1.2013AIR TRANSPORT INDUSTRY INSIGHTSFlying intothe FutureSITA INSIGHT

2. CONTENTSBy 2015. buying behavior will change 4 self-service will come of age 8 customer services will be both mobile and social 12 better business intelligence will be essential 16SITA INSIGHT | SITA 2013 2 3. INTRODUCTIONIncreasing numbers of people will be traveling IATAs vision is one where it will be easy for customersby air in the future. Despite the ongoing andto select the products and services they want, with airlines having the ability to personalize their offeringimmediate global economic pressures, the through all buying channels. Passports and visas will beoutlook for air travel is positive, with the validated by governments in advance of any journey andInternational Air Transport Association (IATA) the travel experience will be transformed by real-time andpredicting that airlines will carry some 3.6 billion contextualized communication between airlines and theirpassengers in 2016 an increase of around 800 customers.million on 2011 passenger numbers.1 The industry In IATAs concept of the 2020 airport, the experience will be swift and seamless: self-service options, from boarding passconsensus is that passenger numbers will expand to baggage collection, elimination of check-in processes soby an average of 5.3% per annum between 2012 passengers check-out rather than check-in, fast and easy-and 2016. This period will also see nearly 500 to-use common bag drop and automated border control, willmillion new passengers traveling on domestic eliminate any hassle. And across the entire journey all travelroutes and 331 million new passengers on partners, including the customer, will have the ability (with the customers permission) to exchange information withinternational routes. each other.Furthermore, if this rate of growth is maintained, the world These ambitions will undoubtedly have a major impact oncan expect the number of people traveling by air to more thanairline and airport information technology investments indouble by 2030.the coming years. We can get a better idea of how much of a challenge that this vision for simple, seamless travelThe industry is already planning measures to address the represents by looking at the industrys more immediate plansinevitable capacity issues this growth will bring. Looking just for 2015 and how these compare with what passengers want.seven years down the line to 2020, IATA has outlined its goalsfor improving efciency and adding value to the passengerDrawing on ndings from SITAs four annual industryexperience via the next generation of projects within itsresearch initiatives 3, it is clear that by the end of 2015, theSimplifying the Business program.2 way we buy travel products will have changed; self service will have come of age, with passengers having more control over their journey; mobile smart phones and social media will dominate passenger interactions for customer services; and higher quality business and customer intelligence will be essential to deliver these improvements.1IATA Airline Industry Forecast 2012-2016, published 6 December 20122IATA presents the new Simplifying the Business (StB) Program, October 20123Airline IT Trends Survey, released in June 2012 and Airport IT Trends Survey 2012, released in September 2012 (both in association with Airline Business);Passenger Self-Service Survey, released in October 2012 (in association with Air Transport World); and the Baggage Report, released in April 2012SITA INSIGHT | SITA 2013 3 4. BY 2015 BUYING BEHAVIOR WILL CHANGEIn 2012, three-quarters of the people interviewedThe expectation among both airlines and airports is that thefor the Passenger Self-Service Survey had booked web will continue to be a strong sales channel in the future,their travel online, either directly or via online but smart phone apps will be the second-most importanttravel agents. While only 3% of passengers channel for sales beyond 2015. According to the Airline ITpurchased airline tickets via smart phone apps Trends and Airport IT Trends surveys, seven out of ten airlines and over six out of ten airports ranked mobile and web as theand social media, there is convincing evidence that top two most important sales channels.buying via these emerging channels will increasein importance. It is also worth noting that social media will be one of the major sales channels for 13% of airlines and 14% of airports. Kiosks will be an important sales platform for 20% ofThe smart phone has rapidly become the must-have travel airports, but only 6% of airlines.accessory. Penetration among airline passengers in the self-service study soared from just 28% in 2010 to 70% in 2012. Admittedly, ticket sales via these emerging channels areThese travelers are some way ahead of the general population modest mobile represents just 2% of overall airline saleswhere, for example in the US, smart phone subscriberstoday, but it looks set to increase to 7% by the end of 2015, byaccount for almost 52% of all mobile users.4 which time airlines expect to be selling 12% of their tickets through a combination of mobile, social media and kiosks.Air travelers are also more comfortable than most using This forward look from airlines is cautious. Elsewhere in thesocial media 62% of passengers interviewed for