The Moroccan Airports Authority (ONDA) has partnered with National Aviation Services (NAS) to launch the first electronic gates (E-gates) at the Pearl Lounge in the Marrakech Menara Airport departures area.
The integration is the first of its kind in Africa. With this new state-of-the-art, self-service check in, guests visiting the Pearl Lounge can access the lounge faster without checking in at the reception desk or waiting in a queue. The passengers simply scan their printed or online boarding pass at the gate and enter the lounge.
The E-gate effectively captures all the boarding pass data, checks eligibility, enters the transaction into a database for billing and reporting, and opens the gate for eligible passengers, all in less than two seconds. The E-gate also supports lounge membership cards and vouchers.
The same technology will soon be adopted at Pearl Lounges across Morocco and at other lounges in the NAS network. NAS has been exclusively managing the refurbishment and operations of 16 lounges across nine airports in Morocco following a 10-year concession awarded by the ONDA.
Hassan El-Houry, group CEO of NAS, said, “As the exclusive lounge operator for the ONDA in Morocco, NAS is responsible for bringing world-class facilities and services to the local airports. Since kicking off operations in the country, we have invested in infrastructure, resources and training, and provided operational expertise, state-of-the-art technology solutions and industry benchmarked services, to launch and manage refurbished lounges across the country.
“The newly introduced E-gates will help enhance our offerings in the country and amplify our efforts to ensure that Moroccan airports supersede recognized international airports around the world.”