AIRLINE passengers are
increasingly demanding
faster, more efficient
airport services, and there are
a number of developments in
the pipeline for SA airports.
According to Iata’s Global
Passenger Survey, 75% of
travellers want more selfservice
offerings. Iata aims to
have 27% of global passenger
traffic accessing fast travel
technology this year.
Unathi Batyashe-Fillis,
manager of communication
and brand management at OR
Tambo International Airport,
says: “OR Tambo International
has been involved in
discussions concerning a trial
on self-bag-drop services,
while Cape Town International
is set to conduct a trial on
self-boarding.”
The self-bag-drop service
lets passengers print their
own bag tags (either at home,
having checked in online, or
at a designated kiosk), place
their baggage at the bag-drop
unit and have it transported
via the conveyer belt to its
next destination. Once selfbag-drop
is rolled out at
Acsa’s airports, the company
will investigate whether a
single-step check-in and
bag-drop process would be
feasible.
Self-boarding enables
passengers to avoid long
queues by allowing them to
board the aircraft through an
automated set of boarding
gates where they are able to
swipe their boarding passes
and identification documents
themselves. The self-boarding
programme is still in its
developmental phase and
further details around how
the new technology will be
implemented are yet to be
revealed by Acsa.
The trial at OR Tambo is
expected to launch in October.
Unathi says if it proves
successful, the service will be
implemented across Acsa’s
airports. Cape Town’s selfboarding
trial is scheduled
to take place during the first
half of 2015, and will be
implemented between
2015 and 2016.
Local airlines are also
preparing to get on board
with these initiatives.
Spokesperson for SAA,
Tlali Tlali, says: “We are
already participating in the
discussions concerning
self-bag drop. We are also
looking into self-boarding,
which is expected to be well
received as it would allow
us to maximise technology,
something in line with
our strategy of promoting
efficiencies and improving
productivity.”
Marketing manager of
kulula.com, Shaun Pozyn,
agrees: “While there are still
some challenges, we remain
optimistic that we will be in a
position to implement some
of these products in the
future.”
Shaun adds that kulula
has already experienced
considerable success with its
self-service check-in, adding
that over half of the airline’s
clients now make use of
some form of self-service
check-in.
