Self-Boarding and Automated Boarding Pass Control /Border Crossing Solutions

Company Kaba Gallenschuetz GmbH
Date 04.09.2013

McCarran Las Vegas International Air­port in Nevada is the first airport in the United States to install self-boarding­ gates in their new state-of-the-art Ter­minal 3. Although not the only common use airport in the USA, many in the in­dustry believe it is the one to have es­tablished the design model for future airport terminal construction. It is the first to implement self-boarding tech­nology at all gates within the terminal, used for both international and domes­tic travel. All 14 gates are now equipped with a dual lane, Kaba Argus HSB-M03 self-boarding-gate.

The project is an exceptional representa­tion of how the manufacturer, integrator, installer and end user worked together to complete an installation driven by a very aggressive timeline, a date set in stone: the grand opening of the terminal on 27 June 2012.

In this specific project, ARINC (Aeronautical Radio Incorporated) served as both supplier and integrator, the installation was facilitated by an electrical contractor, supervised by a Kaba team, led by Michael Schwarz of Kaba Gallenschuetz, Buehl/Germany. The installation began in late March, passed a host simulator test and was made available for ARINC host connection. The self-boarding-gates were equipped with Access Bar Code and Boarding Gate Readers. All gates were functional for the grand opening. Las Vegas is a world-known travel spot, its airport is the seventh-largest and one of the busiest in the United States, serv­ing more than 41 million passengers an­nually, operating 24/7 in a city that never sleeps.

The inaugural British Airways flight ar­rived as scheduled, early afternoon of 27 June 2012. Departing passengers were greeted with music bands, balloons and glasses of champagne. Nothing was spared and the celebration was greatly deserved. On the air side, passengers scanned the first self-boarding passes ever used in the USA and boarded their flights, prepared to depart on time.

After a few weeks, the Kaba Boarding Gate Readers were offered to the airport and the host provider as a solution to al­low different airlines to log in and operate under their preferred function. Early July, the airport decided to retrofit all 28 gates with Kaba Boarding Gate Readers, allow­ing each airline to operate according to their specific protocol and affording the ability to connect the self-boarding-gates to a LAN and access the system from a remote location for troubleshooting and firmware upgrades. Only Kaba offers a device with such powerful features. At the same time Kaba now has one of the largest company owned Boarding Gate Readers installation sites in the world. On 31 July, 2012; JetBlue Airlines became the first to use the Kaba self-boarding-gates in full mode, allowing passengers to scan their ticket and board the plane without the assistance of a gate agent. After de­parture, the next airline logged in and used the self-boarding-gates in a com­pletely different mode.

Kaba has a long-standing experience in security business and is a well-known partner for airport applications. The portfolio comprises a wide range of products for physical access control such as tripod barriers, sensor barriers and gates, full-height and half-height turnstiles as well as interlocks and revolving doors with or without access control features. Many of these products have been employed in airports, safeguarding security of non-public areas and perimeter. It came only natural that Kaba got strongly involved in the improvement and acceleration of passenger processing, namely in exit lane breach control, automated border crossing, boarding pass control and, of course, self-boarding. With Argus HSB-M03, Kaba has developed a multi-purpose device in tight cooperation with airports and specialized system integrators, meeting the actual and pressing issues in today’s airport business, as there are enhanced security standards, smooth passenger processing and better slot management.

The technology is proven throughout Europe and many countries. Installations in many major airports, as for instance Frankfurt, Paris, Vienna, Zurich, London Gatwick and many others, give a vivid example of the high performance and potential for improvement of passenger processing by Kaba gates. The US air­port industry is watching as the technolo­gy develops and is eager to embrace its capabilities. Associations such as the In­ternational Air Travel Association (IATA) gather to share information and initiate the development of solutions to make air­ports more efficient, productive and prof­itable. Kaba has become the credible source for self-boarding and exit lane breach control solutions, key applications in passenger processing. The success of this innovation continues to grow throughout the world.

Contact

Kaba Gallenschütz GmbH
Nikolaus-Otto-Straße 1
D-77815 Bühl (Baden)
Germany
  • +49-7223-286-188