Evaluation on the effectiveness of Passengers Clearance Procedures and Security Technologies at Hong Kong International AirportByProgramme: HT124007 HD in Airport Operations ManagementGroup: HT124007/2BGroup Members:Lovepreet Singh (Student Number: 150172015)Zaheer Waqas (Student Number:160429185)Shah Ejaz Hussain (Student Number:160250960)Mohammad Naveed (Student Number:160204365)Mohammad Bilal (Student Number:160107657)Lecturer: Yuki IPSubmission Date: 27/04/2018Final Report ofTOU4413 Airline and Airport Management Project The Department of Hotel, Service and Tourism Studies HONG KONG INSTITUTE OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION (HAKING WONG)2018AcknowledgementsWe would like to thank our project consultant Miss.Yuki IP for her unified devotion, consideration and guidance in helping us with this project as well as all the individual respondents for our questionnaire survey. You have been mentoring us with all your great support and guidance. Thank you for everything.
AbstractThe purpose of the present study is to evaluate the Passengers Clearance Procedures and Security Technologies used at Hong Kong International Airport. Our main aim of report was to evaluate the effectiveness of passenger clearance and security technologies used at Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA). Furthermore, we also looked into existing technologies and looked at news for any shortcomings that occured at HKIA.Five students who are studying Higher Diploma in Airport Operations Management at the Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education and passengers who are Hong Kong residents conducted 50 questionnaire surveys.
- Thesis Statement
- Structure and Outline
- Voice and Grammar
- Conclusion
A question set containing 12 multiple choices. Issues regarding passenger clearance procedures and security technologies procedures at HKIA were asked.Among the participants in the questionnaire survey, 60% hold a pessimistic attitude about the strictness of security technologies and procedures at HKIA while 40% indicated an optimistic attitude.The findings suggest that HKIA does not have tough security measures and procedures compared to other airports, yet passengers experienced certain problems such as flight delays, miss their flights etc . Therefore, passengers had certain recommendations for HKIA.
Table of Contents1. Introduction1.1 Background……………………………………… P. 6-71.
2 Current Security procedures at HKIA…………………P.7-91.3 Problem or issues to be resolved or studied……………P.10-121.4 Project objectives…………………………………………P.122. Project Planning and Methods of study2.
1 Method of data collection (Primary)…………………. P.13-162.2 Method of data collection (Secondary)…………………P.192.3 Action Plan…………………………………………… P.20-232.4 Data Collection Plan………………………………….
.3. Findings and Analysis3.1 Stakeholders’ role and concerns……………………P.24-253.2 Questionnaire survey…………………………………….. P.
263.3 Basic descriptive analysis………………………………P.27-324. Discussions and Recommendations4.
1 Human Factors……P.33-364.2 Misuse of Airport Permit…………………P.364.3 Updated X-Ray Machines.… P.37-404.
4 Unauthorized access at HKIA4.5 Problems and limitations during data collection……………P.414.6 Recommendations …………………………………… P.42-435. Conclusion 5.
1 Conclusion…………………………………………… P.44-456. References…………………………………………………P.
467. Appendices………………………………………………… P.47-50List of all illustrations/figures/tableFigure 1: Percentage of respondents feedback on “How often do you fly”.
….Figure 2: Percentage of respondents feedback on “How long did the passenger wait for security check at HKIA”…
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..Figure 4: Percentage of respondents feedback on “Whether airport security practices have gone beyond the international standard”.
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..Figure 9: Percentage of respondent feedback on “Indicating level of agreement on each statement below”……
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Figure 11: Percentage of respondents feedback on “Which of the security technologies can be strengthened for HKIA security in the future”…..
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.List of abbreviationsAAHK – Airport Authority Hong KongATC – Air Traffic ControlASP – Airport Security ProgramAVSECO – Aviation Security Company Limited CAD – Civil Aviation Department E-channel – Electronic channelFAA – Federal Aviation Administration FVC – Frequent Visitor ChannelHKIA – Hong Kong International AirportIATA – International Air Transport AssociationICAO – International Civil Aviation OrganizationLAGs – Liquids, Aerosols, and GelsIntroductionThe final year project will be conducted on evaluating the effectiveness of passengers clearance procedures and security technologies used at Hong Kong International Airport. In this report, the background information for the passenger’s clearance procedures and security technologies used at the HKIA will be discussed. There will be a study to find out if there are any loopholes that require attention or need to undergo evaluation. After that, it is decided to talk about the project objectives. Lastly, there will be some recommendations which are necessary to deal with the problems or issues.
