A new computer system at Pochentong Airport to register passengers and the weight of their baggage should increase safety and efficiency at the nation’s largest air terminal.
The Departure Control System, in use since Nov 26, begins when a passenger checks into the airport. It weighs their bags, registers their boarding pass and makes it easier for workers to balance the plane’s load of baggage, Societe Concessionaire de l’Aeroport Information Manager Kho Sok Thirith said.
The system cost $200,000. The company sent 20 workers to Singapore for three weeks in September to learn about the DCS.
“This is the first time in Cambodia that we have the departure control system. It is for guests’ safety and the process of organizing at the airport is quicker,” Kho Sok Thirith said.
Previously, registration of baggage was done manually. “The inspection of the plane’s balance was done by hand, so it was not as [accurate] as the computer,” he said.
Two of the 13 airlines that operate at Pochentong, Royal Phnom Penh Airways and Lao Aviation, are using the system, Kho Sok Thirith said. The airline committee at Pochentong Airport, which represents all 13 airlines, has not yet agreed to use the DCS system because of the cost. An official from Thai Air said it costs about $0.93 per passenger; an official from the SCA said it was even less.
The extra charge is worth the service, Kho Sok Thirith said. “We do not gain from this service,” he said. “But what we are doing is just to make it safer for guests, to make this a place for good service for them, and oblige companies to make the airport meet the international standards.”
Workers did the registration of baggage by hand before the DCS computer system was installed. “The inspection of the plane’s balance was done by hand, so it was not as [accurate] as the computer,” he said.
Two of the 13 airlines that operate at Pochentong, Royal Phnom Penh Airways and Lao Aviation, are using the system, Kho Sok Thirith said. The airline committee at Pochentong Airport, which represents all 13 airlines, has not yet agreed to use the DCS system because of the cost.
An official from Thai Air said it costs about $0.93 per passenger; an official from the SCA said it was even less.
The extra charge is worth the service, Kho Sok Thirith said. “We do not gain from this service,” he said. “But what we are doing is just to make it safer for guests, to make this a place for good service for them, and oblige companies to make the airport meet the international standards.”
