IT at the heart of the improving passenger experience at Europe’s airports

At the time of writing, solutions-provider SITA has reported that airport IT expenditure has reached US$6 billion (€4.8bn) globally, and is growing at a faster rate than revenues. While a significant proportion of respondents to its study assigned the rationale behind their investment to reducing business costs, close to 70% said that it was focused on improving the passenger experience. Technologies supporting self-service and common use, alongside WiFi and mobile apps, were common projects to this end, while efforts to capture and analyse the so-called ‘big data’ of passenger, baggage, security and cargo processes are also becoming increasingly more mainstream, with the ultimate aim of improving service delivery and optimising revenue opportunities.

At the 7th ACI Facilitation, IT & Customer Service Conference meets at Airport Exchange 2014 in Paris next month, Europe and Asia’s airports will come together to discuss how such technologies, alongside the people and processes vital to service delivery, will continue to evolve and deliver.

Event host Aéroports de Paris’ ambition to become Europe’s standard

A key tenet in event host Aéroports de Paris’ top-level strategy is to become Europe’s “referent” airport operator in the many facets of its broad activities. In a session keynote at ACI Airport Exchange Dominique Mary, ADP’s Director of Customer Satisfaction, will take the opportunity to explain the investments and methods being undertaken to meet this ambitious goals in airport customer service. ADP’s holdings in airports across the globe make this a fascinating insight into what will be at the heart of passenger experience developments.

IT at the heart of the improving passenger experience at Europe’s airports

Event host Aéroports de Paris aims to become Europe’s “referent” airport for the passenger experience, and has implemented state-of-the-art technologies at many of its global gateways, including Paris Orly.

SITA’s latest findings analysed by leading industry players

Far from being one-off research projects, SITA’s surveys of the industry are recurring studies, forming a brilliant source of trend analysis.

To this end, SITA VP Catherine Mayer will present the results of the 2014 Airport IT Survey at the 7th ACI Facilitation, IT & Customer Service Conference, while fellow panellists from Aéroports de Montréal, Hamad International Airport and Brussels Airport Company offer their views on the findings. Air France-KLM will also be represented to provide an airline perspective on the findings, which will cover topics such as passenger and staff smartphone use, auto check-in adoption, ibeacons and wearable technology.

Cross-conference dialogue uniquely facilitated

Capitalising on the unique opportunity offered by Airport Exchange, which brings together five specialist departmental conferences under one roof, the IT conference shares sessions with two other streams as part of its programme.

Recognising the vital role of IT in keeping aviation safe, a brilliant session will run in coalition with the Security and Border Control Summit. Featuring leaders from SEA Milano, Copenhagen Airport, Incheon Airport, Schiphol Group, Aéroport Nice Cote D’Azur and industry consultants, the session will consider in turn how premises, processes and people can be best applied to improve passenger experience.

Recognising the important role of social media in the travel process, sessions are also planned in alignment with the Digital Engagement Summit, to cover both the industry trends and specific case studies on how social media and associated technologies such as WiFi and wayfinding are being delivered and monetised. Space has also been created to consider how ‘unconnected’ passengers should be catered for.

Significant investments needing careful decision making

The potential of IT to enable airports to deliver surprising customer service is clear – but so are the pitfalls that significant investment in fast-evolving technologies brings. As Europe and Asia’s airport IT industry arrives in Paris, the focus is on filtering the hype from genuinely sound investments through case study, dialogue and networking.

ACI Facilitation, IT and Customer Service Conference icon

The ACI Facilitation, IT and Customer Service Conference takes place from 3-5 November at the CNIT in Paris, as part of the ACI EUROPE Airport Exchange event hosted by Aéroports de Paris.

Up to 2,000 visitors from the world’s airport community are expected, with a major exhibition of airport service suppliers and truly memorable networking events.

» Register your place at ACI Airport Exchange

FACILITATION, IT & CUSTOMER SERVICE CONFERENCE


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