JEDDAH — The latest technology implemented by the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) in the Saudi airports has contributed to the growth of the air travel sector. The solutions in the field of passenger transport, air cargo and investments will improve the efficiency of airport services and take the Kingdom 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 showed that for the first time in the Kingdom’s history of aviation, the number of passengers travelling through Saudi airports during 2018 had 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 has increased by 8% compared to 2017, which seen the number of passengers at 92.42 million. The number of flights during 2018 has 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 airport contribution to 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 support the decision-making process in accordance with the best global technical and security standards.

One of the most prominent e-services is to make the Kingdom’s airports smart “self-service”. This includes 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 is 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 reached in coordination with the government sectors associated with the system such as the General Directorate of Passports and the National Information Center. The plan also provides self-service for boarding gates that enables 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.

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 Riyadh on April 1-2, 1 2019 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 KSA.

It will also review investment opportunities, in addition to safety and security of civil aviation around the globe. — SG