Ensuring airport passenger safety during and after the pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic will continue to restrict global travel and change the way we live for a long time to come – and SCC is helping aviation businesses prepare for life after lockdown. SCC’s new Thermal Temperature Detection technology solution is helping businesses in a number of industries protect people and demonstrate that necessary measures have been introduced to ensure the wellbeing of customers, employees and suppliers. COVID-19 is the latest and most devastating in a succession of challenges faced by the aviation industry in recent years, with all non-essential commercial travel halted with little notice to help stop the spread of the virus. It is critical that when the UK is ready to ease lockdown measures, all airports are able to demonstrate proactive measures in place to safeguard the health and wellbeing of passengers entering the country. Whilst terminals are empty, SCC has been working with a prominent UK regional airport to trial a mobile Thermal Temperature Detection system, mounted on a tripod in the staff entrance. This can be monitored by security staff, with signs of high temperatures automatically identified before the employee can socialise with colleagues. The next deployment phase will see the introduction of a multi-camera system, positioned at each entry point across the airport’s terminal building, in departures and arrivals, enabling border staff to intercept inbound passengers showing signs of a high temperature before they reach passport control. By deploying this technology, airports can begin to reopen for business safely, reducing the risk of a second wave of COVID-19 cases and protecting passengers and employees. This Thermal Temperature Detection solution will also help airlines by removing the requirement to undersell occupancy to enable social distancing on flights.