Passenger Flow Predictions at Sydney International Airport: A Data-Driven Queuing Approach

Time spent in processing zones at an airport are an important part of the passenger's airport experience. It undercuts the time spent in the rest of the airport, and therefore the revenue that could be generated from shopping and dining. It can also result in passengers missing flights and connections, which has significant operational repercussions. Inadequate staffing levels are often to blame for large congestion at an airport. In this paper, we present a stochastic simulation that estimates the operational uncertainty in passenger processing at immigration. Congestion and delays are estimated on arrivals and departures based on scheduled flight departures and arrivals. We demonstrate the use of cellular tracking data in refining the model, and an approach to controlling congestion by adjusting staffing levels.