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BetterVirtual Queuing
Case Study

The first European airport to introduce Virtual Queueing to passengers:

How Berlin Brandenburg Airport manages to fill 90% of available virtual queuing slots.

 
Airport

Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER)

Passengers

23 mill. passengers (2023)

Destinations

140 destinations

Client overview: Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER)

Berlin Brandenburg Airport Willy Brandt is an international airport in Schönefeld, just south of the German capital and state of Berlin. It mostly has flights to European metropolitan and leisure destinations as well as a number of intercontinental services.

The new airport replaced Tempelhof, Schönefeld, and Tegel airports, and became the single commercial airport serving Berlin and the surrounding State of Brandenburg, an area with a combined 6 million inhabitants. With annual passenger numbers surpassing 35 million (2019), Berlin Brandenburg Airport has become the third busiest airport in Germany, making it one of the fifteen busiest in Europe.

Airport operations virtual queuing passenger gate wait time

Introduction to the collaboration with Berlin Brandenburg Airport.

Berlin Brandenburg Airport was the first airport in Europe to introduce Virtual Queuing directly to passengers under the name “BER Runway”. Implemented in just three weeks, the numbers are staggering and shows that the European market is ready and eager to use the service.

The Solution: Better Virtual Queuing

Developed by Copenhagen Optimization and CLEAR, BER Runway allows travelers to plan ahead and reserve a dedicated security time slot for their party – giving them a more predictable and stress-free travel experience.

The BER Runway is also an important step on the way to further digitizing operations at the airport. This will enable to further optimize all processes in the interest of the passengers in the future.

Explore Better Virtual Queuing

Outcome achieved:

For Berlin Brandenburg Airport, on average days 75% of all available slots are booked and on busy days the bookings increase to 90% – with almost 2,000 passengers a day using the service. This winning case is a combination of a great initial interest from passengers combined with a good setup at the security checkpoint. Combined with well placed signage, this secures an easy and frictionless experience for passengers.

In general, European airports have an advanced way of communicating with passengers. As a direct result it has not been necessary for Berlin Airport to involve airlines to utilize their communication channels with passengers. Next step of the program is to move from the current approx. 10% of passengers using the service, to a much higher percentage. At this level, peak shaving is unlocked through nudging of passengers to use off–peak VQ slots. 

Results:

On average, 75% of available slots are booked. On busy days
90%
of available slots are booked.

On average almost
2,000
 passengers a day are using the BER Runway service.

A centralized setup at the security checkpoint combined with good signage are
key success drivers.

Great communication
with passengers is essential to influence their behavior.

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