Cape Town International will no longer announce domestic or international flights – here’s what you need to know
Passengers departing from Cape Town International Airport have been advised that no passenger boarding calls will be made in the domestic and international departure check-in and boarding gate area as of 1 March 2018.
In addition, only limited boarding calls will be made in front of international departure boarding gates, the airport said in a statement on Tuesday.
“As Cape Town International Airport we have noted the feedback from passengers in independent customer surveys citing complaints about noise levels in airports,” said spokesperson for Cape Town International Airport, Deidre Davids.
“In keeping with global trends and the aviation’s move toward passengers being increasingly self-sufficient we are adopting the global trend of silent airports. The obvious benefit of a silent airport is reduced noise, which has been an issue of contention for our passengers.”
“This means that the public-address microphones at the domestic and international departures terminal and gates will be switched off, with limited announcements at gates for international passengers,” she said.
Many international airports have already adopted a silent airport policy to improve airport ambience and reduce complaints about the number and frequency of calls for individual passengers to board their flights who have checked in and have not arrived at the boarding gates.
Standard operating procedures for most domestic flights require that passengers start boarding at least 30 minutes before the scheduled departure time and one hour for international travellers.
Passengers are advised to check their boarding passes and the flight information display boards for boarding times.
The only instances where centralised terminal announcements will be made will be for irregular operations such as gate changes, flight time changes, security matters, system failures and customer service anomalies such as lost minors.
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