Self-service check-in technology is now available at all major Chinese airports according to the 2015 SITA/ACI Airport IT Trends Survey. SITA surveyed the largest airports in the country representing 60% of all Chinese airline passengers.
The IT Trends Survey also claimed that by 2018, 77% of China’s airports will offer kiosks for self-service bag tagging and 68% will offer unassisted self-service bag drop and boarding. This indicates a strong progression toward an end-to-end self-service passenger experience throughout the country.
May Zhou, vice president, SITA China, said, “Rising passenger numbers continue to present a challenge to China’s airports in terms of infrastructure and resources. There is of course much construction and expansion underway but it will take some time to match the growth in traffic. Meanwhile, technologies such as self-service, mobile and business intelligence can improve the passenger experience today.
“These technologies can help airports provide faster check-in, real-time updates, reduced queues and faster aircraft turnarounds. All of the airports surveyed expect IT budget increases in 2016 which indicates that passengers in China will enjoy the benefits of investments in smart technology for smarter airports over the coming years.”
Passenger numbers in China grew by 11% in 2014 – which lead to 77% of Chinese airports rating passenger processing as their number one priority – up from 53% in 2014. The majority of leading airports in China also expect to put in place business intelligence initiatives over the next three years, particularly in areas such as passenger flow monitoring (82%) and airport operations (72%).