BackgroundIn the late 1960s and 1970s, the security has been not that strict as it is now. Airport security procedures were just to give brief look to personal. For example an agent would just look at the passenger for any unusual behaviours. Also, it was common for relatives to accompany travelers to the boarding gate. Soon after, new questions were raised when explosives and others dangerous goods were discovered in passenger’s suitcases. Moreover, hijackers took over a commercial aircraft every week. For example, 40 skyjacking attempts were made on US planes in 1969 and still most airlines continue to oppose the idea of screening passengers individually.
Besides, just 0.5 percent of passengers would undergo the screening that were deemed suspicious by the ticketing agent. After that, in 1973, the new law was introduced by Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) which required all the commercial airlines to carry out passenger screening using x-ray machines, metal detectors, and personal searches on carry-on baggage for different kind of weapons and explosives materials.
The Skies Belong to Us (Brendan I. Koerner)The major changes in airport security occurred only after the horrific 9/11 incident when terrorist’s crashed hijacked planes into world trade center which resulted in the death of over 3000 US citizens. This event led to total reform of security measures at airports worldwide.Current Security ProceduresTalking about the current security measures, nowadays, airport security has always become a very important part for all the airports around the world and also because airplanes transport hundreds of passengers to and from nations, it can be very attractive target for terrorists which may also possess threat to HKIA. To ensure the HKIA security is up-to-date. The HKIA will be fully investigated in this report in terms of current passenger clearance procedures and security technologies used at HKIA for inbound, outbound and transit passengers.Outbound PassengersThe airline check-in counters are the first line of security measure where passengers get their boarding pass. It is considered as a security measure as check-in staff can check the e-ticket number to verify the passenger.
After passengers receive their boarding pass, they will head towards the security and immigration check. During the passenger’s full body scanning, a full-body scanner will detect and the alarm will sound if a passenger is carrying any metal objects or illegal substances and their baggage will go through baggage screening machines to make sure the passenger is not carrying any dangerous items/goods. When the baggage passes through the screening machine it generates an image on the screen which Aviation Security Company Limited (AVSECO) staff is monitoring for any dangerous items. Passengers are required to take out electronics items or Liquid, Aerosol, and Gels (LAGs) to place it in separate trays.
LAGs visible plastic bags in the container not more than 100ml so that the AVSECO staff can clearly see what’s in the containers.After passengers pass through security checking, then they will have last security measure before boarding the plane where airline staff will scan the boarding pass on the machine and verify a passport/boarding pass is valid or not. Inbound PassengersTalking about inbound passengers, arriving passengers need to follow some simple security procedures in order to exit from the airport. After passengers land at the airport and exit their respective planes, they will head towards the immigration where Hong Kong residents use ID card for immigration and non-residents need to queue up for the visitor channels. After the clearance, passengers move out of immigration area and move to baggage reclaim area to collect their luggage, If passengers have any goods to declare, they can move towards the declaration of goods counter, if not then they can head towards the meet and greet arrival Hall where they also head towards public transport or parking area.Transit PassengersIn addition, same apply to the transit passengers, all the passengers with connecting flights are required to undergo security check before they can proceed to the departure hall. This is to ensure that HKIA maintain high security standards.SkypierIn terms of transportation, HKIA is well diversified and is connected to different regions by land, sea, and air. Skypier offers fast ferry services to the Pearl River Delta (PRD) in the 9 sea ports.In order to use ferry services from skypier, the incoming passengers should pre-book the ferry services, only then they will be entertained. The passengers who will use ferry after coming to HKIA, they must not pass through immigration as they will directly get on ferry from transfer desk E2 area and they are not required to go through security check at HKIA.The problems or issues to be resolved or studiedHuman FactorsOne of the major loopholes in airports are caused by human factor, it is mainly because of negligence by airport security staff who are stationed at those checkpoints. For busy airports such as Hong Kong International Airport it is important to ensure that we have enough staff and all the procedures are carried out in the appropriate manner. For example, two inbound transit passengers heading to Beijing from