Six Thai airports to become "smart airports"

Anything and everything about Thailand
Post Reply
User avatar
Gaybutton
Posts: 21457
Joined: Sat Jul 31, 2010 11:21 am
Location: Thailand
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 1305 times

Six Thai airports to become "smart airports"

Post by Gaybutton »

Smart airports take wing

by Thodsapol Hongtong

3 Dec 2017

Six major airports have been selected for a project to develop so-called "smart airports" in the next five years starting next year, the Department of Airports has revealed.

Department director-general Darun Saengchai said that the 2018-2022 Digital Master Plan is designed to transform certain airports into "smart" venues in order to adapt to the fast-changing aviation market and the growing number of air passengers.

Under this master plan, new technology will be deployed to resolve major issues plaguing airports like overcrowding. The plan also aims to improve airport security and promote the use of airports for purposes beyond air travel to generate more income, said Mr Darun.

The six airports chosen for the development plan are Krabi, Udon Thani, Khon Kaen, Surat Thani, Ubon Ratchathani and Nakhon Si Thammarat. These airports have seen a particularly big rise in passengers over recent years.

The department plans to spend 13 billion baht to power the plan in its early phase, Mr Darun said.

A total of 8.8 billion baht will go to funding the installation of a new luggage-handling system known as the "in-line screen" type as well as an explosives detection system.

The remaining 4.2 billion baht will be spent on working to ease overcrowding problems.

Pornthep Ruethaicharoenlap, manager of the smart airport master plan, said the overcrowding issue will be tackled using an automatic passport inspection system called Automated Immigration Gate and an automatic boarding pass scanning system called Automated Boarding Gate.

Other new technology will include Airport Guide Robots that will provide assistance to passengers as well as Automated Cleaning Robots to keep the airports' facilities clean.

Regarding security, Mr Darun said that improved luggage checks and identity checks will be adopted -- the latter will entail finger and retinal scanning technologies.

New security cameras able to detect suspicious items left unattended for over 15 minutes and automatically alert airport authorities are also part of the revamped security measures.

https://www.bangkokpost.com/news/transp ... -take-wing
Jun

Re: Six Thai airports to become "smart airports"

Post by Jun »

25 minutes at BKK passport control yesterday. Manning all of the stands would be an easy fix to that overcrowding, however automatic gates could be even better. To avoid mistakes seen in Europe, the contract needs to specify the automatic gates must run 24/7 with a minimum of 95% operational at any time.
User avatar
Gaybutton
Posts: 21457
Joined: Sat Jul 31, 2010 11:21 am
Location: Thailand
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 1305 times

Re: Six Thai airports to become "smart airports"

Post by Gaybutton »

Jun wrote:25 minutes at BKK passport control yesterday.
For whatever reasons, both BKK and Don Muang are not even on the list.
fountainhall

Re: Six Thai airports to become "smart airports"

Post by fountainhall »

The Bangkok Post wrote:Under this master plan, new technology will be deployed to resolve major issues plaguing airports like overcrowding. The plan also aims to improve airport security and promote the use of airports for purposes beyond air travel to generate more income, said Mr Darun
Faster baggage handling is one of many items resulting in passenger flow. I am curious how you avoid overcrowding unless and until you have more gates for more aircraft. 4.2 billion spread over six airports will not achieve that!
User avatar
Gaybutton
Posts: 21457
Joined: Sat Jul 31, 2010 11:21 am
Location: Thailand
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 1305 times

Re: Six Thai airports to become "smart airports"

Post by Gaybutton »

fountainhall wrote:4.2 billion spread over six airports will not achieve that!
Not that I'm being negative, but would it come as a major surprise if after these improvements the problems end up becoming even worse?
Post Reply