the self- industry, analysts have been much more upbeat, suggestingservice study are active on social media; a higher penetration that by 2017, 50% of online direct bookings will be made onrate than recorded for the general population in most regions. mobile devices, with even more ancillary purchases made through mobile, given the devices portability and ease of use.5SITA INSIGHT | SITA 20134 5. Iberia was one of those airlines launching an e-commerce71%app in 2012 and in the rst month, 1,000 customers used it tobuy ight tickets. Mobile devices have become indispensabletools for travelers, particularly business travelers, andIberia has been very aware of this, observes Vctor Moneo,OF AIRPORTS PLAN TO SELL SERVICESthe airlines sales manager for Spain. The response in theTO PASSENGERS VIA MOBILE APPS BY 2015.rst month has shown that you never lose by considering theinterests of the customer.For todays travelers, functionality that takes the stress outThere is a strong desire among both airlines and airports toof their journey, such as ight status updates, is their highestenable revenue generation via smart phone apps, according priority for mobile services, according to the Passenger Self-to the IT trends research. Already 44% of airlines enable Service Survey. While there is interest in mobile promotionsticket sales via apps and many more are gearing up, withand retail offers, only 57% are currently open to receiving89% expecting to offer mobile booking by the end of 2015. mobile advertising from their travel suppliers. However, thatAirports have been much slower off the mark, but 71% plan toacceptance could reach 85%, if the advertising is relevant tobe selling services direct to passengers via apps three years customers needsdown the line.Among those respondents saying no to mobile advertising,61% would change their mind if they had more control: 39%would say yes if they could pull content when they wanted;another 15% would be happy if they could regulate thefrequency; and 7% would want advertising tailored totheir preferences.4Comscore MobiLens Service, average for the three months ending October 2012, published 30 November 20125The Future of Airline Distribution A Look Ahead to 2017, commissioned by IATA and written by Henry H. Harteveldt, co-founder of Atmosphere Research GroupSITA INSIGHT | SITA 2013 5 6. MAKING THE BUYING EXPERIENCEWith both social media and smart phone apps offeringMORE PERSONAL opportunities for a more personalized buying experience, sothe distinctions between these two channels may well start toPersonalization of offers and providing context-relevantblur in the future. In fact, with the deep native integration ofservices on mobile apps has the potential to be a winningsocial media on smart phones such as the iPhone, those linesstrategy for both airlines and their customers. The featuresare already blurring.in JetBlue Airlines iPhone app, launched in February 2012,are based on feedback from its customers that they would beinterested in a smart site that is aware of their active travelDEALS AND DESTINATIONS DELIVERSplans, provides relevant updates accordingly, and interestedin fares and offers based on their location.PERSONALIZED FARES TO TRAVELERS ANDALLOWS THEM TO SHARE THOSE FARES WITHAlaska Airlines has also started down the personalizationTHEIR FRIENDS BY EMAIL OR THROUGH THEIRroute with its Deals and Destinations travel app that alertsiers to airfare deals from their hometown and to cities whereSOCIAL NETWORKS, MAKING IT EASIER TOtheir friends live. Launched at the end of 2012,CONNECT WITH FRIENDS AND FAMILY.the app runs on any Windows 8 device. CURTIS KOPF, ALASKA AIRLINESAlaska Airlines is laser-focused on adapting technology to tMANAGING DIRECTORhow our customers live, work and travel. Our newest app doesthat and its fun to use, says Curtis Kopf, Alaska Airlinesmanaging director of customer innovation and alaskaair.com. Deals and Destinations delivers personalized faresto travelers and allows them to share those fares with theirfriends by email or through their social networks, making iteasier to connect with friends and family.of passengerswant morepersonalizationbefore engagingmore with mobilecommerceSITA INSIGHT | SITA 2013 6 7. 100%INCREASE YEAR-OVER-YEAR IN BOOKINGFLIGHTS VIA MOBILE APP AT AMERICAN AIRLINESThere are some challenges for the industry to addressover the next three years. Airlines and airports willneed to establish carefully considered personalcommunication strategies for their customers.And as those customers take greater control over theinformation they receive, the industry will need tofoster greater collaboration between all stakeholders.GROWING TRAVEL SALES VIA SMARTPHONE APPSWithout disclosing revenue numbers, we are seeing more than a 100 percent increaseyear-over-year in booking ights and ancillary revenue purchases via our mobile app.Currently our most popular app functionalities are ight check-in, mobile boarding, ightstatus and loyalty status. Our app provides excellent day-of-travel information. We will buildon this base by fully integrating our loyalty program and adding a gamication component.Already, we are the rst airline to push a loyalty card to Apple Passbook.The challenges around selling tickets or promoting special offers in apps areunderstanding the