British Airways has chosen a smart proximity access control solution from SALTO
Systems to provide advanced security management in the airline’s new state-of-the-art passenger facility at Terminal 5 Heathrow.
London Heathrow is one of the world’s busiest international airports and features modern state-of-the-art passenger and commercial facilities as well as extensive aircraft operation areas. Operating 24-hours a day, seven days a week and servicing over 65 million passengers per year and an average of over 180,000 passengers per day.
British Airways is the only airline to operate from Terminal 5, which consists of three buildings – the main terminal plus two satellites, Terminals 5B and 5C, linked by an automated transit system, and required a highly secure and reliable solution that could be customised to meet their specific environment.
“As the leaders in airport-tailored access control systems, the SALTO XS4 solution was ideal for British Airways Heathrow operations,” says Ramesh Gurdev, SALTO Systems UK national sales manager.
“Working in consultation with British Airways (BA) and the British Airports Authority (BAA), the owners and operators of Heathrow Airport, SALTO designed a highly secure and flexible access control system to meet all of the requests of both parties. The advanced system design incorporates a mix of over 200 SALTO XS4 comfort, security and glass door electronic lock sets, together with intelligent wall readers mounted on stainless steel pedestals. These control access to a mix of BA staff doors, lounges and the airline’s 1st class lounges in Terminal 5.
Access privileges are restricted to authorised personnel only and the system provides continuous and comprehensive audit trail information, working with British Airway’s own staff ID cards to give the airline management full control over their security requirements,” Gurdev continues.
The XS4 system needs no hard wiring and provides a totally wire free networked electronic locking solution with a superb range of airport tailored features. It is designed around state-of-the-art electronics that use distributed intelligence to pass information between microprocessors in the escutcheon and the smart Mifare key card.
It supports an unlimited number of users and is designed for use in stand-alone operations. A bonus when it comes to expanding the system into older parts of a building is that it can be easily added to almost any existing lock and door, turning them into fully featured access control doors that can integrate with the rest of the site without compromising security, convenience or control.
It also permits users to benefit from the many advantages of the SALTO virtual network (SVN), enabling locks and operating cards to be rapidly updated, restricted or deleted remotely adding real value to the access management of a building.
Marc Handels, vice president of marketing at SALTO Systems comments: “it is a huge compliment to our technology that British Airways has chosen us to provide sophisticated electronic access control within key areas of their prestigious new Terminal 5 facilities.
Safety and security is their a top priority, and as a sign of this commitment they wanted an access control system that employed the latest hardware and software technology yet was capable of handling any future expansion requirements at the airport. With SALTO XS4 they have got just that, a networked locking system with unlimited possibilities.”
With future expansion plans and passenger traffic at British Airways expected to keep growing, the flexible XS4 access control system can easily grow to meet ongoing security requirements at Heathrow Airport and Terminal 5.