Contents
Close
Conclusion
The results of this study highlight the broad range of challenges airport leaders face, from elevated levels of disruption to staff shortages and the need to take action to reduce their airport’s environmental impact. In each case, respondents to our survey see a role for technology-enabled change.
When it comes to ‘doing more with less’ and improving the passenger experience, the industry is already very advanced with deployment of self-service technology across all passenger touchpoints. This study indicates the vast majority of airports plan to follow-up this investment by adding biometrics at these same steps in the airport experience over the coming years.
With 90% of airports in the Travel Technology Investment Trends study ‘already’ or ‘planning to’ invest in advanced passenger processing technologies it does seem like passengers can expect smoother and better-connected airport experiences in the years ahead.
The industry is also open to exploring the provision of passenger services delivered from new locations inside and outside the terminal, enabled by the widespread move to cloud passenger processing technology.
The ability to collate, analyze and act based on data insights remains a key near-term priority for airports, with interest in new technologies like machine learning, generative AI and even mixed reality using Augmented and Virtual reality in the longer term. Although, with 42% of airports reporting difficulty capturing, collating and analyzing data, more work remains to be done.
A significant number of airports are also acting on sustainability. Whether it’s by moving key passenger and operational systems to more energy-efficient cloud computing or applying advanced optimization algorithms to limit fuel burn on the runway, sustainability goals are directly driving investments in technology.
Yet, to focus on a single theme to emerge from this study, it would be the need for better collaboration across the industry. In fact, airport leaders said a lack of common technology that can bring stakeholders together around shared processes was the top technology challenge. This was particularly apparent when we probed airport leaders on disruption management, with a lack of timely information and an inability to effectively share information topping the list of frustrations.
Although there is certainly cause for optimism. More than a third of airports reporting they are already engaged in projects to improve data sharing with airline partners. More collaborative technology is being implemented across APOCs to improve day-to-day operations.
With airports planning to invest an average of 17% more on technology over the coming year, IT teams are expected to be better resourced. The question is likely to be: how best to prioritize this investment for the biggest impact?
© Amadeus IT Group SA