Surabaya, Indonesia got on the automatic people mover, the two passengers failed to get off at the last station of the arrival area, they remained on the automatic people mover which then proceeded to the departure area, as a result bypassing the security check which is a must for transit passengers.Misuse of Airport Staff PermitThere have been many cases in the past where airport staff was investigated misusing their Airport permits to access to the restricted area on their off-duty period to meet the celebrities and shopping. Airport staffs are not allowed to use their permit to gain benefits, such as, when airport staff are travelling then they cannot use their airport permits to have access to the shortcuts to reach your boarding gate or to meet your relatives.Up-to-date X-RAY MachinesBaggage screening machines need to be updated or enhanced so that it can both save time and bring convenience for both parties without affecting the security. For example, in the current security procedures, the baggage screening machine require passengers to put their laptop on the separate tray and their liquids in 100 ml container in the visible plastic bag which is resealable. With an improvement in technology, it is possible that passengers that don’t have to take out there electronics and LAGS out of there bag as latest machine computed tomography can find that harmful substances or items without putting them on a separate tray.Concerns about Unauthorized access at HKIARecently, there was incident in which 21-year-old female suffering from mental illness managed to pass through security checks without boarding pass or a passport. “Initial investigations show she bypassed security at the entrance when a security guard was dealing with another traveler,” a source said. “She went through the X-ray check then used e-channel for immigration clearance with her Hong Kong identity card.” Project ObjectiveTo identify the type of security technologies used for passenger clearance proceduresIdentifying the possible factors affecting the security technology (Human errors)Analyze the impacts of the security technologies for the passengers clearance proceduresTo recommend improvements actions for existing Passengers Clearance Procedures and Security TechnologiesMethods of data collectionPrimary Data Questionnaire survey would be conducted in this project as the data collected is first-hand. Owing to the fact that questionnaire survey results in large quantitative data, it was chosen as the primary data source. Our target respondents will be inbound, outbound and transit passengers as they should have experienced different security practices at HKIA. We plan to carry out surveys from 19th March 2018 until 12th of April, 2018.Secondary DataFor secondary data, news, airport reports, essays were studied to find the useful information that would fit the project topic. This information helps us to learn more about the problem and lead us to the answer to this project. Moreover, many websites were visited to get some information which help to overcome problems and broadening the knowledge about new security technologies. Action planCode Activity Name Description Date of completion Person-In-chargeA1 Searching literatures for Topic Area Discuss and confirm the topic of project 19/01/18 AllA2 1st Meeting To distribute the workload 29/01/18 AllA3 Introduction and backgroundinformation Research and handle the problems or issues to be resolved or studied 05/02/18 Lovepreet/Ejaz/WaqasA4 Problem and issues Research and handle theproblems or issues to beresolved or studied 05/02/18 Bilal/NaveedA5 Setting Project objective Determine the project objectives 09/01/18 Waqas/Ejaz/LovepreetA6 Preliminary Proposal Submission Assignment Submission 09/02/18 NaveedB1 2nd Meeting Work distribution 13/02/18 AllB2 Stakeholders and methods of data collection To determine the stakeholders involved and their role. Design the questionnaires. 23/02/18 Bilal/Naveed/EjazB3 Questionnaires Creating a questionnaire 02/03/18 EjazB4 Action plan To record the activities and make an action plan 05/03/18 LovepreetB5 Anticipated problems and limitations of study Research and handle the part of anticipated problems of our project and limitation of study 05/03/18 Waqas/Ejaz/LovepreetB6 Preliminary summary of information collection Write a preliminary summary of information collection 15/03/18 Waqas/Ejaz/LovepreetB7 References Use APA format to make a reference list 16/03/18 All B8 Group Progress reportSubmission Assignment Submission 16/03/18 NaveedC1 Questionnaires Each group members need to collect 10 questionnaires 19/03/18 AllC2 Finding, Analysis, Discussion and recommendation Write the finding, analysis and discussion result 13/04/18 Ejaz/Waqas/LoveC3 Conclusion Writing the Conclusion 18/04/18 Love/WaqasC4 Powerpoint Making powerpoint for presentation 19/04/18 Ejaz/Naveed/BilalC5 Grammar check Check the grammar of the whole project 26/04/18 Ejaz/Waqas/LoveC6 Final Report Submission Assignment Submission 27/04/18 Naveed/bilalGantt chartFinding and AnalysisStakeholders involved and their roles Airport Authority Hong KongThe Airport Authority is one of the stakeholders as they are one who runs and operates the airport. Additionally, there are some proposal for change, it is possible that they might consider suggestions