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Shorter queues at the airport check-in

23/01/2003

"Roger's invention could benefit us all by reducing those lengthy and tedious queues at the airport check-in and making airports

Roger has 35 years experience in production, sales and marketing of both mainframe and PC-based computer systems. Whilst working as an independent consultant seven years ago, he conceived and patented an earlier generation of the system that worked live and very successfully for some years at the Dutch airline carrier, KLM.

So far no-one has developed a system which can read a full set of data from all types of airline travel documents accurately. The ability to read what is written on a ticket reliably will result in huge cost savings for airlines, who currently have to transport tickets around the globe for scanning, matching and manual inputting - this can often take months after a passenger has checked-in.

At present, the cost of ticket data acquisition, before the information is even processed, is estimated to be at least 50p per ticket for efficient airlines, although it can exceed £5 per ticket to process. With the Portal system, which will improve speed and accuracy of data capture, these revenue costs could be cut by a minimum of 25p per ticket and maybe even more.

The Portal system consists of an "out of sight - black box" which, within one second of putting a ticket on the check in desk, delivers a whole range of information. It will be connected to the airport local area network and, through the Internet, to Roger's headquarters. It will decipher tickets in real-time as passengers check-in, transmitting the data to the check-in system and to the airline's existing revenue accounting software.

There is also the potential for the system to capture and read an image of the passenger's passport which, post-9/11, would be a huge benefit to airport security. For example, it could tell you where the passenger started their journey, where are they going to after this flight, from whom they bought the ticket, in what currency, etc. Coupled with passport data, this will give security concise profiles of passengers. The system does not rely on "automatic" documents (i.e. does not need passports to have automatic reading code stripes, nor to have a prior electronic ticket facsimile). The system will deliver full ticket details, full passport details, colour archive copies, and a current picture of the passenger presenting those documents.

Mark White, NESTA Invention and Innovation Director, said: "We are delighted to be supporting such a novel solution to an onerous and cost inefficient ticketing system. Roger's invention has the potential to radically improve what exists currently, which as well as being a sound commercial proposition for the airlines, could benefit us all by reducing those lengthy and tedious queues at the check-in and making our airports safer."

With NESTA's support Roger will produce a working prototype system that will allow him to move onto the next critical stage to attract second stage funding and set up his first live commercial trial.

As with all Invention and Innovation awards, NESTA has taken an equity stake in this business. If the Portal System generates investment returns, NESTA will realise returns that can be re-invested in other people and projects.