Airports go digital for a richer travel experience

Airports occupy a central role in that experience, which means they will be the natural focal point for technologies that make travel safer, more convenient and ultimately more enjoyable. The challenge for airports, and the many players operating within the shared airport economy, is to develop a strategy that identifies opportunities corresponding to the vision of a connected ecosystem that others are rapidly building. They can stand idly by and watch while other partners roll out innovative services that steal the show, or they can formulate a plan to become more proactive. Getting there will require some heavy systems integration, but it’s important for airports to start thinking about their evolution as central hubs of the digital, connected travel experience.

Analytics, smart devices, facial recognition, artificial intelligence, seamless payment systems built on blockchain technologies and more, tied together in a digital ecosystem, are creating new ways for communities and companies to create the end-to-end travel experience customers are coming to expect. These are not a preview of things to come but rather technologies that are being rapidly deployed and are reinventing the travel experience today. For example:

• In December 2018, Delta Airlines unveiled the first biometric terminal in the U.S. at Maynard H. Jackson International Terminal (Terminal F) in Atlanta. Customers taking a direct flight to an international destination on Delta or its partner airlines from Terminal F can use facial recognition for check in, baggage checks, security clearance and boarding.
• Using machine learning and historical pricing information, the all-mobile travel-booking service Hopper predicts when hotel and flight pricing will be most affordable. Using artificial intelligence (AI), it learns what travel opportunities interest customers the most and then sends customized travel notices that convert at a rate 2.6 times higher than does the typical customer search.
• Blockchain is being used for much more than payment systems. It’s a keystone technology in creating streamlined passenger identification checks, which can reduce security bottlenecks and wait times.
• Robots are appearing in more terminals as AI and machine learning give them the capacity to expand their knowledge and provide relevant information to passengers. Baggage robots are auditioning for a role at Rotterdam The Hague Airport as the facility experiments with curb-to-craft loading techniques.

These are just a few examples of innovations that are reinventing the travel experience. To ensure that they maintain a leading role in the process, airports need to address three key imperatives: Understanding the transition to a digital airport, developing a connected vision and mastering the application of biometric and AI technologies.

Becoming the digital airport

How can operations that function primarily as brick-and-mortar enterprises excel in an era when digital companies win big? This is the big question facing airport ecosystems today. To find an answer, it’s worth looking at Amazon as a case study. Amazon has evolved over time from an online book seller into a complete digital services company, with an underlying architecture that can run just about any of its newer businesses: newspaper publishing; cloud storage, compute and networking technologies; and even gourmet food delivery.

But beyond simply offering goods and services, Amazon and companies like Microsoft, Apple and Google have perfected the art of anticipating what consumers want before they even know it themselves. Their secret? Analytics. The ability to dive into data and extract new insights using analytics reveals changes in consumer behavior that give these businesses a profound competitive advantage.

More enterprises today are leveraging digital data for competitive advantage, and airports are no exception. Every time a passenger interacts with an airport, its database becomes richer. Using analytics to understand that data enables airports to better anticipate the passenger’s future travel plans and airport preferences.

There are four primary benchmarks airports can track with analytics to achieve results:

1. Location. By tracking data on where and how passengers fly, airports can develop insights into which airlines they should do business with and how many gates they should offer to each carrier. This information can then be shared with the airlines, which can analyze the data for a better sense of where to best allocate resources.
2. Preferences. Data on passengers’ preferences, such as what they eat at the airport, can help airports decide which food outlets to offer at any given airport. For example, an airport may have had six McDonald’s outlets for a decade or more, but do they still need that many today? Based on consumer buying patterns, analytics may help them determine a more appropriate mix of restaurants.
3. Events. Once airports and airlines become digital companies, they will consider the entire interaction with the passenger as an “event.” The event begins from the moment the passenger orders tickets to the time she checks in, lands at her destination and returns home. Based on these past experiences, airports can share multifaceted passenger profiles with the airlines and retailers. As the historical data grows richer, the airlines can offer more accurate itineraries that reflect the type of flights, hotels, cars and recreation activities the passenger prefers, saving her time in planning the next trip.
4. Weather. Airports “live and die” by the weather and can derive huge benefits by using analytics to gain more insight into weather patterns. For example, at ski regions, knowing the peak two- or three-week period for snowfall can give passengers a better sense of when they should book a trip. If the airports know when passengers are traveling, they can alert the airlines and retailers to anticipated spikes in consumer traffic. They can also better prepare for adverse winter conditions — for example, knowing how many sand trucks to have on hand — and gain better insight into how the weather will impact aircraft on the ground, especially helping to schedule flight and maintenance crews.

It’s important for airports to start thinking about how to evolve into digital companies. They can start by tracking four benchmarks and using analytics to make better decisions.

Creating a connected vision

The airport of the past was one travelers often considered as a barrier to pass through as part of their journey. But that view is changing. As airports become a greater part of the connected travel ecosystem, they will become a centralized hub connected with smart cities that will enable all major stakeholders to offer personalized services that create an enhanced passenger experience.

