Made in Holland - Saba

Travis is now walking towards the passengers who are queuingto go through the customs check. A little further along there arepassengers walking through the customs check without havingto queue because they are among the tens of thousands of EUcitizens who pay 119 euros a year to be a member of Schiphol’sPrivium programme (5). Privium members fly through passportcontrol – both when leaving and arriving at Schiphol Airport – byinserting a smartcard and undergoing a brief iris scan. The datais compared to files held in the Privium system as well as by thegovernment, and if everything matches, the passenger walksthrough a smart door towards the gates (the smart door is suppliedby Boon Edam, as are the revolving doors at the entrance tothe airport). If something is wrong, the smart door still opens,but this time in a different direction to reveal an officer of theRoyal Netherlands Military Constabulary. The fact that Priviummembership also includes other privileges (such as reservedparking spaces at the front of the garage) means that all in all it cansave members 45 to 60 minutes in busy periods.“When Schiphol’s new airport terminal opened in 1967 itwas an aviation wonder. I know, because as an awe-struckteenager I purposely routed myself via Amsterdam to get aglimpse of it. At a time when Heathrow possessed two elderlyterminals, Frankfurt resembled a regional airport and ParisCDG wasn’t even open for business, Schiphol gave passengersa view of what aviation would be like in the 21st century.”Source: Business Traveller,Happy 40th Birthday, 20/03/2007details and the availability of employees and resources (transportand otherwise). The result is that all passengers – including the lessable-bodied – arrive at their aircraft promptly.Travis’ flight is now boarding, and he is struck by how organisedit all is. The organisation is thanks to Aviavox, which is a digitalsystem based on phoneme technology that is linked to the datain the airport’s information system. Based on that data, Aviavoxthen announces the flight information automatically in three“Privium can save up to 60 minutes’ journey time in busy periods”Trilingual announcementsAlthough Travis is not a Privium member, he is going to be on timefor his flight. As he is on the last leg of his walk through Pier D tohis aircraft, he suddenly sees something move below him: througha sheet of glass he can see bags shooting by on Vanderlande cartsthat cover the kilometre from the baggage-handling basement tothe gate at high speed. Just looking at the baggage transportationsystem makes Travis automatically walk faster. After a little moreshopping, he finally arrives at the gate. Looking outside, he can seeseveral less able-bodied passengers being driven to the aircraft in aminibus. They will be there well ahead of time to board the aircraftfirst, thanks to Ortec’s OPX planning system. In addition to OPX,Ortec also supplies Schiphol’s BusCom and Harmony systems,which ensure optimum deployment of the airport’s buses andscheduling of the security guards’ shifts. Thanks to these systems,it is possible to manage the complexity of ever-changing flightlanguages, namely Dutch, English and the language of the aircraft’sdestination country, including when passengers are asked to boardthe aircraft, thereby ensuring that all passengers understand theinstructions and join the queue at the right time.All of which means that Scott Travis completes the last part of hiswalk to his temporary destination (his seat on the aircraft) quickly,comfortably and without having to push his way through a crowd ofpeople. Have a nice flight Scott!For more information, go to:www.boonedam.nlwww.mijksenaar.comwww.sealandgo.comwww.vanderlande.comwww.dartagnan.eu (Privium)www.ortec.nlwww.aviavox.com4Photo Teo Krijgsman516 Holland Airport Technology