Vancouver Airport Authority has won the Airport Innovation of the Year award for its BorderXpress self-service border solution at the 2015 CAPA Aviation Awards in Helsinki, Finland.
Announced at the CAPA World Aviation Summit in Helsinki on October 7, 2015, the award recognizes the impact of the authority’s border clearance solution on airports around the world.
CAPA Centre for Aviation provides independent market intelligence, analysis and data services for the aviation industry. Candidates for the awards are shortlisted by a team of CAPA analysts and aviation partners, and then reviewed by a judging panel. The Airport Innovation award is a new category for 2015 and is intended for the airport, or IT supplier, responsible for the most powerful information technology innovation in the airport sector.
Peter Harbison, executive chairman, CAPA, said, “Vancouver Airport Authority has been a pioneer with its development of BorderXpress Automated Passport Control (APC) kiosks, which have reduced border waiting times by over 50%. The judging panel selected Vancouver Airport Authority for being extremely innovative and taking the strategic initiative to develop a product that has significantly impacted the airport sector.”
The BorderXpress kiosks automate the administrative portion of customs declaration, helping accelerate the process by up to 89%, with no pre-registration or cost to passengers. With this increased efficiency, travelers arriving at BorderXpress equipped airports experience shorter wait times, less congestion and faster customs processing times.
Craig Richmond, president and CEO, Vancouver Airport Authority, said, “To achieve this prestigious award from CAPA is both an honor and a tremendous endorsement of our commitment to innovation, one of our core values. Through technologies such as BorderXpress, we are taking an active role in improving the global travel experience, and we look forward to building on Vancouver Airport Authority’s longstanding foundation of innovation.”
To date, more than 700 kiosks have been deployed at 25 airports throughout North America and the Caribbean, collectively helping more than 50 million passengers to clear the border.