Petr NovotnyWei LuoLi Yuan

Michael AfolabiXin Zhang

BackgroundWe are an airport company which is

considering major investment into infrastructure, ours vision is to build the airport of the future: modern, fully automated and effective.

The biggest challenge we face is to increase throughput of passengers throughout airport terminal and currently most of the time passengers spend during check-in queues, therefore this is what we want to improve.

IdeaOur idea is to provide passengers with some

kind of automated kiosks where passengers can check-in themselves including luggage, additional payments, etc. However we have to stay open to all kinds of passengers who cannot or don’t want to use fully automated system and thus for exceptional cases there has to possible to check-in in traditional manner over the counter.

Type of Software projectCustomer drivenProblem drivenGreenfieldSingle productOrganizational settings - Bespoke

development

The 5W’s Questions1. What is the system purpose?

Reduce queuing time at international airport terminal during departure check-in

2. Who is asking for this system?Airport owner company

3. What do we ultimately want to achieve? Increase overall throughput of airport and thus

allowing further expansion of our businessDecrease the time which passengers spend

during check-in in the terminal Introduce advanced technologies into security

checking and passenger identification Increase efficiency of airport operations - reduce

costs per passengerThe advantage could be measured by:

Measuring average time passengers spend in terminal during check-in (in various hours)

Cost of operations per passenger

4. What are the major constraints?National and international regulations in air-

traveling (including new anti-terror measures)

National regulations in border crossingInfrastructure: Limited space of terminal

5. What are the major risks?

Scope & System DescriptionThe system will receive information about passengers

from airline companies booking systems. The booking systems provide information about every ticket which is sold, and the detail information regard each individual passenger 24 hours before flight. In addition, the system will update this information every 30 minutes till the flight departure.

When passenger has no luggage or has only luggage for cabin, passenger can check-in online on the airline company’s website, this information is provided by booking system of airline company into airport boarding system. If passenger did not check-in online or has luggage to check-in, passenger can choose to check-in at airport.

System Description (Cont…) At airport, passenger uses kiosk for check-in. The kiosk

provides identification of passenger regards his/her ticket and passport and provides check-in of luggage. Every checked-in luggage will receive label which is provided from airport luggage system, and passenger will receives ‘luggage ticket’ for every checked-in luggage. Passenger can also pay for any type of additional charges which required by air-company, excessive weight of luggage and/or for additional luggage. Passengers who checked-in online can also choice to check-in at airport as well, in the case when passenger has additional luggage for check-in.

Moreover, traditional check-in counters should be available at airport for passengers who either some reason cannot check-in on kiosk, or reluctance to try the new check-in system, these counters will provide same functionality as kiosk but will be served by counter staff.

After check-in passenger is provided with boarding ticket, and then boarding information is sent into Airport boarding system.

In-scopeAutomated check-in on the terminal,

identification Automated check-in of luggage, including

over-weighed, more pieces, etcIssuing boarding passes, selection of place in

airplane, etc.Counters for not-automated check-in for old

passports, special cases etc.

Out-of-scopeOnline check-in without luggage - done by

airline companiesBorder control – this is done and regulated by

governmentBoarding check – this is done by airline

companiesPolice, Security, etc.Optimization of timing of flights, etc.Tickets – e.g.: online booking etc.Customs inspection etc.

Stakeholders and Major Goals1) Passengers (user) - Cheep and fast services2) Air Companies (user, beneficiary) - Cheep and fast services3) Employees (affected people) - Retain their jobs4) Unions (hostile stakeholder) - Keep employed all the people5) Competitors – Other airports (hostile stakeholder)6) National and regional governments (beneficiary, possibly

financial stakeholders)7) Regulators - National and International - Comply with all

law, treaties and standards8) Small businesses/Retailers on airport - Keep passengers on

airport as long as possible 9) Border control and Police10) Terrorists and other criminals11) Supplier/Development company and other suppliers

Budget and ScheduleOurs current year turnover is roughly about 500

million pounds, from which about 5% goes on all check-in related operations. By putting in place new system we hope to save at least 50% of check-in expenses, and half of the saved money over the next 10 years we are willing to spend on the new solution. (Regardless of change in turnover)

Thus the figure is: 500 000 000 * 0.05 * 0.5 / 2 * 10 = 62 500 000

We understand that this will be complicated system and will require a lot of testing, thus we expect that the development should be finished within two years after contract is signed.

FeasibilityDespite first feeling of complexity, the

problem is very simple; we need to provide passengers with simple automated check-in kiosks where people identify themselves, get theirs boarding ticket, and can check-in their luggage through self-service.

System Context Diagram