Airport and airline technology chiefs look to AI to enhance customer service

Karima Kouidri

SITA’s 2017 Air Transport IT Trends Insights Report

shows that airlines and airports are increasingly embracing artificial intelligence (AI) technology to support their customer service platforms, especially to address high volumes during times of disruption.

The SITA study shows a continued growth trend in IT spending by airlines, projected as $24.3 billion for 2017 compared to $21.9bn in 2016.

Airport IT spending is projected to significantly increase, after a slight dip last year, and is projected to reach $8.43bn in 2017.

The top IT spending priority for both airlines and airports is cybersecurity with 95% of airlines planning major cyber security programs or Research and Development over the next three years. SITA reports that 96% of airports surveyed plan to invest cybersecurity initiatives over the next three years.

During the same period, 52% of airlines plan to research and develop or deploy major AI projects and 45% of airports will research and develop AI projects over the next five years.

Artificial Intelligence is expected to prove particularly useful in addressing common questions during times of disruption. Of those surveyed, 80% plan to invest in major R&D or projects for prediction and warning systems, which rely heavily on AI.

SITA also finds that 14% of airlines and 9% of airports are using chatbots today, while projecting that 68% of airlines and 42% of airports will adopt AI-driven chat bot services by 2020.

Airports primarily aim to use for chatbots for notifications and airport guides. They will use beacons and sensors to support context and location-aware services.

SITA’s research shows that 40% of airports consider chatbots a ‘high priority’ for app development, and a further 43% consider it a ‘priority’.

Despite a move towards diverse social media platforms and messaging channels for customer communication, SITA’s report shows that mobile app development is still a top priority among airlines and airports.

SITA finds that 92% of airlines plan to invest in initiatives for passenger services on social media over the next three years, but 94% of airlines and 82% of airports also plan to deploy or research and develop major proprietary mobile services programs.

The primary focus of proprietary mobile services programs for airlines is commercial, aiming to boost direct bookings and ancillary sales.

“Airlines expect sales via their mobile apps to double by 2020 and reach 17% of their total sales. Streamlining services into one single app to deliver a seamless experience is a priority for almost every airline (94%) and a high priority for more than half (58%).”

Speaking at the Future Travel Experience conference in Las Vegas, Jim Peters, chief technology officer, SITA, says:

“We know that passengers prefer to use technology and when it is well designed it can really improve the passenger experience. Airlines and airports are investing in AI and mobile programs to make services even better for the passenger, supporting sales and providing customer support, particularly during times of disruption.

“The industry is using a healthy mix of in-house and outsourced development which will combine expert and industry-specific knowledge with emerging approaches to tech offerings.”

SITA reports that almost three quarters of airlines will use in-house developers for their passenger apps, while 42% will also use bespoke developers to support their projects, or large tech companies.

The SITA report shows that 46% of airports will develop their passenger apps in-house and roughly the same percentage will use external developers.

Related reading:

Aviation heavyweights join forces on cybersecurity

Cybersecurity moves up airline agenda as threats loom

source : https://tinyurl.com/y9ean6vz

 

Indian robot Mitra made in China steals the show at IT event

Karima Kouidri

An Indian robot made in China, which could recognise people by their nationalities and guide customers in a bank, captivated Chinese manufacturers at an IT event held in port city of Dalian.

The robot helps identify people at the airports and other places through nationalities or ethnic backgrounds and recommends hotel, restaurants and places of interests.

The robot helps identify people at the airports and other places through nationalities or ethnic backgrounds and recommends hotel, restaurants and places of interests.

Beijing: An Indian robot made in China, which could recognise people by their nationalities and guide customers in a bank, on Wednesday captivated Chinese manufacturers at an IT event held in the southern port city of Dalian.

The five-feet Robot Mitra which was designed in Bengaluru but manufactured in the Chinese city of Shenzhen was presented as a model of merger of India’s software prowess with China’s hardware, Gagan Sabharwal, senior director, Global Trade Development, NASSCOM told PTI.

Mitra is a perfect example of how Indian software and China’s hardware can be merged, Sabharwal said, adding that the agreement helps to bring the small and medium-sized enterprises and startups of both the countries to launch into Internet of Things (IOT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI), he said.

Its inventors could not bring it to the first India-China Dalian Internet of Things (IoT) Conference which was well attended by top Chinese and Indian manufacturing firms as the airlines did not allow its heavy batteries to be transported.

Instead it was introduced through a presentation which drew considerable attention, Sabharwal said.

The robot helps identify people at the airports and other places through nationalities or ethnic backgrounds and recommends hotel, restaurants and places of interests.

Mitra has been deployed at Canara Bank in Bengaluru to guide customers in banking operations.

NASSCOM plans to take it to a major IT event in Japan next month to highlight its operational utility at the airports, Sabharwal said.

During the event, NASSCOM and Dalian local government signed an agreement to further strengthen software and IT communication and cooperation amid opportunities brought about by the global digital revolution. PTI

 

source : https://tinyurl.com/yd5ajmy9

 

Cincinnati Airport’s use of BlipTrack Technology Helps TSA Staffing Meet Growing Passenger Demand.