which are provided to them. The airport authority should implement the new security policies for all stakeholders involved. It ought to consider their supposition and solve the loophole in areas where there are potential danger as airports around the globe have presented the new procedure for its passengers after September 11 terrorist attack. Subsequently, it is important for airport authority to leads it, stakeholders, while changing their security policy.Aviation Security Company Limited (AVSECO)Aviation Security Company Limited (AVSECO) is also a stakeholder since they oversee carrying out the Airport Security Programme (ASP). Therefore, if the Airport Authority consider proposal, AVSECO will have to carry out extra obligations and furthermore to prepare their staff for the new procedures or technologies and also implementing new security rules and obtaining latest types of security equipment which meet the international standards..Inbound/Outbound and transit passengersAs the project focuses on passenger clearance procedures, the main focus is on Inbound/Outbound and transit passengers as they are the ones that will go around the airport. So their comments will be essential to find out the pros and cons of HKIA.AirlinesAs airline run the airport as well as the economy of the country. They play a very vital role as stakeholders of an airport. The airline is also involved in decision making of the airport as other stakeholders do. Apart from that, different airlines have different requirements such as baggage allowance, number of baggage, and baggage dimension. Most of the airlines operating in HKIA have the strong restriction on checked in baggage therefore, they play a big role in security at Hong Kong International Airport because airlines are responsible for passenger check-in at the airports and it is also crucial for them to ask passengers about the items they are carrying inside baggage.Analysis and ImplicationsQuestionnaire surveyResponse rate and Socio-demographic characteristics:Number of Person PercentageGender Male 28 56%Female 22 44%Age Age 16-24 42 84%Age 25-31 5 10%Age 32 above 3 6%Monthly Income Below $10,000 24 48%$10,000-$16,999 12 24%$17,000-$22,999 9 18%$23,000-34,999 0 0%$35,000-$39,999 1 2%$40,000 Above 3 6%No income 1 2%Occupation Student 23 46%Businessman 2 4%Cabin Crew 3 6%Social Worker 2 4%Teacher 1 2%Ground staff 3 6%Manager 1 2%Office Clerk 1 2%Receptionist 1 2%Mechanic 1 2%Others 12 24%Nationality Chinese 22 44%Pakistan 12 24%Indian 5 10%Filipino 6 12Great Britain 3 6%Nepalese 2 4%Education Level Secondary 10 20%Post-Secondary 12 26%Undergraduate 20 42%Post-Graduate 8 16%As of the chart above, Comparatively male respondents are 12% more than female respondents. Almost half of the respondents are within the age group of 16-24 years old. Most of the respondents were students which contained 46% out of all the respondents. Moreover, almost half of the respondents were Chinese which is 44% out of all the respondents. Basic Descriptive AnalysisFigure 1: Percentage of respondents on “How often do you fly” As it is shown from the figure 68% of the respondents fly once a year, whereas 14% of passengers would choose to fly once every three months and 14% of them rarely/never fly. Therefore, it is also shown that around 5% of the respondents would fly regularly or routinely. And 14% of the respondents would rarely fly. Figure 2: Percentage of respondents on “How long did the passenger wait for security check at HKIA”According to the graph above, over half of the respondents 58% encountered less than 15 minutes of wait for the security check at HKIA which means that they might have followed all the security procedures accordingly during their security check. Whereas, 32% of the respondents encountered 15-30 minutes wait mainly it could be because of bringing some restricted items and also it can be because of too many people queing up for the security check at the same time whether for departure or transit. Therefore, rest of the 10% of the respondents encountered over 30 minutes of wait or the security check at HKIA.Figure 3: Percentage of respondents feedback on effectiveness of e-channels and frequent visitor channelAs it is shown from the figure more than 80% of the respondents think that e-channels and frequent visitor channel is effective. There were some reasons that respondents has also mentioned such as the channels are fast and smooth, also some mentioned they did not had to wait for long because they do not need to queue up for the identity checks at the counters. However, 8% of the respondents thinks that it is ineffective.Figure 4: Percentage of respondents feedback on whether airport security practices have gone beyond the international standard.From the above graph, we can see that, 40% of the respondent believe that security practices at the HKIA are above the standard which shows that respondents are confident of security practices. While 26% of them disagree that security practice is above the international level. On the other hand there are 34% off the respondents which neither agree nor disagreed with the statement, it is showing lack of knowledge regarding security practices and it is recommended that Airport authority should provide more information on security practices to both passenger and and