Digitisation is the buzzword at airports in the post-Covid new normal

MUMBAI: Touchless check-ins, boarding, F&B orders and duty-free purchases, software that detects crowds in passenger terminals, robotics in luggage handling, and plush terminals for charter flights are some of the experiences that await air passengers across the country in the post-Covid new normal of flying.Operators of India’s busiest airports are working on increased digitisation, automated systems and big data with a sharp focus on health, hygiene and social distancing norms for a new normal when the traffic surges again on the other side of the Covid-19 pandemic.Delhi airport, India’s busiest, for instance, will install sensors that set off alarms to control rooms whenever there is a crowd or a gathering at some areas, a person in the know told ET.There are several facilities available already. Passengers are now expected to web check-in before reaching the airport. But at the Delhi airport, those who haven’t checked in on the airline website can do it through kiosks at the entry to the departure area through their mobile phones without touching the kiosks, an airport spokesperson said.The airport provides the facility to sanitise a passengers’ shoes before entering the terminal, making them to walk on a carpet dipped in disinfectant. Hyderabad Airport offers sensor-based contactless elevators at several locations across the airport for the passengers to use them without scope of touching any surface.At Delhi and Hyderabad airports, both operated by GMR, mass fever screeners have been deployed that scan, detect and track febrile persons with elevated skin temperature.Hyderabad airport offers a contactless information desk with a monitor and voice device on which a passenger can pose a query, which is responded to in real time by an airport agent remotely. This application is developed by Hyderabad airport’s in-house IT team.Both airports have invested in HEPA filters that purify the air inside the terminal.Delhi airport has recently set up an on-site coronavirus testing laboratory. Mumbai airport, too, has a similar lab while one is being set up at Hyderabad airport.Bengaluru airport has sped up adoption of touchless and contactless biometrics across the chain, an airport spokesperson said. These include its Data Intelligence Centre of Excellence (DICE), an internal data analytics platform, extracting business insights by integrating various data points across the airport. and Enhanced Digital Platform (EDP) a combination of analytics and content managementthat the airport operator uses to understand passenger behaviour, the person said. Delhi airport has recently launched a new general aviation terminal facility in keeping with the growing demand for charter flights. The terminal can handle 150 private jet movements daily.The pandemic notwithstanding, plans are being made to better connect airports to the cities. Adani group, the latest entrant to the Indian airport sector, plans to improve surface access and train links to the airports it manages. “This would mean over time that airports will be able to resize and reuse car parks to meet growing airport demand while paving way for autonomous vehicles for a faster and sustainable solution,” said a person in the know. Adani had won the bid to develop six airports-Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Mangaluru, Jaipur, Guwahati and Thiruvananthapuram. It recently announced the purchase of GVK Power & Infra’s stake in the Mumbai airport.Globally, too, airports are gearing up for a new normal post pandemic. 78611777Tampa airport was the first one in the US to offer Covid tests for outgoing passengers, according to a global report. American Airlines has said it will offer coronavirus tests to passengers, joining United Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines and JetBlue Airways in offering pre-flight testing. From mid-October, the airline will offer tests at home that can be done via a video call with a health official. Alitalia, too, has offered to do the test.AIRPORT RETAIL REDEFINEDAirport retail will undergo a major change, said industry executives.“The emphasis on contactless and touchless experienced and increased emphasis on actuators and sensors and the reduction of manual intervention will play into the retail space,” said Jasjit Makola, cofounder of airport retail startup Airbuy.He said there will be contactless order and delivery and voice recognition based orders.In the retail space, retailers will have increased engagement at an early stage with customers, Makola said. Enhance of the online experience will increase the golden hour of shopping and lead to higher personalisation of the customer to the retailer, he added.Airport economics may change, too, given the battering the sector has faced at the hands of the pandemic. In a recent paper on how to make India’s airport sector more investor-friendly, the Airports Council International, a global association of airport operators, and industry veteran Sidharath Kapur, former CEO of airport business at Adani group, counted cost reduction on airlines, reformation of slot allocation rules, liberalisation of traffic rights, and avoidance of unsustainable increase in airport charges as lessons to be learnt in the airport business in the post-Covid world.

from Economic Times https://ift.tt/30VXgKm