Abu Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC) plans to introduce check-in kiosks at hotels in the capital and to issue boarding passes on mobile phones as it sharpens it focus on the "digital passenger". The airports operator is investing heavily in technology in an effort to elevate the UAE capital over its regional rivals as a preferred stopover for long-haul passengers on Etihad Airways.
The kiosks at hotels would let passengers check in, print their boarding passes and baggage tags, as well as choose their seats before going to the airport, said Michael Ibbitson, the vice president of information and communication systems at ADAC. It hopes to introduce the kiosks to hotels by the first quarter of next year. Similarly, enabling airlines to send a bar-coded boarding pass to a passenger's mobile phone would make the entire flying experience faster and simpler while eliminating the need for passengers to wait in queues at the airport.
"Mobile services are the big thing coming up," he said, such as the ability to access flight status updates in real-time on a mobile. The mobile boarding pass system is already being offered at Doha airport, he added, while "we are aiming to be the first in the UAE to do this". The service is being planned for this year, Mr Ibbitson said. Airlines such as Etihad and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines have expressed their interest in this technology.
The mobile boarding passes, which have been popular in Europe for a year, are being evaluated with Abu Dhabi's police and immigration agencies. ADAC created its digital strategy in 2008 and one of its first steps was to introduce free wireless internet throughout the airport. The free service had 150,000 users a month compared with about 50 users a month for a paid service. It introduced check-in kiosks at Abu Dhabi International Airport this year, with KLM as its first participating airline.
This means its passengers can check themselves in at computer terminals and print out their boarding passes. There are now 20 kiosks at terminals one and three, and last week Etihad joined with ADAC to offer the kiosks at its economy and premium check-in stations. Jet Airways is also testing the kiosks at Abu Dhabi airport. "Abu Dhabi airport and Etihad have to be offering a product together that is greater than what other regional hubs are offering," Mr Ibbitson said.
"With our investment in the airport and our improving the processing time through the airport, customers are more likely to fly Etihad because of the great experience they will receive when they get to Abu Dhabi." Much of the investmentin technology is being done now to ensure the new services are fully tested before the opening of the next major airport terminal for Abu Dhabi, Terminal Four, also dubbed the midfield terminal because it will sit between the two runways.
That terminal will triple capacity at the airport to 30 million passengers a year and is slated to open in 2015. ADAC hopes to follow the industry trend and eliminate the standard boarding passes, which have a magnetic strip instead of a bar code, at Abu Dhabi airport by November, Mr Ibbitson said. It is likely to be the first major airport in the Middle East to do this, he added. igale@thenational.ae
