The Evolution and the Future of Airport

What makes Comarch a superior expert of the IT industry is the ability of envisioning the future direction of the technological development, its arising opportunities and created  business needs. This capability is based on our knowledge and the skill of extrapolating the trends by analysing the reality,  tendency of changes and building our innovative solutions in reference to these conclusions. A prime example of this mechanism is our Smart Airport which is a response to the remarkable transformation of the airport space through the years.

Original Function

In the very beginning, in the years of pioneering aviation, airports served purely a utilitarian and protective purposes. From that form, a traditional airport model started to emerge, that besides the objectives of safety and efficiency had a convenient yet limited infrastructure. Nowadays this basic standard still exists and includes essential operational spots such as check–in gates, boarding area as well as a  limited amount of food vendors and shopping area. Although, this arrangement is efficient and fulfils its business function, it does not grant any additional elements of a unique character that could be beneficial for the customer and that could serve as a market differentiator much needed in the era of an extremely competitive airline business. Thus, as a result of a naturally appearing market demand, a scheme of an advanced airport has developed with the mission to enhance the passenger experience by   providing a plethora of added services and facilitations.

Our Solution

Comarch, as a wise professional, took this progress into the consideration while designing loyalty solutions for the travel sector. Therefore it was chosen as a loyalty provider by the London Heathrow Airport. This global hub is not only the busiest airport in Europe by passenger traffic, serving 180 destinations in 90 countries, but more importantly, it has a reputation of having particularly high standards of  the customer service along with an extensive range of retail outlets, a myriad of restaurants and even special events. Since Heathrow sets an amazing example of a highly optimized management and customer oriented inclinations, it perfectly coincides with Comarch’s modern take on their Heathrow Rewards program with generous point assigning, attractive bonuses, motivating rewards, premium tiers and overall- a versatile and engaging loyalty approach.

Moreover, we already incorporated a fusion of cutting-edge technology such as Internet of Things, Location Based Services (LBS), Beacons and Mobile Applications, that will surely constitute the next stage of the transformation forming the core of the future airport concept. These innovations coordinated with each other allow for gathering and analysing customer data in order to secure targeted communication, and personalised passenger experience. Accompanied with an outstanding loyalty platform and engagement mechanisms it adds up to be a truly smart airport approach with a customer centric priority.

Future Airport

The visionary idea predicts that over the course of time conventional airports will morph into Aerotropolis – an airport centred urban environments that are fully integrated with the smart technology and maximise the benefits of airports, local businesses and transportation. The compatibility with the city and growth of  the non-aeronautic revenue will reinforce coalition programs such as Thanks Again (of whose strategic investor is Comarch). We believe that we will seize the opportunities that will arise with these changes and  thanks to our dedication, knowledge and constantly enhanced offer we will continue to reinforce our position in the loyalty management industry.