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TRANSCRIPT
Last year at Global Media Day, we said we were about to launch a new
initiative on the ‘Airport of the Future’.
We are now pleased to provide you with an update on this work, the
concepts defined, the growing industry momentum being created and the
work to come.
And as you’ll note we have a new name for the overall concept – NEXTT -
that is New Experience Travel Technologies.
As what we are doing is not just looking at the transformation of airports, we
are looking at transformation of the complete ground journey for all the
elements that currently move through the airport – the passenger, the
baggage cargo and of course the aircraft.
Airport transport is not just about the flight – it’s about the complete journey
from home to end destination and back home again, or from cargo
dispatcher to end recipient.
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Before we explain NEXTT, let’s recap on a couple of figures - very quickly.
This is in effect the problem statement.
Our forecasts predict there will be 7.2 billion passengers per annum by
2035, which is nearly 100% more than travelling today. Naturally, we wish
to ensure that all those who need and wish to travel can do so.
Similarly, the cargo industry needs to prepare to support growth
expectations: It is anticipated that by 2035, there will be 70% more
freighters flying, which is over 3000 cargo aircraft.
We not only need to serve an increasing volumes but these passengers and
cargo customers are, rightly, becoming increasingly impatient and have
more demanding expectations of the level of service they should receive.
Are we able to accommodate this if we continue on the same path of
infrastructure build as today?
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When we look at the top 100 airports, by passenger volume, we see nearly
all airports will need some sort of major infrastructure project within the next
decade.
But can we built infrastructure fast enough to meet the capacity demand –
remembering the issues related to planning approval and the costs or
complexity of building ever bigger and bigger airports.
Are the airports, when developing their infrastructure plans, really making
the best use of technology advancements and advanced processes?
We need a new way of looking at providing capacity - we need to ensure
we make the best use of technology and advanced processes and then
building the necessary infrastructure around that – not the other way round
as is largely done today.
And that’s why we in IATA are coordinating an industry effort to help
determine how the airport experience may change in the future and how
indeed the overall journey to and from airport will change to meet
technology innovation and customer expectations
Once again, air transport is not just about the flight – it’s about the complete
journey - home to destination
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So what do we see happening in the future … I’d like to run a short video to
introduce you to the collaborate effort IATA is undertaking.
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Click to watch video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SonBCZRAwuk
NEXTT - Let's build the journey of the future
A collaboration between IATA & ACI, NEXTT (New Experience Travel
Technologies) aims to develop a common vision to enhance the transport
experience for passengers and shippers that will guide industry investments
and help governments evolve regulatory framework.
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So NEXTT is the program we’ve launched… and you’ll all be hearing much
more about this in 2018 so please look out for this.
As you can see we are partnering with Airports Council International on this
and we already have a number of key airports already supporting the
activity through their initiatives - Dubai airports, London Heathrow airport,
Bangalore airport, Amsterdam Schiphol airport and Shenzhen airport.
And we also have a number of other, technology providers, innovators and
consultants who are very keen to join.
Now let’s hear more about the NEXTT themes and concepts.
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The New Experience Travel Technologies concepts fall primarily into three
focus areas:
Off – airport activities
- What can happen off-airport to facilitate earlier processing and offer
more customization.
Advanced processing
- How can advanced processing at the airport facilitate simpler, quicker
more coordinated and indeed customized passenger, cargo and
baggage clearance?
Interactive decision making
- Finally how can this all be pulled together to create that essential data
backbone and how can this be used
We’ll explain these 3 themes in a little more detail. But before I do -
It is important to note that we are not considering these themes and every
concept to be applied as a one-size fit for all airports – decisions will need
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Off – airport activities
The vision is that the majority of processes will occur "off-airport" in a
location that best suits the customer. This shall happen in both a virtual and
physical sense. For many processes, this is enabled by a digital
transformation. Activities that historically required a manual check could
now occur as a digital process. For those elements which will always
require a physical interface, distributed locations throughout cities could be
used. This will improve the convenience for customers and alleviates
pressure on processing at the airport.
We shall see changes in how you Shop & Book - more choices and
offerings that aren’t just limited to the booking of a flight.
Can we urge governments and authorities to embrace a digital revolution
such that Travel Authorization and Customs Controls can be managed
digitally from time of booking right through to arrivals? What role can
airlines and airports play to improve the data exchanges and minimize the
need for physical document checks at the airport? An optional pre-
clearance approach will be reassuring for customers and enables a risk-
based assessment of the physical checks required. Its great to see several
governments (including the USA, UK and Australian) are actively exploring
how they can facilitate these changes. Amsterdam Schiphol and the Dutch
government have a highly collaborative approach to solving issues at border
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control through their Digital Airport program. The project set-up and the attitude of
all involved not only is accelerating the process to implement changes but also
enables more options to be explored. Assumptions or preconceptions of what a
government will or won’t agree to do are avoided as the government are involved
in these discussions.
Most critically airports should be highly connected to the cities they serve. The
sector on an aircraft needs to become an integrated component of a complete
journey which may use several modes of transport (both traditional and new
innovative modes). The locations to drop off or collect cargo and baggage will be
numerous, secure, and convenient. Passenger can also commence their journey
from these secure entry gates within the city which provide access to multi-
modal connections straight to the airport, bypassing the need for processes within
the terminal building. We have been discussing the pod to plane concept with
Dubai Airport.
