beacon – Airport Benchmarking

HCL Implemented Beacon Technology For a Leading Middle-Eastern Airport

Karima Kouidri — Sun, 13 Aug 2017 09:58:39 +0000

HCL Implemented Beacon Technology

The app to stop you ever missing a plane again : Gatwick Airport

Karima Kouidri — Mon, 29 May 2017 07:16:56 +0000

The app to stop you ever missing a plane again: Airport launches Pokemon Go-style map tool that guides passengers to their gates

Gatwick Airport has installed beacons that provide an indoor navigation system
It enables augmented reality direction assistance for passengers
The positioning system enables reliable ‘blue dot’ on indoor maps

We’ve all been there – squeezing in a last coffee before a flight then rushing around the airport in a panic in a bid to find the gate as ‘gate closing’ flashes on screens.

Gatwick Airport, it turns out, understands the need for that final beverage, because it’s launched wayfinding technology that could put an end to that panic and prevent you from ever missing a plane again.

It has installed around 2,000 beacons across its two terminals providing an indoor navigation system that is much more reliable, it claims, than GPS, and that enables Pokemon Go-style augmented reality direction assistance for passengers – a world first for an airport.

Gatwick Airport has launched wayfinding technology, pictured, that could mean you’ll never miss a plane again

The lack of satellite signals makes road-based navigation systems – such as Google or Apple maps – unreliable indoors, so Gatwick has deployed a beacon-based positioning system to enable reliable ‘blue dot’ on indoor maps, which in time can be used within a range of mobile airport, airline or third party apps.

The beacon system also enables an augmented reality wayfinding tool – so passengers can be shown directions in the camera view of their mobile device – making it easier for passengers to locate check-in areas, departure gates and baggage belts and so on.

The new navigation technology is currently being integrated into some of the Gatwick apps and the airport is also in discussion with airlines to enable the indoor positioning and wayfinding tools to feature on their app services.

Gatwick has installed around 2,000 beacons across its two terminals providing an indoor navigation system that is much more reliable, it claims, than GPS

Gatwick has stressed that no personal data will be collected, but that generic information on ‘people densities’ in different beacon zones may be analysed to help improve airport operations including queue measurement, streamlining passenger flows and reducing congestion.

Airlines could go further – and with the consent of their passengers – may send reminders on their airline app to late running passengers, for example, or find out where they are and make an informed decision on whether to wait or offload their luggage so the aircraft can take off on time.

Retailers and other third parties may also use the beacon system to detect proximity and send relevant offers or promotional messages, if the passenger has chosen to receive them.

The new technology is part of Gatwick’s £2.5billion investment programme to transform the airport.

Abhi Chacko, Head of IT Commercial & Innovation, Gatwick Airport, said: ‘By providing the infrastructure we’re opening the door for a wide range of tech savvy airport providers, including our airlines and retailers, to launch new real-time services that can help passengers find their way around the airport, avoid missing flights or receive timely offers that might save them money.

‘We are proud to be the first airport to deploy augmented reality technology and we hope that our adoption of this facility influences other airports and transport providers so that it eventually becomes the norm.’

The end-to-end ‘indoor blue dot’ service is managed by PointrLabs.

Axel Katalan, CMO at PointrLabs, said: ‘We are pleased to announce that Gatwick Airport will be the first airport with an end-to-end working system with incredible accuracy both in terms of blue-dot location and orientation.

SOURCE / https://tinyurl.com/y835o5zx

LAX deploys beacon technology for tracking and dispatching wheelchairs

Karima Kouidri — Tue, 17 Jan 2017 15:48:26 +0000

Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) in California has partnered with Aero Port Services (APS), a provider of passenger handling and security services, to implement Bluetooth beacon technology for tracking and dispatching wheelchair services.

The Wheelchair Assistance Innovative Solutions Tracking System (WAIS-Track) was installed throughout LAX’s Tom Bradley International Terminal (TBIT) to address the growing number of wheelchair requests from carriers.

In 2015, LAX received more than 970,000 requests for wheelchairs across all terminals, of which 275,000 (or 28%) were at TBIT. So far in 2017, APS has received an average of 900 requests daily for TBIT, putting it on track to surpass 325,000 requests for the year. Since its installation, the new technology has resulted in better response times for travelers requesting wheelchairs, and has improved communications and operational efficiency.

