DUBAI — More than half of passengers would use their mobiles to check flight as well as baggage statuses and airport directions and chances are that by 2016 the majority of airlines and airports will offer these services. In total, 100 percent of airlines and 90 percent of airports are investing in business intelligence solutions to provide the right information in their operations as demanded by this kind of services. This is according to Smart Thinking, recently released by SITA at CAPA's Airlines in Transition Summit in Dublin. SITA, the IT and communications provider for the air transport community, regularly conducts global research on airports, airlines and passengers. This provides the unique opportunity to look across the entire industry and identify alignment, misalignment, and potential for acceleration.
SITA's Smart Thinking is based on this global research and incorporates additional input from leading airlines and airports including British Airways, Saudia, Dublin Airport Authority, London City Airport and Heathrow. According to SITA's study, flight status updates are already a mainstream mobile service and will extend to the vast majority of airlines and airports by the end of 2016. By then, what today are niche services will also be well established. Bag status updates will be offered by 61 percent of airlines, and 79 percent of airports will provide status notifications, such as queue times through security and walking time to gate. More than three quarters will also be providing navigation/way-finding at the airport via mobile apps. Nigel Pickford, Director for Market Insight, SITA, said: “Our research has clearly shown that the move to smartphone apps and mobile services is well underway. But many of the services that airlines and airports are planning are heavily dependent on their ability to provide more meaningful data and insight, providing passengers and staff with the right information at the right time. Efforts are being made across the industry to collaborate and SITA has established the Business Intelligence Maturity Index to benchmark the progress.” – SG
