AI cuts queries by half at Glasgow Airport

The trial of a new AI-powered digital assistant has led to a 50 percent reduction in queries being received by customer services teams and those looking after passengers with restricted mobility at Glasgow Airport; giving over 250 days a year of staff time back to other customer duties.

Branded ‘Hello Glasgow’ the technology was developed by the SME Hello Lamp Post and supported by Connected Places Catapult. The service is now live and passengers can scan QR codes placed around the airport to take advantage of the technology to navigate, get real-time flight information and ask for passenger assistance.

“It is tremendous to see Hello Lamp Post launch its AI-enabled digital assistant service,” said Andrew Chadwick, Connected Places Catapult’s Ecosystem Director for Air Mobility & Airports. “This development follows a trial of the technology at Glasgow Airport as part of the Connected Airport Living Lab project, where innovative new systems were funded by the Catapult to address challenges facing the airport sector.”

Around 9 million passengers move through Glasgow Airport every year, with around 5,000 queries coming into the airport’s team every month. But most of those questions are about where to catch a bus, where to get coffee, and where the toilets are located.

“All of those different questions are very repetitive for a human to have to handle,” said Tiernan Mines, Chief Executive of Hello Lamp Post. “Answering many questions also risks taking attention away from someone who might be trying to get in touch to request a wheelchair, for instance.”

The company also says that over 12,300 more passengers could be supported every year thanks to the service, and that it had an 86 percent satisfaction rate with users during the trial.

Mines added that the company’s commercial model is not about monetising the end user as the airport is the customer, meaning the focus is on helping the airport provide better support to more passengers.

“Connected Places Catapult helped to join the dots for us with clients and was instrumental in setting up user testing; getting people in need of special assistance in front of the technology,” he said. “At Glasgow Airport, we want to support as many people as possible coming through their doors, and we’ll soon be supporting more airports across the UK, and beyond including in the US.”

Chadwick, told Cities Today in February at the launch of the trial: “Glasgow gives us the opportunity to look at challenges from across the aviation sector and it is anticipated that solutions will be applicable across a number of airports. Aviation challenges we’re seeking solutions to are: asset replacement, passenger movement and energy management.”

Image: Connected Places Catapult/Hello Lamp Post