Dubai: Redesigning airport processes with brevity in mind may hold the key to making travellers’ experience more enjoyable, an official said on Wednesday.
Thani Abdullah Al Zaffin, Director-General and Board-Member of Emaratech, said: “Even with technologies adapted, [airports] still do not meet travellers’ expectations.”
He was speaking at the Future of Borders Conference in Dubai, where he announced the launch of a new system “Eyen”, which performs simultaneous document and iris scans to quickly verify travellers’ identities at border gates.
Shaikh Ahmad Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President of Dubai Civil Aviation and Chairman and Chief Executive of Emirates airline and Group, officially launched the Eyen system in a ribbon-cutting at the start of the conference.
“Eyen, which means guard, sight, noble and people of the region in the Arabic language, and means sight and vision in English, has been integrated in the new intelligent travel gate, which will be launched soon,” Al Zaffin said. “The system also maintains highest level of security using the latest iris recognition technology, which has an average acquisition speed of up to two seconds.”
Al Zaffin also revealed plans to implement a smartphone app, which will act as a passenger guide through the airport processes, and a security trolley, which saves passengers the hassle of unpacking metals and electronics at security checks.
“We have to think from a passenger’s perspective when thinking about innovation at airports,” he said, “a traveller’s experience at the airport begins at the parking lot. Generally, periods of waiting unnerve passengers the most. The trick is to turn unoccupied time, by occupied time.”
“Emaratech is investing in a new passenger smartphone app, which acts as an indoor guide through the airport processes leading up to boarding. It will give them a step by step outline and checklist of what they need to do while at the airport. It will have a tracking system so as to ensure they stay on course,” Al Zaffin added.
He further said that most passengers do not mind having their smartphone tracked while at the airport, saying that “a recent study shows that 53 per cent of the US travellers readily allow airports to track their phone.”
He also emphasised on the need to deal with bottlenecks in airport traffic at security scanning stations. “It can get really annoying for a passenger to unpack his/her laptop, coins, and belts to pass through a security station. We are investing in a security trolley, which allows passengers to simply walk through the check points at the airport without having to go through the hassle of unpacking and unloading.”
He noted that the introduction of the security trolley would increase the number of passengers passing from security point from 250 passengers per hour to 400. “Dubai Airports is the busiest airport in the world and it is only expected to become busier with the coming years.”
Al Zaffin pointed out that it was imperative to make processes at the airport as succinct as possible, especially with the expected growth in it. “Who recalls the time when there were separate queues for different processes such as eye scans. We are trying to introduce brevity to certain processes that will be efficient for both authorities and travellers. It now takes about 45-60 seconds to go through immigration counters and 30 seconds to go through the smart gates.”
