Solving the "nightmare" of waiting for immigration

Returning from Japan after more than a year of studying abroad, Tran Tuan Anh (28 years old) was excited because he was about to see his family and friends again. According to the plan, the plane landed at Tan Son Nhat airport at 1:30 p.m., but to allow for time for immigration and baggage claim, Tuan Anh made an appointment with his family to be at the airport to pick him up at 2:30 p.m.

“Before, when I traveled, every time I returned to Vietnam, I had to queue up for immigration, it took me an hour. Luggage is a matter of luck, sometimes it takes longer, sometimes it takes less, but I always leave extra for safety. People waiting early is tiring and makes the airport crowded,” Tuan Anh confided.

As expected, as soon as you enter the immigration area of ​​Tan Son Nhat airport, the first sight that catches your eye is a dense line of people, stretching from the immigration platform to the end of the wall where the runway exit is. As soon as you join the line, Tuan Anh immediately notices that some passengers are walking straight towards the “Autogate” sign in the far left corner of the security check area. Among them, a few people go straight through the gate to complete the procedures very quickly. Curious, Tuan Anh goes to ask an airport security officer and is explained that these are automatic immigration gates and instructed on how to use them.

“After that, the security guard led me to the registration gate because my passport did not have a chip yet. The entire process from registration to exiting the Autogate to enter the country only took 10 minutes. I can't believe it, I've only been there for a little over a year and Vietnam has changed so much. I don't know if Japan has applied this system because when I went there during the Covid-19 period, all immigration procedures were strictly controlled. But before, when I went to Thailand, Taiwan and some Southeast Asian countries, this technology did not exist, there were only separate lanes for their citizens to enter the country. The only problem for me was that I entered the country too quickly, and in the end, I had to wait more than 30 minutes for my family to come,” Tuan Anh humorously said.

More than 1 year since the first pilot application at Tan Son Nhat and Noi Bai airports, the automatic immigration system has been piloted at Da Nang, Cam Ranh and Phu Quoc airports, helping to significantly shorten the time for passengers to complete procedures and speed up immigration processing, especially during peak times.

A border police officer estimated that although the initial phase is only applicable to Vietnamese citizens entering the country, the automatic technology can also help relieve about 50% of the congestion and queuing at Tan Son Nhat border gate. In particular, not only Vietnamese people with valid passports, but also overseas Vietnamese with dual citizenship, if using a Vietnamese passport to enter the country, can still register for Autogate right at the immigration area to save time. This has helped to significantly reduce congestion at the two main gateways, Tan Son Nhat and Noi Bai, during the recent Lunar New Year. The implementation of the automatic immigration technology system (Autogate) has marked an important milestone in the journey of automating security procedures at airport gateways.

Forgetting your documents at the airport: Small matter

On the same day of the piloting of the automatic immigration system, the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam also officially deployed the use of level 2 electronic identification accounts for passengers on domestic flights at all airports nationwide. For Vietnamese citizens, VNeID is equivalent to a CCCD card. For foreigners, VNeID is equivalent to a passport or international travel document. Thanks to that, over the past year, there have been thousands of cases of people arriving at the airport and forgetting their identification documents, without having to regretfully change flights or frantically ask relatives to bring their documents as before.

The leader of Vietnam Airports Corporation (ACV) informed: With the project of applying chip-based CCCD, VNeID level 2 and biometric technology for air passengers, the integration of VNeID level 2 and biometric technology at the entire 3-touch point process at ACV's research lab has been completed. ACV has reported to the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam to propose official deployment at the airports: Phu Bai, Cat Bi and Dien Bien. Along with that, the shared ACV self services system (kiosk check-in, self bag drop, ABGS) has been officially deployed for Vietnam Airlines at Cat Bi and Phu Bai International Airports. This service helps customers to carry out procedures for making boarding passes and checking in luggage automatically without interacting with staff. In addition, the non-stop automatic toll collection project at 5 airports: Tan Son Nhat, Noi Bai, Da Nang, Cat Bi, Phu Bai has also completed equipment installation, tested and met requirements, signed Epay collection service contract. Currently basically completed, preparing for official application.

Not only has the passenger experience at the airport been improved, technology has also been thoroughly applied to the management system at airports. Typically, the A-CDM project is a unified process between the operating units at the airport that ACV has completed phase 1 after 3 years of implementation efforts. A-CDM has optimized infrastructure and equipment, reducing the rate of flight delays and waiting time for take-off and landing of airlines. "The corporation's digital transformation projects are implemented synchronously in different fields. The effectiveness of digital transformation has changed the modernized operation chain of airports," commented the leader of ACV.

If the inside is clear, the outside must also be clear. In the case of serious overload like Tan Son Nhat airport, Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transport Tran Quang Lam said that in addition to the projects being implemented by the city, there must be smart traffic management and regulation solutions to relieve traffic connecting the airport gateway area. Currently, the Urban Traffic Management and Operation Center (under the Department of Transport) is implementing a flexible traffic management project applying new technology to optimize traffic flow and control traffic in real time. Specifically, technology tools will be used to measure traffic, analyze the actual vehicle situation, thereby providing scenarios such as the duration of green and red lights at intersections on the network in the area, optimizing vehicle flow. For example, when congestion occurs at Tan Son Nhat airport, the system will set up virtual networks and belts to remotely control parking at some intersections, giving intersections right next to the airport more time to clear the congestion and clear the entire system. This is a public transport management model that has been applied in many countries.