Airport parking
• Contactless Payment: McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas and MasterCard Worldwide announce that the airport now accepts MasterCard PayPass contactless payments in its major parking lots. The implementation will allow travelers to tap their MasterCard PayPass contactless cards or devices at exit lanes to pay for parking. MasterCard PayPass implementation helps reduce airport congestion by streamlining parking payments, thereby improving the airport experience for travelers, according to a press release. MasterCard PayPass will be accepted in 64 locations, including 31 pay stations and 33 entry/exit lanes at the airport’s four main parking lots.
Line operations
• DataCollect: DataCollect is a cost-effective FBO Ramp automation solution providing an efficient and accurate method of extending back office systems out to the ramp. The latest product now supports aircraft line services. Service providers can offer ramp-side fuel and aircraft services from the counter software out to line tech automatically as well as track the status of each of the line service tasks taking place. Line Service and CSR managers can monitor hundreds of pending and working aircraft from a single desktop screen. When the fuel and\or services are completed they are automatically imported into the counter system as an invoice; www.csitgroup.com.
Mobile Technology
• iFlight: Cessna announces that iFlite data applications for the new Apple iPad are now available for all Cessna single-engine aircraft. iFlite is a mobile data system populated with critical flight information and planning features. With it, pilots can instantly access up-to-the-minute weather images, plan routes, and check landing status. Checklists and Federal Aviation Regulations (FARs) are also available along with pilot training videos.
• Mobile Applications: Solairus Aviation announces that all new Solairus applications for Apple’s iPad and iPhone have passed the initial phases of development and will soon be ready for distribution. Utilizing the latest Apple iOS SDK technology, the Solairus iPad/iPhone applications will be fed Solairus’ charter fleet data from IPC Logistics powered Oasis 5.0, giving users the ability to see availability status updates in real time. A charter flight quotation tool and aircraft-specific details, as well as several features that will aid and assist Solairus employees and flight crew personnel, will also be included in the initial release; www.solairusaviation.com.
Passenger Services
• DataCollect: Santa Maria Airport (SMX) awards two contracts to ProDIGIQ. The five-year contract for Airport TV Network will show relevant programming specially created to enhance airline passengers’ experience at SMX, according to a press release.SMX has awarded a second five-year contract to provide ProDIGIQ’s FIDS service in the terminal and on SMX’s website. SMX is the seventh airport in the U.S. to partner with ProDIGIQ; www.prodigiq.com.
Ramp Management
• Surface Surveillance: Avinor AS, Norway’s Air Navigation Service Provider, has selected Sensis Corporation’s multilateration and VeeLo NextGen vehicle locators for Bergen Airport, Flesland. The Sensis deployment at Bergen will provide surveillance of the runways, taxiways, and stand areas along with the location of vehicles operating on the surface, enabling air traffic controllers at Norway’s second busiest airport to enhance the safety and efficiency of the airport in all weather conditions; www.sensis.com.
• ADS-B Requirements: The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is gearing up to define Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) technical requirements for ground airport vehicles. ADS-B is a Global Positioning System-derived location system headed for deployment on most aircraft within American airspace by 2020; it forms part of the FAA’s $40 billion air traffic control modernization effort known as NextGen.
Security
• Cargo Screening: Smiths Detection announces that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has added ten HI-SCAN X-ray systems to its Air Cargo Screening Qualified Technology List (ACSQTL), taking Smiths Detection’s total of approved X-ray solutions to 16. Ranging in sizes from large to small including single, dual, and multi-view imagers, the screening systems enable air cargo businesses to scan air cargo threats rapidly and accurately, says the company; www.smithsdetection.com.
• Education Website: The new Aging General Aviation Education and Training website provides a single, stable access point to type-specific aging general aviation maintenance information. The site includes recommended continued education and training curricula for owners, pilots, airframe and powerplant mechanics, avionics technicians, structural designated engineering representatives (DER), airframe aviation safety engineers (ASE), systems/equipment DERs, systems ASEs, and aviation safety inspectors; www.aginggeneralaviation.org.