customers intent, then bubbling up what they want, when they want it.However, the benet of providing greater sales functionality in the app is that by knowingwhere our customers are in their journey, we can provide tailored services at the mostconvenient time. Using location, history and future travel information, we can personalizethe in-app sales process and anticipate services that our customer will want.PHIL EASTER,DIRECTOR OF MOBILE APPS, AMERICAN AIRLINESSITA INSIGHT | SITA 2013 7 8. BY 2015 SELF-SERVICEWILL COME OF AGETodays travelers are very comfortable with Recent technology initiatives, such as the Passbook onself-service check-in and multi-channel Apples iOS6 operating system for the iPhone (launched ininteraction is commonplace over three quartersautumn 2012), ag up some of the opportunities ahead forof respondents in the passenger self-servicesmart phones to be used to self-process journeys. Passbook,survey are regular or occasional users of bothwhich stores boarding passes and displays them on theiPhone lock screen when users get to the airport, is alreadyairport kiosks and online check-in.supported by a limited number of airlines, and that supportis growing.However smart phones are rapidly gaining ground, with aboutAnother technology on the horizon is using near-elda third of passenger now using this channel for check-incommunication (NFC) chips embedded in smart phonesand airlines are forecasting that smart phones and websitesto enable passengers to simply tap and check-in or tapwill be the two most important channels driving passengerand board their ight. As NFC is short range and supportsprocessing beyond 2015.encryption, it will allow secure, contactless transactionsThis prediction is underscored by the speed with whichthat will work even when the device is powered off. It is notpassengers have taken to smart-phones, tablets and otheraffected by reading problems caused by dirty screens, soconnected mobile devices. Travelers enthusiasm for smart a passenger using an NFC-enabled device could bephones currently outstrips the availability of airline apps.6 processed faster than any of the current boardingNevertheless airlines are working hard to close the gap processes available today.some 50% provide mobile check-in right now, but 90% arecommitted to providing these apps by the end of 2015.WITH NFC TECHNOLOGY, THE MOBILEPHONE SIMPLIFIES THE PASSAGE OFTHE FLYER THROUGH THE AIRPORT.THE MOBILE PHONE NOW BECOMES APERSONALIZED TOOL, DISPLAYING THEREQUIRED INFORMATION AT THE RIGHTMOMENT; IT ALSO ENABLES THE FLYER TOBETTER MANAGE HIS TIME, OPTIMIZINGHIS CHOICES.of passengers carry JEAN-MICHEL VERNHESa smartphone nowTOULOUSE-BLAGNAC AIRPORT CEOSITA INSIGHT | SITA 20138 9. Frances Toulouse-Blagnac Airport became the worldsWhile self-service is not yet seamlessly end-to-end, over therst to trial SIM-based NFC in a joint effort with SITA,next three years it will come of age as passengers take moreOrange and Blackberry during 2012. Selected passengerscontrol and self-process several aspects of their journey.used the service on BlackBerry smart phones to access car Opportunities to self-board and process transfers at a kioskparking, the boarding area, a premium passenger loungeare already rated highly by travelers 8 and with self-serviceand received immediate updates on changes to ight times, check-in already common-place, airline and airport self-departure hall or boarding gate.service initiatives are focusing on baggage and gates.Japanese telecom provider KDDI launched the countrys rstcommercial NFC service supporting mobile payments andtickets in January 2012. The rst airline application lined upfor the service is a Touch & Go Android app for Japan Airlines,which will allow passengers to tap to pass through boardinggates at domestic airports equipped with NFC readers.7Both Passbook and the NFC initiatives indicate the potentialsmart phones offer for a simpler and more seamless journeyin the not-so-distant future and add weight to the case formobile self-service rapidly going mainstream.Today, 40% morepassengers are using By 2015, 90% ofmobile boardingairlines will offercompared to 2010 mobile check-in6Passenger Self-Service Survey 2012: Smart phone penetration jumped from 28% in 2010 to 54% in 2011 to 70% in 2012. Airline IT Trends2010 - 2012: Airlines providing mobile apps for check-in rose from 28% in 2010 to 41% in 2011 to 50% in 2012.7KDDI launches NFC in Japan by Sarah Clark, 16 January 2012, http://www.nfcworld.com/2012/01/16/312442/kddi-launches-nfc-in-japanJapan Airlines set to launch rst NFC boarding passes in October by Dan Balaban, 27 September 2012,http://nfctimes.com/news/japan-airlines-set-launch-rst-nfc-boarding-passes-october8Passenger Self-Service Survey 2012: Self-boarding and transfer kiosks were welcomed respectively by 89% and 87% of respondents.SITA INSIGHT | SITA 20139 10. FOCUS ON BAGGAGE AND SELF-BOARDING However self-service baggage processing gained momentum across the industry in 2012 the year even saw DenmarksThe industry has been working hard to deliver improvements Billund Airport implement the worlds rst home-printed bagto the baggage process, with a long-term decline in the tag solution, allowing international travelers to avoid queuesnumber of lost and mishandled bags in recent