With COVID-19 ravaging the aviation industry, airlines and airports worldwide are reining in costs and halting new spending, except in one area: reassuring pandemic-wary passengers about travel. World’s two busiest airports are adopting new ways for more and more contact-less travel to give passengers an extra layer of confidence. And, definitely they aren’t the only two.
London’s Heathrow airport has unveiled measures that reduce the risk of contracting or transmitting COVID-19 at the airport. The UK’s biggest front door and only hub airport have adopted the most extensive array of technology to protect passengers and colleagues, as the country readjusts to life post-lockdown. Across the Atlantic, DFW airport at Dallas in USA is working to roll out a self-check-in for luggage, and all of its restrooms will be entirely touchless by the end of July. The general belief is that under the new normal, it is going to be more and more around self-service. They will have hands-free sinks, soap, flushing toilets, and paper towel dispensers, which will be equipped with sensors to alert workers when supplies are low.
Home to American Airlines – Dallas is piloting three technology options for luggage check-ins: Amadeus’s ICM, SITA, and Materna IPS. DFW has become the world’s busiest airport, according to figures from travel analytics firm Cirium. Last year DFW rolled out biometric boarding — where your face is your boarding pass — for international flights and is taking advantage of the lull in international traffic to work with U.S. Customs and Border Protection to use the VeriScan technology for arriving passengers too. Delta Air Lines opened the first US biometric terminal in Atlanta in 2018, and some airports in Europe and Asia also use facial recognition technology.
Similarly, Heathrow airport has kicked off a number of pioneering technologies including UV cleaning robots which use UV rays to quickly and efficiently kill viruses and bacteria at night; UV handrail technology is being fitted to escalators to ensure continuous disinfection of the moving handrails, and self-cleaning anti-viral wraps are being fitted to security trays, lift buttons, trolley and door handle, aiming to provide long-lasting protection from COVID-19. The wraps work by coating high-touch surfaces in a material with long-lasting anti-viral protection.
The Dallas airport is also testing new technology around better sanitization, beginning with ultraviolet technology that can kill germs before they circulate into the HVAC system. It has also deployed electrostatic foggers and hired a “hit team” of 150 people who are going through the terminals physically sanitising high-touch areas. DFW has invested millions of dollars above its cleaning and sanitation budget since the pandemic broke out. Nearly 114,000 customers went through DFW on July 11, an improvement from a 10,000 per day trough in April, but still just about half of last year’s volumes.
The airports have also been testing touchless technology for employee temperature checks. Technology will be one of many changes to the airport experience going forward, with fewer overall travelers who will be seeking more space and spending less time dining and shopping. Heathrow is retraining 100 colleagues to serve as hygiene-technicians who thoroughly disinfect the airport and answer passenger queries on the methods being used. These technicians will continuously monitor the effectiveness of new technologies and help to inform plans to roll these projects out across the entire airport.
Prior to these trials, Heathrow meticulously reviewed every step of the passenger journey to identify key touchpoints where anti-viral technologies would have the most impact. Fly Safe Pit Stops – points where passengers can pick up face masks, anti-viral wipes and hand sanitiser free of charge – are being rolled out at these touchpoints to keep travellers safe on their journeys. Teams at the airport are also reviewing technologies which could remove the need for passengers to touch self-service check in machines, allowing them to control the kiosks from their phones.
These enhanced cleaning measures are in addition to several steps the airport has taken to ensure passengers feel safe when travelling, including the introduction of Perspex barriers in security areas and in some retailers, compulsory face coverings, one way systems as well as touchless services available on Heathrow and airline apps. Moreover, for the first time anywhere outside the US, Apple is trialling informative alerts to passengers arriving at Heathrow, directing iOS users to the latest guidance on travelling through the airport.