Public Sector

Hong Kong Airport Authority:
Flight Information Display System

Background

The Airport Authority Hong Kong is a statutory body wholly owned by the Hong Kong SAR Government. Established in 1995, the Airport Authority Hong Kong is responsible for the operation and development of Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA).

Challenges

PCCW Solutions had been involved in the distribution of flight information at the old airport at Kai Tak for the Civil Aviation Department (CAD) since 1992 and distributed the information through Datapak's BD96 and Infofax services via PCCW Solutions’ Flight Information Display System.

However, Kai Tak's FIDS system had reached its capacity and could not support additional customers. The flight information based on the new Airport Operation Database (AODB) is operated in a different manner to that at Kai Tak. A new approach was necessary to ensure customer access to flight information.

Solutions

In order to ensure that all parties who needed flight information could gain access to it, the Airport Authority granted a licence to PCCW Solutions in November 1997 to provide flight information to government departments, airlines, and franchisees, licensees and tenants of the authority at Chek Lap Kok as well as other users. When Hong Kong's International Airport moved from Kai Tak in Kowloon to Chek Lap Kok on Lantau Island, PCCW Solutions’ services were required to ensure a seamless transfer of information to the Flight Information Display system.

A high availability server was connected to the Authority's AODB for the purpose of receiving the most up-to-date flight information data and distributing it to users within and outside the airport.

Arrival and departure information displayed includes:.

  • Scheduled/estimated arrival and departure times
  • Actual landing or take-off times
  • Flight numbers
  • Originating airports or final destination airports
  • Flight service types and aircraft types
  • Maximum number of passengers
  • Baggage reclaim or gates allocated
  • Stand and handling agents

Value created

The new Flight Information Display System provided by PCCW Solutions enables all airport users to view the arrival and departure flight information. It is a real time display system built upon the latest Java Web technology, and provides bilingual interface and flexibility to allow access everywhere.