Larry Rolon, Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Coordinator for Los Angeles World Airports, the operator of LAX, said, “We’re excited to see the implementation of WAIS-Track in the Tom Bradley International Terminal. The demand for wheelchair services has risen by more than 14% in the past year at TBIT, which has the highest number of wheelchair requests at LAX. This can result in delays for passengers waiting for assistance. WAIS-Track will be a big help in managing wheelchair locations and personnel assignments, which should help reduce wait times.”

Walter Vergara, chief marketing director, APS, said, “We realized there was a need for technology that could efficiently keep up with the growing service demands of high-volume airports. Providing exceptional wheelchair service at TBIT relies on accurate benchmarking of our performance. With WAIS-Track, we’re introducing a way to ensure accuracy and efficiency while addressing high volume and reducing passenger waiting times. APS is proud to introduce and implement WAIS-Track at LAX.”

WAIS-Track uses Bluetooth-enabled beacons deployed throughout the terminal that provide wayfinding information to APS’s proprietary smartphone app. As wheelchair assistants ferry travelers throughout the terminal, their location data is read by a beacon and transmitted through a cellular network to APS’s computer servers, allowing real-time location tracking.

This connection eliminates the previous walkie-talkie and cellphone calls by dispatchers asking wheelchair assistants for their locations, their availability for another assignment, and how far they are from the central dispatch location to receive a new assignment. New assignments can be transmitted to available wheelchair assistants located nearest to the requesting airline staffer.

The WAIS-Track system provides wheelchair assistants and their guests with continuously updated estimated times of arrival from check-in to boarding gate, all without generating a paper trail. More than 86 beacons have been deployed throughout TBIT as part of an initial network roll-out.

source : http://tinyurl.com/gqdyhb3

SITA: Beacons are much more than a techie fad

Karima Kouidri — Thu, 10 Nov 2016 11:01:33 +0000

Why are beacons so appealing to airports the world over?

In a nutshell, beacons make it possible for airports and airport vendors to know where people are and send them relevant, personalised information. The information might be a gate number, a baggage carousel, flight status, or even a passenger’s favourite coffee shop.

We hear from SITA’s Ron Reed, Director, Business Intelligence Portfolio on why beacons are more than just a tech obsession and have empirical and real value to the airport industry.

And of course, it’s not just for passengers; beacons can be used for staff notifications and to beam operational information – such as temperature, noise levels, vibrations – throughout the whole airport to make operations more efficient and, therefore, cost-effective.

Beacons appeal to airlines and airports that are investing in programs which help them connect directly with customers thanks to their efficacy at such a low cost. Covering a large floor space with beacons is a significantly cheaper proposition than with other connectivity solutions, such as Wi-Fi.

Beacons also benefit from a tiny energy footprint. They run off Bluetooth Low Energy, which provides considerably reduced power consumption compared to classic Bluetooth. In fact, a single coin-battery will be sufficient for one beacon for up to nine years.

Clearly, maintenance is minimal.

The information might be a gate number, a baggage carousel, flight status, or even a passenger’s favourite coffee shop.

Beacons can be placed anywhere around the airport and thanks to SITA’s common-use registry, each beacon can be used by multiple stakeholders. Airports, airlines, and retailers’ apps can leverage beacons to trigger tailored content directly to passenger and personnel devices.

Of course, we must be careful not to bombard the passenger with information. App developers can ensure that only relevant information is triggered according to a passenger’s location and/or stage of the journey to eradicate this problem.

MIA leading the charge

Miami International Airport (MIA) is already showing the rest of the world what’s possible with beacons, with its location-aware app. The airport has leveraged beacons across its entire campus to create a personalised experience more akin to a concierge service than your standard airport experience.

The app provides full coverage of the airport and as travellers make their way through the airport, the app provides information and support that is relevant to their individual journey, including updates on their gate, flight times and baggage collection, as well as nearby food and retail outlets, prioritising suggestions based on their current location. And with ‘blue-dot’ functionality, map rotation, turn-by-turn directions, ‘walk times’ and a ‘near me’ feature, they allow passengers to quickly locate virtually anything inside the airport.

The app has been well-received and continues to be well used by passengers who really value having this information at their fingertips in real-time.

Passengers can find information about all airport tenants but soon concessionaires within the airport can also write their own app. They have access to the same beacons which MIA’s app uses.

Future applications

Beacons are still a nascent technology and the SITA Lab team are looking at what else might be possible with these sensors. At Miami International Airport, SITA is testing beacon bag tags to track baggage in the terminal but also airside in the baggage handling system and at arrival. By leveraging the same infrastructure as the one used for the airport mobile application, baggage can be precisely located in real time.

