Holiday 2024 Air Travel a Test For Tech Advances at Global Airports
The period between late December and early January is forecast to be among the busiest in years for most airports around the world. More than 5 million daily passengers will pass through terminals around the globe during peak days around the start of 2025, up almost 5% over the 2023 holiday season and surpassing pre-pandemic levels by a wide margin.
Many of those passengers will travel through airports that have in recent years invested heavily in innovative technology designed to increase passenger throughput. The 2024 holiday is when passengers and terminal operators can see the real value of new tech such as CT scanners and automatic tray return systems, among the advances already being used to increase the number of passengers passing through mission-critical processes such as check-in and security.
Queues and in-terminal clustering are an operational concern for terminal operators year-round. But holiday travel peaks, those periods when demand surpasses installed capacity, are particularly challenging for passenger-centric terminals unable to significantly expand infrastructure-based processing capacity.
"Data-driven airports are constantly measuring processes to improve passenger throughput. And throughput capacity per hour per checkpoint is a crucial metric that airports use to determine terminal performance,” Florian Eggenschwiler, Chief Product Officer for Xovis, said of the 2024 season. “Capacity is determined by how many check-in, security, or immigration lanes you have and the human resources available to operate them. Because you can’t create new lanes overnight, airports are focused on optimizing throughput without adding new infrastructure. Xovis has seen hourly throughput rates on peak days in 2024 increase nearly 10% over the previous two years. Increasing hourly throughput to 220 from 200 across nine lanes is the equivalent of an additional A320 aircraft every hour! Achieving these rates is essential during travel peaks.”
In addition to new equipment, airports are working to detect and remove bottlenecks throughout the security screening process, particularly at divestment and recollection stations. Measuring passenger throughput rates remains a critical part of the optimization process and assists in the iterative planning process that airports use to ensure staff and infrastructure allocation is closely aligned with demand.
Watch the video
About Xovis:
Xovis is a market-leading technology company that develops, produces and distributes 3D sensors and related software solutions for precise counting and analysis of people flow worldwide. Airport terminals, retailers, smart buildings, and public transport operators rely on the company's tailored solutions to optimize resource allocation and expand data capture sources. Simple integration, data protection compliance, high precision, and AI-based features characterize the technology of Xovis. Founded in 2008, Xovis has more than 600,000 AI-powered sensors installed globally, employs around 200 people worldwide, and has offices in Bern, Switzerland; Boston, USA; and Berlin, Germany.
Xovis has the technical skill and market experience to deliver a PFMS to improve performance at security, check-in, immigration, restrooms, taxi/rideshare, and retail/concession spaces at airports of all sizes. The company works directly with airports to design and implement customized solutions—a one-stop shop that has earned the innovative disruptor a stellar global reputation. Tastefully designed, ceiling-mounted sensors cover large areas without sacrificing precision or running afoul of evolving data privacy rules.
For any media or press related requests, please do not hesitate to contact us!