At Brussels Airport we do everything possible to create a safe and secure environment for our neighbours, passengers and employees. A smooth flow to and from the airport - but also through it! - is one of our most important action points. That is why we are rolling out, step by step, the AOP: the Airport Operations Plan.
Brussels Airport is a very active airport. The figures speak for themselves: we accommodate 26 million passengers a year, spread over an average of 645 flights per day. Every day, our 24,000 employees are there to keep things running smoothly. And yet this does not happen all by itself and there are often factors that disrupt the planning, resulting in tailbacks. Not only in the airport itself, but also in the surroundings. The new Airport Operations Plan (AOP) tackles these challenges.
What is AOP?
The Airport Operations Plan is a plan with which we can map all the processes on the airport and interconnect them, which makes for a better and safer flow through the airport. Our aim is to bring the airport to a new level, in which all processes at Brussels Airport run more smoothly than ever. This will not only be felt in the airport, but also around it.
If we are to achieve everything, figures play an important role. At Brussels Airport, we have been gathering a lot of data during the past few years. We know, for example, the busy and less busy times at the airport, or we know how long it takes for a passenger to pass through the screening. In addition, we also collect current data, for example weather conditions or the number of passengers at a given place at a certain time. Our AOP brings all this information together in one enormous computer model. Using this model we can predict how busy it will be in 6 months, in 1 month, tomorrow or in the coming hours, which allows us to draw up better planning and intervene early if things threaten to go wrong. In this way, waiting times at the airport will be greatly reduced.
4 flows
All forecasts made by the computer on the basis of this data are applied to four flows in our airport: Passengers, Bags, Aircraft and Accessibility.
In the Passengers flow we forecast for every moment just how many passengers will be at any point in the airport. We monitor the waiting times at the screening, the passport control and the rest of the journey the passengers take to the gate. During the Bags flow we forecast how many pieces of luggage passengers will have with them and we monitor the baggage process: where are they going and does everything end up in the right aircraft on time. For the Aircraft flow we look at the handling process, so that we can estimate whether the flights are ready in time for their departure. An important new flow is Accessibility: even before passengers have shut their front door behind them, we forecast whether they will have a smooth journey to the airport. For this we take into account tailbacks on the roads to the airport, delays on public transport and the number of empty parking spots at the airport itself.
AOP makes a difference for us all
What is the cause of most annoyance at an airport? Long waiting times are far and away the biggest complaint. With the AOP, we tackle that irritation and instead of waiting for queues to build up before intervening, we can in future forecast when those queues will arise and take the necessary measures to avoid that happening. An airport where you can easily go from check-in to gate: that’s what we all want, isn’t it?
The AOP ensures that everybody has access to the status of everything in and around the airport and that results in better communication between the various parties at the airport, which ultimately leads to more punctual flights. In this way, we put a smile on the face of everyone.
With our Accessibility flow, we also make sure that the traffic around the airport moves more smoothly, which in turn reduces the number of tailbacks. Pleasant for our passengers, but also pleasant for all our neighbours. And that’s really worthwhile!