Modelling the passenger flow at an airport terminal to increase the safety level

Security aspects in air transport are regulated by numerous national and international legal acts. The required security level also applies to processes occurring at the passenger terminal, which is divided into areas with various access levels. The existence of conditions for the occurrence of an increased security situation is connected with a higher probability of the occurrence of incidence, which needs to be absolutely identified and eliminated. The consequences of such events may involve, amongst other things, a broader scope of security control at the airport. Security control is an anthropotechnical system, in which a strong human-machine-environment relationship occurs. In a cybernetic approach, people are an integral part of a complex system. Therefore, a systemic approach to the modelling of this process is recommended, which takes into account the use of computer simulation. Considering the necessity for quick decisions made in the passenger flow management process through the terminal, one of the simplest analytical models was presented - the Markov model; however, its application is connected with various limitations. The authors have also presented their own original simulation model, which can be implemented at any airport owing to its universality and macroscopic approach.