Airlines To Commence Automated Passenger Check-In At MMIA

International airline operators in Nigeria have commenced integrating their facilities to the new Common Use Terminal Equipment (CUTE) operated by RESA.

This new development is coming up three months after SITA, which was the service provider pulled out of the service. After the successful integration of the service which is expected to commence soon, the airlines would resume automated passenger facilitation instead of the manual check-in that has been causing a lot of delays and security breaches at the airport. Passengers departing Nigeria must prepare to be automatically checked in 36 hours before their trip.

According to the Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria(FAAN), Captain Rabiu Yadudu during his parliament speech. "We have made progress on passenger facilitation. The director-general of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) wanted to see and inspect what was happening, so we decided to do a joint inspection. We saw that some airlines like KLM, Air France, British Airways, and Delta Airlines were already on board and had their cables linked to Research, Evaluation and System Analysis(RESA) equipment”.

"The DG even asked specifically of Delta Airlines, and he was shown the process. They have not fully connected but they have gone far to be fully integrated on the RESA platform. The technicians came almost two weeks ago, and every piece of equipment is here, and from all intent and indications, within the next 10 days and two weeks, we will have everyone fully on board because the team and the airlines are ready,”.

Yadudu added that "the previous system we had was Common User Terminal Equipment (CUTE), but we have upgraded to the new technology of Common User Passengers Processing System (CUPPS). The self-service kiosk we never had Common User Self Service (CUSE) comes with it now. The departure control system we never had is all nowhere, baggage reconciliation system is coming here; Flight Information Display System (FIDS) is in Lagos not in Abuja. So all the items spelled out in the contract are here, the improved package and improved software with much wider coverage for all Nigerians are there now, so we are very proud of this, and we regret the inconveniences that happened along the way, they were never intended."

He stressed further that the airfield lighting of the domestic runway of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, known as Runway 18L, work was about 95 percent completed on the taxiway, adding that soon the lighting on the runway would be installed with the minister's intervention in the on-going litigation against the project\.