years. and simply present their boarding passes and drop off theirAccording to the 2012 Baggage Report, over 99% of bags were pre-tagged bags.delivered on time to passengers in 2011 and the total numberof mishandled bags decreased some 20% globally.The industry is starting to make some inroads towards the self-bag drop milestone. For example Lufthansa provided 19This has led to the best ever annual baggage handling bag drop machines for its customers at Germanys Munichperformance and achieving an improvement of some 52% in Airport in 2012 and is planning to have 16 machines incosts per passenger carried over the previous ve years. operation at the countrys busiest airport, Frankfurt, by midBaggage is often identied as the biggest barrier to achieving 2013. A trial with Qantas at Londons Heathrow Airport allowsfull self-service check-in, with many of the passenger self- their passengers to check-in at a kiosk, generate and attachservice respondents still not using self-service check-intheir own bag tags before placing their luggage onto thebecause they needed to check-in a bag at a counter.automated bag drop facility.9 out of 10 passengers want ight Over 50% of airports/airlines havestatus info on mobiles, self- plans to implement transfer andboarding and transfer kiosksself-boarding kiosksSITA INSIGHT | SITA 2013 10 11. Introducing self-service into the boarding and ight transferprocesses are two other areas that have been targeted by theindustry to help reduce queues. Interest in automated boardinggates is picking up fast and the IT trends studies reveal just overhalf of both airlines and airports are including them in theirinvestment plans for the next three years. A similar level ofairlines and airports also have plans for transfer kiosks withinthat time frame.With transfer bags accounting for over half of all mishandledbags9, any initiatives to improve transfer processing will helpfocus industry attention even more closely on the transfer bagissue. But the challenge will be for greater collaboration andimproved data sharing between all the stakeholders.SELF-BOARDING INITIATIVES AT ABU DHABIWe have received a great amount of positive feedback fromINTERNATIONAL stakeholders thanks to the easy ow of passengers throughthe gate. Similarly, it was noticed from the passengers thatthey are interacting less with the agents and having moreBased on IATAs Fast Travel initiative, we are deploying self-freedom of movement until they board the ight.boarding gates, starting with one pilot project. Our plan is toroll out four additional self-boarding gates, two at each gateAdditionally, through a number of initiatives to promotewithin Terminal 3 at Abu Dhabi International Airport. self-service at Abu Dhabi International, the level of adoptionand usage is tangibly increasing. Airlines are becomingPassengers approach the gate with either a paper-basedmore cost efcient, as they do not require extra support staffboarding pass or a mobile digital barcode that is read by afor the self-boarding gates. Passengers are increasinglyscanner. The integrated barcode reader collects data and aenjoying these services as it limits their interaction withscreen provides the status whether is it good to go or not.ground staff and eliminates queuing at gates. We haveThe gate is supervised by an agent who can processincreased our rating from our customer service survey.passengers through the normal check-in counters if thereare any process exceptions. The next step will be to start deploying the self-boarding gatespermanently in Terminal 3 starting with a few specic gatesThe challenges we have faced have been passengers adaptingand gradually apply it throughout the whole terminal. This willto the system; changes in operational procedures, awarenessalso be deployed in the new Mideld Terminal Building.and adherence to changes; plus promoting self-service todifferent categories of passengers. Passport vericationHAMED AL HASHEMI,before boarding is required for some countries so there haveVICE PRESIDENT INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY,also been security concerns from a few destinations.ABU DHABI AIRPORTS COMPANYThe benets have been fewer queues before boarding; thesystem is cost effective and helps our airport stakeholdersincrease resource efciency; and gate agents have moretime to give individual attention to passengers.9Baggage Report 2012: Transfer bags were responsible for 53% of all delayed bags in 2011SITA INSIGHT | SITA 201311 12. BY 2015 CUSTOMER SERVICESWILL BE BOTH MOBILE AND SOCIALA major cause of stress for passengers when These forecasts are underpinned by ambitious investmenttraveling is unexpected changes or not having the plans to transform customer service communications bycorrect information available at the right time and the end of 2015, although right now there is currently aplace.10 Today, 60% use websites to check on ightmismatch between customer desire and deployment by theupdates, but SMS/text messaging and dedicated industry. Eighty ve percent of passengers in the self-servicestudy expressed an appetite to use smart phone apps forapps are not far behind. The vast majority revealight status notications, but just 43% of airlines and 42%an appetite to use all these channels, showing noof airports offer these apps