Airport passenger flow management at a national scale is rare. What Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) and airport operator MATARAT are delivering across the Kingdom’s 27 airports is unprecedented — the world’s largest implementation of LiDAR and passenger flow analytics, designed to prevent congestion, reduce wait times and transform the traveller experience from check-in to departure.
Part of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 airport transformation
Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) and airport operator MATARAT are rolling out an advanced LiDAR and passenger flow management solution across the country’s 27 airports—the world’s largest implementation of its kind—as part of the Kingdom’s vision to lead the region in airport technology and innovation.
SAMI Advanced Electronics, a leading Saudi ICT provider, has partnered with DTP to deliver the solution, which uses Veovo’s Queue and Flow Management system alongside DTP’s tNexus smart mobile platform. This collaboration provides insights into passenger movement, dwell times, and queuing patterns within terminals. With millions of travellers passing through Saudi airports each year, this system will help GACA and MATARAT proactively address bottlenecks in critical areas such as check-in, immigration, security, and transfer zones, thus reducing delays and enhancing the passenger experience.
Abdulaziz Aldahmash, Executive Vice President for Quality and Customer Experience at GACA, commented ‘ This is a transformative initiative that will redefine the passenger experience at Saudi Arabia’s airports: a state-of-the-art queue management system across all Saudi airports. This isn’t just about convenience; it’s about transparency and efficiency. GACA, the airports’ leaders and all the stakeholders can now monitor operations, optimise resources, and ensure fair service across all airports.’
How the technology works
For a detailed comparison of LiDAR, 3D cameras and BLE sensors, see our guide to airport passenger tracking sensor technology.
Real-time insight across all 27 airports
DTP then delivers this insight to all stakeholders, including airport employees and officials, via its tNexus Airport View mobile application, which provides real-time metrics, alerts, and flight information. It transforms queue management by measuring and predicting wait times while delivering wider processing insights for a more accurate assessment of passenger flow.
This deeper insight allows for proactive action to prevent congestion, while detailed productivity analysis supports ongoing performance improvement. The solution also helps operators plan capacity by recommending the optimal number of processing lines based on real-time and forecasted passenger flow. Designed for multi-airport and multi-terminal use, it ensures consistent, efficient operations across all 27 airports.
A phased rollout already underway
The solution is being rolled out to all airports in a phased approach over the next 18 months, with technology already installed at Jeddah and Riyadh airports.
Saudi Arabia’s GACA and MATARAT are rolling out the world’s largest airport passenger flow management deployment, bringing LiDAR and sensor technology to all 27 of the Kingdom’s airports to reduce congestion and improve the traveller experience as part of Vision 2030.
- A sensor-agnostic approach using LiDAR, stereo cameras and WiFi/BLE ensures the solution scales across airports of varying sizes and layouts.
- Real-time metrics and alerts are delivered to all stakeholders via the tNexus mobile app, enabling proactive congestion management across check-in, immigration, security and transfer zones.
- Live and forecasted passenger flow data recommends optimal processing line configurations, turning reactive queue management into a predictive operation across the entire network.
