Airport Day, one of the most internationally recognized aeronautical events, found Costa Rica as its host for the first time. AERIS, interested manager of the Juan Santamaría International Airport, was chosen by the Airports Council International (ACI) to organize this meeting that brings together more than 100 guests including executives from the airport industry, civil aviation authorities, suppliers, consultants and international experts. of other airports in the adoption and incorporation of new technologies.
“Costa Rica’s airport sector is already a benchmark in the region, deserving of multiple awards. As part of this continuous development through technology, ACI presents itself in the country as an ally in this process, making itself available to operators and authorities in the sector through our global experience and being the voice of airports in the world”, indicated Rafael Echevarne, executive director of ACI-LAC.
The Convention Center was attended by representatives of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), government authorities from Uruguay, Aruba, the Dominican Republic, the United States, Germany, among others; as well as experts in airport technology who shared with the local authorities of the General Directorate of Civil Aviation, the Technical Council of Civil Aviation, the Directorate of Migration.
“We are honored that the ICA, through its ACI-LAC regional office, allowed us to organize such a prestigious event. This is because AERIS adopted the commitment of the CCR group, our parent company, to exceed what is stipulated in the Interested Management Contract, and an example of this is to provide the country with an airport that is increasingly competitive”, said Ricardo Hernández, director general of AERIS.
During the day, the participants contributed in presentations and a closing panel discussion their criteria regarding the adoption and implementation of new technologies in airport processes, such as cybersecurity and biometrics, for the benefit of users.
This will generate a positive impact for Costa Rica as such, since the objective of the ACI in the countries where Airport Day is held is to encourage the development of a more agile and innovative country airport operation through the lessons that specialists share.
“We are the gateway to Pura Vida experiences, and now we can also be the gateway to opportunities for the industry and the private sector to access privileged information on aeronautical trends from the experts themselves. At Airport Day Pura Vida, all technological advances were addressed to streamline airport processes and provide an agile and innovative experience to passengers”, added Hernández.
An industry need
After the Covid-19 pandemic, the airport ecosystem took a turn by developing passenger processing tools and technologies with minimal human resource intervention in order to quickly achieve traffic recovery.
In addition to the fact that the implementation of innovations improves the perception of the passenger experience, by considerably reducing processing times, in turn it translates into a sense of security and confidence. The choice of Costa Rica as the venue for this event shows passengers that the country is advancing towards the future with the incorporation, in its airports, of the latest passenger processing technologies, generating greater motivation for them to continue visiting this territory.
However, these are not topics that are used only in terms of discussion, since there is a commitment to, in practice, place the Juan Santamaría Airport at the forefront, through the implementation of the latest technologies developed for the agile and safe processing of passengers transiting through the main terminal in Costa Rica.
For example, aligned with the concept of this Airport Day Pura Vida, for this year AERIS intends to add trends such as 45 new self-check-in kiosks. “This event is a source of learning in our objective of providing greater passenger comfort, improving service and processing through innovations such as web-check-in, use of kiosks, migratory procedures through biometrics, among others”, added Hernández.
