Estimate waiting time at the airport. Come up with a moonshot idea to reduce the waiting time.

Clarifying questions:

Are we considering Airline travellers only or airline staff also? No, airline traveller only

Are we considering domestic traveller or international traveller both? Yes

Which class we are focusing on? First class or Economy? Both

Are we talking about particular age group? No, overall

Are we talking about particular Airline? No, overall.

User Journey for Traveller

1.       Enter the Airport

2.       Lines to check-in and drop the luggage

3.       Immigration check (for international Travellers)

4.       Lines to complete security checks

5.       Lines to board the craft

6.       Lines to get out of the aircraft

7.       Custom and immigration for passengers (for International Travellers)

8.       Walk and wait time to get baggage from baggage claim

9.       Getting out of the airport

Waiting time for domestic traveller = Lines to check-in and drop the luggage + Lines to complete security checks + Lines to board the aircraft + Lines to get out of the aircraft+ walk and wait time to get baggage from baggage claim

Waiting time for domestic and international Traveller (in minutes)

Assuming ratio of Domestic traveller and international traveller is 7:3.

Average waiting time = 42*0.7 + 62* 0.3 = 29.4 + 18.6 =48 minutes

Moon-shot idea to reduce the waiting time

We can reduce the waiting time from the entry of airport to gate of the aircraft. For this, we will design a smart cart that will

1.       Scan traveller documents

2.       Scan, weigh, carry and weigh traveller luggage.

3.       It will have compartments that can be divided into check-in and carry-on parts.

4.       It can auto drive and doesn’t need to be pushed.

Traveller’s journey from entry to the gate of aircraft:

1.       Get out of the car/ transportation at the entrance of the airport.

2.       A smart cart will come up to the traveller.

3.       The traveller puts the luggage on the cart for check-in compartment or put the luggage for carry-on in the carry-on compartment of the smart cart.

4.       The cart has infra-red technology to scan verify the contents of the luggage.

5.       The Cart has an ID check- Face reader, ID Validity and Ticket validity.

6.       With the luggage and ID checked, the Traveller can now proceed to the gate.

7.       If there is check-in luggage, the check-in compartment of the smart cart disconnects, and the luggage lines up at the luggage drop-off place. The traveller or the staff doesn’t need to carry the luggage to put on the conveyer belt.

8.       From there onwards, traveller can walk through an infra scanner which will check the body before entering to the gate. Once at the gate, traveller can continue to keep the cart or the cart can come back outside to serve the Next Traveller.

Thus, with the smart cart, Traveller gets to the gate in minutes. This idea will reduce the wait time and more Travellers would prefer to come in and out of the airport.

Pitfalls:

1.       Government, law enforcement, airport, technology etc. all should come together in implementing Smart Cart.

2.       Technology should be advance enough to enable stricter digital screening and digital background checks by the smart cart.