IT REPORT
Safely on board
At Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport, some 450,000 passengers with reduced mobility ask for
help every year to get from A to B. Sensors, though, are making a difference, notes the Editor.
T oday, walking distances at
airports are o en longer
than expected. Even if a
passenger has good mobility, it
can still be a challenge to get to
a gate on time. And passengers
with reduced mobility
experience extra time pressure
because they have to board
rst. ere is a practical reason
for this: people in wheelchairs
are brought on board with a li
and then li ed manually into
their aircra seat.
e above PRM statistic
equates to around 1,200
requests for help every day
but thanks to Undagrid’s IoT
PRM Solution, the passenger,
assistant and wheelchair are
able to come together much
more quickly.
The last mile
“Is a passenger late? en he
or she can no longer board.
e tight ight schedules do
not allow you to wait,” states
Hans Koelstra. He is Director
of Integral Safety at Axxicom
Airport Caddy, which is
responsible for the last mile
of passengers with reduced
mobility at various airports. If
they indicate at least 48 hours
in advance that they need a
wheelchair or caddy and an
assistant, Axxicom Airport
Caddy will ensure that the
materials and an employee are
ready at the agreed time.
So much for the theory. In
daily practice, things o en
go completely di erently. For
example, 40% of the passengers
requiring PRM assistance
arrive ad hoc. Axxicom Airport
Caddy must then release an
employee spontaneously, who
must then immediately nd
Global have collaborated with
Undagrid, a key player in IoT
technology within the aviation
industry. Undagrid is active at
various major airports around
the globe and this company
provides apron solutions for
ground support equipment,
in ight solutions for connected
catering and terminal solutions
for facility management, such
as waste bins and luggage
trolleys. All these solutions are
focused on IoT and the delivery
of actionable insights based on
sensor information for these
nomadic assets.
Summing up, Koelstra nds
it a perfect match. “An airport
is a complex environment. To
begin with, we have to deal
with many long piers, which
are also far apart, and a jumble
of shops and restaurants.
And then we have to try to
nd a wheelchair in such an
environment. ere are also
challenges at the technical
level. For example, at an airport
you not only have to deal with
an available wheelchair or
caddy. is o en results in a
frustratingly long search. In the
meantime, the clock is ticking.
Amazingly, a large proportion
of PRMs only report upon
arrival at the airport. “ e
number of passengers requiring
assistance has steadily grown
over the years and is expected
to continue to grow over the
next few. Adding extra sta or
equipment will not always be
possible,” emphasises Koelstra.
“ at is a challenge for our
employees, especially since they
do not know where available
wheelchairs and caddies are
located. Similarly, the location
and status of the ambuli s and
how to optimise our processes.”
Co-operation with Undagrid
e situation at Schiphol
has thus had to change and
thanks to IoT, the future will
be di erent. To overcome the
challenge, Facilicom (the group
to which Axxicom Airport
Caddy belongs) and Vodafone
many di erent signals, but
also with the steel structures
of the building, lots of people
and changing environments.
Undagrid has experience
with terminal solutions. at
makes a di erence. By the
end of this year Undagrid will
already provide hundreds of
their new NBIoT smart Nestor
sensors. We use these to take
our services to a real next level.
It helps us enormously if we
know exactly where all our
equipment is,” he continues.
“We are also looking at the
next step, together with
Undagrid. How do we get the
passenger, the companion and
the wheelchair together even
more quickly? It would be nice
if we could develop an app that
allows passengers with reduced
mobility to be matched directly
to available assistants and the
nearest free wheelchair a er
registration.”
e gauntlet has been picked
up; further news on this
initiative will follow. ghi
34 February 2020 Ground Handling International