Saab Group, Vestergaard target Asian air traffic expansion

Saab Group and Vestergaard Company, where also among the Nordic companies attending the Inter Airport South East Asia trade show, held in Singapore on 15 – 17 February 2017.

Technology and automation are increasingly becoming important also in Asia as airports seek to become more efficient to face larger labour costs, very strong increase in traffic volumes and shortage of manpower. And the rising demand for air travel across the region created the need to continuously develop airports across the whole region.

Inter Airport SEA is an important platform for new ideas and technology to be showcased to the airports, ground service providers as well as the airlines.

The Swedish defence and security company Saab, which serves the market with world-leading products, services and solutions within military defence and civil security, attended for this very reason: “For us it is important to market Saab’s brand and our products for the airport industry in the Asia Pacific market. We already provide many of our products to many of the major airports in the region but also need to become well known for more airport and organizations in the region. This show is a good platform to do that,” Fredrik Lindblom, Sales Director Saab Asia Pacific, told ScandAsia.

Copyright: Saab AB

Prior to 2017 Saab was awarded the Advanced Surface Movement Guidance and Control System (A-SMGCS) for Changi Airport and Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS).

“This is an important milestone for Saab and we are delighted to have been chosen for this prestigious project. We are also delivering the A-CDM solution to Hong Kong International Airport that will go live in Q3 of this year.”

“For Saab Air Traffic Management the Asia Pacific Region is one of the most important due to its rapid growth in traffic creating the need for more capacity and more airports. Our products will help Air Navigation Service Providers, Airport Operators and Airlines to run safe and efficient operations, which is key for any sustainable growth within this industry,” Fredrik Lindblom continued.

Remote Tower Copyright: Saab AB

Saab Air Traffic Management expertise spans surveillance sensors, ATC automation, collaborative decision-making, and digital towers. Saab’s solutions are trusted by air navigation service providers, airports and airlines across six continents and in more than 100 locations across 45 countries.

At Inter Airports Saab mainly focused on showcasing their Airport Collaborative Decision Making product suite as well as their Digital Tower suite.

“The first enables all stakeholders to share operational information with each other so that they have the same understanding of what is going on with all flights at any time, hence enabling collaboration to minimize disturbances in the system and making sure operations run on time. Our Digital Tower solutions enable Air Traffic Control from a remote location as well as cost-efficient solutions for contingency operations at larger airport.”

Also for Vestergaard Company, a provider of hi-tech airport equipment, it is very important to participate in exhibitions such as the Inter Airport South East Asia, Thomas Toft Roepstorff, Country Manager Thailand told ScandAsia.

“Inter Airport is an exhibition for Ground Support Equipment. The exhibition takes place every other year and currently have three locations: Beijing, Singapore and Munich. Vestergaard Company normally participates in all of these, in bigger or smaller scale. The biggest inter airport is the one is Munich, Germany, where we always show the newest features and updates on all of our products.“

“Exhibitions present a chance to meet both old and new customers and contacts as well as colleagues and other influencers in the ever-changing market. Meeting our customers face to face at exhibitions gives us the possibility to stay updated on customers’ needs and desires when it comes to our products; thus giving us the chance to keep up our innovative approach to product development. Exhibitions also give us the opportunity to present and demonstrate the advantages of new products and developments and get real time feedback from our visitors – as with the new summer range ZVTS and ZWS (portable water service unit), which we presented at the inter airport South East Asia.”

Thomas Toft Roepstorff, Country Manager Thailand Vestergaard Company

The ZVTS is a vacuum toilet service unit that offers the same features and benefits as the company’s VTS unit. Developed for warm weather operations, the unit is receiving overwhelming acceptance in the Asian market. The unit offers the same high quality and reliability as the VTS line, and the same unique continuous vacuum technology, without the added cost of winterization protection and optional features.

“The exhibitions in Asia has gained more importance for us the last couple of years as we have introduced “summer” toilet and water units, taking the well know Vestergaard benefits and quality into a non insulated “winterized” unit like our ZVTS and ZWS,” continued Thomas Toft Roepstorff.

“Often we also participate in Airport Show Dubai as well as in various conferences and smaller exhibitions all over the world – also in the Asia region.”

Hower, trade shows does not mean everything for their relations with clients: “As important as trade shows are it is important to point out that they must of course never completely replace personal meeting with customers where we can see their operations and experience their needs first hand as well as invite customers to visit us at our own locations.”

Given the huge expansion of airports in Asia for decades to come, Vestergaard sees the future growth potential for their products in the region as massive.

“The countries in the region are all having the biggest increase in personal income in the world, which means: more people can afford to fly, increased cargo, potential for more airports being created and expansion plans for airports all over the world. Vestergaard Company has inquiries from and units operating all over the world and many of the handlers and airlines are trying to streamline their operations as more cargo and flights are coming in every day. Streamlining operations makes it necessary to have more efficient and reliable equipment, faster turnaround time, easy operating and less maintenance/downtime etc. For this Vestergaard Company’s product line is the perfect match.”

See also: Scandinavian solutions at airport tradeshow Singapore

About Joakim Persson

Freelance business and lifestyle photojournalist

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