A SIMULATION STUDY TO SUPPORT STRATEGIC CHOICES TO IMPROVE AIRPORT EFFICIENCY AND SECURITY

In this work we deal with the critical issues that have emerged at the main terminal of a crowded international airport due to the considerable congestion at the arrival gates for the security check-point and the luggage control before the exit. We face this problem by evaluating the efficiency of the passenger flow management within the terminal through the development and analysis of a discrete event simulation model. More precisely, starting from the present scenario, we propose an alternative layout and passenger path able to overcome the actual inefficiencies of the control process and minimize the gate exiting time. A cost-benefit analysis is also given aimed at showing that strategic decisions relevant for the efficiency and security of the airport can be usefully supported by simulation techniques such as those proposed here.