Airports survey finds Atlanta top of the table in passenger self-service
The explosive worldwide growth in passenger self-service is being led by the world's busiest airport, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta, where self-service check-in now stands at an industry-leading benchmark of 83.8% of passengers - almost double the global average of 44% at other major international airport hubs surveyed.
According to data released today by SITA at the Airports Council International - North America Annual Conference in Austin, Texas, self-service check-in at Atlanta has grown by 215% over the last four years and 82% of passengers also prefer self-service check-in options when available.
Atlanta also stands out when it comes to mobile phone check-in which is now at 4.2% of passengers compared to less than 1% last year. This is linked to the mass adoption of smart phones by travellers, with 45% of all Atlanta interviewees carrying a smart phone compared to 19.3% last year.
The 4th SITA/Air Transport World Passenger Self-Service Survey, takes an in-depth look at the attitudes and habits of a representative sample of the 232 million passengers who use Hartsfield-Jackson, Atlanta; Mumbai International, India; Charles de Gaulle, Paris, France; Moscow Domodedovo, Russia; Sao Paulo Guarulhos, Brazil; and OR Tambo International, Johannesburg, South Africa. The data is extracted from interviews with 2,193 passengers conducted at the departure gates earlier this year.
Online booking which was already at a peak of 73.4% last year in Atlanta grew to 76.7% this year compared with 63.7% worldwide among passengers using the six leading international hubs included in this year's survey.
The most dramatic growth is seen in Web check-in where actual usage now stands at 32% compared to just 7% four years ago. Kiosk check-in also continues to grow with actual usage now at 46% compared to 32% four years ago.
When asked in 2005 what they associated most with a pleasant trip, only 22% of the passengers interviewed in Atlanta mentioned "self-service facilities". Four years later, the percentage stands at 39.5%, well above the global average of 24.5%.
Passengers at Atlanta interviewed before their departure flights earlier this year, also expressed confidence in their "future frequent use" of further innovations in the area of passenger self-service such as mobile phone check-in (22%); remote bag drop (31%); SMS notification, (45%); kiosks to report lost baggage claims (26%); and self-service transfer desks (35%).
Hartsfield-Jackson, Atlanta, is the only airport to have featured in all four surveys to date which provide a unique multi-year view of the growth in passenger self-service at the nation's most popular airport.
Overall, SITA, the specialist provider of IT solutions to airlines and airports, found 20% growth in global adoption of self-service options over the last year and that passengers are demanding improvements in security screening and airport dwell times as they check in less baggage (down from 82% in 2008 to 75.7% this year).
Catherine Mayer, SITA's Atlanta-based Vice President for Airport Services, commented: "It is great to see an American airport leading the way for the air transport industry in these challenging economic times. Atlanta is showing by example how self-service can benefit both airlines and passengers. Self-service is now as much about convenience and choice for the consumer as it is about saving costs and maximising shared use of IT infrastructure for airlines and airports."
She added: "Atlanta is also very unique because it was the one international hub where we found 100% awareness of the availability of self-service check-in. Lack of awareness among passengers remains a major obstacle to adoption. Very significant numbers of passengers at airports surveyed in India, Brazil and South Africa, between 21% to 41% depending on the location, were unaware if self-service check-in was available to them or not. Atlanta has done a great job raising awareness and educating the public."
The SITA survey found that the main reason globally why passengers did not use the self-service check-in option was because they had bags which needed to be checked in. This was the case among 45.6% of those who did not use the self-service option in Atlanta on the day of the survey.
Mayer said: "The issue of simplifying bag drop for check-in baggage is being addressed by the industry through revised processes and we expect to see some of the benefits coming through in next year's survey. At the moment less than 25% of those surveyed had the experience of printing a bag tag which is a necessary stage of any efficient bag drop process.
"Another initiative worth expanding is that undertaken by Swissport and SITA at Zurich airport where the first common use bag drop counter has been introduced targeting all passengers travelling on the STAR Alliance airlines who can now save time by using the same bag drop counters."
Passengers flying on more than 100 different airlines and representing over 80 different nationalities were interviewed during April/June 2009 in this independent survey.
*A SITA sponsored ATW webinar on Passenger Self-Service Survey can be viewed at www.atwonline.com.
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