As airport security checkpoints become progressively rigorous, passengers experience longer wait times. Although passenger safety is most important, airports also work to minimize wait times at security check points to increase customer satisfaction.
Martin Jung, Axel B. Classen, and Florian Rudolph from the German Aerospace Center recently analyzed wait times and throughput at the security checkpoint of an international medium sized airport. Microscopic pedestrian simulation and the social force model of Anylogic was utilized. In addition, to achieve validation, Anylogic’s Pedestrian Library was tailored and extended to the specific needs of the simulated airport.
The simulation model provides the airport operator with a powerful tool to analyze the main impact parameters of an airport security checkpoint (i.e. security procedures, increase in passengers, operation schedule). The German Aerospace Center found that by varying the schedule of the security operations plan peak and average wait times could be reduced substantially. The simulation model also enables further exploration of the system’s potential.
Find out more about the project and future efforts via the paper in the WinterSim archives.
