One of the top ten best airports in the world is powered by UFIS Airport Solutions’ (UFIS-AS) universal flight information system (UFIS®). Singapore Changi Airport is ranked in third place according to the latest passenger satisfaction rankings in the World Airport Survey 2009 (results published by Skytrax). Changi is also the 19th busiest airport in the world according to Airports Council International. In 2008, 37.7 million passengers flew through Singapore, a 2.7% increase over 2007. It was also ranked tenth-busiest in cargo with 1.88 million tons per year.
“Having the third best airport in the world using the UFIS product suite speaks a lot about the quality and the benefits of our solutions,” said Anders Sagadin, UFIS-AS’s president and CEO. “We are proud that with our product suite we can support Changi Airport in providing the best possible services to their [sic] passengers and in reaching this high level of passenger satisfaction.”
UFIS-AS has two customers at Singapore’s Changi Airport. Changi Airport Group (CAG), formally known as the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS), uses the UFIS airport operational database (AODB) and the flight information processing system (FIPS) to plan and allocate terminal resources.
Singapore Airport Terminal Services (SATS) uses AODB, FIPS and the resource management system (RMS), as well as hub, status and ULD management systems, to efficiently plan human resources and to ensure timely services to arriving and departing flights. The SATS implementation also includes 13 interfaces to external systems, running on IBM’s Websphere MQ and J2EE middleware.
SATS’ latest upgrade was implemented earlier this year with the introduction of the UFIS passenger with reduced mobility (PRM) module as part of RMS. With this module SATS can track all requests and staff assignments for the passengers needing special assistance.
The World Airport Survey and the World Airport Awards are based on the results from 8.6 million questionnaires completed by airline passengers in 2008-2009, covering more than 190 airports worldwide. The survey evaluates travellers’ experiences across 39 different airport service and product factors — from check-in, arrival and transfer through to departure at the gate.