Riyadh’s new King Salman Worldwide Airport will likely be among the many world’s greatest when it opens in 2030 and is a key improvement within the rise of Saudi Arabia’s air transport sector. On this interview, forward of her participation on the co-located FTE EMEA and FTE Ancillary & Retailing occasions (Dublin, 11-13 June 2024), Linda Schucroft, Vice President Innovation and Buyer Expertise, shares particulars of King Salman Worldwide Airport’s give attention to world-class expertise and first-to-market AI-powered platforms to customize and improve the client expertise.
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Schucroft is talking on the co-located FTE EMEA and FTE Ancillary & Retailing occasions in a session titled ‘New methods of considering to drive distinctive and provoking buyer experiences – inspiration from business leaders & disruptors in parallel sectors’.
“At King Salman Worldwide Airport, we’re designing our airport with the client in thoughts with every part we do,” Schucroft begins. “We’re at the moment within the early idea design stage of our masterplan, and one of many first artefacts we labored on and finalised, as a customer-centric organisation, is figuring out the personas of our airport. Our architects and engineers are utilizing this as a reference level for every part we do. Our aim is to remodel aviation, one of many methods we will likely be doing that is via customised journeys for our passengers. Most airports supply two distinct experiences – enterprise and financial system. We recognise that individuals have totally different wants relying on the aim of their journey and who they’re travelling with. Subsequently, we will likely be introducing a brand new idea the place these experiences will likely be tailor-made to all of our passengers in each the bodily and digital worlds, creating distinctive experiences customised to their wants.”
The airport just isn’t solely specializing in the bodily act of designing and developing buildings and runways, but additionally the digital aspect from infrastructure to expertise. “We can have world-class expertise and first-to-market AI-powered platforms to customize and improve the client expertise,” says Schucroft.
King Salman Worldwide Airport is predicted to be one of many greatest on the planet, with an space of 57 sq. kilometres and 6 parallel runways. It should accommodate as much as 120 million passengers by 2030 and 185 million by 2050. As well as, an airport metropolis will likely be developed, incorporating a number of varieties of belongings, together with residential, hospitality, retail, leisure, workplace, logistics, and industrial. The ambition is for the airport and airport metropolis to be a vacation spot for each passengers and non-passengers.
Distinctive partnership with Riyadh Air to “securely share information to considerably improve the passenger expertise”
Creating a brand new airport permits the liberty to suppose via and introduce human-centric expertise from the bottom up. Current airports face challenges when introducing issues like sensors, information sharing with concessionaires and bodily area constraints, which King Salman Worldwide Airport is ready to keep away from. “Our partnership with Saudi Arabia’s modern new airline, Riyadh Air, presents a novel alternative,” Schucroft explains. “Collectively, we are able to collaborate from the outset to tailor the passenger expertise, making a mannequin that advantages everybody. Historically, airways and airports share restricted information. By establishing core rules from the start, we are able to securely share information to considerably improve the passenger expertise.”
Whereas the time period ‘seamless’ will get used loads in our business, it’s the core precept for the brand new airport. “No airport has really achieved a seamless expertise, though some are doing nice work in the direction of this shared business imaginative and prescient,” says Schucroft. “With the opening of our iconic terminal, we purpose to be the primary to ship a very seamless expertise with our ambition of no queues and no stress – a novel airport expertise. In just a few years, we are going to unveil our first services, the personal aviation terminal and a low-cost service terminal – each designed to ship a best-in-class environment friendly expertise. We are going to minimise touchpoints wherever doable and streamline processes with out compromising safety or security.”
KSIA embracing AI, Robotics and IoT and getting ready for rising tech of the longer term
Artificlal Intelligence (AI), Robotics and Web of Issues (IoT) are the three key themes of the FTE Digital, Innovation & Startup Hub in 2024, and Schucroft explains that King Salman Worldwide Airport is embracing these cutting-edge applied sciences. “We will’t open a world-class airport with out utilizing all of these items. We’re setting the muse and constructing our digital infrastructure to not solely be capable of deal with AI, IoT, sensors, robots and autonomous movers, but additionally to deal with rising expertise of the longer term that we are able to’t even anticipate will likely be right here in 2040.”
Certainly, robotics and automation is among the many tech that Schucroft feels has the potential to actually rework the passenger expertise, corresponding to “autonomous individuals movers, the place you don’t need to suppose, you possibly can sit and expertise the journey and world round you and it might take you to your gate and eat, browse or store anyplace it is advisable in-between”.
“The use circumstances are infinite, with the obvious being for passengers with diminished mobility (PRMs), but additionally for any particular person or households with younger children,” Schucroft provides. “AI-powered platforms will bridge the hole between the bodily world and your journey expertise. Think about pre-ordering your favorite Starbucks drink or deciding on souvenirs for your loved ones the evening earlier than your journey, all via our platform. Upon arrival, these things will likely be ready for you, prepared for pick-up as you disembark. This eliminates pointless queues and allows you to give attention to having fun with your journey.”
FTE Dublin: “From the networking occasions to the chance to listen to from the business’s most modern leaders, the occasion guarantees to be really distinctive”
On the epicentre of the co-located FTE EMEA and FTE Ancillary & Retailing occasions are the FTE Innovate Awards. The area’s largest and most revered innovation competitors options three classes: Greatest New CX Idea, Most Modern Airline Initiative, and Most Modern Airport Initiative, and Schucroft is on the judging panel alongside Kevin Kleist, Senior Rising Traits Advisor, Southwest Airways, and Rohit Talwar, CEO, Quick Future.
Trade stakeholders will pitch on-stage in Dublin in an effort to impress our judges and viewers, whose all-important votes will determine who wins. “In my view it will be nice to see issues that assist what human beings are actually on the lookout for no matter their technology – they wish to be linked, they need data, choices, and at last they need to have the ability to make fast and sustainable choices inside a matter of seconds,” Schucroft feedback. “Options that assist sustainability, which is vital not simply to us as King Salman Worldwide Airport, however for the aviation business as a complete.” Trying forward, Schucroft is keen to take part within the co-located FTE EMEA and FTE Ancillary & Retailing occasions in Dublin in June. “FTE persistently delivers a unbelievable present. From the networking occasions to the chance to listen to from the business’s most modern leaders, the Dublin occasion guarantees to be really distinctive. And at last, having the ability to share the outstanding story of King Salman Worldwide Airport (KSIA) and HRH Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman’s imaginative and prescient for 2030, and illustrate how KSIA will function a platform to be a key driver of the imaginative and prescient, showcasing the perfect of Saudi Arabia to the remainder of the world.”
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