HONG KONG
INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
System for Allocating
Check-In Counters
H
ong Kong Kai Tak International Airport is among the busiest airports in
the world. In 1995, it handled 27.4 million international passengers
and 1.46 million tons of air cargo. It is capable of handling 5,300 arriving and
departing passengers per hour. With so much traffic, the Hong Kong Civil
Aviation Department is constantly looking for ways to improve the services
that have made Kai Tak the envy of airports worldwide.
The allocation of check-in counters to agents and baggage handlers is done
daily. It is a highly complex task because airport management must maintain
the high quality of customer service while satisfying the needs of the airlines
and the airport and ensuring delayed flights do not disrupt the smooth operation of the departure hall. Efficient check-in service is vital to the airport’s
image, which is maintained through keeping high the standards of all the airport’s services.
To smooth out the allocation process, the civil aviation department had the
software consultancy RTL develop a scheduling application that weighs the
needs of all the parties concerned, and for the core of the application, RTL
choice ILOG Solver and its C++ constraint-based engine.
“ILOG class libraries
have tremendously
accelerated and
simplified the
development of an
extremely sophisticated
and powerful airport
resource allocation and
planning system. ILOG
constraint programming
technology slashed
planning time down to
seconds and increased
airport productivity by
optimizing its
operations.”
Dr. Andy Chun
Principal Consultant
RTL
RTL
Resource Technologies Ltd., Hong
Kong, is a software consulting firm
specializing in object-oriented
technologies for client/server
applications. It provides training and
consulting services in OOAD, CORBA,
object databases and OO modeling,
and systems design and development
in C++ and Java. RTL is a distributor
for Iona Technologies, ILOG, Rational
Software and ObjectDesign. RTL is a
member of the Hong Kong Industrial
Technology Centre Corp. For more
information, visit
http://www.rtl.com/~rtl.
Simulator
Airport
constraints
FoxPro
Scheduling engine
database
ILOG Solver
Contains daily
and seasonal
schedules
Baggage
belt load
balancing
Gantt chart
ILOG Views
Airport
congestion
load
balancing
CCCAS architecture
A better way to assign check-in counters
About ILOG
ILOG is a leading provider of advanced
software components for graphics and
resource optimization.
ILOG products deliver high
performance data visualization for 2D
and 3D user interfaces; integer, linear
and constraint solvers for resource
optimization, scheduling, logistics and
planning applications; dynamic rule
systems for intelligent agents and realtime data flow control, and
components for integrating modules
with real-time and relational data
sources.
ILOG was founded in 1987, and now
employs approximately 350 people in
seven countries. ILOG recently
acquired CPLEX, a leader in linear
optimization. Visit http://www.ilog.com/
for more information.
ILOG and CPLEX are registered trademarks of ILOG.
The old allocation system was done by hand, with the check-in counter assignments entered into
the airport’s computerized information directories, which handle the check-in information
displays. As passenger volume grew over the decades, the civil aviation department found the old
system too cumbersome, so it commissioned the development of the computerized check-in
counter allocation system (CCCAS) to handle the increasingly complex, time-consuming task.
The CCCAS system applies ILOG Solvers C++ constraint-based engine in allocating counters,
updating passenger information boards, planning conveyor belt loading and generating seasonal
schedules.
The system starts with the daily flight schedule, assigning counters to departing flights. ILOG
Solver assigns counters based on operational constraints that may include grouping together
flights of the same airline or meeting airlines’ requests for counters in certain sections of the
departure hall.
To avoid congestion, historical data is used to adjust allocations according to the physical layout of
the airport. The system also uses seasonal fight schedules for long-term planning, so counters are
assigned fairly and consistently from one week to the next.
Project
A prototype was built to determine many of the scheduling features of the final version. Three
phases were then implemented to incorporate a database, a user interface and a simulator. The
system was run in parallel with the manual system for several months before CCCAS was
brought into full operation in October 1996.
Benefits
02/98
USA ILOG, Inc. - 1901 Landings Drive, Mountain View, CA 94043 - Tel: +1 650 390 9000 - Fax: +1 650 390 0946 - E-mail: info@ilog.com • France ILOG S.A. - BP 85, 9 rue de Verdun, 94253 Gentilly Cedex - Tel: +33 (0)1
49 08 35 00 - Fax: +33 (0)1 49 08 35 10 - E-mail: info@ilog.fr • Germany ILOG Deutschland GmbH - Quadriga Haus, Kölner Strasse 10, Postfach 5405, 65729 Eschborn - Tel: +49 6196-400969 - Fax: +49 6196-400910 - Email: info@ilog.de • Japan ILOG KK - 3F YS Sanbancho Building, 24-14 Sanbancho, Chiyoda-ku,Tokyo 102-0075 - Tel: +81 3 5211 5770 - Fax: +81 3 5211 5771 - E-mail: info@ilog.co.jp • Singapore ILOG (S) Pte Ltd - 73
Science Park Drive, #B1-15 Cintech I, Singapore 118254 - Tel: +65 773 06 26 - Fax: +65 773 04 39 - E-mail: info@ilog.com.sg • Spain ILOG SA - Gobelas 21, 28023 Madrid - Tel: +34 1 372 95 51 - Fax: +34 1 372 99 76 - Email: info@ilog.es • UK ILOG Ltd - Gentilly House, Bracknell Beeches, Bracknell, Berkshire, RG12 7BW - Tel: +44 (0) 1344 66 16 00 - Fax: +44 (0) 1344 66 16 01 - E-mail: info@ilog.co.uk • URL: http://www.ilog.com •
Representative and distributors in other countries
98ss08
The manual method for assigning counters could take up to 1.5 person-days, with no guarantee
of consistently allocating counters well. CCCAS not only consistently generates good plans, but
also takes only four seconds to render a day’s schedule. Seasonal allocation, which used to take a
week, now takes just a few minutes. ILOG Solver respects all the constraints, making sure none
of them are violated. The check-in counters of flights operated by the same airline can be kept
together, making their access more convenient for the airline’s staff and passengers. Conveyor
belt capacity is no longer exceeded, greatly reducing the risk of mechanical failure and
consequential delays, and delayed flights are handled with reactive scheduling, so they do not
affect the check-ins of other flights. Good scheduling has meant shorter lines, less congestion and
faster check-in, resulting in greater customer and staff satisfaction.