4.0 Applications in Airport Experiential Processes
by İbrahim Abdi MOHAMED
The aviation sector is one of the rapidly evolving industries, continuing to develop day by day. Airport and airline businesses operating in the aviation sector use Industry 4.0 applications, also known as the fourth industrial revolution, to maintain their revenues and stay ahead of their competitors. Airport 4.0 applications consist of cloud computing, the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and cybersecurity. These applications allow airport and airline businesses to provide a better travel experience for passengers by integrating innovative systems during the different phases of travel, such as pre-flight, in-flight, and post-flight. By using these technologies, businesses can enhance passenger behavior and offer tailored services. Thus, Industry 4.0 applications provide significant benefits by saving time, reducing costs, and minimizing workloads for airport and airline operations.
Examples of 4.0 Applications in Airport Experiential Processes
Industry 4.0 and Wayfinding Application
Airports are naturally complex environments, and passengers who have never traveled before may find it difficult to navigate through them. To provide passengers with a more positive travel experience and help them adapt to innovations, airport businesses have developed a navigation application known as Way Finder. With this app, even first-time travelers can easily find crucial points like the gates where they will board their flights and baggage claim areas, without difficulty or wasting time. By using this new application, passengers can experience a more seamless travel process, ensuring a smoother journey.
Industry 4.0 and Ground Services Application
The aviation industry is one of those sectors where time management is critical. If a flight does not occur within the planned time frame, it can have negative impacts on both the airline company and its customers. During the time the plane remains on the ground, the airline incurs significant financial losses, and to eliminate this, there is a need for innovation to accelerate flight operations. In this process, the technology used by ground service staff plays a crucial role, as a ground service company needs to deliver effective performance to provide a good travel experience for both the airline and its customers. To simplify this process, ground service companies are incorporating new technologies into their services. For instance, a ground service company operating at Singapore Changi Airport uses augmented reality (AR) glasses. By leveraging the benefits of these glasses, staff can instantly access information about the cargo by simply glancing at it, rather than manually inspecting each cargo label, ensuring accurate and error-free loading.
Industry 4.0 and Cabin Services Application
The Hololens Application developed by Air New Zealand can understand passengers’ facial expressions during cabin duties using the Hololens application. This application, which enables passengers to understand their spiritual feelings, provides cabin crew with information about their general travel experience, how they should treat passengers when they receive this information, and how satisfied they were with their previous travels. Based on this information, cabin crew communicate with passengers in a way that suits their emotions and provide better service by eliminating the deficiencies that passengers have experienced in their previous trips. The main purpose of these applications is to provide a good travel experience to frustrated and angry passengers.
Industry 4.0 Check-in, Boarding and Passport Applications
We know that at airports, check-in, boarding and passport control points are almost the most crowded points. With developing technology, some airports have managed to reduce these crowded environments to a certain extent, although not completely, by taking advantage of technology. As it is known, when passengers arrive at the airport, they must have certain documents with them in order to be accepted on the flight. Time pressure becomes very important for both staff and passengers when checking these documents. Airports that keep pace with innovation have developed a smart tunnel application to eliminate this difficulty. Thanks to this application, passengers can pass all checks with only biometric recognition without bringing any documents with them. This practice, called hands in pockets, varies from airport to airport. With facial recognition, passengers complete the necessary operations for the flight within 18-20 seconds, thus increasing the satisfaction level of the passengers.
Industry 4.0 and Baggage Services Application
The aviation industry, with numerous airports and airlines, also serves a wide range of customers who require various services. Passengers do not want to encounter any issues with their valuables or the luggage they are carrying during their journey. Sometimes, an issue may arise where a carry-on bag is mistakenly considered as cabin luggage and does not fit into the cabin compartments. To prevent such situations, KLM Airlines has developed the KLM Cabin Bag Application, which can determine whether a bag should be considered cabin luggage when it is introduced into the system. Another important application is the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) system, which helps passengers track their lost luggage. If a passenger misplaces their bag, it can be difficult to locate where it was lost. To address this significant issue, airports and airlines have developed the RFID system, enabling them to quickly determine the exact location of the bag within the airport. The primary aim of this application is to ensure that passengers’ belongings are secure, thus providing them with a positive travel experience.
Using Autonomous Electric Vehicles (AGV)
In order to reduce labor load and cost expenses, some ground handling companies use driverless electronic vehicles. Ground handling companies can manage their time well by using AGV vehicles. AGV vehicles play an important role in the cargo loading and unloading phase of aircraft. While AGV vehicles carry loads from one point to another, they deliver the desired load to the desired point in approximately 10 minutes.
Automatic Parking Device
Düsseldorf Airport has developed an automatic parking device using advanced technology. Passengers do not want to miss their flights, and wasting time parking their vehicles when they arrive at the airport can cause a negative travel experience for passengers. To prevent this negative situation, Düsseldorf airport uses automatic parking robots. Robots scan the model and size of the vehicles and take them to a suitable parking position, while automatically recording the passengers’ flight information and offering a return service when the passengers want to use their vehicles again.
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