Over 50,000 passenger queries made every year to staff at Glasgow Airport represented a time consuming challenge for staff; as many questions were repetitive in nature, and could have been answered without human intervention.

Step forward Hello Lamp Post, a software developer whose AI-enabled passenger assistance technology was introduced at Glasgow Airport last year through the Connected Airport Living Lab demonstrator; initially as an aid to help passengers with reduced mobility.

This year, the product was developed further as a digital assistant for all passengers and staff, and was rolled out to both Aberdeen and Southampton airports too; with the service branded either ‘Hello GLA’, ‘Hello ABZ’ or ‘Hello SOU’ to align with the appropriate airport location identifier.

Hello Lamp Post, which is now in profit, has increased its turnover by over a third year on year for the last two years. It first received support from Connected Places Catapult on the Intelligent Mobility Accelerator in 2022, when the company developed a product to provide cultural insights for people about their local towns and cities using AI. This was followed by participation in the Station Innovation Zone at Bristol Temple Meads in 2023 to trial an accessible wayfinding service.

Two years ago, Hello Lamp Post was welcomed on to the Future of Air Mobility accelerator to develop a digital assistant to help people navigate airports, which led to its participation in the Connected Airport Living Lab which is a partnership between AGS Airports and Connected Places Catapult at Glasgow Airport.

“The Connected Airport Living Lab acted as a ‘safe space’ for Glasgow Airport and us to work together. That led to the partnership growing, and the success of the trial led to a multi-year contract to supply the service across all three airports in the AGS Airports group.”

Tiernan Mines, Chief Executive, Hello Lamp Post

Growing into a new sector

In the last year, Hello Lamp Post’s headcount has increased from 10 to 17. “But the most tangible thing is we went from having no airports as clients in that time – a sector we wanted to get into – to seven under contract,” says Tiernan. The company has also now started operations at Birmingham Airport, and three sites in America: Atlantic City International in New Jersey, Brownsville in Texas, and Cincinnati / Northern Kentucky.

“Connected Places Catapult allowed us to explore use cases, physical environments and sectors that were new for our platform, and take forward trials through avenues that were trusted by the partners involved,” he adds. “The programmes acted as a soft landing into new markets for us, while minimising risk for partners, as products offered by SMEs are pre-vetted.

Making places better for people

Tiernan says Hello Lamp Post’s passenger assistance platform is underpinned by the company’s mission to make places better for people. “We strongly believe that our service could become a useful digital assistant for any public location in the world, and have broadened our horizons to go beyond serving passengers with reduced mobility or limiting ourselves to one sector.

“We've always had a strong conviction that our platform is well suited to airports, where lots of people have time pressures and are moving between several different areas, and staff cannot be everywhere 24/7,” he adds.

“Our trial at Glasgow allowed us to really drive a wedge into that market; one which can be understandably cautious when dealing with companies who don't have a track record in that sector.”

During the Glasgow trial, use of the digital assistant led to a 50% reduction in queries received by customer service staff, and an 86% satisfaction rate with the service among users.

Passengers at all three AGS airports now use the digital assistant – accessed via QR codes – to navigate the terminals, and receive personalised travel assistance in real-time; accessing automated responses to routine enquiries – typically around onward travel, airport facilities and check in and bag drop – allowing operational teams to focus on more complex tasks.

“Our system knows where passengers are located in the airport, and can alert a member of staff to provide assistance if necessary,” Tiernan adds.

Allowing all passengers to use the service – and not just those with accessibility needs – now allows staff to devote more time to focusing on passengers with assisted travel needs. Hello Lamp Post says the trial at Glasgow gave back 347 working days for staff in a year to focus on other tasks. The airport has now extended the digital assistant service to staff to help those on the front line report incidents such as spillages; whereby an SMS alert is automatically sent to a duty manager.

Glasgow is also about to begin tracking the location of baggage trolleys as well as shuttle buses around the airport site, providing passengers and staff with real-time departure information to help customers plan their onward journeys, and staff to know with greater certainty if they will make their next work shift on time.

“The goal is to see where we can help improve customer service, how we can we support more efficient operations, and ultimately how we might drive more revenue for the airport,” Tiernan says.

Continued growth for the platform

“We are constantly developing the system, and our product roadmap is almost exclusively driven by our customers. We make a conscious effort to continuously listen to their pain points to see how we could be helping them.”

Tiernan says Connected Places Catapult has also provided useful industry insight into how airports operate and their attitudes to certain technologies. “It comes back to that soft landing: we're not going into an industry blind. We have useful advice before we even speak to a customer.

“They also helped to open doors for us: it's far better for airports to get an introduction from a mutual and trusted party than receiving a random call from a company.”

Connected Places Catapult’s Head of Aviation, Michael Laski says: “Funding innovative SMEs like Hello Lamp Post is not just an investment in their growth, it’s an investment in the future of connected communities. Such support enables SMEs to scale, innovate and thrive. Connected Places Catapult plays a pivotal role in helping great thinkers such as Hello Lamp Post to explore diverse markets and sectors, turning great ideas into impactful solutions.”

AGS Airports’ Group Head of Operational Solutions, Jamie Louden says: “Analysis revealed that most passenger inquiries were either referrals or requests for information. These requests are often perceived as unique to the customer about their journey, such as ‘Can I travel with a particular medication?’ for example.

“Establishing this service enabled access for all to a single source of truth, readily accessible to both customers and staff, ensuring accurate airport and airline information is delivered consistently to the right person at the right time.”

Read more about the Connected Airport Living Lab.