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How can airport technology benefit travellers?
Margarita de Lucas
Head of Marketing, Airport IT, Amadeus IT Group
Self-service technology and automation are buzzwords at this year’s Passenger Terminal Expo in Cologne, where experts in the airport and aviation sector have gathered to discuss the newest innovations which will shape the airport of the future. From innovations in luggage handling to smart boarding gates and remote check-in, it’s clear that technology has a strong part to play in improving airport operations and enabling those benefits to be experienced directly by travellers.
At Amadeus, we’ve long shared this view. Earlier this month we announced a landmark agreement
with Copenhagen Airports to provide a range of solutions which all work together to optimise operations and lead to a better experience for travellers.
On Tuesday, Newton De Souza, General Manager Customer Delivery & Transformation, Perth Airport, and Carl Rogers, Head of Solution Design for Passenger Processing Services at Amadeus, gave a presentation about Perth Airport’s adoption of ACUS
(Airport Common Use Service). De Souza highlighted two key benefits: that the airport was able to move infrastructure offsite – leaving more space available for retail – and is able to quickly open additional check-in desks to deal with increased passenger processing needs. Both of these examples indirectly improve the passenger experience whilst benefitting airport operations.
De Souza also noted that airlines gain too from the switch to ACUS, including a 26% savings in passenger processing costs at Perth Airport and the ability to quickly and easily launch routes between Perth and any other ACUS-enabled airport. Airlines can swiftly respond to customer demand for new routes with less financial risk.
And travellers will see even more tangible changes due to ACUS – such as the self-service and remote check-in scenarios that companies are talking about at PTE this week. Imagine stepping off a cruise ship and checking in to your flight while you’re still at the dock, your luggage picked up and brought to the airport for you. Or picture attending a large conference and knowing the airport will be crowded when you leave – what if the airport had staff at the exhibition or your hotel so you could check in there without having to leave early to beat the queues?
These scenarios are becoming a reality as more and more airports adopt cloud-based common solutions. Last week we released a whitepaper that looks at the realities of making this move. If you’re interested in reading more, you can download the paper here.
If you’re at PTE and haven’t yet stopped by, come say hello. We’re here through to the end of the event, at booth number 5015. We’d love to introduce ourselves and chat about what we can do for you.