Focus on innovative technology is key, say experts at Dubai Airport Show

Passenger experience is paramount and airports need to invest and accelerate investment in innovative technology and at the same time focus on the seamless journey as well as sustainability, said exhibitors and experts participating in the 21st Airport Show in Dubai.

The 21st edition of Airport Show, the world’s largest annual airport event opened on May 17  at the Dubai World Trade Centre, with participation from more than 150 international companies experts from 20 countries

“Airports need to continue to focus more on passenger experience as assuring the final offerings and services become more passenger-centric, and with that more customised to the individual needs,” said Michael Schneider, executive vice president – Airports, Siemens Logistics.

“Customer satisfaction is the objective; focusing on one’s experience helps to increase their satisfaction. Driving the number of happy customers up is certainly a competitive task, which can be leveraged through unique offerings or features along with the air travel,” he added.

“The Middle East region has taken adapted technologies faster than any other region as it came out of pandemic. Passenger experience is now more of a need than a USP or competition,” said Naffco’s Aviation director Ketan Sethi.

“The pandemic has forced the airport industry to bring touchless journeys for the passenger and airport staff, for safety. This led to big business demand for self-service systems at airports like self-bag-drop, self-check-in, facial recognition, automatic tray return system and tray sanitisation at the security counters,” he added.

Aziz Cakir, vice president for the Middle East and Africa at ADB Safegate, said creating a “more streamlined and digitally-enabled journey” has been a key priority for the airports and airlines for a while now.

“They are accelerating investments in technology and digitalisation to boost operational efficiency and improve the passenger experience, said the official of the company. The company has completed a new digital airport management platform to manage operations at King Khalid International Airport in Saudi Arabia,” he explained.

The UK-based Midstream Lighting’s commercial director Yuli Grig said the pandemic has made airport operators focus on the seamless journey and now airports need to invest in the passenger experience and technology will need to be innovative and sustainable.

Read: https://gulfbusiness.com/dubai-airport-back-at-100-operating-capacity/

Erik Velderman, CEO of Tkh Airport Solutions, said passengers expect a safe and seamless journey more than ever which makes airports look at ways to become more efficient by keeping sustainability and passenger safety as their highest priority.

Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, president of the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority, Chairman of Dubai Airports, and chairman and chief executive of Emirates Airline and Group, inaugurated the the world’s largest annual airport show on May 17.

The 21st edition of the Airport Show commenced today, bringing together over 100 exhibitors from across the industry in Dubai, to discuss product launches, sustainability initiatives and cutting-edge technologies at the world’s largest annual airport event. pic.twitter.com/fiRgzX1cml

— HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum (@HHAhmedBinSaeed) May 17, 2022

He stressed the importance of the exhibition at this particular time to give an additional boost to the global aviation sector. “Dubai International Airport has retained its position as the busiest airport in the world for the eighth year in a row, and we expect to serve more than 58 million passengers by the end of this year, linking them to their businesses, families and activities, and providing them with a wonderful travel experience,” he said.

Sustainability, advanced technology, airport development process efficiency and airspace management were all vital topics that were addressed during the three days of the Dubai Airport Show, concluding on May 19.