NEDUMBASSERY: Things are set to get "CUTE" at the Cochin International Airport. CUTE (Common User Terminal Equipment) is a software which helps streamline the reservation system at the airport and facilitate the checking-in of passengers of individual airlines from a common terminal.

Air-India, the ground- handling agent of the airport, is scheduled to implement the new system by the first week of January.

Air-India is already following the CUTE system at the Mumbai and Delhi airports.

Under the present system, individual airlines are required to send the reservation data, such as passenger Name List (PNL) to the Air-India's Departure Control System (DCS) through the SITA network. (SITA is a provider of global information and telecommunication solutions for the air transport industry). The passengers are then checked-in on the Air-India DCS.

An inherent drawback of this system is that the individual airlines cannot provide their special and unique features as these features are not available on the Air-India DCS. For instance, an airline may be having provision for providing special facilities to its frequent flyer card holders but might not be able to offer it while checking-in as the ground handling agent's, in this case Air-India's, DCS does not support it. This would cause much hardship to the airline concerned.

Advantage

A solution to this problem is for each airline to set up its own dedicated check-in counters, which is not feasible.

CUTE provides an all encompassing solution to this problem by facilitating the checking-in of passengers of all airlines from a common terminal while at the same time enabling the airlines to bestow their passengers with their own unique features. Under the CUTE system the Air-India DCS will have no role and the entries will go straight to the native DCS of the respective airlines and the responses will be readily available on the common terminal in which the entry was originally made.

CUTE, however, if implemented as a stand alone system would require the counter staff to be familiar with the transactions of all the airlines which could prove to be a tedious process prone to mistakes. Considering this, Air-India will be implementing CUTE along with the Common Language Interface (CIL).

This will enable the counter staff to make only a few entries common to all airlines and the CIL will translate it into a language compatible for the native DCS of the respective airline. Another advantage is that the passenger data can be transferred to another airport with a CUTE-supported check-in system in times of need.

The existing counters will be replaced by CUTE counters and to begin with there will be 24 counters in the international side and 10 in the domestic departure. Once the new departure block becomes operational more CUTE counters will be set up, M.K. Hingorani, Executive Head of Air-India, has said.

The CUTE system will be implemented within the existing cost structure without levying additional charges from the airlines.

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