Question

Southwest Airlines (SWA) is evaluating the customer check-in and security process for its operations at Albany International Airport (ALB) in Albany, New York. ALB is a relatively small airport, serving approximately 1.4 million (1,400,000) passengers per year. Southwest is the largest carrier at ALB, accounting for about 40% of the overall passenger volume.

ALB does not accept mobile boarding passes, so all customers must retrieve their boarding passes at the airport (assume print-at-home is not an option). When Southwest passengers arrive at the airport, they first go to one of 3 kiosks to print their boarding pass, and luggage tags if needed. The average time spent at a kiosk is 2 minutes per passenger. Because of Southwest’s “Bags Fly Free” policy, 50% of SWA passengers choose to check a bag. Those customers proceed to baggage drop after finishing at the kiosk, which takes 30 seconds per passenger. Due to limited space in the baggage drop area, only 1 passenger can drop bags off at a time.

ALB has a single terminal with one shared security checkpoint for all airlines. The security checkpoint has 2 lanes, and each lane can have up to 3 passengers in process at a time. It takes each passenger about 90 seconds (1.5 minutes) to go through the security check (excluding any time waiting in line).

The airport is open every day, and passenger volumes vary: some days are busier than others. For the purposes of this analysis, consider a day with average passenger volume for all airlines. Check-in counters at ALB are open from 4:00 AM until 10:00 PM. Assume customer arrivals at the airport are spread evenly over this 18-hour time period.

On an average day, are any of the resources in this system capacity constrained? Explain.
Hint: A resource is capacity-constrained if the number of passengers needing to use it exceeds its capacity.

On March 8, many travelers will be departing for spring break and you expect passenger volumes to be 50% higher than on an average day. In a short paragraph, explain where capacity should be added to the system to accommodate the expected passenger volume on March 8. Provide at least one suggestion for increasing capacity at the resource(s) where more is needed.

Round all passenger numbers to the nearest integer. Round cycle times to at least 3 decimal places.

Answer 1

1) Flow rate of passengers through

check in process = 2 min per passenger per kiosk = 60/2 * 10 = 300 passengers per hour.

Security process = 1.5 min per passenger per position = 60/1.5 * 12 = 480 passengers per hour

It is an example of capacity constrained system, as the capacity limit the max number of passengers.

2)

It is assumed that the numbers are evenly distribute across all airlines and passenger service points.

Capacity of check in = 300 customers / hour

Demand = 282 x 1.5 = 423

I need to have kiosks equal to 423/300 * 10 = 14.1 = 15 kiosks

Capacity at baggage drop = 60 per hour * 4 =240 per hour

demand = 155 * 1.5 =233 per hour.

Hence there is no need to change anything in baggage drop.

Capacity at security = 480 passengers / hour

Demand = 399 * 1.5 =599

Capacity augmentation needs to be (599/480) * 12 = 14.97

Which means that an additional lane will solve the purpose.