Technology Investment Leads To Brand New Air Travel Experience

Flight delays, lost luggage, gate changing, long queuing for security and check-in. Airports can be stressful to many passengers. But what if technology could make the whole business of air travel more efficient and pleasurable?  

    Technology development is making on the top investment list for airports in the coming years. Not only airports need to deploy the technology to ease congestion for passengers within the airport, but they are also seeking to use them for ‘on the day of travel’ services by combining it with mobile applications.

SITA, a Swiss air transport technology company, indicates passenger check-ins flight on smartphones, tablets and other devices are going to become triple in the next two years. The Geneva-based conglomerate also shows that passenger check-ins at traditional ticket counters will drop by 20%. Passengers typically want a stress-free trip and airlines are deploying more technology-based services to meet that need. Passengers are switching to mobile apps and the web for check-in, which give passengers less stress and more convenience.

Technology investment by airline and airport have made a big difference to the travel experience, but up to now much of that has been based on a one-size-fits-all approach. Personalization opportunities for passengers are still fairly limited, offered by less than 20% of airlines, according to the Airport IT Trends report from SITA. However, there are indications that many airlines are starting to address personalization by offering passengers a growing list of technology-based options to tailor their travel both at the airport and during the flight. In fact, 82% of airlines will be investing some resources to improve personalization over the next three years.

According to the Airport IT Trends report from SITA, 30% are planning major investment in sensor technology to help ease bottlenecks while 51% are evaluating the technology. And the reality is, only a small number, 6% of them are using the technology at check-in, and 55% say they plan to within three years. Airport IT spent in general is increasing, accounting for 4.41% of revenue in 2013 and rising to 5.82% in 2014. Last year airport IT investment rose to $7.4 billion. An increase of 37% from 2013.

Technology will continue to shape the airline industry, which creating more innovative services for passengers. The trends of self-service, mobile ticketing and payments, in-flight tech and security related tech are expected to rise in the following years, which are also expected to completely change and revolutionize passengers’ boarding and in-flight experiences.

Reference:

[1] SITA INSIGHT. (2015). THE AIRLINE IT TRENDS SURVEY 2015. Retrieved from:

https://www.sita.aero/globalassets/microsites/atis-2015/thoughtware/airline-it-trends-survey-2015.pdf

[2] TNOOZ. (2015, October). Beacons lighting the way for airport investment. Retrieved from:

http://www.tnooz.com/article/sita-airport-it-investment-beacons/