New technologies help increase number of flights, passengers in Saudi Arabia’s airports — GACA
JEDDAH: New technologies applied in Saudi Arabia’s airports has contributed to aviation growth in the Kingdom and has provided solutions for passenger’s trips, air cargo and investments, the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) has said.
GACA earlier reported an 8 percent increase in passenger numbers and 4 percent in flight rates in 2018.
It said more than 99.86 million passengers departed or arrived through 771,828 flights in the Kingdom’s international and domestic airports in 2018, compared to 92.42 million passengers on board 741,293 flights in 2017.
“The GACA is keen to adopt plans to develop the Kingdom’s airports network in order to keep pace with the steady increase in air traffic, increase the reliability of services, maximize geographic coverage and enhance the contribution of the airports to the overall economic growth of the country,” it said.
For example, it said, GACA provides information through technology to reduce paperwork, operating costs and streamline business processes while reducing time to address them.
Most prominent among these e-services is the “Self-Services at the Kingdom’s airports” that include check-in kiosks that provide boarding passes and luggage identification cards and self-service baggage drops that allows passengers to self-check their luggage.
It also provides self-scanning devices for bags in the arrival halls, ensuring that all baggage and other cargo arrive at the airport through the installation of electronic gates for the passage of freight vehicles before being emptied into the luggage compartment.
Electronic gates and document scanning machines ensure that a traveler’s information is correct and that boarding passes, passports, national identity and residency are valid.
Other services include airport operations systems and flight information display for some domestic airports.
To ensure accuracy in the flight schedules, GACA said it is working on a project to link the Saudi Arabian Airlines traffic management system to the Airport Management System, of which 50 percent has been completed.
GACA is due to host Global Aviation Summit 2019 on April 1 and 2 in Riyadh to review the infrastructure projects for airports and smart airports, the available opportunities to operate the airports and provide advanced services and consultations in civil aviation, among others.