today. The next three years willsignicant preference what matters is to havesee the gap close, by which time 90% of airlines and 91% ofthe right information at the right time.11airports will have rolled out apps.There is also an aspiration to drive smart phone appBeyond 2015, as with other types of interaction, the industryfunctionality further. By 2015, almost 75% of airlines andexpectation is that smart phone apps and website servicesairports plan to enable passengers to tell them if they had awill be the top two customer service channels. However therebad travel experience, and nearly 80% of airports will haveare some differences of nuance between airlines and airports.implemented airport status updates and about the sameThe IT Trends Surveys reveal that among airlines, the smartnumber of airlines will have deployed missing baggagephone will be the most dominant channel of the future, withstatus information.91% saying it will be a major channel for customer servicecommunications and only 60% saying it will be websites. Inaddition, 31% consider that social media will be a signicantservice channel. In contrast, airports are balanced about thetop two channels, with 71% each saying smart phone apps andweb, but only 13% believe social media will be an importantservice channel. And 39% of airports say kiosks will be asignicant channel.Social Media of airlines believe that mobile apps and social mediawill become a dominate customer service channel10 Passenger Self-Service Survey 2012: The main causes of stress when travelling are loss of time (44%), unexpected changes (11%), lack of control (8%) and lack of information (7%).11 Passenger Self-Service Survey 2012: 91% would use websites for ight status updates; 90% would use SMS/text messaging and 85% would use a dedicated appSITA INSIGHT | SITA 201312 13. Among the minority of airports that have already deployed The other side to this customer service story is that thesmart phone apps, Scotlands Edinburgh Airport provides a industry is also embracing apps on smart mobile devicesfew innovative services. To maximize passenger experience to enable their staff to provide better service, for example,and reduce travelers stress there are features for journey British Airways recently rolled out iPads to its pilots,planning to and from the airport, ight tracking and terminal following on from provision to cabin crew and the groundmaps. It has also included a parking widget that helpsoperations teams. As well as delivering operationaleliminate the last-minute stress of nding a space. Travelers efciencies, the move allows pilots to use historic and currentcan reserve a space straight from their phone and tag the data supplied by the customer to provide an even moreexact location of their vehicle, with the option to include a personalized service during the ight. On the airport side,photo reminder just in case their memory fails them whenat Japans Narita Airport roaming service employees havethey return from their trip.iPads to provide relevant airport, ight and hotel informationUnited Airlines (UAL) has taken a similarly innovativeto passengers. The devices help staff offer a more personalapproach to improving customer service using its smartservice via a multi-lingual translation app that enablesphone app. The airline launched an initial four-month assistance to customers from China and Korea in theirsweepstake in June 2012 that allowed its MileagePlusown language.customers to use the app to nominate eligible employeesfor good service at the airport, on the phone, on a ight, orat any other point in their experience with United and UnitedExpress. The company then selected 16 winning employeesrandomly from the pool of customer nominations to receivecash prizes. Customers had a chance to benet too withprizes of ight vouchers and frequent yer points for thosewhose nominees were drawn as prizewinners.SITA INSIGHT | SITA 2013 13 14. SOCIAL MEDIA THE NEXT CUSTOMER At the moment passenger interest in using social mediaSERVICE FRONTIER for travel-related activities is generally much lower than the same functionality on a mobile phone. While 65% ofLooking beyond smart phone apps, social media is already passengers would use social media for ight status updates,a meaningful platform for services for travelers, with 62% this is some way behind the 89% who would use their smartinterviewees in the Passenger Self-Service Survey saying phones to get this information.they are active on social media. Engagement is even higher Nevertheless, social media offers a signicant opportunity foramong future generations of yers, with 80% of 18-24-year- travel providers and their customers to communicate in newolds on social media.ways at different stages of the journey. Industry initiatives may be fairly modest currently, 12 but 70% of airlines and 58%62% of airports expect to be using social media for real-time ight updates over the coming three years. In the same time frame, 87% of airlines and 59% of airports expect to use the channel for promotions and 63% and 50%, respectively, for sales.OF PASSENGERS ARE ACTIVE The key focus for airlines is the commercial aspects of socialON SOCIAL MEDIA TODAYmedia, while airports interest is more equally spread across information and promotions. 