Stand-Allocation System (SAS)

The system ensures a high standard of quality in customer service, airport safety, and use of stand resources. This article describes our experience in developing an AI system using standard off-the-shelf software components. Although there were some initial hitches when the new airport opened on 6 July 1998, operations quickly returned to normal within a week's time. Within a month, operational statistics surpassed those of the old airport--80 percent of all flights were on time or within 15 minutes of schedule, all passengers cleared immigration within 15 minutes, and average baggage waiting time was only 10 minutes. During the 1998 Christmas holiday, HKIA serviced about 100,000 passengers daily and maintained equally high service standards.