Today’s travellers have numerous ways to check in for their flight: on a computer or mobile, at a kiosk or desk, or outside of the airport. This has seen long queues at airport check-in desks dramatically shorten, but has also necessitated the installation of various systems and expensive infrastructure, which ultimately all serve the same purpose.
To address this, Hong Kong International airport and Amadeus have collaborated to deploy the world’s first battery- powered movable check-in kiosks, called iCUSS, with both a self-service and full-service mode, making the check-in process as efficient, flexible and cost-effective as possible.
The cloud-based mobile kiosks are powered by Amadeus’ common use technology and can be deployed quickly and relocated to enable self-check-in by the traveller or full-service operations by airport staff. The self-service ‘SmartCheck’ application enables travellers to access any airline from any kiosk, to check-in, validate their travel documents, pick their seat, and print bag tags and boarding passes.
The use of swappable batteries, Wi-Fi or 3G/4G connections and sturdy wheels, means the kiosks can be used around the terminal and can also be moved off-site to allow check-in at train platforms, hotels, or any other location from which people will be travelling to the airport.
The airport also stands to gain, as the cloud-based technology of the kiosk eliminates expensive network costs for both the airport and its 100 airline customers.
Vivian Cheung, Deputy Director of Airport Operations, Airport Authority Hong Kong, said: “With an increasing number of passengers and infrastructure constraints at the airport, we now need a more sustainable way to check-in passengers faster and from anywhere… We look forward to working with Amadeus to significantly reduce passenger process times, save airlines resources, and free up space in the terminal – and together we hope to extend this to other airports and set a new check-in standard in the airport industry.”
Sarah Samuel, Head of Airport IT Sales, Asia Pacific, at Amadeus, added of the co-operation: “Through this partnership, we will provide innovative technology that makes better journeys for all travellers flying through Hong Kong International airport.”
