Easing the Growing Pains at Airports: Shared Use Kiosks

Ghost-written article for Catherine Mayer, senior director of Marketing, SITA Airport & Desktop Services.
Published in International Airport Review magazine, Europe, September 2001.

The ever-increasing demand for air travel poses a problem for airport operators. Even with shared use technologies such as common-use terminal equipment (CUTE), baggage solutions and resource management systems, airports may still need to find more space, or eventually resort to expansion of their departure halls or construction of terminal buildings. Unfortunately, the planning process for construction is often a long and drawn-out one, leaving airports feeling the pain of growing traffic demands.

Fortunately, new technology is now available to help ease congestion problems being felt by airports. A quick and easy way to increase passenger handling using little airport space is by introducing common use self-service (CUSS) check-in kiosks. In addition, these kiosks can be used for other passenger services such as wayfinding, airport or city information and shopping - reducing the need for airport personnel to staff information booths.

Of course with all new technologies there are issues, and airports are as keen as the rest of the industry to see those related to the shared use service kiosks tackled as quickly as possible. CUSS kiosks are still so new that various vendors are at different levels of development. It is important that the air transport industry recognises the essential need for industry-wide standards and adheres to them when it comes to creating a basis for any IT application and platform. Fortunately the International Air Travel Association (IATA) and Airport Council International (ACI) have stepped in to ensure such technical and management standards are created and maintained for the good of the industry.

IATA, ACI and SITA have been working with other vendors, airlines, and airports to help craft these standards which should be finalised by year end. Testing of the SITA CUSS kiosks will take place in Toronto, Canada, where SITA is working with the Greater Toronto Airport Authority this fall. This is the first trial in an airport environment since SITA acquired existing kiosk technology from Northrup Grumman Canada, who previously tested kiosks at Amsterdam Schiphol airport. The difference with the Toronto trial is that the industry will benefit from testing not only various airline applications operating concurrently, but also from observing the first CUSS trial operating in a wireless environment.

In addition to the need for technical standards, the other main concern with kiosk use at airports is to ensure that the new technology suits both airports’ and airlines' objectives when it arrives. The danger is that a 'chicken and egg' situation will materialise where airports won't invest in a shared use kiosk infrastructure until they are certain airlines are keen to use it, and airlines won't purchase CUSS kiosks until they are assured the compatible infrastructure is in place to support them. However, SITA is working with both parties to ensure that there is sufficient buy-in from both sides to make kiosks a success. From one perspective, the airports will be able to use the existing SITA CUTE shared use infrastructure for kiosks as well its wireless local area network (WLAN) - AirportConnect Wireless with enhanced 802.11 security - to support the infrastructure requirements and reduce costs. From the other perspective SITA supports the airlines' needs simultaneously and has collaborated with American Airlines in particular. This provides a mutual advantage in that both American Airlines and SITA will hit the ground running as soon as the new IATA standard is approved.

Finally there is potential for dispute between airlines and airports regarding the kind of kiosk that will be most used by passengers. Like check-in desks, airlines are most likely to prefer dedicated kiosks whereas airports need the flexibility of CUSS kiosks for multiple airlines. The most likely result is a happy medium, where airlines use dedicated kiosks until such a time when the CUSS kiosks are fully certified and accepted by both airports and airlines. This is ideal for all concerned because it helps introduce this new form of check-in to passengers. Then in time the CUSS kiosks can replace the dedicated ones and be used for all airlines - even new, charter and itinerant carriers. The CUSS kiosks can be customised with form, graphics and sound to maintain brand integrity of individual airlines or alliances, and airports gain additional check-in space with little construction or cost. Even if an airline does not have its own application SITA can develop one easily, making this truly a 'one for all and all for one' solution.

In the beginning there is likely to be a novelty element for passengers, who for the first time will be able to upgrade their seats, change their preferences, and of course check-in at great speed with little or no need for help from airport personnel. However, in time the kiosk in the airport is likely to be perceived similarly to the ATM at a bank - quick, convenient, and able to be used by any passenger at their convenience. At no time is this more pertinent for the airport operator than when the airport traffic is increasing, particularly as the kiosks can be positioned wherever the operator needs to drive passenger traffic to maintain flow around the airport and avoid congestion. In fact, kiosks alone may be able to deal with incremental capacity increases and help to alleviate growing pains before the airport even has to consider starting nervously down the road to construction.

Catherine Mayer is senior director of marketing for SITA's Airport and Desktop Services division, as well as vice-chairperson for the associates' board of the Airports Council International North America (ACI-NA). She is the primary liaison for industry organisations, ensuring SITA's availability and support for committees, conferences and industry missions. Additionally she is responsible for bid management and solution design at SITA, as well as the completion of training and technical documentation. She has worked in the air transport industry for 23 years, and is based in San Francisco. Catherine can be reached on airports@sita.int