Danish Start-Up Utilizes Traveler Data to Improve Airport Efficiency

Working on laptop in airport while waiting for flight

Copenhagen Optimization uses traveler-inputted data to reduce waiting times, improve airport efficiency and even infrastructure.

A Danish start-up is crunching numbers to help airports improve the efficiency of their operations. Copenhagen Optimization uses big data to reduce waiting times and ease passenger flow through a facility.

The business, co-founded by Anders Dohn and Kasper Hounsgaard, has helped airports in Geneva, Dublin and Stockholm to smooth over and even increase the amount of passengers handled by these respective sites.

Copenhagen Optimization takes the data inputted by travelers as they move through an airport and uses it to create algorithms to improve the overall passenger experience.

Dohn, managing partner at the start-up, told Business Insider Nordic exactly how he and his team help to optimize the airport experience.

“The passenger submits data all along the way, from checking in to having the boarding pass scanned at an airport shop. Furthermore, many airports have Wi-Fi or sensor technology to track passengers within the airport. That means that we know when the passengers arrive, how long they stand in line, how long they take to pass through security, where they are in the airport and how many passengers are boarding the plane,” he said.

“It’s all about numbers. At the core, we have a number of sophisticated mathematical models that we apply to each specific operational area. We use data to find patterns we can utilize in terms of optimization,” he added.

“But with our model, we predict the pressure on security, treating each day as unique. That allows for a much more efficient allocation of resources,” Dohn explained.

At present, Copenhagen Optimization has worked with more than 20 airports around the world. Thus far, its methodology has helped to increase passenger throughput by ten percent in Dublin and decrease demand for counter check-in at peak times by five-and-a-half percent at Stockholm’s Arlanda Airport (ARN).

Speaking of the start-up’s achievements, Hounsgaard, a managing partner with Copenhagen Optimization, told the outlet, “Airports are really good at making things work in real-time. But they can improve planning by working in more structured ways with data and thinking long term.”

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