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Hong Kong International Airport has provided insight into what the future of air travel might look like, featuring cleaning robots, antimicrobial surface coatings and a disinfection booth for passengers.
The busy Asian airport claims it is the first in the world to test a CleanTech live operation, designed to disinfect travelers from head to toe.
The process sees travelers monitor their temperatures before entering a small cabin to sanitize and sanitize for 40 seconds.
HONG KONG AIRPORT AUTHORITY
The boots are designed to disinfect passengers in seconds.
The interior of the cabin has an antimicrobial coating that can remotely kill viruses and bacteria in the human body and clothing using photocatalyst and “nano needle” technologies, the airport said.
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Travelers are also sprayed with a disinfectant spray inside the cabin “for instant disinfection.”
As with some hospital isolation rooms, the cabinet is kept under negative pressure to prevent cross contamination.
HONG KONG AIRPORT AUTHORITY
The cabin is equipped with an antimicrobial coating and “nano needles”.
Airport staff participate in the test, but the goal is to open it to passengers eventually.
The Hong Kong Airport Authority (AA) is also testing an invisible antimicrobial coating, spraying it on high-contact surfaces in the terminal, such as check-in counters and kiosks, toilets, seats, luggage carts, and elevator buttons.
Meanwhile, smart sterilization robots have been deployed in public toilets and other crowded areas around the terminal.
Equipped with ultraviolet light and air sterilizers, the autonomous robots can kill up to 99.99 percent of bacteria in the air and on surfaces near them in 10 minutes, the airport said.
HONG KONG AIRPORT AUTHORITY
A cleaning robot in an airport bathroom.
“The safety and well-being of airport staff and passengers are always our first priority,” said deputy director of AA, Service Delivery.
“Although air traffic has been affected by the pandemic, the AA spares no effort to ensure that the airport is a safe environment for all users. We will continue to seek new measures to improve our cleaning and disinfection work.”
Hong Kong airport is one of many worldwide that steps up sanitation measures in an effort to curb the spread of Covid-19.
In New Zealand, airports aim to adhere to the guidelines of the Ministry of Health.
HONG KONG AIRPORT AUTHORITY
Antimicrobial spray coatings are said to kill bacteria and viruses.
Christchurch Airport, for example, is operating the terminal with single entry and exit points to separate people entering and exiting.
It has also “reshaped passenger and staff flows to help keep people separate and provide constant communication that reinforces the message of physical estrangement,” an airport spokesman said.
