Average security processing time reduced at Belfast City Airport

A new security search system at George Best Belfast City Airport has reduced the average passenger processing time to six minutes.

Recently, the airport has seen an investment of £1.5 million, which has been earmarked for redevelopment and refurbishment of the security search area. This includes the introduction of new security lanes which can process up to six passengers at a time. The airport served over 2.5 million passengers in 2017, and this is only expected to increase as the number of people travelling by air continues to grow. 

New electronic boarding pass gates can now process multiple passengers at once and the new scanning equipment has seen a reduction in queue length at peak times.

Mark Beattie, Operations Director at Belfast City Airport said: “We want to exceed our passengers’ expectations when using the airport and the new security search system has, to date, received hugely positive feedback from passengers. Using the latest technology, we’ve automated much of the security process. Over the past few weeks, we’ve been monitoring passenger flows and we’re confident six minutes is the average time it should take to pass through the new security system.”

The investment in security is part of a £15 million infrastructure investment which includes a major upgrade and redevelopment of the departure lounge including retail areas and food and beverage concessions.

Additionally, customer seating has already been increased to more than double the amount of seats previously in the terminal. More airside customer washroom facilities have also been implemented throughout the departures lounge. 

The investment in the longevity of the terminal’s infrastructure also includes a new fleet of Airport Fire appliances, the first of which arrived in September 2018.

The work to improve the security and departure facilities is expected to be fully complete by November 2018.