Hamad International Airport (HIA) has announced its participation at the Qatar IT Conference & Exhibition 2019 (Qitcom) as an official sponsor of the biannual event.
In line with Qitcom’s theme this year, ‘Safe, Smart Cities’, HIA plans to demonstrate the second phase of its Smart Airport technology by inviting the public to its exhibition booth to experience paperless airport travel first-hand for the first time in Qatar.
During the event, HIA will also demonstrate the use of robotics for passenger facilitation. The event is set to take place from October 29 to November 1 at the Qatar National Convention Centre (QNCC).
HIA is showcasing its break-through Smart Airport technology to the public by displaying its five self-service touchpoints consisting of; self-check-in, self-bag-drop, pre-immigration, airport wayfinding touch screen and self-boarding, all of which are biometric enabled.
HIA’s major digital transformation of the passenger journey, through facial biometric recognition across all five key passenger touchpoints, attests that HIA “is truly the airport of the future, whilst committing to ensure operational excellence.”
HIA’s second phase of the Smart Airport technology, currently under trial, is a central piece of the airports digital strategy and combines passengers’ flight, passport, and facial biometric information in a single electronic record at the self-check-in kiosk or mobile app.
Subsequently, only the passenger’s face is required for verification at the self-service bag-drop, automated security gate, and the automated boarding gate.
This promotes a paperless travel for passengers without the need to present their passports and boarding passes, making the experience fast and seamless.
HIA chief operating officer, engineer Badr Mohamed al-Meer, said: “We are excited to be participating at Qitcom 2019. This event is a fantastic platform for knowledge-sharing between sectors in Qatar, and a great opportunity for HIA to showcase to the public its continued investment in cutting-edge smart technologies, to provide passengers a seamless experience, fuelled with choice and flexibility.
HIA will also show to the public the exciting use of robotics for passenger facilitation and ensure a faster journey and enjoyable travel experience.”
Biometric Identity Management is also a vital piece of HIA’s digital strategy, functioning to serve the terminal’s strategic priorities such as the improvement of customer experience, terminal capacity, and its security.
Knowledge of exactly where the passengers are in their journey at the airport will also aim to help further improve the renowned on-time departure performance at HIA and champion its Smart Airport programme as a leading global transformation in airports. The successful completion of the first major phase of HIA’s Smart Airport programme has proven to be extremely popular, with up to 40% of the home carrier Qatar Airways’ passengers preferring to self-check-in; and a further 20% opting for self-bag-drop.
The swift process vastly improves customer experience and allows more passengers to be managed without physical expansion of the check-in facilities. HIA’s continued efforts and investment in cutting-edge technology through its Smart Airport programme are recognised through its awards and accolades.
The airport ranked the world’s ‘4th Best Airport’ by Skytrax 2019 and was named the ‘Best Airport for Passenger Experience’ for the second consecutive year in a study by AirHelp.
