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EISER GIF Completes Sale of Belfast City Airport

June 6, 2017
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belfast-airport-3iIt has been announced this week that 3i, the international investment management company, has taken ownership of Belfast City Airport in a deal that was originally announced at the end of last year.

3i are acting as fund managers for the deal, which is a part of a larger project for the acquisition of assets owned by the EISER Global Infrastructure Fund, including the airport.

Before the deal could go ahead, approval was required from the European Commission under the guidance of terms set out in the EU Merger Regulation. Approval has now been realised, and the deal for the Belfast City Airport finalised.

The identity of the new owners has not yet been made public.

NZ and Australian Airports in Chaos After Failure of Passenger Security System

May 22, 2017
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Airport Security News | Passenger Processing and SecurityPassengers flying internationally from airports all over Australia and New Zealand, today faced hours of delays after a global passenger processing system experienced a failure.

In some of Australia’s biggest airports, personnel had to perform passenger check-in manually for three hours before the system came back online.

The Advance Passenger Processing System, known as APP, handles mandatory reporting of passenger data for all international flights, according to Australia’s Dept. of Immigration and Border Protection.

Similar systems are in use in other global regions, such as the U.S.’s Advance Passenger Information System, also widely in use in Europe, according to provider.

The systems are designed to meet mandatory regulations for the secure collection, storage and electronic transfer of international passenger information. Such information is sent in advance of flight departure to government and border agencies for security screening.

It has been confirmed that all systems were back up and running after three hours of outage, and appears to have been a global issue.

Bologna Guglielmo Marconi Airport Introduces Self-Bag Drop Solution

April 24, 2017
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border-controlPassengers travelling with Ryanair from Bologna Airport this year will see streamlined check-in with the introduction of a self-bag drop solution.

All over the world, airports are recognising the benefits of infrastructure investment in the form of increased check-in speeds, greater passenger experience and better efficiency across the entire passenger processing environment with self-service solutions.

Bologna Guglielmo Marconi Airport understands that ‘passengers value the convenience of self-service technology from a customer experience point of view,’ and says that the self-bag drop implementation is the latest in a ‘series of options [it] has been developing recently.’

Italy’s Bologna Guglielmo Marconi Airport is the fastest-growing in the country, on average receiving growth at twice the rate of the other busiest of its airports.

Providers of self-service innovations, such as Rockwell Collins’ ARINC Airports, aim to deliver the greatest enhancements to passenger experience, and bring efficiency to streamline baggage handling. Self-bag drop solutions such as the introduction of the self-service kiosk are further enhanced by Common-Use solutions, which can be quickly integrated into the DCS of multiple airlines, thus offering airports of all sizes the opportunity to make additional, greater use of airport resources.

Find out more about self-bag drop, or watch the video for a demonstration of self-service baggage handling.

ARINC cMUSE Cloud CUPPS Solution Launched by Rockwell Collins

March 30, 2017
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Ottawa International Airport Becomes Launch Customer for ARINC cMUSE | Cloud-Based Passenger ProcessingIt has been announced that Rockwell Collins has launched its next-generation, cloud-native Common Use Passenger Processing System (CUPPS).

Christopher Forrest, VP of Airport Systems for Rockwell Collins said, ‘We’ve re-architected our CUPPS platform as cloud-native software to provide airports with a more effective use of resources. Through ARINC cMUSE, airports can now enable innovation by letting airlines develop and deploy latest applications and services. This solution provides significant benefits to airports, regardless of size or existing infrastructure.’

The new offering will provide airports with a simplified, faster and more affordable system approach to passenger processing, which can be deployed either as a cloud or on-premise solution.

Ottawa International Airport has been named as the launch customer for the new offering.

Rockwell Collins’ ARINC Airports solutions offer airports of all sizes, and in all global locations, the opportunity to integrate innovation and the latest technological applications, without the need to make further infrastructure investment.

Find out more about ARINC Airports passenger processing solutions.

Dubai Airports to Deliver World’s Fastest Airport WiFi with WOW-Fi

March 22, 2017
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Dubai Airports Introduce World's Fastest WiFi | Business Aviation NewsDubai International Airport (DXB) and Dubai World Central-Al Makhtoum International Airport (DWC) is to make the fastest WiFi speeds in the world available to its passengers – for free.

Using WOW-Fi, DXB and DWC will deliver up to 100mb connection speeds to support its travellers, following last years’ release of unlimited free WiFi across both airports. The aim, according to Michael Ibbitson, executive VP of Technology and Infrastructure for Dubai Airports, who said, ‘As the biggest international airport in the world, we are at the heart of many journeys across the globe. To support these travellers, late last year we launched unlimited free high-speed Wi-Fi across our airports, but our goal was to offer something they have never experienced at an airport before.’

With speeds of up to 100mb, many of the 89 million travellers that pass-through Dubai airports every year, will be able to quickly download emails, images, videos and interact with family and friends on social media, enjoying superfast, reliable and free connectivity.

As a part of the upgrade project, Dubai Airports has also provided required bandwidth via enhanced internet links of 5Gbps each, and is investing in over 6,000 new WiFi access points to ensure reliability and an upgraded wireless network infrastructure over both airports.

Singapore Changi Airport Named World’s Best by Skytrax

March 15, 2017
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Changi Wins Best Airport Award | Airports Industry NewsIt has been announced at the Passenger Terminal Expo held in Amsterdam this week, that Singapore’s Changi Airport has been named World’s Best Airport for the fifth consecutive year. It is also the eighth time Changi has scooped the award since they began in 2000.

