Control policies for the processing of passenger flows
Passenger perception is one of the main focus points of Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. One of the aspects that has significant influence on passenger perception is waiting time of the passenger, in front of a filter. There are two kind of filters, namely passport control and security check. To reduce waiting time of passengers at these filters, it is necessary that employees are receiving accurate steering information about the expected amount of passengers.
With this steering information, employees can anticipate on the coming scenario. Steering information is based on two aspects, namely planning and control. Planning is based on forecasting and has the target to match the expected amount of passengers with the right amount of employees. In case of control, the situation as-is is looked at and subsequently, one tries to anticipate on this. In the current situation at Amsterdam Aiport Schiphol, one mainly works with forecasting models and planning and control are based on those. This research investigates the possibility to other bases of a control policy. Mainly, research will be done on threshold policies, whereby the optimal moment is investigated to (de)activate a server processing a queue. Thresholds are based on a certain indicator, which could be for example queue length.
Approach
The possibility to work with threshold policies will be investigated by means of simulation. The model which will be designed will make it visible how passengers will be processed in different threshold scenario’s.
Results
First, it shall be made clear which criteria have to be satisfied to implement a threshold policy at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. Next, it should become clear if it is possible for the airport to satisfy these criteria. At last, the influence on the waiting time of the passenger in the scenario of a threshold policy will be investigated.
The results of the simulation and the study are presented to involved stakeholders. In close consultation it will be decided whether a pilot can be launched.