airport staff.Figure 5: Percentage of respondents feedback on whether it is time consuming at Custom clearance.From the above graph, 46% of the people agree that it is time consuming at custom clearance. It is possible that mainly passengers have goods to declare at custom clearance. Whereas, 28% of them disagree with the statement because they didn’t have any goods to declare. Besides, 26% of the respondents were uncertain about it. Figure 6: Graph of respondents feedback on which of the following procedures are effective during security check.Based on the above graph, 70% of the respondent agree that x-ray baggage check and passport check is the most effective during security check account for 70%. Followed by walk-through metal detector account for 64%, 52% of the respondents think boarding pass check is effective. Therefore 36% of the respondents think baggage search is effective and only one respondents experienced strip search. Figure 7: Percentage of respondents experienced any difficulties with airport security.From the above figure 76% respondents have not encountered any difficulties in their previous travel mainly because they might have followed all the security procedures and the instructions to proceed the security checks, while 20% respondents experienced difficulties which can be due to many different reasons for example, some of the respondents has stated that they were suspected by the immigration staff due to their race or skin color and some has stated that they experienced long queues during security check. Therefore, it shows that security practices at airport are user friendly or easy to follow for most of the respondents.Figure 8: Graph of respondents whether they have encountered any of the below during their travel.Which of the following that you have encountered during your previous travel? (You may choose more than 1 option) Based on the above graph, 50% of the respondents have encountered sudden change of boarding gate mainly due to air traffic delays and also area or gate still being used by another aircraft , 38% of the respondents experienced lost baggage, 34% of respondents encountered long security checks, 30% experienced on-time performance, 14% encountered flight misconnection and 10% experienced exact guidance by airport staff. Figure 9: Graph of respondent shown indicating level of agreement on each statement below.Based on the above graph, the following questions were asked from the respondents for their views. For question “Security devices do not threaten my health” ,13 of the respondents strongly agreed with the statement, while 24 of them just agreed, and 12 of the respondents neither agree nor disagree. Only 1 respondent disagreed with the statement.For the second question “I encountered different treatment during security procedures due to my national identity” 9 respondents strongly agreed with the statement, while 24 of them agree. whereas, 8 of the respondents neither agreed or disagreed. But also there were 6 respondents who had disagreed for it. 3 respondents had strongly disagreed with the statement. Moving to the last statement about “Security procedures are sufficient to protect passenger” at least 17 of the respondents had strongly agreed with the statement. Whereas, 23 respondents had just agreed and while 10 respondents neither agreed or disagreed. Figure 10: Percentage of respondents encountered delay due to increased security measures.Based on the above figure, 58% of the respondents disagreed about encountering delay due to increased security measures. Whereas, 42% of the respondents agreed that they had encountered delay due to increased security measures Figure 11: Graph of respondents indicating which of the security technologies can be strengthened for HKIA security in the future.Based on the above figure, Fast track security channel, more than 23 respondents strongly agreed that fast track security channels are needed, 20 respondents agreed while less than 6 of them stated it is somewhat needed.Moving on to the second question “Biometric identification technology” 40 respondents thinks that it is important to have this technology for HKIA in the future. Whereas, 5 respondents thinks it is somewhat required to have it. However, only 3 respondents stated that this is not needed in the future. Regarding the 3rd security technology “Facial recognition system”around 16 respondents thinks that it is actually most needed and 25 other respondents think its just needed. whereas, 7 of the respondents thinks that i is somewhat needed in the future. But only 1 respondent thinks that it is not needed for facial recognition system at HKIA in the future. As for the “Electronic fingerprint processing” almost all of the respondents around 45 agreed and stated that it is actually needed for in HKIA. Whereas, 2 respondents stated that is is somewhat needed. and just 2 respondents stated it is not necessary needed to have it. Concerning, “X ray imaging” security technology, there were 12 respondents that stated it is Most needed and 24 respondents stated its just needed for it. Whereas, just 9 respondents stated that it is somewhat needed to be installed. Only 3 respondents stated that it is not needed. To talk about “Passenger 3D scanning” security technology. At least 18 of the respondents thinks