Driver: Growing need for real-time information

There is an increasing need for passengers for real-time information to enable their travel experience convenient and comfortable. Smart airports are expected to be equipped with infrastructure that entails providing real-time information to passengers. They would require the establishment of customer touchpoints so that real-time updates about the progress of the journey of a customer can be easily obtained. These touchpoints can also be used to allow the rapid sharing of information within the entire value chain at airports, thus allowing every entity of the system to work more effectively and efficiently.

According to SITA Air Transport IT Insights 2022, the use of mobile devices for booking, onboarding the airplane, and bag collection increased in Q1 2022 as compared to Q1 2020, while automated gates used for identity control, boarding, border control, and bag collection have all seen increase in technology adoption of 3% to 5% since 2020. Real-time information not only improves passenger experience but also process optimization. For instance, crew and staff can be tracked in real time through their wearable devices. The tracking of passenger flow in real time can help in queue management. Real-time data on environmental parameters, such as humidity, temperature, and pressure, can also be used by air traffic control to manage and plan traffic to and from the airport.

Opportunity: Airport operation optimization through digitization

With digital technologies becoming more prevalent, airports are increasingly looking to external experts to help them with digital transformation. They are partnering with external managed service providers to both upgrade existing processes and install new smart systems. With flight delays causing airlines to incur heavy losses, a more efficient airport operation can result in fewer delays. Staff at airports can be better managed with the help of IoT by using tags and IoT wearables. The movement of ground staff can be tracked, and tasks assigned based on their location. Smart solutions are also used to better manage airport assets, such as luggage trolleys, aircraft, and ground staff. Tags are installed on the assets to track their real-time location, which can be further analyzed to optimize the process to be more efficient. This will reduce delays and cut down operational losses.
Terminal building operations, such as cleaning, heating & ventilating, and energy management, can be done through real-time parameter tracking through smart solutions. Smart solutions incorporated at the landside help ease parking processes and improve the travel experience for passengers. These solutions save time, reduce the manpower load, and provide efficient output resulting in optimized airport operations.

Restraint: Lack of standardized regulations for blockchain technology

Aviation is one of the highly regulated industries mainly due to the risks associated with its operations. A multitude of bilateral, national, and international regulations and standards bind the actions of aviation stakeholders, such as system manufacturers, service providers, and airports. For the integration of any new technology in aviation, a regulatory framework is a necessity. Aviation blockchain is yet to receive such frameworks or common standards to guide the integration and commercialization of the technology across various stakeholders. The issue will be to either come up with an entirely new framework that runs in line with the current framework or integrate blockchain into the existing set of regulations. Setting a regulatory framework takes years in the aviation industry. Thus, if a common standard or a regulatory framework is not set, it will directly restrain the commercial integration of blockchain globally. Along with this, the lack of common standards around the use of tokens in aviation for the tokenization of tickets and loyalty points could also lead to uncertainties around the commercial integration of blockchain.

Challenge: Proper comprehension of passenger preferences

The concept of smart airports aims at improving efficiency, reducing operational costs, and providing ease to passengers. With increased competition, passenger satisfaction has become the main focus for airlines and airports. Emphasis is given on delivering personalized services to travelers at airports. To provide an enhanced experience to passengers, having information as to what they buy, why they buy it, and how they can be encouraged to buy more at airports is critical. A smart blend of leisure, dining, and retail offers to encourage passengers to spend more time at the airport before departure is an integral part of the smart airport concept. However, the biggest challenge is understanding the needs and preferences of passengers and offering personalized services in the absence of collaborated data.
In most cases, airlines have scattered data collected from different data points. For instance, the ticketing data is usually owned by travel agencies, agents, or airlines, and the marketing data is usually owned by retail or other information partners. In some cases, to use disparate data, airlines create multiple versions of passenger databases. However, they fail to use insights from various databases in a cohesive manner. In such cases, the challenge for airports and airlines is to provide an end-to-end smooth experience to passengers by collaborating the large databases of passenger preferences in a united format.