Karima Kouidri

Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG) with local Transportation Security Administration (TSA) collaboration is using live and empiric data to identify irregularities at the security checkpoint. Thanks to BlipTrack technology, this recently awarded Skytrax best world airport serving 5-10 million passengers is experiencing better resource utilization and smoother passenger processing.

In 2016, CVG achieved its best ranking in the 21-year history of the U.S. Department of Transportation airfare report. It also experienced its highest passenger traffic volume since 2005, with almost seven million passengers passing through this international transport hub.

To keep the passenger experience positive, even as carrier and traveler numbers continue to rise, the airport implemented BlipTrack queue and flow technology at TSA checkpoints during 2014. The airport was the first in the United States to utilize this solution, which allows them to measure, understand and improve the traveler experience, and to better plan and allocate resources in cooperation with TSA.

After one year of use, the airport was in a position to announce that, due to the data they had gathered using BlipTrack, they had successfully reduced TSA security line wait times by one third. In a 2015 report produced by Purdue University, standard wait times had dropped by nearly over four minutes from 13.2 minutes to 8.9 minutes, compared to 2011.

Since then, the airport has gradually expanded the solution and added new features to help streamline operations further and continue improving the passenger experience. Passenger-facing wait time monitors and CVGairport.com interfaces provide immediate wait-time status, easing natural travel anxieties associated with queue lines and setting realistic expectations. Additionally, CVG has gone so far as to establish service level agreement (SLA)-like standards for self-accountability, ensuring average wait times below 15 minutes are consistently delivered. For the second quarter ending June 2017, the average wait time for expedited screening registered at 11min28sec. This is rather significant given CVG’s surge in peak-day checkpoint throughput from 10,000 to over 15,000 during the same period.

Stephen Saunders, Senior Manager of Terminal Operations at CVG explains: “We have added a new feature that allows us to understand the pattern of how lanes are being utilized throughout the day. This helps us better understand TSA’s lane utilization on any given day. Our future goal is to pair this information with passenger show-up profiles and wait-time inputs to complete a story of how the check point is operating as a whole, and help the TSA develop lane open/close plans based on predicted throughputs.”

“We have used tangible data to work with our partners at TSA to adjust officer start time. We previously noticed a high spike in queue waits during our heaviest early bank of morning flights, levelling off after about 7:30. We collectively identified TSA schedules were misaligned with the flight schedules. Later security lane openings by as little as 15 minutes were incapable of catching up to and meeting the passenger demand surge. Because of this data, we recommended staffing adjustments to the local TSA leaders, which ultimately passengers and airlines benefited as evidenced by a near-immediate reduction in wait times below target and customer compliments via the Airport’s social media platforms. We remain engaged with TSA HQ in an attempt to collaborate to make real changes using this technology,” says Saunders.

CVG and BLIP Systems are working together to expand the solution to the outside of the terminal and throughout the airport grounds in order to amplify the passenger experience. CVG is hopeful to gain a better understanding with improved parking data analysis to discover whether more passengers are using off-site competitor parking lots, and show where passengers dwell once inside their facilities. Brian Cobb, Vice President of Customer Experience at CVG, elaborates that it helps them both target their marketing and better compete in an area where the race for passengers is fierce.

“Our hope would be to expand the BlipTrack technology throughout the airport, to better understand the passenger journey from start to finish, well beyond the security checkpoint. Once we better understand the passenger journey, we can make strategic decisions, to better utilize our facilities. This allows us to demonstrate to our passengers the ease of use of our facilities and can help in calming their travel anxieties. Our goal is to use the data to create an unforgettably positive passenger experience,” ends Stephen Saunders.

“Our use of the technology has proven quite successful. It has enabled CVG to continue our close collaboration with TSA to ensure that the passenger experience is one that enhances the journey experience not detracts from it. Our significant investments in our facilities and the solution ensures we use them as effectively and efficiently as possible,” said Candace McGraw, CEO at CVG.

Today, more than 25 international airports, including JFK, San Diego, Copenhagen, Dublin, Oslo, Manchester and Brussels are reaping the benefits of BlipTrack technology. In addition, the solution is employed in optimisation efforts in road traffic applications in Switzerland, Thailand, New Zealand, the UK, Denmark and Sweden. In recent years, it has been rolled out in ports, train stations, ski resorts, amusement parks, and at events around the world.

source : https://tinyurl.com/yd2v8urw

 

4 ways AI could make airports more tolerable

Karima Kouidri

Is it possible that a combination of computer vision and AI could make airports more tolerable?

 

Above: People waiting in queue at arrival immigration of Singapore’s Changi Airport.

Image Credit: joyfull / Shutterstock

 

Implementing these technologies won’t build larger airports or reduce the number of passengers, but it could offer a unique solution to airport wait times.

The impact of AI on our lives is going to be profound in coming years, and the same is true of computer vision. When you combine the two technologies, you get a real recipe for improving the airport experience.

