Hamad International Airport (HIA) has exhibited cutting-edge technology providing visitors unique opportunity to experience the ‘Smart Airport’ passenger journey at the ongoing Qitcom Exhibition and Conference.
HIA is the official sponsor for this year’s annual digital event, which is Qatar’s biggest, connecting smart technology with international expertise, industry specialists, key government decision makers, innovators and entrepreneurs. Under the theme of ‘Qatar — towards a Smarter Future’, Qitcom 2017 brings together a diverse ecosystem of stakeholders from all sectors to exchange ideas and collaborate towards achieving the vision of a smarter Qatar.
A “digital transformation programme” is currently underway at HIA to ensure that it continues to set benchmarks in customer experience, while continuously improving efficiency, safety and security.
Underpinning the transformation are some of the most innovative and leading-edge technologies. As the official sponsor of Qitcom 2017, HIA has carefully chosen the opportunity to showcase how its Smart Airport Programme is transforming the passenger journey; and to launch its new smartwatch app and augmented reality offering, which will enable visitors to discover the unique art exhibits on display at HIA. HIA Chief Operating Officer Badr Mohamed al-Meer said, “Strategic investments in technology are at the heart of our mission to continuously improve efficiency and to provide great customer experience. At Qitcom, we are demonstrating how technology is being used by HIA to become the ‘connected’ airport of the future.”
Visitors to HIA’s exhibition have an opportunity to experience the Smart Airport concept first-hand through a simulated journey.
At the beginning of the journey, each visitor is given a smartphone, a smart watch and travel information and encouraged to experience unassisted interaction at various airport touch points, including self-check-in, self-bag-drop, immigration/border control, e-gate and self-boarding gate; while observing how the airport measures its service levels in real-time.
The simulated journey also showcases HIA’s unique beacon-enabled mobile app, which provides live flight notifications, turn-by-turn navigation and information of ongoing retail offers.
Senior HIA executives at the event. From left: Hareb Ibrahim al-Mohannadi (office manager), Abdulaziz al-Mass, vice-president (Commercial and Marketing), Badr Mohamed al-Meer, chief operating officer, Suhail Kadri, vice-president (IT), Saeed Yousef al-Sulaiti, vice-president (Security), Gaush Mohamed, manager (Business Systems).
