Necessity is the mother of invention. The modern airport environment would be very different if it had not been for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games and the realisation that if airlines were to cope with the sharp spikes in passenger numbers, the check-in process needed a radical overhaul.
So in 1984, SITA deployed the first common-use terminal equipment (CUTE) as the new check-in standard, allowing maximum use of airport infrastructure in a way that had never before been done, enabling airlines to share check-in terminals for the first time, reducing costs and allowing capacity to be ramped up at short notice.
It was one of the most successful innovations in the history of aviation and helped to usher in the travel revolution and maximise the use of check-in facilities and airport infrastructure as airline passenger numbers started to soar worldwide.
Another Olympic milestone is now being set in Russia at Sochi-Adler International Airport, the gateway for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games, as it becomes the 400th airport to upgrade its passenger processing to the SITA AirportConnect platform. This not only meets the CUTE standard but is also compliant with the new industry CUPPS standard (common-use passenger processing systems) agreed last year.
Big sporting events are testing times for even the largest of airports. The real challenge lies in handling the spikes in arrivals and departures.
Sydney – border innovation
CUTE was well established by the time of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games. It formed a vital part of a AUS$2 billion investment in Sydney’s new world-class airport. With over 300 workstations at check-in desks, gates and other common-use areas, it was by far the largest SITA CUTE system in the South Pacific. It was required as passenger throughput was expected to rise from 4,560/hour to over 7,000/hour.
Given the distances travelled, Australia’s authorities wanted to make sure that visitors had all visa clearances in place before flight departure, rather than having to deal with visa/entry irregularities upon arrival. A travel authority system was put in place by SITA to deliver visas instantly, either online or directly via an airline or travel agent. It was the first system of its kind. For the 2000 Olympics, the system was operational for passengers flying with Air New Zealand, Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines, Qantas and Singapore Airlines. It catered for visitors from 32 countries, representing 90% of all eligible visas. SITA also deployed its Advance Passenger Information solution, which allowed for real-time checks of travellers before they boarded the aircraft against the Australian visa database, thus eliminating immigration checks on arrival.
The Sydney investment paid off: international passenger arrivals between September 1 and October 5 were 22% up on the year before. The International Terminal processed a record 45,500 passengers the day after the closing ceremony, involving the handling of more than 40,000 outbound bags and the movement of over 1,000 flights.
Athens – a new international airport
The CUTE concept had moved on still further by the time of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games. This time, the newly built Athens International Airport (AIA) became the first in Europe to use CUSS kiosks.
At the time, Leonidas Daravelis, AIA director of information technology & telecommunications, said: “CUSS was essential to our strategy for handling the Olympics. We needed to ensure smooth, efficient processes for all those involved – particularly in the trickiest part of any Games: getting people away quickly after the closing ceremony.”
So that passengers and baggage could be processed up to two days before departure, the airport set up a mini-airport terminal in the Olympic village. Similar facilities were provided at major hotels and at the maritime transport hub at Piraeus.
For airlines, the added bonus was that in many instances bags could be processed and loaded onto aircraft in advance. This helped to avoid over-burdened baggage systems in the critical hours after the closing of the Games. It also meant shorter and fewer queues, and happier passengers.
Breaking records in Beijing
Beijing’s hosting of the 2008 Olympic Games prompted the construction of the world’s largest building and most advanced airport, with an enclosed floor area of 1.3 million square metres. The new Terminal 3 at Beijing Capital International Airport (BCIA) included the latest version of AirportConnect CUTE installed at 330 check-in counters and on 50 CUSS self-service kiosks.
In total, 700 workstations were ready to support check-in, boarding and transfers for an anticipated 1,900 flights per day following the Olympic Closing Ceremony, compared with the more usual 1,150.
The following year Condé Nast Traveler voted BCIA the ‘World’s Best Airport 2009’ and at the Asia Pacific Frost & Sullivan Aerospace & Defence Awards, SITA was named the ‘Airport Support Service Provider of the Year 2009’.
Another project was also critical to the 2008 Beijing Olympics – ensuring network capacity and resilience. Prior to the Games, SITA completed a major upgrade for the country’s main GDS provider, Travelsky Technology Ltd. This involved installation of a managed, business-class network service delivering secure and reliable IP-based Virtual Private Network solutions.
Formula 1: Abu Dhabi
A year later, SITA’s passenger processing solutions were made available for visitors to the closing race of the 2009 Formula 1 Grand Prix season, held for the first time in Abu Dhabi.
In a five-year, $2.2 million deal, SITA installed 24 kiosks across Abu Dhabi International Airport’s three terminals. The kiosks allowed the airport to increase capacity during peak times and avoid the need to invest in fixed check-in areas.
Africa: tackling the World Cup
In 2010, South Africa became the first African nation to host the FIFA World Cup. CUTE and CUSS kiosks were already in use at a number of the country’s airports but a fresh contract was signed between SITA and Airports Company South Africa (ACSA), which handles 98% of the country’s commercial air traffic, to provide additional equipment, maintenance and support.
As the contract was signed, Bongani Maseko, then operations director at ACSA, said: “This is the first time the continent of Africa is hosting this world-class event, and in South Africa, as the host country, our airports will be the first and last experience our international visitors will have during the World Cup so it is vital that we are well prepared.”
In readiness for the event, SITA also installed Africa’s first VHF Digital Link (VDL) station for air traffic control, in Johannesburg. The new ICAO standard VDL service provided 10 times more capacity than traditional VHF ACARS. SITA also added a VDL radio to its Johannesburg VHF station to support airlines flying A380s into South Africa, including Air France and Lufthansa.
Border solutions
By the time of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, SITA’s border management solution was used by 70 airlines, and accessible by more than 300,000 travel agents worldwide. This was a key consideration for the South African hosts when they decided to use SITA’s border management solutions, iBorders, which include Advance Passenger Processing and biometrics capabilities. Using real-time, interactive messaging, iBorders enabled airlines flying to South Africa to obtain the ‘authority to carry’ each passenger from the South African government, which verified whether the passenger had the proper documentation and met the requirements for entry into the country.
iBorders processed more than 1.5 million passengers for entry to South Africa in June and July 2010. As a result, 350 were subjected to extra examination and 60 people were stopped from entering because their names appeared on South Africa’s Visa and Entry Stop List or watch lists provided by Interpol and soccer’s governing body FIFA.
Making the difference
The Russians are not the only ones planning ahead for a major sporting event. In March 2010, Rio de Janeiro-Galeão International Airport announced the installation of SITA’s CUSS S3 kiosks as part of the preparation for the 75% surge in passenger traffic anticipated during the FIFA World Cup 2014 and the 2016 Summer Olympics. The five-year agreement also includes SITA’s AirportConnect open common-use platform for managing more than 130 workstations throughout the airport.
This article features in Routes News 2011 Issue 3
