Shenzhen Airport and Huawei Sign an Agreement to Deepen Strategic Cooperation

An Airport of the Future combining Technology and Connectivity to foster Innovation and Intelligence, for a Leading Digital Travel Experience

[Shenzhen, China, November 5, 2020] On November 4, Shenzhen Airport and Huawei signed a new cooperation agreement to continue their strategic partnership to the next level. Together, they will launch a series of joint innovation projects. The two organizations plan to leverage the effective working model they have cultivated to embark upon the next tier of smart airport construction, which comprises of airport's digital transformation planning and design, joint innovation, construction and development, operation assurance, digital training, and technical management. The new agreement marks the next chapter to further their comprehensive strategic cooperation, with Huawei and Shenzhen Airport leveraging each other's strengths to continue the development of 4-in-1 airports and Shenzhen Smart City, thereby setting an example for civil aviation in China.

Several executives attended the signing ceremony, including Yu Gang, Secretary of the Party Committee of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of Shenzhen; from Shenzhen Airport Group, Chen Jinzu, Chairman, Zhu Enping, General Manager, and Xie Yousong, Deputy General Manager; and from Huawei, Guo Ping, Rotating Chairman, Peng Zhongyang, Director and President of Enterprise BG, Wang Guoyu, Vice President of the Global Transportation Business Dept, and Chen Bin, General Manager of Guangdong Shenzhen Government & Enterprise Business Dept.

Executives at the Signing Ceremony

Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport is a large modern international airport in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area. It represents an important hub in the region and this year's Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport General Plan, approved by CAAC, positions it as a core hub for aviation, aviation logistics, and key international integrated transportation.

According to Shenzhen Airport’s latest plan, the airport will welcome 80 million passengers each year. Using Huawei’s scalable infrastructure, the airport will also harness Huawei’s powerful digital platform capabilities to accelerate its digital transformation to a smart airport capable of welcoming a higher capacity. The transformation will also address other challenges, improving the airport’s operational efficiency, situational awareness, and modernizing governance.

The strategic cooperation agreement will capitalize on the capabilities of Huawei's resources and proven technology solutions for digital transformation. These include Huawei's digital platform, information infrastructure, as well as advances in new ICT technologies such as 5G, Cloud, AI, big data, and intelligent computing. The two organizations will proceed to explore new cooperation models to augment their smart airport ecosystem, enhance Airport services and build actionable intelligence across the applications layer.

As part of the first phase of the airport's digital transformation, the strategic partnership will focus on New National Infrastructure and 4-in-1 Airport Construction. It will also promote new cooperation projects, such as the Smart Airport Program, and further cooperation in key areas of security, operations, passenger experience, transportation, and logistics. The ultimate aim is for Shenzhen Airport to feature innovation by optimizing advanced technologies and orchestrating services to deliver a leading digital experience.

Mr. Chen Jinzu of Shenzhen Airport Group noted that this agreement marks a new phase of cooperation between Shenzhen Airport and Huawei. He pointed out that Shenzhen Airport is currently undergoing an important period of large-scale development. It is planning and building a satellite hall, third runway, and Terminal 4. The aim is to build a large aviation industry group with assets in excess of CNY100 billion. He concluded that strategic cooperation with Huawei will be beneficial to these goals.

Mr. Guo Ping of Huawei concurred that the new agreement is a move in the right direction for Shenzhen Airport and Huawei. In the future, the two organizations will work on technological innovation, focus on passengers, and improve operational efficiency, security capabilities, and passenger experience. They will explore the application of new technologies to help build Shenzhen Smart City and a pilot demonstration area.

In June 2017, Shenzhen Airport and Huawei signed a strategic cooperation agreement. That same year, Shenzhen Airport was the only airport in Chinese Mainland to join IATA's Airport of the Future initiative. Since 2018, Shenzhen Airport has been working with Huawei to lead digital transformation of airports in China. Today, the group focuses on Smart Airport as its development strategy.

Over the past two years, Shenzhen Airport has worked with Huawei to plan and build nearly 100 smart projects. Together, they developed a new smart operational model featuring One Map for Operations, One Network for Security, and One-Stop Services. This has enabled smoother airport operations, more reliable security, and more convenient services translating to commercial and social benefits. In China, Shenzhen Airport was the first to launch intelligent stand allocation and security check channels. It is also an industry leader with full 5G coverage and a series of 5G applications.

The joint effort of Huawei and Shenzhen Airport has not gone unnoticed. The airport has been awarded multiple awards, such as the CAPSE Excellent Innovation Services Award; the National Quality Benchmark Award for the Building an Airport with the Best Digital Experience project; and the 2020 4-in-1 Airport Demonstration Project for the Shenzhen Airport Smart Airport Construction Demonstration Project. Shenzhen Airport is also leading in smart airport construction and has been named the Shenzhen High-Quality Service Demonstration Unit for three consecutive years, received the CAPSE Best Airport Award for four consecutive years, and IATA Off-Airport Check-in Best Supporting Airport Award for two consecutive years.

Huawei offers a wealth of experience in the civil aviation digitalization field.