Exploring different and ambitious applications is what makes SITA Lab’s work so exciting. The team is given license to truly push the boundaries and ensure that SITA’s customers continue to benefit from the latest available technology.

source : http://tinyurl.com/h2c7bmk

The Airport Beacon Revolution

Karima Kouidri — Fri, 19 Aug 2016 11:51:07 +0000

The Airport Beacon Revolution – Digital Marketing News This Week

Undertaking a major redevelopment of airport facilities is one thing, but doing so in a live environment while minimising any negative impact on the customer experience is an altogether different challenge. This is something that Barbara Yamamoto, Chief Experience Officer for Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA), knows well. After all, she is ultimately responsible for spearheading a positive guest experience in collaboration with the airport community while $8.5 billion is invested in transforming Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) into one of the world’s best.

Yamamoto is charged with overseeing the ‘LAXceptional Xperience’ programme, which is all about providing travellers with an efficient, hospitable and memorable airport experience at LAX. “This initiative was launched last year – we realised that we’d spent a lot of time and energy focused on the facilities and infrastructure, but that by itself doesn’t really ensure that LAX is providing the exceptional experiences that our guests deserve on a consistent basis,” she explained to FTE.

LAWA’s customer-centric vision

At the heart of this programme is a desire for everyone in the airport community – all stakeholders and staff members in the service delivery chain – to share in a common customer-centric vision. This includes everything from services and amenities that guests want and need, efficient processes and procedures, modern terminal design, communications that put the guests in control of their journey, high-tech innovations, and, of course, people interactions that make guests feel valued and appreciated.

Members of the Guest Experience team play a crucial role in delivering a high-level customer experience for travellers passing through LAX.

“At the airport, we are the first and last impression of Los Angeles,” Yamamoto stated. “However, we’re not the boss of everyone at the airport – we’re the boss of 3,000 out of 50,000 airport staff and we know we have to look at ourselves first. So we’re looking internally and starting at base level with surveys just to find out where we really are.” On this front, participation in the ACI ASQ survey is enabling the airport to benchmark itself against other airports around the world, while a guest satisfaction survey is being used to gather valuable feedback. Training courses and performance management tools, such as mystery shopping, will also be used to help create consistent standards across the airport.

“With the training, this is airport wide,” Yamamoto said. “We’re starting with our folks first – those that have guest contact – and then we’ll branch out to contractors that are providing our product; people like the shuttle bus operators and parking lot attendants. Then it’ll be even wider, working with airlines, concessionaires, the TSA, CBP and others. Eventually, the goal is that everybody is providing exceptional experiences on an ongoing and consistent basis.”

Yamamoto explained that staff members across the LAX campus have responded well to the programme, and even traffic officers are now locked in friendly competition as they try to outperform one another from a customer experience perspective. “The great thing is everyone is not just looking at their own role, but the airport as a whole,” she added.

Investing in new technology

Complementing this customer service programme is an ongoing investment in new technology, which LAWA sees as a crucial element of achieving its aim to provide an enviable customer experience. Yamamoto meets with the LAWA Innovation Team on a regular basis to keep up-to-date with the latest developments. For example, a total of 100 automated passport control (APC) kiosks have been installed in the Tom Bradley International Terminal and Terminal 2 to help to reduce queues.

“For us, technology innovation is a huge part of the guest experience,” Yamamoto explained. “One thing we’re really focusing on is the informed guest – the airport experience doesn’t just start when you get to the airport, it starts when you’re planning your trip. I think it’s a balance – you need both [technology and face-to-face-service]. We have such a diverse group of customers. Some people only want technology – they don’t want to talk to anybody, they don’t need to talk to anybody. Then there are those who don’t travel very often and need that added assurance. You’re always going to need that balance.”

Meeting evolving passenger needs

With so many separate development projects ongoing across LAX, Yamamoto and her team are playing a vital role in ensuring that a modernised airport isn’t delivered at the expense of a positive guest experience. “I think we’ve been so focused on the facilities part that people assumed that the customer service part would come along, but it really does need to be something that’s strategic and planned,” she explained. So far, the impact of the LAXceptional Xperience programme has been hugely positive and although Yamamoto explained that LAWA is only at the beginning of its guest experience journey, from what she has seen so far she is convinced that it is having the desired effect.