89% of passengers want mobile ight updates, only 65% do will implement ight status via social media updates via social media by 2015SITA INSIGHT | SITA 201314 15. If the current round of social media initiatives is anythingKLM has built on its Meet and Seat social seatingto go by, we can expect that engagement to be bothservice by launching KLM Trip Planner to make bookingentertaining and practical. For example, in summer 2012,a trip with friends fun and simple. The airline even helpsLondons Gatwick Airport took some of the stress out of with destination suggestions based on the group membersying with young children by becoming the rst European and their interests.airport to use audio social network Soundcloud to Further down the line the distinction between mobile andrelease a series of audio-book stories to keep youngsocial is likely to be increasingly blurred. Communicationsyers amused. between airlines, airports and their customers will bemore immediate, enabling passengers to interact withtheir airline instantly on every aspect of their journey. DEVELOPING SOCIAL MEDIA SERVICESplus the phone lines. We have seen an increase in calls THE KLM WAY via social media and a decrease in the telephone lines. For customers, social media is becoming part of their We started small about two years ago and increased verylives. Many people nd it more natural to communicate via rapidly to about 63 service agents responding around thesocial media and they are even less eager to pick up the clock in seven languages. In 2013 we have plans to add four phone and call a company. Twitter, Facebook or whatever or ve more languages. The key driver has been that wesocial media channel becomes big, will take vast numbers are always there for our customers. If you want to grow the of customer contacts. They wont take the majority, but I success you need to be there for their daily questions. think you should offer your customer choice. From a quality perspective, we want to give a rst We are moving to a situation where we want to be where response to our customers within the hour and we arethe customer wants to be. You denitely need to be on thinking about reducing our response time in 2013. If the platforms where your customers are. They are on something is to be resolved we want to offer a resolution Facebook and Twitter at the moment, but there are other within 24 hours.platforms, such as Sina Weibo in China, Mixi in Japan, others like Google Plus and Pinterest. It is important to In the beginning you could still answer a passenger make your company exible enough to be where your with an answer thats partly giving context or partly customers are. Thats one of the key success factors for redirecting the passenger to a website or a Q&A database the coming two years. for information. More and more, customers expect the rst answer to be a quality answer that provides all the information that they are looking for.GERT WIM TER HAAR, We have changed the main customer contact page on our SOCIAL MEDIA HUB MANAGER, KLM website and put our Twitter and Facebook pages on there,12 Airline IT Trends Survey 2012: 13% of airlines have deployed social media for real-time ight updates, 39% for promotions and 16% for sales. Airport IT Trends Survey 2012: 24% of airports have deployed social media for real-time ight updates, 13% for retail promotions and 6% for sales of airport services.SITA INSIGHT | SITA 201315 16. BY 2015 BETTER BUSINESS INTELLIGENCEWILL BE ESSENTIALThe overall drive to online channels, includingHowever there are also cultural challenges, for example,smart mobile devices and social media, is fuelling unwillingness to share data with third party stakeholders,the growth in apps and these apps, in turn, requirementioned by 44% of airports in the IT trends study.meaningful data in order to deliver real value.In many respects, this lack of willingness to share data is the most important challenge, because sharing data amongA meticulous approach to both data quality and in sharing andstakeholders instantly increases data quality and datadelivering data, where and when needed, will be vital to avoid richness.customer dissatisfaction and any customer service backlash.Already, there are indications that the industry is moving inTherefore better business and customer intelligence will bethe right direction. Both airlines and airports recognize thethe underlying enabler for airlines and airports to achieveneed for greater collaboration with each other. By the endtheir ambition to have the online channels as the dominant of 2015, according to the IT trends studies, those airportsconduit for sales, passenger self-processing and service sharing data with airline partners will have more thanactivities beyond 2015.doubled to 80%. Airlines are a little more protective of theirThe industry already recognizes the value of strong business data, but those sharing information with airport partners willintelligence (BI), with eight out of ten airlines and airports have more than doubled to 53%.committed to investing in some sort of BI solution over theKey industry stakeholders led by the Airport Councilnext three years. Airlines and airports are also in broadInternational (ACI) are working on a framework of informationagreement that the main focus of those investments is on services Aviation