Source: Amadeus

Last week at the Amadeus Airport Showcase in Cannes, France, I presented the results of  my whitepaper “Navigating the Airport of Tomorrow” commissioned by Amadeus. The paper used research conducted by JD Power on global consumer attitudes on the airline/ airport experience and perspectives obtained from some research conducted by AT Kearney on airport and airline IT pain points. I combined this with Travel Tech Consulting’s ongoing research on emerging technologies trends to come up with a vision of the Airport of Tomorrow.

The paper outlines the technology pain points from the three perspectives: the customer, the airline and the airport (including the ground handler).  Here is a snap shot of some of the resuts:

• A new age of passenger self-service is being driven by the adoption of smartphones and tablets. The always connected traveller will expect to receive information and promotions (on an opt-in basis only) based on their status, location, personal needs and specific situation.
• Airlines will utilise this new self-service age by redeploying airport resources to areas of specific operational challenges.
• Airlines will embrace new interconnected DCS and PSS technology and share critical passenger information with the airport.
• Airports which need to drive greater profitability and enhance the user experience will adopt merchandising strategies promoting airport shops transforming the airport into a modern shopping mall experience.
• Technologies such as Near Field Communication (NFC), RFID tags and the use of tablets to enable roaming agents will have a dramatic impact on airport operations.
• At the heart of this technological revolution is the more informed passenger. The always connected passenger will demand information and services delivered on their preferred personal computing device at all points of their journey.

For a more in-depth review of this whitepaper, please join us at the upcoming Air Transport World Webinar ” Navigating the Airport of Tomorrow” on April 14, 2011 at 11:00AM EDT.