The AI-driven transformation of airports benefits workers and passengers alike

U.S. airport leaders have exceptional passenger growth on their hands that shows no signs of slowing. A 150% increase in America’s air passenger numbers is forecast by 2040.

This sounds positive at face value. More passengers, after all, means more revenue. But continual traffic increases also amount to great pressure on airport operational teams to facilitate seamless journeys. 

This explains why 89% of U.S. airport leaders view securing federal funding as a priority today. And the good news is that President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law recently released $970 million in grants benefitting 114 airports.

Accessing federal cash isn’t the only means, however, to scale capacity for rising passenger numbers. U.S. airport leaders understand that technology will be critical for transforming operations for the better. According to AeroCloud's study, more than half (58%) agree that failing to invest in new technologies to optimize their operations – such as SaaS platforms, automation and AI – is a key risk to their operations over the coming 12 months.

This is because airports leaders don’t just operate in the silo of their own airport. They’re fully aware of how other airports are leveraging cutting edge technology to scale capacity by managing more inbound and outbound flights. Des Moines International Airport, for example, is using a cloud-native gate management platform to set AI and machine learning on diverse data sources to offer up-to-date and accurate flight information, which enables the airport operations team to dynamically plan and manage their gates, hard stands and apron operations. This drives efficiencies while simultaneously optimizing physical and technological investments to support the Iowa airport’s growing number of passengers.  

So, how can airport leaders replicate such success? Having the right priorities in upending airport operations and experiences is key.

No excuses to ignore data potential

Airports have been comparatively slow in harnessing data to supercharge their operations. Forty-three percent of U.S. airport leaders say they still use processes like depending on Excel and Word documents to store and manage operational information. Not only is this more error-prone, but it skews planning decisions because data is outdated by the time it’s inputted and siloed since it lives within just one team function.

Airports need to be data-driven so key processes such as gate management systems, flight information displays (FIDS) and more are informed by real-time information. With a cloud-based approach to unify data, airport leaders are in a great position to do just that and benefit from more automation to boot.

It’s important to stress what being more data-driven means in practice for airport workers in their day-to-day lives. Legacy airport management systems typically have a limited number of “seats” which excludes a broad range of airport stakeholders, such as airlines and ground handlers, from accessing vital operational information.

This isn’t good enough. Operations teams need a single source of truth, fueled by real-time data, to keep a tab on flight operations as they happen and communicate in an informed way with colleagues and customers alike. This also should be available to all stakeholders, not just a select few, and accessed from any device on the move. That’s important because it extends the benefits of data-driven decision-making to as many users as possible. This is “data democratization” in action.

With the right data foundations in place, airport leaders can set AI models to work optimally across their organization – critically, to improve overall passenger experience.

How AI overhauls the airport passenger experience

Facial biometrics is an increasingly used technology in airports across the U.S. To date, The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has deployed Credential Authentication Technology (CAT-2) scanners to introduce facial recognition technology into the security screening process of nearly 30 airports nationwide. It plans to bring this technology to more than 400 federalized airports over the coming years. 

While facial biometrics is helping airports get passengers into concession areas more quickly – AI can be combined with this technology to cut passenger wait times even further. From applying AI to existing X-ray and CT systems to detect prohibited items more quickly to speeding up the traditional boarding pass check where AI can verify a boarding passenger's identity based on their previously collected facial biometrics scan. 

These examples demonstrate AI’s potential to automate repetitive, manual checks so that staff can be redeployed into other areas of an airport where their presence could be needed more.

Intelligent airport operations 

Airport operational staff know full well, however, that direct customer touchpoints are only one side of the passenger experience coin. Airport back-end operations also need to run smoothly for passengers to have a great experience and, again, AI holds massive potential here.

Passenger flow is critical to passenger experience but too often continues to be monitored via manual stopwatches and clipboards. AI-powered computer vision allows operational teams to understand the passenger journey from curb to gate. It captures movement using existing CCTV infrastructure and flags when dwell times are high in specific areas which could indicate issues, such as not having enough personnel at security, to remedy the situation. Critically, this technology keeps passenger identities anonymous in compliance with local data privacy regulations. 

This is cutting-edge stuff – but just one benefit from using AI to monitor passenger flow. When this data is fed into an airports data analytics platform, they’re able to identify patterns to predict future scenarios such as having more cleaning staff on duty during peak times and what times of the day to offer deals in concessionary areas. In short, this represents truly intelligent airport operations.

Upsides make AI rollout a no-brainer

In conclusion, airports have everything to gain from harnessing AI and machine learning to achieve their priority goals. Processes enhanced by AI boost passenger experience while making the jobs of airport workers easier across individual aspects of airport operations. And, in an overall sense, upending legacy systems for a cloud-based, data-driven approach puts reliable, real-time data into the hands of more airport workers. The benefits of this can’t be overlooked.

Taking steps to use more AI might feel daunting for some airport leaders. Starting small, being clear-eyed about AI’s practical potential today and ensuring that good quality, reliable data feeds AI models are all great ways for these leaders to move forward with rollouts of AI that are mutually beneficial for management, staff and passengers alike.