A lot of the issues we see with air travel today are a direct result of our inability to compute all the potential combinations and permutations. We have multiple security stops at airports because we believe that every step makes us safer. But it’s not necessarily true that the more checks and balances we add, the more likely we are to catch the bad guys. The problem isn’t the number of steps in a security check — it’s human error.

AI has the ability to process information at a staggering rate and to correlate data that even the most intuitive TSA agent might not see.

The airport experience is going to change dramatically over the next decade. Every step of the journey will be affected — from security to queuing to baggage claim. Here are four ways we will likely see AI and computer vision transform air travel in the future.

1. Predictable flight delays

We spend a large portion of our time in airports waiting on delayed flights. Anything from bad weather to a mechanical issue can hold a plane up for hours. When you use big data and machine learning to approach the problem, you have the ability to replace on-the-spot analysis with highly correlative pattern analysis to better prepare the airport for setbacks. This would allow airlines to route delayed passengers dynamically before they even made it to the airport.

Maintaining and analyzing maintenance logs with supervised learning could also protect airlines from sudden failures. This technology could flag planes that are in need of maintenance and dynamically reallocate aircraft accordingly.

2. Automated security checks

Human TSA agents will never be better at performing security checks than a supervised learning algorithm would be. If machines can look at your passport photo and take a picture of you, they can access your social graph (linked to your ID of course), which could remove many unnecessary human checks. Some of this would not even require a complex AI solution.

3. Fewer unnecessary bag searches

Have you ever had to wait in the security queue behind that person with two handbags full of every possible 50ml liquid you can think of? Even worse, each false alarm increases the likelihood a security agent will overlook actual threats later on.

Computers can photograph, analyze, and identify items in a bag much faster than a human can, without even opening the bag. This is a classic use-case for a supervised learning algorithm. After collecting substantial training data, AI could identify which objects need to be checked in more detail.

If we then added a clustering algorithm that could flag any passengers who fell into “orange” or “red” zones, those passengers could be autonomously routed for a more detailed search. The technology could even assess an individual’s social media activity and use mass attribution to identify potential threats. Some of the things this technology would consider might include:

  • Did the individual make a lot of phone calls to countries on a watch list?
  • Do they take an extreme position on religion?
  • Who have they been photographed with?
  • Do they have no social footprint in comparison to the average person?

People who are likely to do bad things are a statistical anomaly. This means they’re easy to spot using statistical evaluation.

4. Streamlined screening processes

We’ve already created advanced camera technology that can see your heat signature from a distance. So what’s the point of having you queue up, take off your shoes, and walk through an old metal detector?

Background thermal imaging cameras can analyze passengers walking or running through the airport. When you couple this technology with facial recognition and the data we have from points one and two, we could easily flag individuals carrying banned items before they even reach the coffee shop.

Friendlier skies

Whether you are focusing on deterrence or apprehension, the simplest solution is to remove human error from the equation. As we implement available technologies and benefit from new advancements, we will likely build a more pleasant future for airport patrons.

Sachin Dev Duggal is the  CEO, Engineer.ai an autonomous software development and cloud ops company.

New Technology Promises Airport Screening of Bags with Laptops and Liquids Inside

Karima Kouidri

New Technology Promises Airport Screening of Bags with Laptops and Liquids Inside

New Technology Promises Airport Screening of Bags with Laptops and Liquids Inside

Photo: Shutterstock.com

 

The day when travelers do not need to remove their laptops and bottles of shampoo from their carry-on bags has gotten a step closer this week, thanks to a new technology that has been approved for testing by the U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA).

Analogic Corporation’s ConneCT system uses computed tomography technology and 3D imaging to give security officers at airport security checkpoints a 360-degree view of each bag, so they can more easily see through clutter and locate prohibited items.

The goal is to allow passengers to keep their personal electronic devices and bottles of liquids in their bags and speed up the screening process.

According to president and CEO of Analogic Fred Parks, the motivation behind the technology is to keep “the traveling public moving through airports faster and safer than ever before.”

ConneCT’s first customer, American Airlines, which came on board in June, demonstrated the system at Phoenix Sky Harbour International. It also has been in testing in the U.K. A similar system also was tested at London’s Luton Airport.

Liquids were banned completely from aircraft in August 2006 over fears that terrorists would take down a plane by mixing liquids while they were on board. But small bottles of liquid, carried in a bag that can be removed from the carry-on, were small quantities were determined to be safe.

Still, the removal of liquids and laptops from carry-on bags continues to slow down the screening process, especially when passengers do it incorrectly and have to be pulled side.

The TSA did improve on overall airport security satisfaction in 2017 according to a survey by Travel Leaders Group. That survey showed that overall airport security satisfaction hit 67.5% this year, up from 63.6% last year, while the percentage of travelers dissatisfied with airport screening dropped from 17% to 14.9%.

Part of the improvement may be due to both the increased number of TSA staff and airline investments in more modern screening equipment that allows faster and more efficient processing of passengers at check-in.

source : https://tinyurl.com/y934veuk