“Before you never used to hear people say I actually had fun at the airport or I saw something kind of cool at the airport. This is what we want to achieve,” Yamamoto said. When asked what the end goal is, she simply stated: “The reality is it’s never going to be done – there are always going to be higher and higher expectations as our guests’ needs continue to evolve.”

source : http://tinyurl.com/jzej36s

Airlines and Airports Are Beaconizing

Karima Kouidri — Tue, 16 Aug 2016 17:13:10 +0000

At Your Service: Airlines and Airports Are Beaconizing for Better Perks

Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines and Virgin Atlantic are among the airlines using beacon technology to enhance the passenger experience. Image via Estimote

APEX Insight: The widespread use of beacon technology may not have fully caught on yet, but several airlines and airports are exploring their service potential in clever ways. As Rio de Janeiro’s RIOgaleão–Tom Jobim International Airport uses beacons to guide Olympians and spectators through its recently unveiled South Pier, Cathay Pacific is exploring new ways of interacting with its customers via beacon technology.

As the Rio 2016 Olympics unfold, RIOgaleão Airport has had to accommodate an unprecedented number of travelers. A network of 3,000 newly installed beacons and a complementary app with wayfinding features are guiding Olympic hopefuls and supporters through the airport’s recently unveiled South Pier, a 100,000-square-meter extension to Terminal 2.

Cathay Pacific’s flagship first- and business-class lounge at San Francisco International Airport offers visitors more than just a taste of Hong Kong. The choice between dan dan mian or fish ball noodle soup and more at the carrier’s signature noodle bar, or fresh daily menus from the deli counter, the self-service buffet or the Italian coffee bar, is enough to overwhelm even the most ravenous of travelers. So, to help the hungry choose their fare, Cathay enlisted beacon technology.

In July last year, the airline partnered with LoungeBuddy, an airport lounge app, to bring information to travelers’ fingertips. Those who downloaded the app would receive tailored information as they entered the lounge, delivered through the lounge’s iBeacon network. “Once the [visitors] entered the lounge, they were able to find out details about the day’s food and beverage offerings,” explains Robecta Ma, vice-president of Marketing, Americas, Cathay Pacific.

“Once the [visitors] entered the lounge, they were able to find out details about the day’s food and beverage offerings.” — Robecta Ma, Cathay Pacific

Over the 60-day trial period, the airline logged more than 300 views from the iBeacon platform. “We saw a great deal of positive mentions across traditional and social media about our partnership,” Ma says, adding that based on the success, the airline is actively looking for other opportunities to use the technology. “Beacon technology can pre-emptively bring in detailed real-time information about a place that would otherwise be seen as ordinary. It opens up doors, experiences and opportunities for brands to interact with the public.”

“Beacon technology can pre-emptively bring in detailed real-time information about a place that would otherwise be seen as ordinary.” — Robecta Ma, Cathay Pacific

Cathay Pacific is not the first to experiment with beacon technology, and it likely won’t be the last. Several carriers, including Japan Airlines and Virgin Atlantic, have leveraged beacon technology to provide travelers with real-time flight and boarding information. Taking a few cues from retail settings, Hamburg Airport launched a customer loyalty program, offering shoppers “yoints” for spending time in the airport’s central retail area. Points earned could either be exchanged in shops or donated to charity. In 2013, American Airlines tapped into beacon retail potential as well by offering travelers seat upgrades at airports.

Perhaps beacons could even be used to facilitate the bring-your-own-entertainment trend. In 2014, Grolsch launched a campaign where the opening of a beer bottle in range of a beacon would unlock access to a movie. Rights and licensing aside, it’s not hard to imagine beacon-enabled movie downloads taking off in the airport setting.

This story was originally published as “Beacons, At Your Service” in the June/July issue of APEX Experience magazine.

source : http://tinyurl.com/z3br4ln

Nice Cote d’Azur Airport puts services at passengers’ fingertips

Karima Kouidri — Mon, 15 Feb 2016 17:55:21 +0000

SITA’s beacon technology delivers location-specific information through new airport app

Nice Côte d’Azur Airport

is leveraging SITA’s beacon technology to put personalized information at passengers’ fingertips through the airport’s new multifunctional app. The new app was launched to coincide with the recent opening of Nice Côte d’Azur Airport’s refurbished Terminal 1 retail area and will also support the refurbishing of the commercial area of Terminal 2 in 2016.

Nice Côte d’Azur Airport is leading the way by using SITA’s beacons and Common Use Beacon Registry to provide passengers at the airport with real-time, relevant information each step of the way. With beacons installed throughout the terminal, passengers who are using Nice Côte d’Azur Airport’s app will also receive retail information and offers relevant to their specific location. The Airport Premier Club passengers using the app will automatically earn points as they pass through the Airport.