“Travelers are telling the industry loud and clear: the more they are subjected to clunky and inefficient processes, the more likely they are to consider other options. They demand that the industry offer the same digital options they use in their daily lives to make travel easier.
As the industry pushes for a seamless travel experience, boosting efficiency and digitisation, it is vital that passenger expectations are understood.
SITA’s 2023 Passenger IT Insights report, released earlier today looks at the evolving landscape of passengers expectations and technology adoption, providing a useful guide as aviation continues to invest in digitising the travel experience.
SITA 2023 Passenger IT Insights
Here are twelve key findings from the report:
- Passengers are increasingly comfortable using technology and demanding new services during travel.
- Rates of technology adoption are on the rise at each stage of the journey with 92 per cent of passengers using booking tech in 2023.
- The two areas showing the biggest increases in technology adoption this year have been dwell time (+7 per cent) and check-in (+6 per cent).
- The use of mobile devices has grown steadily over the years and travellers rely more on mobile apps for booking and connectivity during dwell time and on board.
- Areas like baggage handling and border control lag behind in the availability of technology and passenger comfort levels with its use.
- Boarding, security, and identity verification remain the three areas where average comfort levels are highest when it comes to the use of biometrics – Boarding (7.59), security (7.57), and identify verification (7.42) out of 10.
- Passengers want to see better flight options and more automated checks before arriving at the airport, enabling them to arrive at the airport ready to fly.
- Three in four passengers expect to book intermodal trips in the coming year, with growing interest in technology to streamline processes such as baggage handling across the entire journey.
- When identifying valuable smart solutions on an intermodal journey, 33 per cent expressed desire for a feature enabling them to drop off their baggage at the journey’s start point and have it seamlessly delivered to the destination.
- Sustainability initiatives have grown in importance to passengers in 2023.
- Despite playing a key role in the passenger decision-making process, sustainability may not influence their decision to travel more.
- At the booking stage, passengers have indicated that the primary source of anxiety is now flight delays and cancellations.
Expressing confidence in the industry’s investment in digitisation, David Lavorel, CEO, SITA said:
As the industry looks to ramp up spending on technology, they can rest assured that passengers will welcome automated, self-service options in the airport. It will also help airlines and airports grow without sacrificing the passenger experience.
With the demand for travel looking strong and the industry committed to technological advancement, the findings of this report will help to keep the industry at the forefront of innovation whilst prioritising passenger expectations.
For more like this see:
- A summary of the Evolution of Airports report
- Four big picture take aways from the SITA sustainability report
- The alarming state of airline innovation: A summary of LIH’s report
