Bristol Airport to use sensors to track passenger journey from ‘kerb-to-gate’

Sensors are to be used at Bristol Airport to understand how travellers move through and use the airport. Danish firm BLIP Systems’ BlipTrack tech measures queues, passenger flow and dwell times and is also employed by more than 30 international airports, … Continue reading →

Sensors are to be used at Bristol Airport to understand how travellers move through and use the airport.

Danish firm BLIP Systems’ BlipTrack tech measures queues, passenger flow and dwell times and is also employed by more than 30 international airports, including Manchester and Edinburgh.

Bristol saw its passenger numbers exceed seven million in 2016 and wants to keep the same level of customer service as volumes increase.

Bristol Airport management, with the help of software specialists Gentrack, can now retrieve live and historical data about patterns like walking routes, entrance and exit usage and time spent in areas such as car parks, check-in, security, lounges, gates and more.

Using Wi-Fi and Bluetooth sensors, it will help them manage queues and is intended to provide realistic waiting times to queuing passengers.

Managers should also learn how disruptions or changes affect behavior, how to optimise each area and react to situations in real-time before they escalate. 

Paul Davies, operations director at Bristol Airport said: “We wanted to introduce a state-of-the-art technical solution to the challenges airports face in improving customer flow management in the terminal.   

Christian Bugislaus Carstens, marketing manager at BLIP Systems added: “To understand and improve individual areas of airport operations, it is important that the traveller’s journey is seen as a single process, rather than as a string of isolated events. The understanding that all individual events influence each other is key to unlocking potential gains.

And Ilya Burkin, business development manager at Gentrack said: “Airport queues are amongst the most frustrating passenger experiences during a journey. By implementing BlipTrack, Bristol Airport will be able to analyse the situation in real-time as well as predict any potential issues and act accordingly.”