Travellers look to more tailored trips

Alkesh Sharma
Emirates Business

Airlines worldwide are spending more on technological
advances to offer more personalised options for travellers. Right from booking the most comfortable seat to tracking luggage, printing boarding pass and getting regular updates
on flight schedules, passengers are now able to control an
array of things through their smart devices.
According to The Airline IT Trends Survey, by SITA, nearly 80 percent airlines globally are focusing on offering personalised services to passengers.
It also says that a third of the total IT spends had been on innovations.
“Though the pace is slow, gradually airlines are moving towards smart applications very strongly. They are allowing their passengers to plan their journey sitting anywhere in the world. Leading Middle East airlines like Etihad Airways, Emirates Airlines, Gulf Air and Oman Air are clearly leaders in this segment and are allowing their passengers to enjoy a very customised trip,” Junaid Mohammed, a technical advisor associated with various GCC airports, who is currently based in Bahrain, told Emirates Business.
Aviation experts predict that automatic check-in facility is set to grow by over twice during the next two to three years. According to a report, at present, nearly 25 percent of carriers are offering the system checking-in to the travellers. However by 2020, nearly 80 percent of airlines will offer the facility of automatic check-in on their routes.
Recently, Bahrain-based Gulf Air has signed a pact with TransSys Solutions in a bid to harness the technology marvels while enhancing passengers’ travel experience. This partnership will allow Gulf Air to adopt state-of-the-art technologies ranging from mobility and interface to hybrid cloud.
“Gulf Air has been one of the early adopters of technology. We have embarked on our digital transformation journey by adopting the hybrid cloud,” said Dr. Jassim Haji, Director Information Technology, Gulf Air.
By embracing mobility and a hybrid cloud, Gulf Air would enjoy various gains such as lowering their upfront capital costs, flexibility to access information anytime from anywhere, automated management, and also reducing carbon footprints.
Customised services are the main demands of customers as air traffic volumes have increased manifold in recent years. The latest figures released by IATA show January global passenger traffic rose 7.3 percent compared to the year-ago period. However, the capacity surged by nearly 6 percent and all regions worldwide registered year-over-year increases in demand.
Notably, SITA maintained that though airlines are little bit sluggish while offering personalised options to passengers but this drive will gain pace in the coming years.
“Personalisation opportunities for passengers are still fairly limited, offered by less than 20 percent of airlines. However, there are indications that many airlines are starting to address personalisation by offering passengers a growing list of technology-based options to tailor their travel both at the airport and during the flight,” stated the SITA survey report that was released in 2015.