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Case Study

How Swedavia managed to decrease peak demand for check-in counters despite an increase in passengers.

Introducing new queue management set-up.

Client overview: Stockholm Arlanda Airport (ARN)

Stockholm Arlanda Airport is Sweden’s largest airport, and the third largest in the Nordic countries. The airport and is a gateway between Stockholm and other Swedish cities as well as the rest of the world. Stockholm Arlanda Airport is part of Swedavia, a Swedish airport operator, which owns and runs 10 Swedish airports. 

Stockholm Arlanda Airport offers about 107 non-stop routes, of which 87 are abroad and 20 are domestic. In addition to the non-stop routes, they also have many charter destinations.

Airport

Stockholm Arlanda Airport (ARN)

Passengers

22 mill. passengers (2019)

Destinations

147 destinations

Airport operations security check point screening passenger FIDS displays

Introduction to the collaboration with Stockholm Arlanda Airport

Swedavia, the operator of 10 Swedish airports, engaged with Copenhagen Optimization (CopOpt) to improve the passenger experience at check-in at Arlanda airport before summer 2016.

The Challenge:

In the summer 2015, Arlanda struggled with flow gridlocks and significant queuing. The aim of engaging with Copenhagen Optimization was to support the Arlanda team in successfully making 2016 a better experience.

The Solution: A check-in model focusing on constraint areas

The project span over 4 months and included monthly workshops with the Arlanda team with representatives from the passenger, baggage, and capacity management teams. Copenhagen Optimization was leading the project and conducted in-depth analysis using a sophisticated check-in model including flows, queues, counters, and baggage constraints.

The outcome of the project was several initiatives which were implemented by the Arlanda team leading to a significant increase in the passenger experience at Arlanda in summer 2016. Queue management was implemented and the Arlanda airport team took over responsibility of all check-in area queue setups. As a result, airlines and handlers positively acknowledged the more active role the Arlanda team was playing in the check-in area.

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Outcome achieved

Decreased peak
in counter demand by 3 counters despite an 8.5% increase in the passenger peak.

Queue management led to an estimated reduction in no. of passengers waiting in flow areas by approx. 200 passengers - a
35.5%
reduction - while reducing queues stretching into the queue area by 16%.

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