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Houston Airport System
May 15, 2007
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It’s a big year for the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC), the world’s premier energy technology gathering, and the Houston Airport System helped clear the way for the record setting crowd with an innovative program featuring first ever on-site registration at George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH).
Through the on-site registration program, OTC attendees were able to proceed directly from clearing customs to two information booths at the airport that had been transformed into registration booths for the global conference.
Those who used it had nothing but rave reviews.
Joel Moniquette, a sales executive with the Trinidad and Tobago Energy Guide, took advantage of the program. After landing and clearing customs, he rolled his luggage about 50 feet and stepped right up to the counter to have his OTC badge printed.
“I think this is the best idea that you all came up with because of the fact that it helps the rush because Monday it’s an extreme difficulty to get passes, so this is a lot easier,” says Moniquette.
More than 67,000 attendees headed for Houston for the conference held April 30th through May 3rd. Thousands of them came from nations around the globe. A steady stream of surprised and appreciative OTC-bound travelers took advantage of the airport registration program.
They were people like Deng Zhi Yun, from Shenzhen, China, “compared with last time I had to wait aside, take more than an hour, so this time it take five minutes, real quick,” smiled Yun, general manager of Brilliant Petroleum Chemical Equipment L.T.D.
IAH’s new designation as the first Model Port in the nation also played a role. New programs instituted in the Federal Inspection Services Facility (FIS) are geared toward making the international arrivals process less complicated and more pleasant.
These include newly installed video screens that broadcast a multilingual message explaining the customs process. In addition multilingual signs have been added and more customs officers are available to provide immediate service. |
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© Houston Airport System
For this year's Offshore Technology Conference attendees were able to register at the airport instead of waiting in long lines. |
International traveler Amanda Battersby, with the International Oil and Gas Newspaper, says she was warned that the process was convoluted and time consuming, but was then pleasantly surprised.
“I was expecting immigration and customs to be long queues, minutes if not hours,” she says. “Everybody was polite, friendly, really quick, less than 15 minutes from leaving the plane to clearing customs.”
Arnis Judzis, chairman of the board of directors of OTC appreciates the new program and says it adds a level of convenience for attendees.
“I very much endorse the process and doing pre-registration at the airport. What it gives is a much better feel, for the people coming in who get early registration so they don’t have to wait in lines here. I want that to continue because we expect our international population to continue. We draw many people and this will grow in the future,” Judzis explains.
The OTC conference attracted people from more than 110 countries representing well over 10,000 international attendees. That seems like a lot of people but not for the Houston Airport System.
The 784,000 square foot FIS facility is geared to process 4,500 arriving passengers per hour through its 84 booths, when fully staffed. IAH, served more than 7.4 million international travelers last year alone.
Now that the airport registration reviews are in, some might say the HAS-OTC partnership operated just like a well oiled machine.
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