Airports have started taking large strides towards incorporating smart technology and enhancing traveller experiences as per SITA reports as well as the Sabre Travel Network, with Asia as a frontrunner.
The leading three positions in World Airport Awards 2017 of Skytrax have been awarded to Incheon International Airport, Tokyo International Airport (Haneda) and Singapore Changi Airport.
The VP of Technology of Sabre mentioned that while the particular operating models are vastly different, they actually use a common technology-based ecosystem with an aim to create a really ‘smart’ airport.
All these efforts portray a focus on bringing about a ‘seamless customer journey’ for air travellers.
The new Terminal 4 at Singapore Changi Airport that is scheduled to open on 31st October, 2017 is ready to be a pioneer in technology. It would boast of thrilling features including centralized security screening, end-to-end service options and facial recognition stations, end-to-end service options and centralized security screening ones too.
It also demonstrates that the representatives of Changi Airport Group’s (CAG) response to trends that have recently been identified in the SITA 2017 Air Transport IIT Trends Insights report that was published this week.
In it, the trends survey report had revealed that airport IT spending is forecast to rise to nearly 5.05% (US$8.4b) with about 71% of surveyed airports indicating an intent to raise IT investment in the year 2017 and 69% expecting a further raise the next year.
This follows a slump of nearly 4.42% in the year 2016.
SITA reports airports are prioritizing investments in cyber security, self-service kiosks, cloud services and even mobile.
The new terminal of Changi Airport conforms to many.
A large number of airports have been planning to trial biometric tokens for the purpose of identity management the next year, merely 29% plan to implement secure single tokens as far as 2020.
CAG has invested quite a lot on self-service features (along with 89% of surveyed airports).
And, the new terminal also calls its suite FAST that is an acronym for Fast And Seamless Travel. There has also been a rise in planned investment in cloud services (to about 85% from 78% of airports in the last 3 years) to pave the way for better passenger flow through measures like real-time wait monitoring systems and accessibility to staff services through mobile.
Cyber security seems to be one of the leading priorities since 96% of airports intend to increase their IT investment in this area.