that it is most needed for it and 15 respondents thinks it is actually needed. Whereas, just 11 respondents stated that it is somewhat needed. However, 5 respondents stated that is is not needed at all.DiscussionThe purpose of our report was to “Evaluate the effectiveness of passenger clearance procedures and security technologies used at HKIA” .According to figure 1, our survey around 68% of our respondent fly occasionally. this shows that travelling is becoming more common among people and is often related with escaping from daily life routine either it is from work or just for relaxation. Whereas, 14% of our respondent fly regularly. overall, more than 80% of our respondents have travelled by air. This implies that travelling by air is very common and has become norm. So, we can assume that in the future more and more people will be travelling by air as air travel is very efficient when it comes to travelling long distance and at the same time since airline deregulation in 1978 has led to high competition among the airlines thus, resulting in cheaper fares.According to figure 2, the duration of security check was less 15 minutes for more than 56% of the respondents, and 15-30 mins for 32% of the respondents. This shows the security check at HKIA are not very long and more than half of our respondents spend less then 15 minutes. Implying the securities technologies measures used can efficiently scan more than 50% of the passengers within the short amount of time. At the sametime, there is 32% for which the security check may take between 15-30 minutes, this is because as the airport is reaching the saturation point, it results in longer queues. So, the long queues result in longer waiting times before you can get your security check. For the 8% respondents who spent more than 30 minutes for security check. It could be due to not enough manpower was available on that to facilitate fast processing of passengers or it could be due to the bad weather which made the airport very crowded as the flights were delayed or even cancelled.According to figure 3, When questioned about the effectiveness of e-channels and frequent-visitors channels regarding their effectiveness. Majority of the respondents agreed they are effective implying that passengers prefer these facilities because they don’t have to line up in the queue, and it takes very less time. It also imply that passengers want to have more autonomy as they want to have minimum interaction with any staffs when travelling outbound or inboundAccording to figure 4, when asked about current airport security standard, at least 40% of the respondents agreed that it is above the standard, while 34% of them are uncertain, and 26% of them disagreed. This implies that they have encountered stricter security measures at other airports that’s why they disagreed with the statement. For example, some airports require passengers to take off their shoes. That’s why 26% of the respondents perceive security measures at other airports and believes HKIA is has better security practices since it does not require passengers to take off their shoes.According to figure 5, questioned about whether it is time consuming at Custom Clearance, Most of the respondents thinks that it is actually not time consuming. It is to believe that they probably had not encountered any random baggage check at custom clearance by customs officers or they rarely carrying any goods which are imposed to custom regulation as a result not much time is consumed since they don’t have any goods to declare. Besides, 46% of the respondents thinks it is time consuming at Custom Clearance, this could imply that these respondents have carried goods which required to be declared at customs hence, resulting in longer time spent. . it is to understand that these type of travelers experienced having their baggage carrying out custom clearance. According to figure 6, it could be assumed that, the top three effective measures are the most common at airport that’s because x-ray baggage scan, and as you can see passport check is one of the most effective procedure carried out at HKIA, It is to believe that many respondents have encountered Passport check due to several reasons mainly because of different Nationality or Hand-written passports. As some of the countries have not yet upgraded their passport printing machines so which passport holders of those countries need to use a hand-written passport during their travel. On the other hand, baggage search is least effective, because it is very time consuming and brings inconvenience to passengers which they have to clear their bags and put everything back into their bag again after baggage search.According to figure 7, it shows that majority of the respondents have not encountered any difficulties with airport security in their previous travel, it could be because Security technologies are well equipped such as new security technologies are installed at HKIA also Airport authority has employed Airport ambassadors for guiding the passengers and answering their questions at different locations inside the terminal. Moreover, there are alot of sign boards within passenger terminal for guiding passengers as well as making airport very easy to explore. However, less than 20% of the passengers stated they had experienced