Managing Passenger Flow at the Busiest Airports in the World
Earlier this month, the Airports Council International (ACI) published its report on the world's busiest airports in 2024, continued growth in passenger numbers at Dubai International Airport (DXB) and an expansion of international passengers at Seoul Incheon (ICN) were among the notable changes.
Source: Airports Council International (ACI)
As an indication of changes in passenger preferences and routes, these types of rankings are always highly anticipated by a wide range of players in the aviation industry. Xovis is no exception.
Xovis loves working with airports of all sizes, but solving the unique operational challenges at the world's biggest passenger terminals is a significant source of pride. The complexities of airports handling 10,000 passengers per hour at single touchpoint demands that a supporting passenger flow solution have a high degree of flexibility and resilience. It's no wonder that Xovis' Passenger Flow Management System (PFMS), developed based on lessons learned over a decade, is used by the majority of the world's ten biggest airports.
Source: Airports Council International (ACI)
The scale of global air travel is awesome, as is Xovis role in making it better for travelers and terminal operators. More than 1,000,000 passengers passed under Xovis sensors at four of the world’s five biggest airports every day in 2024. And those are just four of the more than 110 airports using Xovis' PFMS, total daily numbers at which are astronomical.
Bigger and better
Very large airports, like those in these lists, are dealing with significant pressure and challenges in maintaining the Level of Service (LoS) that different passenger classes expect. Tech solutions, like the Xovis PFMS, are designed to help airports—big and small—avoid service gaps caused resource overload.
The operational profile of the world’s biggest airports is incredibly complex, planning a massive undertaking. Data-driven airports know that work is easier, more transparent and cost-efficient, when they have accurate insights into passenger behaviors and trends.
Real-time and historical, accurate objective data captured by the Xovis system can be used to optimize staff planning and positioning, reducing wait times. And wait times are a major factor in defining LoS at individual airports.
Every airport terminal, from small to big, is striving for optimal LoS, something that is much easier to achieve when they are measuring performance. Measuring to improve is a feature of five star terminals, many of which are also Xovis customers.
Of the 20 best airports in 2025, 14 airports—Seoul Incheon (ICN) and Hamad International (DOH), among other—use the Xovis solution, and the reasons are simple: accuracy, reliability, and constant development.
Bettering the best
At many airports, passenger numbers have already surpassed pre-pandemic levels. The rebound in travel has passenger numbers back on a growth trajectory that is expected to reach 19 billion over a longer horizon.
The increase is testing the resource capacity of terminals and revealing constraints that threaten to weigh on LoS levels, passenger experiences, and reputations. These short and long-term challenges are driving demand for a long-lasting system that can keep pace with changing complexity levels.
As operations increase in size and complexity, airports need a solution built for scale. Virtually uninterrupted monitoring and low maintenance are critical for establishing trust in the data supporting fact-based decision-making. The two factors are among the most important for airport operators considering a solution capable of solving the challenges of today and in the next decade.
Effortless precision from Xovis
Xovis helps more than 110 airports, including some of the world’s biggest and best, on every populated continent. In another industry, that may be enough to rest a bit. But the aviation industry is changing fast, which keeps us constantly investing in solutions for future changes.
We strive to support the world’s biggest airports with some of their most pressing challenges: finding creative ways to increase capacity without increasing footprint, AI-driven decision-making and cyber resilience.
It will be interesting to see how the ten biggest airports change in the years to come, and to think about what it means for changes in the global economy and passenger preferences. It will be even more interesting to see how many of those are using Xovis to manage passenger flows.
Tags: | airports| top airports | passenger routes | data quality | terminal operations |
