Art of Context Archives - Airports Council International

By Colleen Hamilton, Principal, Art of Context

Colleen Hamilton is a principal with Art of Context, a Boston-based technology firm helping airports improve passenger experience through innovative technology solutions that reduce client administration and ensure extension for future innovations. Art of Context has recently been certified as a DBE.

The long-awaited expansion of Boston’s International gateway, Logan Airport Terminal E, has finally arrived, and with it, the next generation of airline operations and passenger experience. The project saw a significant expansion of the terminal that included a variety of improvements in energy efficiency, the use of more natural light, and a statement making façade complete with custom prismatic paint, a striking color known as Boston Red. The expanded terminal also adds four long-awaited gates.

As part of the team responsible for the evolution of the terminal, Art of Context worked with stakeholders to create and implement a boarding control app for Common Use gates. The interface is part of Art of Context’s Airport Display Platform (ADP). It is web-based with an intuitive interface driven by robust, secure technology. The app can be used from common use terminals or stand-alone on a tablet. It was rolled out terminal-wide in early August.

Customizing Common Use

All of the gates in Terminal E are Common Use gates. ADP’s Sign Studio module drives the suite of displays that figure prominently in the boarding podium and within the gate pier. The ADP templates tie into both flight data and the boarding control app interface to display the correct complex scenario.

This template-driven approach provides consistency while also allowing airlines the freedom to customize messaging to accommodate their specific boarding practices.

From the Common Use terminal, agents log into an intuitive interface and can select necessary boarding groups (even boarding out of order if desired) and choose which doors are used. The signage within the gate pier adjusts for domestic or international arrivals or departures depending on whether travelers need passport control. If arriving travelers require customs clearance, signage directs them to the appropriate path. There are sign groups for international departures, domestic arrivals and international arrivals.

The new gates are “swing gates”/”flex gates” They can accommodate one large wide body jet or the simultaneous boarding of two smaller planes. The process is data driven, so the signage will accommodate either scenario automatically.

Customs and Border Protection Compliance

The system accommodates the CBP Biometric Facial Comparison technology. Upon login, the gate agent selects standard or biometric boarding. If biometric boarding is chosen, the boarding process instructions and privacy notices are displayed on a totem sign satisfying Customs and Border Protection mandates.

It’s a complex system, but, by taking the time to understand stakeholders’ needs, and combining that with our depth of experience, AOC excels at making the complex simple.

More than 43,000 international flights departed from Boston in 2022. This new process will allow airlines to customize the experience to their standards while providing an informative, expedient boarding process.

To learn more about how Art of Context can help you improve your passenger experience with Airport Display Platform please visit us at www.artofcontext.com

DISCLAIMER

This article was provided by a third party and, as such, the views expressed therein and/or presented are their own and may not represent or reflect the views of Airports Council International-North America (ACI-NA), its management, Board, or members. Readers should not act on the basis of any information contained in the blog without referring to applicable laws and regulations and/or without appropriate professional advice.

By Colleen Hamilton, Principal, Art of Context

Maximizing resource use and improving the passenger experience are at the top of any airport’s priority list. FIDS has long been a key function in the airport ecosystem and new technologies exist that allow airports to maximize the information displayed while improving the passenger experience.

Design template (example data). Leverage space on landscape screens without sacrificing display of flight information.

Low-Row FIDS

Single use screens are a thing of the past. Today’s cloud-based FIDS provide opportunities for airports to automatically repurpose empty screen space to offer travelers a sense of place, useful travel information, or even advertisements.

FIDS has a large amount of metadata that can be used to drive other content allowing airports to automatically fill empty screen space. Repurposing screen space provides the opportunity to increase revenue with advertising, improve loyalty with airport promotions, and encourage tourism by highlighting local culture and attractions.

The display of non-flight information is based on a data-driven trigger that allows additional content such as a QR Code for information about the airport parking membership program, to automatically be shown, but only when there is enough room on screen to make the code easily scannable.

Advertisements of different sizes can be slotted as space allows and can be tied to our proof-of-play functionality for information collection and statistics gathering.

Urgency-based tile FIDS

Showing urgency tiles and standard row and column FIDS side-by-side in the same space provides data in different formats to engage travelers with varying learning styles. It allows airports to impact passenger flow – keeping passengers close to concessions to increase consumer spend, while also providing travelers with the most up to date information.

The tile format gives passengers an easily scannable view of their flight, along with strong color cues letting them know when it’s time to either relax or get to their gate. Tiles even flash yellow when particularly urgent. Our solution ties into the airport’s common-use system to leverage status messages entered by gate agents and to determine tile messaging and urgency styling.

To learn more about how Art of Context can help you reimagine your FIDS and to optimize your screen real estate, please visit us at booth 2 at the ACI Airports @ Work conference in Seattle, April 24 – 27, or visit us at www.artofcontext.com

Colleen Hamilton is a principal with Art of Context, a Boston-based technology firm helping airports improve passenger experience through state-of-the-art technology solutions that reduce client administration and ensure extension for future innovations. Art of Context has recently been certified as a DBE.