With tens of thousands of football fans arriving in Poland to attend the EURO 2012 tournament this summer, Gdansk Lech Walesa Airport will be ready to handle its share of the visitors.

The airport more than doubled its passenger capacity recently, by increasing airside infrastructure and adding a second passenger terminal. Terminal 2 began operations on Friday, April 6, 2012.

To handle the volume of passengers expected from ten airlines operating out of Terminal 2, the airport has chosen vMUSE Enterprise hosted technology from ARINC Incorporated as its common-use passenger check-in and departure solution.

Unlike common-use systems that require costly IT hardware on site, ARINC’s vMUSE Enterprise solution delivers passenger processing as an internet service. The check-in and departure functions use inexpensive "thin client" terminals in conjunction with an internet connection.

ARINC Senior Director of Integrated Travel Solutions Tony Chapman said: "ARINC’s hosted solution is very economical to deploy. It is completely scalable, so the airport can add new airlines at any time or expand the airport facilities when required by simply adding additional terminal. This ability makes vMUSE Enterprise an attractive cost-effective passenger solution, for seasonal, mid-size or larger airports."

Because the data processing for vMUSE Enterprise occurs at an off-site data centre managed by ARINC, there is no need for the costly servers, core rooms and computer workstations that are typical with other common-use systems. The need for on-site server maintenance, back-ups and health checks is also eliminated. Airports can lower their IT capital and support costs, while enjoying advanced common-use passenger services with improved overall system reliability and security.

As an added benefit, vMUSE Enterprise greatly reduces power consumption, when compared with conventional server-based core systems, enabling airports to lower their carbon footprint.

Along with Warsaw, Poznan and Wroclaw, Gdansk is one of Poland’s four Host Cities with venues for the UEFA EURO 2012 matches. With the opening of Terminal 2, Gdansk Lech Walesa Airport will serve five million passengers a year. In addition to facility improvements for EURO 2012, the airport will enact a special management plan to ensure efficient and friendly service for the volume of fan traffic expected from all over Europe.