difficulties with airport security . According to figure 8, half of the respondents encountered sudden change of boarding gate. It may be implying that the aircraft on the parking stand did not depart on-time due to several reasons such as passenger not showed up, resulting in off loading baggage of no show passenger which take some time to offload the baggage.Respondents, also enjoyed on-time performance by their respected carriers showing that there are good ground handling agents at HKIA which aim to finish all the turnaround procedures within the given timeframe. Security check taking too long, the security check is becoming an issue at airports worldwide because more and more people are travelling by air so it is important to open up more security check pints to facilitate faster processing,and, flight misconnect and exact guidance by the airport staff. According to figure 9, the first statement, when asked if security machines do not threatened the health of respondents. There were 13 respondents that strongly agree while more than 24 respondents agree, implying that the respondents have faith that the machines that have negative impact on the health will not be used at airport. there were also some respondent that neither agree nor disagree showing that they don’t have much knowledge about how security machines work.In the second statement, when asked if respondents received different treatment due to their nationality, majority of them agree with the statement mainly it could be because some of the respondents might still be carrying a hand-written passport due to their country has not yet adopted E-passports which require everything to be copied from passport manually, results into passengers causing difficulties during Passport check at HKIA. While some were uncertain.In the third statement, when asked if security procedures are sufficient to protect passengers,17 respondents strongly agreed while 23 of them agreed that, security procedures are sufficient to protect the passenger, it shows that respondents have confidence in HKIA security measure as it has not encountered any major security incident. While there is small number of respondents that are uncertain.According to figure 10, when asked if encountered delays due to increased security, this indicates that HKIA can successfully process passengers and prevent to queue from getting long while more than 58% of them have not encountered any delay, there is 42% of the respondents that have encountered delays. this could be due to increased security measures result in longer queue times and since HKIA is one of the busiest airport in the world, the waiting time could have extended as more time is spent on each passenger.According to figure 11, when the respondents were asked how could security at HKIA be further strengthened, majority of them ranked Electronic fingerprint process at the top,followed by, Biometric identification, Facial recognition, X-ray imaging and Passenger 3D scanning. Also, respondent strongly agree with the idea of fast track security channel, this shows the importance that respondents don’t want to spend too much time in the queues and at the same time don’t minimize the safety.Among all the option, we can see that majority of respondents agree to all the options. While only option of Passenger 3D scanning faced highest number of disagreement, this could be because respondents worry about their privacy and that’s why they are not sure if should agree to have this security technology at HKIA in the future.Anticipated problems and limitation of studyDeciding the final year topic is always difficult, and also finding a perfect one takes some time. After deciding the topic, the main problem arising was thinking of project objectives which should be related towards the topic. These were the anticipated problems faced during initial period of final year project.Apart from that, methodology for data collection for both primary and secondary was hard to find and decide. For the primary data, creating the right questionnaires according to our Final Year Project was tough job for all the group mates. Furthermore, we were going to ask airport staff to help us to do our questionnaires, which may be tough because everyone at airport is busy and staff may not be willing to use their free time to help us. In addition, the information regarding passenger’s clearance procedures and security technologies used at HKIA was hard to find on the internet. Whether it is in security procedures or technology, HKIA also follows the basic standards of International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). Therefore, passenger clearance procedure at HKIA has fewer mistakes in their daily operations.Lastly, the secondary data was not too accurate and was giving us tough time to find. As everyone know that you should not rely too much on secondary data because it can be false sometimes. RecommendationsAfter research and finding, the result of passengers clearance procedures and security technologies used at HKIA is not efficient enough. Also, the human factors, misuse of airport staff permit, updated x-ray machine and issues with unauthorized access at HKIA need to be address.Firstly, to improve human errors and unauthorized access problems, human errors can be prevented