Skytrax World Airport Awards invites air travellers to cast their votes every year for airports around the world, in an annual global customer satisfaction survey, based on the following categories:

  • Leisure amenities
  • Cleanliness
  • Most-improved
  • Airport hotels
  • Airport staff service
  • Airports for dining
  • Regional airports
  • Shopping
  • Passenger numbers

Across the board, Changi Airport demonstrated high scores, and came out victorious at the top of the pile overall.

Individual winners included London’s Heathrow Airport, with an award for the world’s best airport shopping, Tokyo Haneda Airport is hailed as the world’s cleanest, and Hong Kong International has the best airport dining experience.

For full details of the winners, visit the website today.

Southampton Airport Runway Race Needs More Runners

March 5, 2017
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Southampton Airport Runway Run 2016 | Join Them in 2017Every year, the UK’s Southampton Airport hosts its annual runway race in aid of the Hampshire and Isle of Wight County Air Ambulance.

From 5am until 7am, the runway is closed to host the race, in which more than 500 runners are expected to take part this year, on Sunday 25th June.

Dave Lees, managing director at Southampton Airport is looking forward to welcoming the runners to his runway, ‘This year we are hoping to get even more people involved and even more money raised with the goal of hitting the £10,000 mark to celebrate the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance 10th Birthday. This is an incredibly worthwhile cause and we hope to see many people taking part, despite the early start!’

Prizes will be up for grabs this year for the best dressed runner, and of course, the fastest.

To register for the event, which costs £20 to enter, with all proceeds going directly to the Hampshire and Isle of Wight County Air Ambulance, please visit the Southampton Airport website.

Norwegian Air Announces New US Flights from Ireland

February 25, 2017
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Shannon Airport | Norwegian Air US FlightsIreland’s Shannon Airport has welcomed the news from Norwegian Air International this week, as they announced two new US services to be launched this year.

The new flights will be twice-weekly to Stewart International Airport (90 minutes from New York), and Providence Green Airport (New England).

Matthew Thomas, CEO of Shannon Group said, ‘This is a very significant announcement for Shannon, for the wider region we serve and for transatlantic aviation generally. It not only brings another new carrier to Shannon, giving us our largest number of US services in over 17 years, but it’s introduces a new model of low cost flying for transatlantic aviation. Shannon has been at the forefront of so many major global breakthroughs in aviation and this is another. It supports the government’s objectives on balanced regional development. We look forward to working closely with Norwegian Air International in making these services a success.’

Bjorn Kjos, CEO of Norwegian Air is delighted to finally unveil their plans, ‘It has long been our ambition to grow our Irish operation with new transatlantic routes but these plans simply wouldn’t have been possible without the significant support we have received throughout Ireland over the last 3 years. We are hugely grateful for this continued support and are delighted to finally unveil our plans to shake up transatlantic travel with ground-breaking fares and never before seen routes in Ireland. The cost of transatlantic travel has been too high for too long so by connecting Irish cities with smaller US airports, we can offer some truly affordable fares, allowing as many people as possible to fly.’

First Anniversary Celebrations at Dubai International Concourse D

February 22, 2017
Business Aviation News

Dubai International Concoure D Anniversary | Aviation and Airports NewsThis Friday marks the one-year anniversary of Concourse D at Dubai International Airport. Over the past 12 months, more than 115,000 flights have been handled by Concourse D, bringing almost 17,000,000 passengers through a state-of-the-art, integrated environment, packed with shops, restaurants, and lounges from British Airways, Qatar Airways and Lufthansa to name but three of the five new airline lounges.

Concourse D has also seen plenty of action musically, being the host location for Dubai Airports’ special events, such as Hang Out DXB, which offered surprises to passengers with discounts, games and prizes. The addition of Concourse D has significantly impacted the airports’ capacity, taking the number of annual traveller capability from 75 million to 90 million.

“Concourse D is the outcome of a well-designed and meticulously planned project that was built around the evolving needs and expectations of our customers – the hundreds of thousands of passengers that pass through our airport every day,” said HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, chairman of Dubai Airports and president of the DCCA (Dubai Civil Aviation Authority).

“After a successful first year of operations, it is very clear that Concourse D has achieved its goal of delighting our passengers and our business partners.”

Biometric Self Service Technology Trial at Schiphol

February 11, 2017
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self-service-tech-schipholSome of the very latest biometric technology and self service solutions are on trial at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport this year, in conjunction with Holland’s most famous airline, KLM.

The new technology on trial will involve volunteer passengers, who will board their flights without taking their passports out of their bags, or showing their boarding passes to any personnel at the airport.

Facial recognition technology will be used during the three-month trial, which will test the process thoroughly, including how user-friendly the completely self-service system will be, in addition to its effectivity, reliability and speed of processing.

Schiphol Airport spokesperson said, ‘The ultimate goal is to make the boarding process as easy and quick as possible for passengers. The trial will take place at a selected gate at the airport. To use facial recognition for boarding, passengers must register first. There is a special registration kiosk in the waiting area at the gate. KLM staff will assist with the procedure.’

Schiphol Airport has been at the forefront of trialling new technology, and is also taking part in tests and trials for a new hand baggage scanner, which in the future may negate the necessity for removal of laptops, liquids and other items from hand baggage.

Airport security providers around the world are striving to introduce solutions for passenger processing and security screening that will increase efficiency. Common use identity management solutions have been proved to improve passenger flow, while maintaining security. Such solutions can only serve to improve efficiency, productivity and passenger satisfaction, which is a welcome break for the modern, busy airport facing challenges and increasing mandatory security requirements year-on-year.