As more and more passengers head to the airports this summer despite travel concerns around delayed flights, surging airfares and congestion, the aviation industry must work hard to tackle all these issues and enhance their travel experience through automation, according to SITA, a major specialist in air transport communications and information technology sector.

 

With the northern hemisphere summer rush around the corner, travel concerns around delayed flights, surging airfares and congestion in the airport are not putting travelers off air travel, stated SITA in its recently released 2023 Passenger IT Insights.

 

Anxiety around flight cancellations was cited by 32% of passengers when booking their next flight, stated the survey which was done in April and involved more than 6,000 passengers across 27 countries. 

 

It revealed that nearly 2 out of 10 passengers surveyed cited concerns around congestion in the airport and pointed to high airfares. 

 

This was fueled by past experience, where 56% of respondents said they had experienced delays or cancellations and 48% long airport queues, it added.

 

Yet despite all this, SITA survey findings revealed that travellers intend to fly more than ever. On an average, passengers expect to take 4.7 flights this year compared to 4.2 flights in 2019. 

 

According to SITA, this was driven mainly by frequent flyers. Those planning more than 10 flights in 2023 have increased from 6% of passengers in 2019 to 10% this year, it added. 

 

On the key findings, SITA CEO David Lavorel said: "It is encouraging for our industry that passengers want to travel and want to travel better in light of some of the challenges airports and airlines have experienced with congestion in the past year."

 

"We cannot dismiss the fact that the overall experience of air travel is an essential element in passengers’ decision-making. With passengers indicating a clear intention to travel more this year, the industry is well advised to address their concerns, for example, with increased automation," stated Lavorel. 

 

He pointed out that the earlier research from SITA indicated that airport and airline CIOs were taking this seriously by pushing digital transformation. 

 

The industry’s IT spend is projected to continue its steady year-on-year growth trend since 2020 to support digitalization and automation. Last year, airline and airport IT spending rose to an estimated $37 billion and $6.8 billion, respectively, he added.-TradeArabia News Service