27 November 2019:The Chinese Aerospace industry is closing in on the buzz-word which is rapidly grappling the world. With the use to artificial intelligence and automation, they are planning a massive expansion of mobile services. With automation, the passenger will have a self-service experience at every step of the journey.
According to SITA's China IT insights about 88% of airlines and airports in China are planning major programs or R & D. This Investment directly matches the popular passenger demand of wanting a digital travel concierge. Currently about 43% of airlines in China have AI-driven customer services and with this well-planned approach, the availability of fully digitised customer travel will rise quickly.
While addressing the Air Transport IT Summit in Nanning, May Zhou, Vice President and General Manager of SITA, China said, "China's airlines and airports have a strong record in embracing technology and automation to drive efficient operations and high levels of passenger services. Now they are moving to the next level where they will harness artificial intelligence to deliver more services, faster and to more people."
There is already a strong maturity level amongst the Chinese passengers; however they have moved a notch ahead with the use of Biometrics. Currently, about 27% of airports in China have self-boarding gates using biometrics with travel documents. In the next 3 years this figure Is expected to rise to 66 %.
Besides, more than half of the airports have plans for secure single biometric tokens for all touch points by 2022. Airlines too are committing to self-boarding gates using biometrics with ID, 60% are planning to use them driving a secure and seamless passenger experience right through the airport with the next three years.
Zhou added: "The adoption of self-service by passengers across China has been very encouraging for airlines and airports. At SITA, we see many in the industry who are now ready and planning to add biometrics to bring self-service to the next level."
The most vital tool in serving passenger demands for both Airports and Airlines are Mobile services. Accordingly, all the airlines and about 93 per cent of airports in China have already planned investments in them. Services including flight discovery, airline offers, check-in and flight status notifications via mobile are already provided by all airlines. One fifth are also using mobiles to sell newspapers, magazines and movies/TV to passengers.
To provide a more personalised experience for passengers, airports are investing heavily in mobile services like flight notifications, airport status, mobile payments and customer relationship management.