Air travel can be stressful for passengers, and this is especially true for all the elements that take place once a passenger has entered the airport - from checking in their luggage to finding their seat on the plane.
Airports are increasingly waking up to how important it is to ensure passengers are masters of their own itinerary: digital ownership of their experience through smart apps and automation are key to achieving this.
Increased automation has already transformed several aspects of the airport journey, including check-in, bag drops, and even food orders. However, one issue that remains is security screening which is still lengthy and – for some passengers – perceived as problematic.
By rethinking and transforming the security screening process, for example with the SECTRO system, passengers can be less stressed, journeys can run smoother, and airports can improve efficiency.
Passing through security screening is a known cause of stress to 46.5 percent of all travellers. That beats stress levels related to every other aspect of airport travel, making it a significant issue. Many passengers approach Security Screening with a feeling of anxiety, worried about seeing lengthy queues and how long they will have to wait.
Passengers worry they may be regarded negatively if they forget to correctly separate their liquids, electronics, and belts from the rest of their possessions – something that each airport seems to have varying rules for and can cause confusion to even the most seasoned traveller. All this occurs with an impatient queue of passengers waiting and under the eyes of Security Screening staff who are rarely patient.
The anxiety continues when passengers see their valuables spread out across five trays before disappearing from their sight as they wait, often without footwear at this point, to be scanned and possibly searched.
While many are familiar with the annoyances and anxieties that come with this stage of the passenger journey, so far there has not been sufficient change to alleviate these difficulties.
A new approach to thinking passenger screening systems offers a way around these difficulties, by offering a new self-service solution that relies on automation and systematically addresses all security screening pain points.
A new system design means that passengers could arrive at Security Screening to minimal queues, enabling them to pass through in approximately three minutes, making the process much faster and alleviating fears they will miss their flight.
While Security Screening today involves linear processes, the system rethinks the SSL to make it a parallel process. It no longer requires passengers to take items out of their luggage, as everything goes in one slightly longer closed tray instead. The benefits of this are numerous, including optimising the passenger experience with less hold ups by slower passengers and keeping costs to a minimum.
With the self-service security system, passengers reaching security follow just three steps:
Automated screening offers a variety of benefits for passengers as it removes a significant amount of anxiety-causing elements from the security screening process:
As the system was designed to keep costs to a minimum while optimising the passenger experience, it not only provides a smoother passenger journey but also improves OPEX and leads to more efficient resource utilisation:
Automated screening offers a variety of benefits for both passengers and airlines, and could even offer the most benefits in peak periods, as the number of machines used can be expanded as necessary. When passengers have a smooth journey through the airport, they are more likely to recommend the airport, be keen to book again, and spend more money at the services, amongst others.
The internal benefits also lead to more satisfied employees – and allow for the development of predictive analytics and other ways to improve efficiency. Through greater automation and centralisation, the stress of screening could become a thing of the past, both for travellers and internal operations.
