The rate of investment in information technology at airports around the world is rising – the latest figures from SITA estimate it will hit $8.7 billion in 2015 alone. This forecast is a climb from 5.82 per cent of revenues in 2014 to 6.25 per cent this year. Airport chief information officers (CIOs) are also predicting even higher budgets for 2016 with 64 per cent expecting an increase over this year.
The annual Airport IT Trends Survey, co-sponsored by Airports Council International (ACI) and SITA, in association with Airline Business, is the most extensive study of IT trends within the global airport industry. The 2015 results came from respondents who collectively represent the views of more than 223 airports. They show the priority for improving the passenger experience as rising numbers put greater pressure on airport capacity and infrastructure.Nearly three quarters of airports consider passenger processing a high priority for IT investment. In addition, this year, 84 per cent of airports see passenger and airport security as either a primary or secondary priority for IT investment. The survey shows that by 2018, 80 per cent of airports will use beacons to provide way-finding services and 74 per cent to provide notifications to passengers. By this time, more than half of the airports will have sensors in use at various points of the journey including check-in, bag drop, security, dwell time and boarding. Mobile services are also on the rise with 91 per cent of airports planning to provide an app for navigating the airport and 83 per cent for real-time notifications about day-of-travel information such as local traffic or queue times in the terminal. In 2015, around two out of five people turn up at the airport already checked-in, but for those who don’t the kiosk is the next best thing. Today, self-service check-in kiosks are almost universally available with nine out of ten airports having them in place, up from 75 per cent in 2014.In addition to providing more check-in kiosks, airports have been expanding the functionality of kiosks. Today 42 per cent of airports have kiosks that can print bag tags to help passengers tag their own luggage before leaving them at drop-off points, which can be much faster for the passenger than using the airport counter. Today, either assisted or unassisted, bag drop points are available at around half of airports globally.Operational efficiency will also see some major improvements during the next three years, as data from sensor technologies drives business intelligence initiatives. Real-time information on assets and resources, such as staff and mobile equipment will enable airports to respond faster and more effectively to unfolding events.Overall results from this year’s survey indicate airport operators are looking to develop ‘smart airports’ over the next three years. They are using sensors to connect people and things, and are harnessing the power of data to make better and faster decisions, for example by using collaborative decision making.