Hamad International Airport has always been at the forefront in setting the standard for modern day airport experience ever since its launch in May 2014. Stepping up this experience, Qatar’s aviation hub has launched the second phase of its innovative Smart Airport program which sets to initiate an exciting major digital transformation of the passenger journey through facial biometric recognition across all key passenger touch points.
Making the experience fast and seamless, only the passenger’s face is required for verification at the self-service bag-drop, automated security gate, and the automated boarding gate. The system, currently under trial, is a central piece of HIA’s 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.
The first phase of HIA’s Smart Airport program proved to be hugely popular, with up to 40 percent of passengers travelling on Qatar Airways preferring to self-check-in and a further 20 percent 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. It also empowers HIA passengers by offering total control of their journey from arrival to departure.
Qatar’s aviation hub has been ranked as the Fourth Best Airport in the World at the Skytrax World Airport Awards 2019. HIA has also once again been ranked as a five-star Airport and was honoured with the title of ‘Best Airport in the Middle East’ for the fifth year in a row and ‘Best Staff Service in the Middle East’ for the fourth year in a row.
The awards recognize HIA’s commitment to the highest environmental standards, responsible business practices, innovative facilities, five-star customer service and state-of-the-art terminal which accommodates more than 30 million passengers annually.
HIA’s Smart Airport program is helping optimize operational processes. The Service Delivery Measurement system enables real-time monitoring of passenger wait times, thus allowing tactical decisions to recover service levels by deploying additional resources when the wait time exceeds targets.
The Airport Collaborative Decision Making platform, once fully operational, will enable more effective collaboration between all airport stakeholders to optimise flight turn around processes, further improving HIA’s efficiency and on-time performance.
HIA’s Chief Operating Officer Engr Badr Mohammed Al Meer said: “In line with our vision and strategic plan, we continue to invest in customer-centric innovative technology to provide fast, seamless and enjoyable travel experience to be the airport of choice for our discerning customers.
“Our approach to identity management is unique and holistic, in that we foresee wide-scale deployment of biometric capability across both mandated and voluntary passenger touch points while addressing customer data privacy concerns in line with relevant local and international regulations.”
Qatar’s award-winning airport remains focused on redefining the airport experience, from its implementation of cutting-edge technology, strategic expansion plan and operational excellence that makes HIA the airport of choice for millions of passengers around the world.