Community Recommended Informationcustomer service and satisfaction.13 Services to enable information sharing to improve customerThere are challenges along the route to implementing and experience via increased efciencies in passenger and bagimproving BI solutions. Some technical issues, such as lackprocessing.of integration among different systems and lack of datacompatibility, head up the challenges faced by airports.of airports will be sharing of airlines will be sharingdata with airlines by 2015data with airports by 2015SITA INSIGHT | SITA 2013 16 17. CREATING A FRAMEWORK FOR framework. The results highlighted the main drivers of the INFORMATION SHARINGACRIS initiative: interoperability of web-service standardizedtechnical interfaces; exibility and adaptability to business The Airports Council International founded the ACI Aviation requirements; fast time to market and reduced costs. Community Recommended Information Services (ACRIS) The main milestones for 2013 are the approval of the rst initiative in 2010 to develop a harmonized framework ofweb-service denitions in the ACRIS Catalog, together with recommended information services to facilitate the sharing the publication of the ACRIS Semantic Model and the update of information among aviation community stakeholders.of the ACI ACRIS Recommended Practice 502A10. ACRIS can provide the web-services necessary to improveInterest in ACRIS opportunities is growing worldwide and information exchanges in passenger and baggage end-tonew opportunities are arising, such as asset management end processes. This includes transportation to and from theand car parking operations. In parallel, there is strong airport; baggage check-in, drop-off and processing; accessinterest in developing further the ACRIS Semantic Model, to the security checkpoint and border control; services andwhich is the standardized vocabulary used to generate the information to passengers on departure and arrival; boardingACRIS web-services denitions. processes; aircraft turnaround; airport status, maintenance and asset management.ACRIS web-services provide a framework to integratesystems and connect different IT entities By making these processes more efcient, aviationand databases efciently. The implementation of ACRIS stakeholders will be able to offer a better customerweb-services will then increase exponentially the experience. The focus has been on the information exchangeopportunities to use data to analyze historical data in the needed for airport collaborative decision making (A-CDM)past, manage real-time operations in the present, and procedures and baggage drop-off systems. In coordinationsimulate future scenarios according to predictions based with ICAO, CANSO, IATA and others, two core-groupson the data exchanged and stored. are working to generate web-service denitions and implementation specications.ARTURO GARCA-ALONSO, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, In 2012 a successful demo and proof of concept, which FACILITATION AND AIRPORT IT, ACI WORLD took less than four months, enabled basic ight information exchange and common situational awareness in the A-CDM13 Airline IT Trends Survey 2012: 39% of airlines say customer service/customer relationship management is the key driver for their BI investments. Airport IT Trends Survey 2012: 57% of airports say collaboration with their partners is the biggest driver. Collaboration ensures the smooth running of the airport and therefore has a considerable impact on customer satisfaction.SITA INSIGHT | SITA 201317 18. In Europe, ACI Europe and EUROCONTROL, the EuropeanAnother key stake holder group to consider in the dataOrganization for the Safety of Air Navigation, are leading ansharing process is the customer. Better information aboutairport collaborative decision making (A-CDM) initiative totravelers will allow airlines to create services that areincrease operational efciencies. At the end of 2012 bespoke to their needs. This has the potential for a winningHelsinki-Vantaa became the latest airport to implement outcome all round more business for airlines and servicesA-CDM. A-CDM has also been fully implemented at Munich,for customers. But todays travelers are resistant globallyFrankfurt, Paris Charles de Gaulle and Brussels, with a55% say no to sharing personal data, according to thefurther 25 airports in the process of implementation . Passenger Self-Service Survey, although opinions differAt Helsinki, A-CDM is expected to have a positive impact onsignicantly from region to region, reecting the varyingthe operations of air carriers, the airport in general, air trafc cultural attitudes towards data privacy in different countries.control, ground handling companies and parking planning. Nevertheless, airlines are increasingly keen to tailor theIncreased predictability allows various operators to plan sales experience more precisely to the requirements andtheir operations better, which improves efciency and brings preferences of their customers. According to the airlinesavings. The combined effort of numerous players is needed IT Trends research, 78% plan to plan to personalize theto ensure smooth and efcient transit through the airport. content they provide via their direct distribution channels byThe better the coordination between the operators, the the end of 2015.higher the quality and efciency of the service at theairport, says Timo Suorto CDM project manager for airportoperator Finavia. 