by good and accurate administrative management systems which assure that there are controls for providing clear, accurate procedures, instructions and other aids are crucial for human error prevention. Good human factors engineering of control systems, appropriate processes and work environment, job-relevant training and practice, appropriate supervision, good communications, and individual personnel performance, are all part of the formula human error prevention. To add more this point, as the number of passengers at the Hong Kong International Airport are expanding, it is proposed that the number of staff ought to be increased. Additionally particularly for AVSECO, and other ground handling agents and home based airlines in order ensure that the service quality is not influenced and there are sufficient staff to serve the passengers. In the meantime, instead of hiring more staffs, the companies should learn to hold their existing staff because the turnover rate for some jobs is high. Consequently, better benefits ought be offered to retain them and seek the staff opinion regarding difficulties encountered.Secondly, up to date x-ray machines should be used at HKIA, it has been recommended of setting up the self-boarding. It empowers passengers to board the aircraft by self-scanning their boarding pass at the boarding gate. It is optimizing the proficient utilization of assets, technology and innovation. Long passenger security check and boarding time is one of the greatest causes of delay and missing flight at the airport. Self-boarding gates will help in lessening queues and improving service levels. As the majority of passengers proceed to board the aircraft using these automatic gates. (this allows better allocation of manpower to different areas where there is requirement for assistance) the ground staff is more accessible to those that need assistance, for example, older or disabled passengers. The self-boarding gate will contain integrated boarding card reader, display for passenger information and a printer for seat imprint. It can enhance the efficiency of the security check and boarding procedure at the Hong Kong International Airport. To solve the issue with x-ray machines, it is prescribe to place a walk-in metal or with an x-ray machine for security check before entering terminal. Nowadays, it is a typical security technology in some shopping malls and some airports. It turn into the initial step to screen the passenger and their baggage when they enter the terminal. And enhance the strictness of the security procedure.Furthermore, latest generation of baggage screening machines (Computed Tomography), which are vastly improved than the current baggage screening machines, because the current baggage screening machines just frame 2D image and require passengers to take out electronics and LAGs from their baggage which is time consuming and since HKIA is busy aviation hub. The number of passenger throughput is increasing at 3.3% year on year basis and was 72.9 million in 2017. By increasing the number of machines and implementing the latest CT technology, it can facilitate speedier clearance as the technology use 3D technology which doesn’t require passengers to take out their electronics and LAGs, as the machine can scan stuffs in the baggage from every directions without taking them out.-952491638300Last but not least, we take the reference from the questionnaires surveys done by passengers to propose E-channel for HK residents to include facial recognition or iris scanning technology as it presently only requires fingerprint with no facial scan or personnel constantly observing it. To solve the risk that the finger prints are very easy to copy.ConclusionIn conclusion, this report evaluates the passengers clearance procedures and security technologies utilized at Hong Kong International Airport.The issues that have been investigated are the human factors, misuse of airport staff permit, hand carry X-ray machines to be updated as well as the issues with unauthorized access with the project objectives of summarizing the passengers clearance procedures and kind of security technology used at Hong Kong International Airport, identifying the type of security technologies used for passenger clearance procedures, recognizing the possible components affecting the security technology (Human errors), analyzing the impacts of the security technologies for the passengers clearance procedures and recommending improvements actions for existing Passengers Clearance Procedures and Security Technologies.According to our finding, despite the fact that the duration of security check is short but the passengers also think it takes too long and not sufficiently effective. Likewise, majority of the respondents think the strictness of the security check in HKIA is enough yet but few of them disagree in comparison of the last destination they visited. So HKIA need to improve the security procedures by implementing new security measures and utilizing new technologies.AppendicesWe are students studying Higher Diploma in Airport Operations Management. We are now conducting a face-to-face survey to collect information related to passengers satisfaction. The interview will only last for about 5 minutes. All information will be used for our study purpose only.
