Suvarnabhumi Upgrading Services

Suvarnabhumi Bangkok Airport is to be among the first international gateways capable of providing a CUPPS platform - the new global IT standard for passenger check-in and boarding – as it migrates to SITA’s AirportConnect Open solution for check-in and boarding.

Airports of Thailand (AOT) is working with SITA, the aviation IT specialist and the first common use platform provider to achieve CUPPS certification, and SITA’s channel partner Samart Corporation, the Thai technology and communications company, to achieve a radical overhaul of the check-in and boarding processes at the new airport.

Suvarnabhumi Bangkok Airport is now migrating to SITA’s AirportConnect Open solution for check-in and boarding across 800 workstations serving 56 airlines. SITA’s AirportConnect Open remains the only fully-integrated common use platform supporting CUPPS, the existing CUTE (Common Use Terminal Equipment) standard, as well as web and CUSS (Common Use Self Service) kiosk applications.

Mr. Serirat Prasutanond, the President of AOT, said, “CUPPS may be only in its infancy but it will encourage greater take-up of common use or shared IT infrastructure at airports and bring down costs. Airlines will benefit from a more consistent approach to network connectivity and it will also support passenger processing from off-airport locations such as downtown Bangkok. We are very pleased to be working with SITA which has taken the technology lead on behalf of the industry over the last four years in developing CUPPS.”

The design of this implementation has taken into account the importance of business continuity and the need for continuous availability. Dual systems will run as separate cores in different physical locations limiting the risk of physical damage and disruption but also uniquely providing load balancing in case of any failures and ensuring quicker recovery times.

Charoenrath Vilailuck, Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Samart Corporation PLC and partnered with Samart Comtech Co., Ltd. said, “This five-year agreement supports the airport’s development plans and SITA’s technology allows for cost-effective expansion as the new technologies are included in the overall agreement and come without any additional charges on deployment.”

Damian Hickey, SITA Regional Vice President, South Asia and India added, “Future expansion of Suvarnabhumi is significant for both the country of Thailand and the whole of Asia. Airports of Thailand has recognized that by investing in SITA’s future-proofed technology it can achieve a remarkable growth of 20% per annum while leading the way in cost-efficient passenger processing in the region as one of South East Asia’s leading aviation hubs.”

Project implementation has begun and is expected to be completed by mid-2010. Continuous improvements and upgrades are planned over the next five years.

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