Technology
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 fi rst time in Abu Dhabi. In a fi ve-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 fi xed check-in areas.
Africa: tackling the World Cup In 2010, South Africa became the fi rst 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 traffi c, to provide additional equipment, maintenance and support.
As the contract was signed, Bongani Maseko, then operations director at ACSA, said: “This is the fi rst time the continent of Africa is hosting this world-class event, and in South Africa, as the host country, our airports will be the fi rst and last experience our international visitors will have during the World Cup so it is vital that we are well prepared.”
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MAJOR EVENTS • Sydney 2000 Olympics – 10,651 athletes, thousands of offi cials and 16,000 media. International passenger arrivals during Games period up 22% on previous year.
• Athens 2004 Olympics – 16,126 athletes and offi cials and 21,500 media. More than 500,000 international arrivals associated with Games.
• Beijing 2008 Olympics – 10,942 athletes, thousands of offi cials and 24,500 media. Number of fl ights up 65% on normal levels immediately after the closing ceremony.
• South Africa 2010 FIFA World Cup – more than 940,000 non-South African citizens entered the country between June 1–29, up 24% on 2009.
In readiness for the event, SITA also installed Africa’s fi rst VHF Digital Link (VDL) station for air traffi c 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 fl ying 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 fl ying to South Africa to obtain the ‘authority to carry’ each passenger from the South African government, which verifi ed 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 traffi c anticipated during the FIFA World Cup 2014 and the 2016 Summer Olympics. The fi ve-year agreement also includes SITA’s AirportConnect open common-use platform for managing more than 130 workstations throughout the airport. RN
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Ilya Gutlin is vice president of SITA Airport Solutions.
www.routes-news.com
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