İGA, the operator of Istanbul New Airport, has revealed some details about its planned use of smart technology to improve the passenger experience.
The airport, 35km (22 mi.) north of Istanbul, is due to open by February 2018 with three runways and one terminal and a capacity of 90 million passengers a year.
Three more phases will see the passenger capacity reach 150 million passengers annually, extendable to 200 million. It will eventually have six runways and three terminals.
İGA believes that smart technology will dramatically change the way airports operate and passengers fly.
It visited advanced airports across the world to see the latest technologies in use and plans to use a number of them in the new airport, including:
- mobile app
- Internet of Things
- self service bag drop
- automated border control
- smart retail
- smart carpark
The company released a video on YouTube that actually shows passengers going to a check-in desk and using traditional staffed boarding with a paper boarding pass.
Mobile app
The İGA mobile app will provide information to passengers. It will also be used for campaign management with retailers and food & beverage outlets. Which sounds like passengers will be getting ‘offers’ on their mobiles for use at the airport.
Internet of Things (IoT)
Another key element is the Internet of Things to allow passengers to request and receive information relative to their location in the airport and give feedback in real-time. By knowing where the passenger is in the airport, employees can provide immediate assistance.
The Internet of Things will be used with big data to proactively manage passenger flow through the airport, providing a real-time view of queues at security, immigration and other touchpoints in the airport.
Passengers will also get this information through the mobile app.
Self service bag drop
Passengers will check-in online or at a kiosk, weigh their bags and use their boarding pass at the self bag tag kiosk to print their bag tag. They attach the tag themselves and take the bag to the designated bag drop zone where they have to input the bags into the baggage system.
The bag drop systems are coming from SITA and will track all bags throughout the airport from the opening day.
Automated border control
After completing the check-in process passengers with biometric passports can use automated border control (ABC) eGates at passport control.
Smart retail
The shops will use 3-D hologram systems, smart shopping carts with a charging function, mobile cash-registers and electronic customer profiling – no mention of how that works. A “Magic Mirror” application will allow passengers to see virtually how watches, clothes or make-up products will look on them without physically trying them on.
Parking
The car park will use automatic number plate recognition to register a car’s parking spot.
Motion detection technology will start video recording in case of movement detection such as crashes, robberies or inappropriate actions.
N.B. Image credit: igairport.com