Why Airports Need a Queue Manager

15/05/2025

Blog, Airport

3 min

Capacity constraints and rising passenger numbers have made a queue manager a necessity for airports.

Successive seasons of robust passenger demand have put to rest many of the concerns about the future of travel in the post-pandemic era. The patterns of air travel may have changed, but what’s been proven in the past 18 months is there remains a healthy and growing demand for air travel. The same period has proved something else: Airport operators concerned about passenger experience need a queue manager.

What is a queue manager?

As the name suggests, a queue manager is responsible for ensuring queues don’t become unruly or a source of disruption.

Airports tend to be breeding grounds from many different queue types. Terminal touchpoints such as check-in, security and immigration are often inundated with a sudden influx of visitors that surpass the resource capacity of airports and airlines. When this happens, queues form.

A queue manager is responsible for making adjustments that limit wait times, improve throughput and help ensure the queuing situation does not have a negative impact on the passenger experience.

There was a time when a queue manager could be an individual or a team of airline or airport staff responsible for monitoring lines and adjusting the environment, such as retractable barriers, in response to changes. The sheer complexity of the modern airport terminal means that manual monitoring of queues is very often insufficient to effectively manage queueing situations, let alone collect the data needed for proactive planning.

What is an automated queue manager?

Put simply, an automated queue manager is a tech-based solution that can monitor objective queueing data in real time.

Managing queues has always been a priority of passenger-centric airport terminals. The issue has taken on urgency in recent years because:

1) A rise in the number of travelers;

2) Social media advocacy and the associated reputational risks; and

3) Customers understand that tech solutions that can help solve the problem are already in use.

The number of travelers is forecast to grow, climbing from around 4.3 billion current travelers to 19 billion in 2040. Social media appears to be a fixture of modern life, and huge lines great fodder for critical broadcasts.

Terminal operators have much more influence over Number 3 on the list above, and more are investing in automated queue manager solutions that can fill service gaps that labor shortages and operating costs may create.

Is a PFMS the best automated queue manager?

There are a handful of companies offering people flow solutions to airport terminal operators. Some are upstarts working with different IoT suppliers, others are well-established firms deploying queue management solutions in different industries.

Xovis’ Passenger Flow Management System (PFMS) is a sensor-based data capture solution already being used by more than 110 airports. The PFMS is built on Xovis award-winning 3D sensors, which are recognized in the industry as one of the most advanced data capture devices in terms of accuracy and resistance to interference—from light distortions or glares, for example.

Absent an objective test for determining which automated queue manager is best, terminal operators tend to look for a single-source solution that can reliably solve different challenges. In this respect, Xovis’ PFMS enjoys a solid reputation for helping operators maximize throughput, reduce queuing in structured and unstructured areas, and lower operational costs.

Queue managers of the future

Xovis has made great strides in developing cutting-edge AI-powered solutions and continues to invest in innovation that supports terminal operators. AERO, our fully managed passenger flow service, is just one example of our commitment to developing tools that optimize operational efficiency.

Enhancing our automated solution, expanding the coverage and capabilities of AERO, are how we plan to equip our version of the automated queue manager of the future. Like this, in-terminal hospitality and management staff can focus on more high-value pursuits.

Psychology of Queuing Service Level Agreements

Florian Eggenschwiler

Florian Eggenschwiler, Chief Product Officer at Xovis, is committed to helping the world rethink people flow. He previously had responsibility for Xovis' airports team, a position that followed overseeing Swissport’s corporate innovation unit—a role that included trend analysis of the airport of the future and forging partnerships with start-ups working on the latest operational technology. Florian spent several years as operations manager at Changi Airport in Singapore and started his career in corporate development in the ground handling industry. He holds an M.A. in Business Innovation from the University of St. Gallen.