China sees intensive technical progress in constructing smart airports

BEIJING -- China's civil aviation industry has achieved intensive progress in constructing smart airports nationwide, according to the civil aviation authorities.

"The development and application of new technologies are key to the smooth construction of China's smart airports," said Zhang Rui, deputy director with the airport department of the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC).

A total of 37 mega Chinese airports with an annual passenger throughput above 10 million had completed the construction of Airport-Collaborative Decision-Making (A-CDM) systems, according to the CAAC.

The A-CDM has been globally recognized and gradually applied in airports. It is helpful to improve the efficiency and resilience of airport operations.

Besides applying advanced technologies in operation management, Chinese airports have also introduced digital technologies to enhance passengers' travel experience.

By the end of last year, 229 airports nationwide and all major Chinese airlines were capable of providing their passengers with "paperless travel" or e-boarding services.

And the proportion of passengers conducting self-check-in reached 71.6 percent in all the country's mega airports with an annual passenger throughput of more than 10 million.

Moreover, China's civil aviation authorities are encouraging the application of advanced technologies, such as the engineered materials arrestor system for runway safety, millimeter-wave gates for security checks, and radio frequency identification devices in luggage tracking.

China is the world's second-largest civil aviation market, with 660 million passenger trips last year, a year-on-year increase of 7.9 percent.