Page 54 - World Airnews Magazine October Edition 2020

NEWS DIGITAL

SA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORTS

READY TO OPEN

“From October 1 onwards, we can only grow,” she said.
Mpofu said it could take up to five years to recover the income
With international travel set to resume in South Africa lost during the Covid-19 lockdown.
systems are in place to receive visitors. “If there’s a lesson we’ve learnt from Covid, it is that airports are
Cape Town International Airport is ready to resume international exciting places but they need not be passenger revenue related
travel, CEO of Airports Company South Africa (Acsa), Mpumi - and that’s exactly the diversification strategy we’re going to be
Mpofu said. taking forward so that we continue to be financially viable.”
During lockdown, the airport’s income had been “decimated”, Two initiatives announced by the airport were the introduction
she said. With international travel resuming in October, things are of thermal scanners that can detect passengers with high
looking up. temperatures when they pass through scanning stations, and
The airport is expecting 180,000 visitors on 820 flights during converting into an e-system, which will ease the travelling system
October. for travellers. Q

NEWS DIGITAL

A DRONE THAT FILMS INSIDE

YOUR HOME

By Kellen Browning

said it had made major investments in camera security, such as
two-factor authentication and end-to-end encryption, that will roll
When Amazon’s chief executive, Jeff Bezos, promised in out this year.
2013 that drones would soon be flying everywhere delivering “If Walt doesn’t want to buy this drone, then fine,” he said.
packages, a miniature camera whirring through homes and The product came to be because of technological advances and
recording video was probably not what people envisioned. consumer interest in indoor security cameras, Limp said.
But recently Amazon’s Ring division unveiled the (US) $249 Ring He said sensors had become good enough and cheap enough for
Always Home Cam, a small drone that hums as it flies around an indoor drone to operate safely.
houses filming everything, ostensibly for security purposes. Amazon also found that people did not put a camera in every
Re-action to the surveillance drone was spirited - but not in the room for reasons like not having outlets in the right place, so the
way Amazon might have hoped. drone could fill the gap, he said.
“In a country with no laws regulating digital privacy, anyone who A disclaimer at the bottom of Ring’s blog post announcing the
buys this from a company with a history of privacy problems is in- drone said the device had not been authorized by the Federal
sane,” tweeted Walt Mossberg, a long-time tech product reviewer Communications Commission - and might not ever be authorized.
who is a member of the non-profit News Literacy Project’s board. Ring said the drone would become available next year, but not
Ring said the drone could be used to check whether a home- “until authorisation is obtained.” Limp said he expected Amazon
owner had left the stove on or a window open, and promised that could get approval and start shipping to some people by the end of
it would record only while flying. It would also make a humming the year.
sound so it would be clear when it was filming. But privacy was still As for
the primary concern for most flabbergasted Twitter users. Bezos’ plan to
“An internet connected drone camera for your home, owned by have drones
Amazon - this definitely won’t be a privacy nightmare at all,” one delivering
person tweeted. packages? Back
“A scary step in the future of tech?” posted another Twitter user, in 2013, he said
Khoa Phan. it might happen
“Like it’s cool but always eerie at the same time. Obviously, within around
there’s some concerns about privacy with Amazon. But what’s the five years. To
next step after this, if this is just the beginning?” date, it has not..
Dave Limp, the executive responsible for Amazon’s devices, Q

World Airnews | October Extra 2020
— 7 —