No passenger boarding calls will be made in the domestic departures check-in areas and boarding gates area at Cape Town International Airport from Thursday.
Cape Town International management said limited boarding calls will be made in front of international departures boarding gates from March 1, in keeping with global trends of silent airports and passengers becoming increasingly self-sufficient.
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.
From 1 March 2018 public address microphones at the domestic departures gates will be switched off and only limited use of the public-address microphones will be allowed at the international departures gates.
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.
Cape Town International Airport spokesperson Deidre Davids said: “As Cape Town International Airport we have noted the feedback from passengers in independent customer surveys citing complaints about noise levels in airports.
In keeping with global trends… 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.
Passengers will be advised to check their boarding passes and the flight information display boards for boarding times, gates and any other changes.”
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.
“We trust that passengers will take note of their individual responsibility in getting to their boarding gate and boarding the aircraft in good time,” says Davids.