So what exactly is a connected travel ecosystem? From a passenger’s viewpoint, it is a solution that manages, monitors and enhances their travel from start to finish, suggesting experiences, managing delays and offering services that assume the burden of managing the journey. Passengers can book multiple tickets on any form of transport, manage itineraries, access hospitality lounges and airport retail, and more, all from a digital wallet.

For travel, transportation and hospitality companies, it’s an opportunity to offer new, innovative value-added services that will help set them apart. Here are three technologies that will help deliver this vision:

1. Analytics. Today, passengers have to work too hard to book flights and make car and hotel reservations. Airlines should learn from the way Amazon uses analytics. Instead of having customers struggle to figure out the best flight and combination of services, the industry needs to move to an automated model in which, based on past purchases, the system lists three possible personalized travel itineraries in ranked order.
2. Industrial machine learning (IML). With IML, algorithms can be created that automate logistics planning and optimize stock inventory. IML integrates data from a variety of sources. So whether it’s rebooking tickets or making sure bags reach customers on time, transportation companies can deliver richer, more satisfying travel experiences.
3. IoT. A series of Internet-connected devices across the entire airport infrastructure will enable a new service-based model. IoT devices now tell us when a refrigerator shuts down at an airport concession store, generating an automated service request for a technician to fix the problem. That’s the direction the travel industry needs to move toward.

All of this can happen only when airports develop fully digital systems that connect to a smart city type of infrastructure, because travel becomes inefficient and confusing when digital technology works alongside legacy technology. By contrast, fully digital systems can run the gamut, from employing mobile tracking solutions to using analytics to improve warehouse fulfillment

So just imagine an airport where all the players — airlines, retail establishments, hotels, rental car outlets and cargo companies — are integrated with a smart city infrastructure that delivers services precisely when passengers need them. By making the passenger the focus, airports and their partners can extend their brands in new and exciting ways as they build the airport of the future.

Mastering biometric and AI technologies

One of the great challenges and opportunities of the 21st century is to determine what human beings do best and what’s better left to machines and AI. How can airports best leverage AI? In many ways, AI picks up where analytics leaves off. With analytics, organizations collect and analyze data so they can make better decisions. For example, airports might want to know which airlines get the most traffic so they can determine how many gates each should be assigned. They might also use data to determine which retailers to place within their facilities and where.

AI puts that analytics data into action. It analyzes all the data and executes tasks that would take hours or even days for human beings to complete. Based on certain benchmarks for airport analytics, here are three ways AI could use data collected by airports to improve the passenger experience:

1. Location. Today, airports depend on an audio message that runs every few minutes out of the master PA system warning passengers to be aware of unattended bags. AI has the potential to make those annoying messages obsolete. Once a passenger enters the airport, a system could track her location and that of her luggage. While security cameras scan constantly for unattended baggage, AI could help identify when the passenger accidentally walks away from her bag, and have the security system send a text message alert to the passenger or dispatch security personnel to find the passenger and remind her not to leave the bag unattended. AI can also use location data to determine that a passenger has left a laptop at a charging station, and either send an agent to return it to the passenger or text the passenger to retrieve it from the Lost & Found.
2. Preferences. Analytics on passenger food preferences, for example, give airports data on which food outlets to provide. AI takes this one step further. When the passenger comes to the airport, an AI system could notify her that she has time to spare before the flight, and use preferences data to offer a 20% discount coupon to her favorite restaurant.
3. Weather. Many airports are already using drones to inspect runway safety during inclement weather. Why make humans track weather conditions outside during sub-frigid temperatures when AI-based machines can do it more efficiently? And for passengers, AI can more effectively notify passengers when weather-related incidents may cause delays.

Professional travelers will love these new technologies because they save time. Since travel pros are more predictable and willing to share added details, the airports and airlines can continue to use special fast-track services for frequent travelers. Automated systems can pre-register a passenger’s lounge access, provide location- sensitive directions to their favorite restaurant or suggest loyalty point shopping options.

Of course, the collection and tracking of a customer’s image and identity data will need to be handled carefully, given data protection regulations being implemented. The European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), for example, is having a significant impact on how travelers’ personal data is stored and used, and the airline industry will need to navigate this regulation carefully to avoid the hefty fines levied for non-compliance.

Ultimately, AI’s ability to uniquely identify people and their belongings in a context- aware way will increase speed, customer convenience and safety at the airport of the future. It has the potential to make waiting in long lines for routine checks a thing of the past. And in crisis situations, location-aware airport security systems can optimally route passengers, send continuous communications to them and let security personnel know the location of every person in the airport.

Instead of random movement and panic, passengers will have clear instructions on where to go next, and with intelligent signage, immediate instructions can be put in place to help evacuate an airport or terminal quickly and safely. Airport and security authorities will be able to use these tools more effectively to identify threats and make the travel experience safer and much more comfortable.

The future, now arriving at gate 1

Airports today are just beginning to tap the power of advanced technologies to build a connected transportation experience for passengers that is convenient, safe and enjoyable. The future is clearly coming, and fast. As they become fully digital — using collected data to develop insights on passengers, aircraft and retail trends — both airports and vendors will be able to enhance the passenger experience in exciting new ways. With thousands of travelers and employees passing through these spaces every day, the opportunities are enormous — it’s just a matter of embracing them.

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