Smart Airport Development at Hong Kong International Airport
Smart airport development
Mr CHAN Chun-ying supported the initiatives of “smart airport development” at HKIA as such developments would provide greater convenience for passengers. He enquired about the time passengers could save after all the automated and self-service facilities, including the smart mobile check-in kiosks and self-bag drop facilities, had been launched, compared with the conventional ways of going through processes such as check-in, bag drop and security checks at manual counters. He was also concerned about the timeline for the launch of all the automated and self-service facilities at HKIA.
Mr Steven YIU of AAHK advised that under normal circumstances, 40 minutes would be adequate for a passenger to go through all the necessary processes for departure at HKIA. The installation of the self-service facilities at the airport would not only reduce the time passengers spent on the various processes, but would more importantly enhance HKIA’s efficiency and capacity to handle more passengers before the commissioning of the three-runway system (“3RS”). AAHK would review the operation of the self-bag drop facilities when passengers got more familiarized with the use of them.
Mr CHAN Chun-ying noted that a new generation of smart mobile check-in kiosk had been launched, and a total of 120 kiosks were in service at various locations at HKIA as well as at off-airport locations such as the High Speed Rail West Kowloon Station and the Hong Kong Boundary Crossing Facilities of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge (“HZMB”). Mr CHAN asked if such kiosks would be deployed at other boundary control points. He also sought information on the factors to be considered when deciding whether or not such kiosks would be deployed at certain boundary control points.
Mr Steven YIU of AAHK advised that factors including the distribution of such kiosks, passenger flow at different boundary control points, as well as issues relating to maintenance of the kiosks had to be considered in deploying the kiosks in various boundary control points.
Smart infrastructure, HKIA’s mobile app and smart baggage tag
Mr CHAN Chun-ying noted that AAHK was preparing for the application of 5G technologies in airport operations. He sought information on the relevant preparatory work and the implementation timeline. Mr Steven YIU of AAHK advised that the relevant work was at the preliminary stage, and that the related detailed design and tendering work had not yet commenced. Careful consideration would be required as the application of 5G technologies at HKIA would affect all infrastructure at HKIA. AAHK would proactively follow up on such matters.