New Check-In System at NAIA Launch

Expected to Cut check-in cues by half

MANILA - The Philippines premier international gateway is set to upgrade its safety equipment that will reduce passengers’ check-in times by more than half starting July 9 this year.

Terminals 1 and 2 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) will do away with old magnetic tape technology that requires airline workers to manually type in names and flight details of departing passengers.

Instead, the NAIA will upgrade to a 2D bar code system that will only require scanning strips of lines in airline tickets and passports, “hastening check-in procedures for passengers," an airport official said.

"Under the new system, the check-in process for passengers will be cut to less than two minutes from the original five minutes" says Octavio “Bing" Lina, assistant general manager for operations of the Manila International Airport Authority. The new system is also hoped to cut the time spent by passengers waiting in line

The upgrade to the new 2D bar code system is aimed at improving the efficiency of the airport which now handles more than 20 million passengers.

The safety upgrade is also required by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) to be installed to major airports around the globe by 2010.

The shift to the New Common Use Check-In System will also make the NAIA on a par “with the world class airports such as the airports in Singapore, Hong Kong, Macau and Guam," the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) said in a statement.

The system will be installed, supplied, and maintained by ARINC Inc., one of the firms subsumed under the Carlyle Group, one of the largest private equity companies.

ARINC was awarded a three year contract for NAIA’s international flight and passenger operations, which includes 24/7 maintenance service. It will replace the older system maintained by SITA (Société Internationale de Télécommunications Aéronautiques).

The new system will serve almost four million outbound passengers at NAIA Terminal 1 and 1.6 million outbound passengers at NAIA Terminal 2 yearly, using the 85 check-in counters and 15 boarding gates at NAIA Terminal 1 and 40 check-in counters and 15 boarding gates at NAIA Terminal 2, Serrano said.

“On the average, Terminal 1 services 40 outbound international flights while Terminal 2 services 29 outbound international flights daily," he added.

For his part, Arinc Managing Director Randy Pizzi said that its new system – called vMUSE (Multi User-System Environment) system – “will provide the MIAA with a scalable and cost effective common use platform to further upgrade its operations."