Indian passengers using technology to skip queues at airports: SITA survey .

As India’s passenger growth is choking key airports in the country, air passengers are resorting to technology to skip queues and minimize their travel time, shows a 2017 SITA Passenger IT Trends Survey, a global survey released by IT provider SITA and co-sponsored by Air Transport World.

“While the use of technology among Indian airline passengers remains high at check-in (87%) and booking (52%), 2017 saw tremendous growth in other usage points in the journey. The research showed “While the use of technology among Indian airline passengers remains high at check-in (87%) and booking (52%), 2017 saw tremendous growth in other usage points in the journey. The research showed while adoption remains low, self-bag drop usage climbed to 21% from 12% in 2016,” shows the survey, conducted across seven Indian airports, representing 71% of passengers in the country.

Passengers are also demanding new mobile services with 83% saying that they would definitely use flight  updates on their mobile. And they would use their mobile for baggage services too: 82% would report mishandled bags and 79% would track their bags in real-time. This comes as no surprise with more than one billion Indians using at least one mobile device in 2016 of which 300 million are using a smart device, the survey adds.

The research also shows 54% of passengers would rather opt to use self-bag drop than go to an airline check-in counter, compared to 33% globally and well ahead  of current usage.

“This is good news for the industry as it provides airports and airlines the opportunity to fully benefit from technology to speed up the journey and drive operational efficiencies, helping them meet the demands of rapidly growing passenger numbers across the country,” Maneesh Jaikrishna, Vice President Indian Subcontinent, Eastern & Southern Africa was quoted in the release.