Proactive management based on data: Wilbur’s visionary perspective

Schiphol Wilbur has been developed to get a handle on the whole operational process at Schiphol and to ensure efficient, transparent and safe processes. Wilbur is a real-time dashboard for the airport’s most important control centres.

Real-time support and anticipating what lies ahead

Wilbur is named after the pioneer of civil aviation: Wilbur Wright. The application has been developed in-house by Schiphol, and the platform has a visionary perspective, just as Wright did. The data that Wilbur collects and provides insight into enables Schiphol to look up to 4 hours ahead at an increasing number of airport processes. Sensors all over the airport collect data; the temperature and amount of people at a particular location can be identified, for instance. Schiphol Airport Control receives real-time information about how busy it is in the terminal and about what can be expected. This means that we can more swiftly respond to changes, prevent long queues and deploy staff where they are most needed.

Data-driven plans

Thanks to Wilbur, all cooperating agents at Schiphol work according to a single ‘data truth’ and are able to make data-driven decisions. Wilbur proactively advises the Operational Capacity managers in the Security Control Center on plans for the filters and security lanes. Using prognoses, real-time advice is given about the number of teams that should be deployed and about lanes that should be opened. This advice is based on past data and on the present situation.

Until recently, these plans were based on camera footage, experience and intuition. Thanks to Wilbur, decisions regarding planning and scheduling are now more data-driven. Capacity can be used more effectively, and this leads to fewer queues for travellers as well as cost savings.

The advantages of Wilbur

  • Overview of passenger flows
  • Real-time data, e.g. about the temperature and amount of people at a location
  • Looking up to 4 hours ahead and making adjustments to processes
  • Advice about effective capacity use

Watch this video to see how Wilbur is helping

Read the previous blogs

  • Tap and go with your Digital Travel Credential!

    Published on:

    Can you board and cross the border faster with a digital travel document? At the request of the EU, we are testing a DTC together with the government and KLM.

  • Test capturing ultrafine particles with droplets

    Published on:

    We are working diligently to reduce the amount of ultrafine particles. A possibility is the use of water droplets to remove ultrafine particles from the air.

  • Autonomous Bus Initiative

    Published on:

    Our ambition: operating the world's most sustainable and top-tier airports by 2050. With this in mind we're putting autonomous buses to the test on airside.