AeroCloud has launched its latest new product – AeroCloud Optic. This follows successful trials at Liverpool John Lennon Airport (LPL) and Sarasota Bradenton International Airport (SRQ) in Florida.
Announced at Passenger Terminal Expo 2023, AeroCloud Optic is the first solution to effectively solve the decades-old issue of how to gain an accurate understanding of how passengers move through an airport, from kerb to gate.
As the UN Aviation Agency predicts air travel to resume pre-pandemic levels this year, airports must ensure a frictionless flow of passengers at every stage of their journey, from kerb to gate.
AeroCloud Optic uses computer vision to intelligently, anonymously and accurately track passengers as they move through an airport. The real-time monitoring of passenger flow means alerts are triggered in response to operational bottlenecks, such as extended wait times at check-in or security, which can be immediately addressed with additional resources.
AeroCloud’s artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) algorithms also allow airport staff to identify trends, draw learnings, and predict future scenarios to inform more accurate decision-making and long-term planning. This enables better resource management and enhanced retail opportunities for concession partners, improving the airport’s passenger experience.
George Richardson, co-founder and CEO of AeroCloud, explains:
With AeroCloud Optic, airports can resolve operational issues in real-time and plan better for the future in a revolutionary way. Optic accurately predicts the future flow of travellers so leaders can make confident decisions on everything from resource allocation to commercial opportunities. When airports need to improve the bottom line, AeroCloud Optic can help airport operations teams streamline the check-in and security experience to get people through to retail areas faster, reducing passengers’ queue time and encouraging spending in a GDPR conformant way. AeroCloud Optic was recently described as the “holy grail” of continuous improvement, and I am incredibly proud of my co-founder and team for bringing this technology to fruition.
AeroCloud Optic in operation
AeroCloud Optic has been trialled in UK and US airports. At LPL, the solution has been used to understand movement in the building better – identifying peaks and bottlenecks and where queues are likely to be – flattening any planning curves and increasing efficiency.
Paul Staples, Operations Director at Liverpool John Lennon Airport, comments:
Our slogan is ‘faster, easier and friendlier’, which means getting our customers through to the departure lounge as quickly as possible through efficient operations. Historically, we’ve used other systems and manual methods like queue counting to track how individuals travel through our airport, but this didn’t deliver what we needed. With AeroCloud Optic, we now have accurate information that allows us to plan more effectively at an operational level while also helping to inform decision-making for marketing and spending per head in retail and concession environments. We’ve never been able to do this in the past – it is the holy grail of commercial activity in an airport.
Industry-first innovation
Though airports have trialled technologies, including Bluetooth and WiFi, to solve this sector issue, AeroCloud Optic is the first technology to anonymously track passengers through the entire process – from arrival to security and departure halls to boarding an aircraft.
Ian Forde-Smith, co-founder and CTO of AeroCloud explains:
Understanding passengers’ journey from kerb to gate is a challenge that airports have been grappling with for years, and no solution till now has been able to offer them this level of passenger insight without compromising privacy. Working in partnership with our customers to develop AeroCloud Optic has enabled us to overcome this challenge with a real-time SaaS solution that replaces the resource-heavy, slow, and often inaccurate assumptions that were previously informing operational decisions.
The next stage in AeroCloud’s growth story
The launch of AeroCloud Optic follows AeroCloud’s recent $12.6 million Series A funding round, led by US fund Stage 2 Capital with participation from I2BF Global Ventures, Triple Point Ventures, Praetura Ventures, Starburst Ventures and existing investors Playfair Capital and Haatch. The funding will enable AeroCloud to scale up, with plans to double its team to 80 by the end of the year across its HQ in Macclesfield and its offices in London and Florida. This will help it reach its target of over 100 customers by 2023 and deliver innovative new product launches based on AI, ML, and self-service.
For more information, contact our press office at aerocloud@theflywheelers.com.
