Internet and mobiles changing air travel

Stan Beer
Sunday, 04 September 2005 16:50

Business IT - Networking

The results of longstanding airline industry technology vendor SITA’s annual Airline IT Trends Survey, released yesterday, paint a picture of a rapidly increasing take-up of automated ticketing and in-flight communications.

The increasing ubiquity of the Internet and mobile phone is facilitating much of this change. The survey shows that:

- Over 70% of the world’s airlines now sell tickets through the Internet

- E-tickets now make up 30% of all tickets issued by airlines, up from 19% in 2004
 
- 60% of airlines will be using bar coded boarding passes by the end of 2007, giving travellers the convenience of printing the passes out at home or in the office

According to SITA, this in turn will lay the foundation for the rapid take-up of self-service kiosks and remote check-in, which are designed to dramatically speed up the passenger experience at airports.  Currently most deployments are dedicated kiosks for a single airline, leaving passengers to hunt for the correct kiosk, but the survey shows that by the end of 2007 common-use kiosks, which allow travellers to check-in regardless of carrier, will be the popular choice for deployment by airlines.

Paul Coby, chairman, SITA Group, said, “Most people want to be in charge, so prefer using self-service options when available. Kiosks, for example are still largely in the domain of large carriers, but as our survey illustrates, within the next couple of years, nearly 60% of airlines globally will have deployed them.”

The survey also highlights other significant innovations for passengers that airlines are pursuing. In particular, boarding passes will move from using magnetic strip to a bar code. This will allow travellers the convenience of printing boarding passes before they arrive at the airport. Mobile devices, such as PDAs and phones, will also be able to receive the boarding passes electronically, negating the need for a hard copy.

Apart from having an easier journey to the plane, travellers will also increasingly find they can keep in contact with the ground during the flight. The survey suggests airlines are starting to acknowledge research that indicates the public want to be as connected at 30,000 feet as they are on the ground. Significantly around 44% of airlines expect to be offering at least one of the connection options (SMS, Internet access, email, mobile phone) by the end of 2007.

Peter Buecking, president, SITA Group said, “For a good majority of airlines and passengers, technology is changing the face of air travel, and is doing so at an exciting pace. The airline industry is focused on making it easier and less hassle to fly by giving passengers choices in the way they plan, book, and check-in for their flight, as well as how they spend their time on the plane.”

Now if they can only figure out a way to get planes to leave the airport on time, that would be the icing on the cake.