Smart airports contribute to increasing the number of flights and travelers

Riyadh, March 23, 2019

The latest technology implemented by the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) in the Kingdom’s airports has contributed to the growth of the air travel sector. 

The aforementioned solutions in field of passenger transport, air cargo and investments will improve the efficiency of airport services and take us into a leading position into the digital transformation.

This digital transformation has resulted positively in the growth of the number of passengers and flights. 

The latest statistics compiled by GACA shows and for the first time in the Kingdom’s history of aviation, the number of passengers travelling through Saudi airports during 2018 have exceeded the 99.86 mark, through 771.828 flights from the Kingdom’s domestic and international airports.

 The growth of the number of passengers during 2018 have increased by 8% compared to 2017, which seen the number of passengers at 92.42 million.  The number of flights during 2018 have seen an increase of 4.1% compared to the previous year of 741.293 flight.

GACA is keen to adopt a plan to develop an airport network in the Kingdom, in order to keep pace with the steady increase in air traffic, raise the level of services and enhance the airport contribution to the economic growth of the country.

GACA provides the technology to reduce paperwork, operating cost, streamline the business process while reducing processing time.  This in addition to facilitating access to information to supports the decision-making process in accordance to the best global technical and security standards.

It is worth noting that one of the most prominent e-services are those to make the Kingdom’s airport smart “self-service”. 

This include the provision of boarding passes with baggage identification card and the provision of self-care bags that enable passengers to carry out self-registration and deposit them in specially designated area.  This in addition to providing self-scanning bags at all arrival terminals in all airports to ensure all baggage get to its accurate destinations, by the installation of electronic gates for the passage of freight vehicles. Furthermore, the provision of electronic gates and document scanning machines to ensure accuracies of travelers information, such as matching boarding passes, passports, national id /sponsorship cards.

 This process is concluded through coordination with the government sectors associated with the system such as the General Directorate of Passports and the National Information Center.  Also providing self-service for boarding gates that enable passengers to board the aircraft electronically.

The services include airport operations systems flight information display system for a number of domestic airports, including the installation of the Avionic Management System (AMS) at each airport according to its operational needs.  The installation of flight information screens (arrival and departure terminals, check-in areas and VIP lounge), in addition to connecting the airport to the unified resource management system in Jeddah. Furthermore, to ensure the accuracy of flight scheduling, GACA is working on a project to link Saudi Arabian Airlines traffic management system to the Airport Operations Management System, where the project is currently at a 50% completion rate.

The Global Aviation Summit 2019, which will be held in the capital city of Riyadh from the 25-26 of Rajab 1440H, corresponding to the 1-2 of April 2019, and organized by GACA will be reviewing infrastructure projects for airports and smart airports.

 Opportunities to operate airports, provide services, and advance consultation in the aviation industry in the Kingdom.  It will also review investment opportunities, in addition to safety and security of civil aviation around the globe.