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Airport recovery in America

In the middle of the worldwide vacation season, the airport industry in Latin America is looking forward to the growth of airport traffic and the opening of new routes, after a turbulent few years. 

Airports in Central and Latin America such as El Dorado in Colombia, Tocumen Airport in Panama, and airports in Mexico (Cancun, Tijuana, and Los Cabos) are participating in a recovery that increases rapidly during the summer season. 

In addition, airports such as Bariloche Airport in Argentina are also recovering concerning 2019, with rates that exceed the pre-pandemic period. 

The recovery has been 85% in relation to 2019, this is undoubtedly the right time to be able to recover one hundred percent of airport operations, especially during the holiday season. 

As we mentioned in our previous article, the high traffic demand at airports worldwide has generated some chaos, cancellations, lost luggage, long queues, and delays. 

 

And now the big question is, are airports in America prepared in terms of infrastructure?

With the increase in flights and traffic, the facilities are becoming small and outdated. Two years ago, the deterioration of the infrastructure was already visible, so it became a new challenge to improve and update the functionality of airports. 

Some airports, such as Bariloche and El Dorado, are already showing updates in their infrastructure and technological development. Others are already operating to make the necessary improvements. 

That is why, to face the new challenges GP Nauticals presents high-quality technological solutions, which provide specific results in real-time, to make financial and operational decisions optimally. 

This software can be integrated to offer optimal service and manage in the best way the administrative development of an airport, concessions, and airlines. 

Software such as PAX AIMS is ideal for the development and control of passenger traffic through any port facility, using checkpoints to validate the number of passengers entering the airport and generate accurate billing. 

It can also be integrated with other AIMS SUITE products such as AERO AIMS and PAY AIMS, to improve the billing and collection process, through data management and easy-to-use applications. 

 

If you want to know more about our products click HERE

 

​​New opportunities for the aeronautical sector

The Covid-19 pandemic caused the worst crisis ever known for the aviation sector. With government restrictions forcing many airlines and airports to reduce many of their staff and cancel thousands of daily flights, which has negatively impacted not only the quality of service provided to passengers but even the image of one of the most important industries for the global economy.

 

Now, we could say that we are in a post-pandemic era and airport activity has been recovering almost to the level of two years ago. We are plunged into a chaos of flight cancellations, long lines, and delays, and now the most important airports have many limitations in takeoffs and landings due to a lack of qualified personnel and high traffic volumes.

 

This personnel crisis particularly affects passenger control of aircraft handling, including flight attendants and at this point, we could ask ourselves, if the sector has already recovered, what are they waiting for to hire more staff? Well, the answer is more than simple, first of all, airlines and airports are not offering very attractive conditions, and secondly, hiring security-related personnel requires a very specific profile, and preparing them for these vacancies can even take more than 6 months.

 

So how can the current crisis in the aviation industry be alleviated? 

 

Many of these cases could be significantly improved with a restructuring of their resources. Still, the reactivation practically all at once did not allow many to prepare in advance and foresee this situation.

 

However, the implementation of innovative technologies that allow them to perform specific actions and at the same time provide them with the necessary security required by this sector could be essential and we must evaluate whether it is really necessary to hire more staff or whether to invest in technologies that support these more specific areas and help reduce the time of this specialized personnel. 

 

For these areas, software such as Pax AIMS is available, which allows airlines and airports to keep track and control passengers at any port facility, deploying fixed or mobile checkpoints and all by scanning boarding passes, which helps to validate passenger lists. 

 

Additionally, this software can be integrated with Pay AIMS which is responsible for collecting this data to initiate the debt collection process. In this way, concessionaires can optimize their resources and use them where support is most needed while ground personnel have tools to facilitate their daily tasks.

 

High-tech airport checkpoints

The Transportation Security Administration, better known as TSA, has focused its efforts in recent decades on the implementation of new technological tools.

That allows airports to have safer and more efficient passenger checkpoints, incorporating innovations such as: digital identification, facial recognition, and even computerized tomography.

For this reason, in today’s article, we will inform you about the latest innovations in airport checkpoint systems that have been introduced in the sector.

Computerized tomography for baggage scanning

These machines were created for medical purposes. They are now being used in the airport industry as a security device.

Providing rotating, color-coded, and three-dimensional images of all baggage entering the facilities.

All are supported by new computer programs with automatic learning that allow checkpoints to study the contents of a suitcase more quickly and accurately.

High Definition Body Scanning

High-definition imaging technology (HD-AIT) systems are currently under development to enhance existing body scanning devices.

Which would allow for a detailed view of each passenger without them having to hold their arms above their head, remove their shoes or coats.

These devices are designed to detect a greater number of prohibited items, thus reducing inspections and making passenger scanning more efficient.

Facial recognition technology

Facial recognition technology is currently tested at several international airports, to verify the identity of passengers passing through their facilities.

New stations known as “Innovation Checkpoint” will be installed at airports for the use of this type of technology. Where identification software compares a photo taken at the checkpoint with the identification presented by the passenger.

Checkpoints

Manual passenger verification is a thing of the past. Passenger check-in and boarding list audits are being handled by software. That allows real-time measurement of passenger traffic, whether in the immigration area or for control in the boarding area.

This type of technology allows for the early completion of passenger lists, verification of flight occupancy, and even calculation and verification of airport taxes.

They don’t require major investment by airports since they can be integrated with the systems currently used, such as the software known as PAX AIMS, developed by the company GP Nauticals.