Northrop Grumman's Europe-based airport systems group has signed a contract with the U.K.'s East Midlands Airport, part of the Manchester Airports Group, for the delivery of the Passenger Flow module of its Airport Realtime Collaboration (ARC) suite. The contract is effective immediately.

Northrop Grumman will supply the Passenger Flow software and full support services to East Midlands Airport. The software will be the primary tool used to forecast departing passenger numbers, flow rates and queue times, and will directly support optimum staff rostering.

The system also provides real-time measurement of passenger flows, with alerts if the live measurements suggest a significant deviation from the forecast.

"We're delighted to be working with Northrop Grumman to assist us in forecasting our passenger flow more accurately and plan accordingly over a longer period of time," said Nicola McCabe, head of customer service, East Midlands Airport.

"Working with a global company of this stature means that we have great support and the potential to tap into more development opportunities. Getting the customer journey right is key to us, and we are hoping to use this system elsewhere in the terminal to enable us to process passengers as quickly and efficiently as possible."

"This is an exciting step for the ARC product," said Charles Houseago, managing director of Northrop Grumman's airport systems group.

"We believe that using sophisticated forecasting and simulation of gross passenger flow, based on data taken from multiple sources, rather than by directly tracking a small sample of individuals through mobile phone signals, is a more holistic approach that ultimately gives a more accurate output. East Midlands Airport has already seen benefits that support this, and we are now considering how the system can be extended to help manage queues on arrival as well as departure."

The Passenger Flow module of ARC sits alongside the Airport Collaborative Decision Making capability, which can help airports achieve increased airside capacity, efficiency and resilience.

Northrop Grumman's airport systems group based in Peterborough, U.K., provides the global airport market with products and services to aid efficiency.