-ray devices. That can cause difficulties, for instance, if an open bottle of water carried on at Schiphol is banned on the way back to the Netherlands later.
Nor are long security queues purely the consequence of bottlenecks at scanning points. Put it like this: even the most effective CT machine on earth is still going to struggle if it needs to service hundreds of passengers all by itself, or without enough security personnel to hustle flyers along. With that in mind, FitzGerald explains how her team at London City relies on “a lot of data” to effectively manage man and machine, keeping a close eye on demand and the availability of staff. In a broader sense, some airports are exploring more basic changes to airport security. Heathrow, for instance, is just one of the major hubs to now offer bookable appointments, allowing busy passengers to skip the lines altogether. Heathrow is also experimenting with AI. In the first instance, the airport is using algorithms to spot illegally trafficked wildlife – but it’s not too hard to see how that could effectively be expanded to human passengers too. Then there are the few outliers arguing for a fundamental rethink about how airport security is done. According to one former head of the TSA, the organisation’s procedures are “hopelessly bureaucratic” and “brittle” – and that reinforced cockpit doors are better at keeping passengers safe than an army of scanners. Maybe so. But it can’t be denied that CT machines help make airport security far more tolerable than the alternative. ●
4 minutes
The average wait time in London City Airport’s security lanes since
implementing CT scanners, down from 7 minutes in 2022.
London City Airport 13
daa
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37
