By Luke Voogt
Avalon will become the first airport in Australia to use touchless check-in technology to help planes return to the skies amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The airport would install the technology by the end of May, its chief executive officer Justin Giddings told the Independent yesterday.
“It’s amazing technology and the first of its kind in Australia – we’re rapt to have this,” he said.
“Six of 16 kiosks will have a touchless facility.”
The technology uses cameras to track a passenger’s head movements, allowing them to move a cursor by looking at options on a screen.
Passengers at Avalon Airport will be able interact with the kiosks and bag drops via head movement, or voice recognition in multiple different languages.
They will also be able to scan passports by holding them in front of a camera, rather than inserting them into a slot.
“This solution will allow passengers to go through the self-service experience without touching a device, thereby providing a seamless, intuitive and safe method of moving quickly through the airport,” Mr Giddings.
Avalon Airport and Melbourne-based company Elenium announced the deal to install the technology yesterday.
“We made a call really quickly over the last couple of days to upgrade the ones we had just bought,” Mr Giddings said.
“The partnership between Elenium and Avalon demonstrates how quickly a response to COVID-19 can be implemented.”
The technology would reduce the risk of the virus spreading by passengers touching check-in kiosks when domestic flights resumed, Mr Giddings said.
“It’s all about giving passengers confidence to fly again.”
At best, Avalon Airport could resume limited domestic services in June, depending on the latest government directions, Mr Giddings said.
“Domestic could open up in June but not fully.”
The technology could also help the airport’s chances of capitalising on a proposed plan for a trans-Tasman air travel ‘bubble’, Mr Giddings said.
Australian and New Zealand prime ministers Scott Morrison and Jacinda Ardern recently discussed the proposal for residents to travel between the two countries without mandatory isolation upon arrival.
New Zealand passengers flying into Avalon would help keep them separated from passengers arriving in Tullamarine on limited flights from Asia, who have to self-isolate, Mr Giddings said.
“We’re just putting our hand up to say to airlines, ‘this is a good, safe way to do it’.”