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Advanced processing
There remains great potential to further improve customer experience, bring
greater operational efficiency and increase safety and security with greater
use of the technology that exists today. The opportunities for automation
and robotics are numerous given the repetitive nature of many processes.
Travel processes are updated to use new technologies, reflecting and
enhancing the way of our daily lives. This creates attractive experiences for
all users, passenger and staff alike. This is not simply a matter of using new
technology to optimize legacy process but rethinking what actions are truly
needed or desired.
From a passenger perspective our ONE ID project is at the core of this. But
whether it is a person, bag, cargo shipment, vehicle or other – establishing
identity at a touchpoint should be efficient and friction-free. This requires
the technology to capture identity data and robust identity management
systems to authenticate the data captured. All of our partnering airports
have all trialed some components of ONE ID. It is noteworthy the difference
government strategy makes to this process. India’s national identity
program created an easier solution at Bangalore Airport. Although I should
swiftly add that the trials are all inclusive and have an alternative approach
for validating the identify of foreign passport holders.
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Passenger experience has undergone significant improvements with automation at
the core of this change:
Digital automation has made check-in functions invisible for many passenger.
Self-service equipment automates several other touchpoints at the airport. The
interface with passenger shall continue to reflect the level of automation in daily life
so that the experience feels exciting but convenient. Shenzhen airport have
explored the use of robots. Primarily at this stage for passenger information as
there is still some development required for these to completely be effective. The
robot could easily detect whether the passenger was speaking English or Chinese
but differentiating between Mandarin and Cantonese from a single passenger
question proved to be tricky.
Non-customer facing operations on the airport ramp and for cargo operations,
which have remained broadly the same for decades, will advance with automation.
BA together with Heathrow have been active in this area and you may spot a
driverless tugs doing the aircraft pushback. There are many other aspects being
considered for automation but more research and validation is required., It’s not
simply automation for the sake of it.
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Interactive decision making
Be it interactions between passenger, airlines and airport; baggage handler
and airline; or freight forwarder, airline and ground handler – better use of
data and communication is the key to optimizing airport operations.
Coordinating data sources, using distributed ledger technologies or cloud
applications should also allow customers to access real-time tracking of
flights, baggage and shipments, providing control and peace of mind. With
various initiatives underway, there is a need to demonstrate likely industry
level solutions and determine standardization needs.
The use of predictive modeling and artificial intelligence will enable swifter
real-time decisions using a wider array of data than could be performed by
any human. Awareness of the changes to a passenger’s journey or the
status or cargo or baggage will enable the airport to best address the needs
of all and airlines to optimize the decision-making across their whole
network.
Increasing our situational awareness is the first step – simply knowing that
you are accessing trusted, reliable real-time information is crucial. Without
using consistent definitions and creating an interface for information sharing,
the current confusion and frustration will only get worse. To check the status
for your flight, how many sources do you currently consult? An airline app?
an airport app? screens at the airport? And for good measure just google
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search too? Did they all provide the same response? Which one did you trust?
Of course we can then add to the pool of reliable information with smart tag,
sensor and connected device technology to track more than just the location of
your bag for example – perhaps its environmental conditions or border controls
status.
The real benefit of increasing the situational awareness and range of available
information comes from the decisions that can be made as a result. The
rationale for deploying more sophisticated real-time decision making tools is three-
fold: enabling great choice and flexibility for customers, driving optimum process
efficiency and triggering compliance, security or other checks on the basis of need
rather than a default
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Taking all these concepts what do we envisage the journey will be? On our
website you can explore the step by step journey for four key elements that
move through the airport today – passengers, their baggage, cargo and the
turnaround of an aircraft.
Its worth appreciating that this is not a static white paper or report nor some
science fiction - we shall be updating the content and our approach as
needed.
We are working closely with the airports that are already leading initiatives
and running trials proving the concepts identified in NEXTT. As we see the
progress and success of their trials, understand the business decisions they
make and as other technologies become available, we shall adjust our
visions. These ideas and the customer experience will continue to evolve,
reflecting and enhancing the way of our daily lives.
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So recap and perhaps use a different way of looking that this…
We do not think the current concept of airport design and build will be able
to best serve the future expectations of our passenger and cargo customers.
And we are concerned that the currently pace of build will only lead to more
slot constrained airports. We will be in risk of not being able to cater for the
growth projected for passenger and cargo markets.
There are many initiatives underway, including ones led by IATA, however,
in today‘s world these initiatives may be implemented in certain counties or
airports but their use would most probably remain siloed and/or fragmented.
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The NEXTT program looks at ways in how these indicatives can best link
together to maximize the value and experience to passenger and cargo
customers.
All to make sure we can make the best use of technology developments and
advanced processes.
In various cases we find the links are not easy for the optimum experience -
and revisions need to be made or new concepts are needed to fill identified
gaps
And the proof of concept of these integrations, the interlinks and gaps, is
what we are trailing with the partner airports. This will then be used to push
for development of necessary standards or regulatory approvals.
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This is where we are really going to be able to make the greatest strides…
The ability to migrate towards a common data platform or data backbone,
using distributed ledgers technologies, predictive modelling, AI and Open
Application Processing Interfaces, will radically facilitate the implementation
of NEXTT
Pulling everything together in a data highway which can be accessed by
authorized parties to link systems, provide situational awareness and make
real-time decisions to ensure service quality and efficiency is what will
change tomorrow journey.
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