WHEN it comes to airport experience, technology plays an integral role for Australian travellers, whose personas primarily consist of “careful planners” and “open-minded adventurers”, according to air transport IT provider SITA.
In its annual survey, SITA examined travellers passing through seven of Australia’s major international airports and identified four major profiles from the data. People associated themselves as being “independent and hyper-connected”, “pampered”, “careful planners” or “open-minded adventurers” most.
Prominently, a majority 60 per cent of respondents identified themselves as “careful planners”, who appreciate the control and convenience afforded by self-service technologies. From the planning stage to the end of their journey, “careful planners” avidly use technology to ensure they are on track with their itineraries, yet still appreciate the assurance from face-to-face interactions with airline agents.
A further 20 per cent of Australians identified themselves as excitable “open-minded adventurers”, and are tech-savvy individuals keen to adopt the latest mobile services to help with travel-related tasks. They are, however, frustrated at the lack of integration when using multiple applications.
Although the survey results indicate that Australians are behind the curve in technology adoption, one area where the country stands out is in the adoption of self-service bag drop – 26 per cent of domestic passengers process their bag themselves rather than going to an airport counter, well ahead of the 20 per cent global average.
For their next flight, 11 per cent of Australians expect to use mobile check-in, nearly three times the current usage rate of four per cent.
Ilya Gutlin, president, SITA Asia-Pacific, said: “Our survey shows that 80 per cent of Australians had a positive experience throughout their last trip and technology is helping.
“Airlines and airports can be assured that passengers are happy to use self-service. Mobile check-in is an outstanding example where 100 per cent of passengers who used their mobile for check-in had a positive experience in contrast to 82 per cent who checked in at a counter.”
Details on SITA’s research can be found on their website.
