INGENIEUR
How Big Data and AI will
Transform Shenzhen Airport
By Zhang Huai
CIO, Shenzhen Airport Group
When flights are delayed at Shenzhen Airport, more
than 8,000 passengers can be stuck waiting at the
same time. So how should the airport respond to
this situation? New technologies, such as artificial
intelligence (AI), will help Shenzhen Airport and
other airports around the world solve this problem.
S
henzhen Airport has developed at a rapid
pace, much like Shenzhen as a whole.
In 2017, the passenger volume reached
45 million. It is estimated that the number
of passengers will reach 50 million and the
cargo volume will exceed 1.1 million tons in
2018. Shenzhen Airport has become the core
transportation hub of China’s Greater Bay Area.
A future-ready airport to support the
Greater Bay area
Managing and controlling multiple runways
and terminals is inherently complex and a daily
challenge for Shenzhen Airport. We had long
explored and tested solutions to the problem, but
our information department acted in response
to business demand, rather than pre-empting
business needs.
In 2017, the International Civil Aviation
Organisation (ICAO) chose the current Shenzhen
Airport site to build a worldwide showcase for
future-ready airports. The first reason Shenzhen
Airport was selected is that our business
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scenarios and operational complexity are widely
representative of many airports and second,
Shenzhen boasts a large number of science and
technology enterprises that would be interested in
contributing to the showcase.
Our aims are to become a global leader in
airport operations and support the development
of the Greater Bay Area. To be specific, we focus
on three major aspects:
● ●
First, proactive security assurance. Over
30% of risks can be identified using
digital platforms. By implementing digital
technologies we expect to rank third in
China in security assurance.
● ●
Second, efficiency within a limited space;
we expect to shorten aircraft turnaround
times, reach an on-time release rate of
85%, and reduce the taxi time for each
aircraft by one minute.
● ●
Third, we intend to improve the passenger
experience through the use of end-to-end
services. Shenzhen Airport has plans to
reduce waiting-in-line times by 15% and
increase self-service bag drops by 30%.