Industry news

Technology-driven solutions take centre stage in the latest news update from ACI’s Asia-Pacific and global World Business partners.

CONTACTLESS TRAVEL AT BEIJING CAPITAL

New biometric technology can ensure a completely contactless experience for passengers passing through Beijing Capital International Airport.

The human-free journey is possible as the airport has completely automated the entire passenger journey using SITA technology – from check-in and bag drop through to immigration, security, and finally boarding.

As a result, passengers only need to enrol once during check-in then, according to SITA, experience “a seamless journey through the airport enabled by facial recognition”.

Beijing Capital’s SITA Smart Path solution is the largest rollout of its kind to date, covering over 600 biometric checkpoints through the airport including 250 lanes of automatic gates, 80 kiosks, and 30 self-bag drop stations which will process passengers from international flights.

Sumesh Patel, SITA’s president for the Asia-Pacific region, says: “Automation is more important than ever in this COVID-19 environment to better enable social distancing and passenger flow without compromising processing times."

NEW AUTOMATED GATES OPEN AT KANSAI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

Kansai International Airport in Japan has become the latest Asia-Pacific gateway to introduce e-gates supplied by Vision-Box.

The Osaka located airport has opened five banks of 12 pre-security gates (GT11) in Terminal 1 as it strives to ensure a ‘Fast Travel’ experience for passengers. By automating the boarding pass confirmation procedure at the departure gate, the self-scan will replace the need for staff to manually check and scan passenger boarding passes, speeding up the overall travel experience.

Jeremy Goldstrich, COO at Kansai Aiports, says: “We will continue to proactively introduce cutting-edge technology to improve the convenience of the airport and provide a comfortable and new travel experience.”

NEW SECURITY SCREENING SYSTEM AT CANBERRA AIRPORT

Canberra Airport has installed a new security screening system with technology from Smiths Detection (security machines) and Rapiscan (body scanners) to further improve the screening of passengers and their carry-on luggage.

Commenting on their recent addition, the gateway’s head of aviation, Michael Thomson, says: “The new machines have reached the highest level of security certification, and eliminate the need to remove liquids, aerosols, and electronic devices like laptops from cabin bags.

“Several passengers can put their bags down simultaneously for screening, compared to the previous system where passengers had to wait for their turn. “The passenger pauses briefly as they pass through the body screening machine and it provides a safe full image for operators to review.

This more informative image coupled with automatic algorithms to help guide operators to items of interest, makes this a truly powerful security tool.”

IT SYSTEMS ENHANCEMENT UNDERWAY AT QUEEN ALIA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

Queen Alia operator, Airport International Group (AIG), is to modernise its IT systems in partnership with Amadeus.

The gateway says that the move will deliver a foundation for innovation and the flexibility to react to new market dynamics.

The first phase of the implementation has just been completed with QAIA using Amadeus technology to integrate its airport operations systems, as well as passenger and baggage services, into a single platform.

According to Amadeus, this will allow AIG to “launch an agile, internet-enabled model that can be scaled up and/or down to match fluctuating passenger demand”.

Implementation was completed during the COVID-19 lockdown with a nationwide curfew in place, as well as throughout the month of Ramadan. The ambitious project delivery was possible due to remote collaboration between AIG and Amadeus and its flexible cloud technology with a globally dispersed team.

AIG CEO, Nicolas Claude, enthused: “The new cutting-edge platform enables us to strategically use our data to improve our airport operations and services across the board, allowing us to extend better offerings to our airline partners and passengers."

The second phase of the deployment will be completed by the end of 2020 and see the implementation of Amadeus’ Altea Departure Control, self-service check-in and e-gates to ease the transit of passengers through QAIA.

WBP PROFILES

BECA

Location: New Zealand

Type of Business: Consulting & Management

W: www.beca.com

Beca is one of the largest employeeowned engineering and related consultancy services companies in the Asia-Pacific. As well as numerous engineering consultancy services, it offers architecture, planning, project and cost management, land information, valuations and process improvement services. Beca's airport experience includes projects at most New Zealand airports; the majority of Australian capital city airports; and various airports in the Pacific Islands and PNG; Changi Airport and Hong Kong as well as airfield works for Australian Defence and New Zealand Defence Force.

JT INTERNATIONAL

Location: United Kingdom

Type of Business: Retail and Commercial

W: www.jti.com

JTI is a member of the Japan Tobacco Group of Companies (JT), a leading international tobacco product manufacturer. It markets world-renowned brands such as Winston, Mild Seven (Mevius) and Camel. Other international brands include Benson & Hedges, Silk Cut, Sobranie, Glamour and LD. With headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, JTI has operations in 120 countries and about 25,000 employees.

TOYO KANETSU SOLUTIONS KK

Location: Japan

Type of Business: Handling and Airfield

W: www.tksl.co.jp/en/index.html

Our main business consists of planning, designing, manufacturing, constructing and selling of material handling systems and we have long contributed to the development of our customers of various industries for a half century since the start of our business.