PASSENGERS at Abu Dhabi International Airport (AUH) have the highest demand for self-service options of all six major airport hubs included in this year’s Sita/Air Transport World Passenger Self-Service Survey, which also found high rates of smartphone adoption among premium travellers. It is the first time that AUH has featured in the survey.
The demand for self-service is partly fuelled by smartphone adoption rates of 78 per cent for frequent flyers (over 10 trips per year) and 35 per cent among business/first class travellers. The survey reveals a clear opportunity for airlines to increase the use of mobile check-in, which had only been used by 12 per cent of survey respondents compared to 38 per cent who had used online check-in.
In AUH, 33 per cent of the passengers surveyed had a smartphone and a further 50 per cent had ordinary mobile phones. The Blackberry was the most popular with 41 per cent of smartphone holders having one, followed by 26 per cent having an iPhone. Globally, 35 per cent of respondents preferred the iPhone compared to 28 per cent who used the Blackberry.
The rising influence of the smartphone globally is a key finding from the 6th annual Sita/Air Transport World Passenger Self-Service Survey carried out with a representative sample of the 283.5 million passengers who pass through six of the world’s leading airport hubs: Abu Dhabi International Airport, Beijing International Airport; Frankfurt International Airport; Hartsfield-Jackson, Atlanta; Mumbai International; and Sao Paulo Guarulhos.
Interest in mobile applications is high at AUH where 30 per cent of respondents would be willing to pay for information updates sent directly to their mobile phones. Interest is highest in flight-related information such as gate changes, flight delays, and boarding status, which 80 per cent of survey respondents would use if available. This is followed by wait time at security, 50 per cent; time to reach departure gate, 42 per cent; information on airport parking, 35 per cent; and location of closest lounge, 33 per cent.
And 73 per cent of AUH smartphone users would access a free Wi-Fi network compared to 66 per cent globally. At AUH 15 per cent would be willing to pay for Wi-Fi access compared to 10 per cent globally.
AUH passenger interest in self-service is underlined by the fact that it has the highest success rate in the survey when it comes to encouraging passengers to use remote bag-drop facilities, which was an option used by 13 per cent of passengers with a bag to check-in compared with a rate of just one per cent in the survey overall.
On the other hand, only four per cent reported using a bag-drop counter compared to a global rate of 42 per cent. A higher proportion of passengers had a bag to check-in than at any other airport in the survey, 81 per cent compared to an overall survey rate of 67 per cent.
The appetite for self-service options is high at AUH. Self-bag tag (81 per cent), self-service bag drop (76 per cent), and self-boarding (74 per cent) were the three most popular self-service options sought by AUH survey respondents, followed by tracking of bag location from a mobile device (67 per cent), transfer kiosks (63 per cent), and reporting missing bag from kiosks (63 per cent).
Retail travel agencies are still more popular with AUH travellers than elsewhere with 44 per cent of respondents using them for bookings compared to 17 per cent overall but, interestingly, the overwhelming majority, a massive 99 per cent of those who choose to book their flights on-line did so through an airline website compared to the global survey figure of 52 per cent.
There is a clear opportunity here for airlines to target AUH passengers with improved non-air offers on their websites as actual usage rates for modifying reservations on-line and purchasing other services are 32 per cent or lower.
Hani El Assaad, Sita regional vice-president, Middle East and North Africa, said: “It is exciting to see Abu Dhabi International Airport feature in the Passenger Self-Service Survey for the first time and to be able to provide the airport and airlines with this unprecedented insight into the behaviours and attitudes of their customers. The survey reveals many opportunities to provide services to passengers which will generate revenue, increase efficiency and improve passenger satisfaction.”