Hamad International expands screening capacity and slashes waiting times

THING OF THE PAST: Nearly 100 per cent of transfer passengers in April were on their way in under five minutes

Hamad International Airport (HIA) has increased security screening capacity and reduced queuing time in its transfer areas by opening two additional transfer points.

The newcomers bring the total to four separate transfer areas spread across the north and south nodes of the terminal, reducing walking times to transfer areas for passengers and increasing its overall security screening capacity.

According to the Qatari airport, the move means it can now ensure that at least 95 per cent of its transfer passengers queue for under five minutes. HIA exceeded this mark during the month of April 2018, where out of the more than one million transfer passengers that were screened, 99.5 per cent queued for under five minutes.

To further enhance customer satisfaction in the transfers areas, a new customer service and security training package has been introduced. The airport has had 500 of its staff undergo a six-week training programme in order to ensure high safety and security standards are met while providing exceptional customer service. The screening is being conducted by the HIA Security team in close cooperation with the Ministry of Interior and Qatar’s Civil Aviation Authority.

Brigadier Essa Arar, Director of Airport Security Department said: “We are constantly trying to improve the security processes at the airport to make it more efficient and customer friendly. This is a great combined effort by HIA, Qatar Civil Aviation Authority and the Ministry of Interior to improve the experience of passengers travelling through the State of Qatar. We will continue to work together to achieve excellence in security in Qatar’s award-winning airport.”

Saeed Yousef Al-Sulaiti, Vice President of Airport Security at HIA said: “At HIA, our goal is to ensure that our facilities and services provide our passengers with a hassle-free journey. This can only be achieved when we tackle key issues that passengers have, such as long waiting times and queues. The project took a total of eight months to roll out and has been praised by a number of international security regulators ranging from those within the UK, US and New Zealand. HIA is recognised as one of the safest airports in the world and continues to meet the highest standards of safety and world-class security.”

HIA’s services for transfer passengers have also previously been recognised by the Skytrax World Airport Awards 2018 where the five-star airport was honoured as the World’s Sixth Best Airport for Transit Passengers.

The implementation of the new services and facilities reflect HIA’s continued commitment to ensuring customer satisfaction in transfer areas. These changes are some of many anticipated as HIA continues to look towards improving its safety, security and customer experience through innovative training, quality control and trialling advanced technologies in line with its Smart Security programme.