Background
In 2017, Munich Airport was, for the tenth time, crowned the best European airport in the "World Airport Awards". In fact, Terminal 2 was awarded “Best terminal in the world”. Over 14 million travellers cast their ballot at the Skytrax Institute in London and voted for Munich Airport due to its high level of comfort and great travel experience.
Worldwide, Munich reached fourth place, which is particularly satisfying for accu:rate – Munich residents – who use the airport on a regular basis.
Of course, the airport didn’t win by chance. It actively seeks innovative solutions to passenger comfort, safety and travel experience. This includes a comfortable design and the optimization of the walking routes on Level 3 of Terminal 2.
Goal of the simulation
Within the scope of a visitor flow analysis, accu:rate investigates how people would move in the event of an evacuation.
Scope of consideration
Two different scenarios were examined:
- Version 1: an evacuation using the escape routes defined in the fire protection concept
- Version 2: an evacuation using routes that included the business-as-usual entrances
Results
- Version 1: extensive congestion occurred in front of the exits inside the building, due to the shortness of the routes and the higher density of people inside the terminal
- Version 2: walking routes are longer, but there is less congestion because the crowd finds equilibrium walking along the longer paths. Visitor comfort is higher in version 2
This analysis provides clearance for Munich airport to alter the Terminal’s layout. As has often been the case, the escape routes recommended in the fire regulations will not always be chosen by pedestrians. And sometimes, a longer route is a faster route.
Image source: "Flughafen München, Terminal 2, Ebene 4, Check-in Lufthansa" by Aconcagua. Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0