55%of passengers say80% of airports/airlines will NOto sharing personal data invest in business intelligence solutions in the next 3 yearsSITA INSIGHT | SITA 201318 19. Over a third of airlines are already making progress onThe outlook for collaboration and data sharing over thepersonalization. Among these front runners is European next three years is positive. The industry recognizes theairline, Vueling, which is looking to better understand itsimpact that good BI will have on customer satisfactioncustomers and improve interaction with them by tapping and is committed to making continuous improvements.into information on social networks. It is investigating waysThe challenge for airlines and airports is to break downto incorporate social data feeds into its BI marketing the barriers to sharing and collaboration. Furthermore,solutions, focused on driving loyalty and making personalizedto access better information about their customers theyoffers to customers. will need to work harder to convince them of the benets.INCORPORATING A SOCIAL DATA FEED Currently we are working with information from ourINTO MARKETING BIfans, but another challenge will be to get information from all over the market.People are becoming increasingly more used tointeracting on social networks, which demonstrates their The social data feed will give us the opportunity topreferences and aspirations. This kind of behaviour hasnd out exactly what our customers need, depending onmade it easier for us to learn about our customers moretheir travel activities and hobbies; as well as what theydeeply than through other ways. This knowledge allowsfeel about our brand so we can focus on what we mustus to offer a tailor-made product that meets our customerimprove. Finally, with social data help, we will knowexpectations. We plan to start work on a project towhere we can nd our customers, indicating whichincorporate a social data feed into our marketing BI channel should be an investment priority.in 2013. As a customerfocused company this kind of informationThe big challenge will be to achieve a return onis relatively reliable to dene and can ensure our strategyinvestment. We need to apply the information in such a way becomes successful.that we tailor offers and products to the preferences of LLUS PONS,potential customers, thereby obtaining more revenue. MARKETING DIRECTOR, VUELINGABOUT THIS REPORTThis report draws on the ndings of SITAs technologyThis provides SITA with the unique opportunity to look acrosstrends research. Every Year SITA publishes the results ofall the results combining the airline, airport and passengerfour annual industry research initiatives tracking technologyview and identify areas of alignment, misalignment, potentialtrends in the air transport industry. These initiatives do for acceleration.not only monitor the opinions of senior airline and airportFor more information, go to:executives but also the most important stakeholder of them www.sita.aero/surveysall: the passenger.www.sita.aero/ittrendshub Or search the App Store for Sita IT Trends HubSITA INSIGHT | SITA 2013 19 20. ABOUT SITAFor further information,SITA AT A GLANCEplease contact SITA byThe air transport industry is the most dynamic andtelephone or e-mail:exciting community on earth and SITA is its heart.AmericasOur vision is to be the chosen technology partner of+1 770 850 4500 the industry, a position we will attain through awlessinfo.amer@sita.aero customer service and a unique portfolio of IT andcommunications solutions that covers the industrysAsia Pacic every need 24/7.+65 6545 3711 We are the innovators of the industry. Our experts andinfo.apac@sita.aero developers keep it fuelled with a constant stream ofground-breaking products and solutions. We are theEuropeones who see the potential in the latest technology+41 22 747 6111 and put it to work.info.euro@sita.aero Our customers include airlines, airports, GDSs andgovernments. We work with around 450 air transportMiddle East, India & Africa industry members and 2,800 customers in over 200+961 1 637300 countries and territories.info.meia@sita.aeroWe are open, energetic and committed. We work incollaboration with our partners and customers toensure we are always delivering the most effective,most efcient solutions.We own and operate the worlds most extensivecommunications network. Its the vital asset that keepsthe global air transport industry connected.We are 100% owned by the air transport industry a unique status that enables us to understand andrespond to its needs better than anyone.Our annual IT surveys for airlines, airports andpassenger self-service are industry-renowned andthe only ones of their kind.We sponsor .aero, the top-level internet domainreserved exclusively for aviation.In 2011, we had consolidated revenuesof US$1.517 billion (1.09 billion).For further information, please visit www.sita.aero SITA 12-REP-013-1All trademarks acknowledged. Specications subject to change without prior notice.This literature provides outline information only and (unless specically agreed to thecontrary by SITA in writing) is not part of any other order or contract.