Minister of Transport Budi Karya Sumadi has announced a project to digitise services at some of the country’s largest airports to bring Indonesia into line with regional leaders.
Soekarno-Hatta ranked 44th best airport in the world this year, according to Skytrax Research. Sumadi said the digital service improvement can help achieve the goal of reaching the 33rd spot next year. Improving digital services in domestic airports for customers is also a priority.
With better digital services, the ministry hopes Indonesia’s airports will rival those in travel hubs, such as Japan, China and the United States.
The services include self-check in features, meal bookings and baggage services. Arrival and departure information and cab reservation services have also been tipped for further digitalisation.
“This will come as a strategic step for airports in Indonesia, for improving the service system and innovation in utilising digital technology,” Sumadi said during the “Kebangkitan Bandara Digital Indonesia” seminar, as quoted by Detik.
The new digital service system will include big data development, Artificial Intelligence and machine learning.
Sumadi said the digitisation process will eventually reach other large airports, such as Kuala Namu Airport in North Sumatra, Ujung Pandang Airport in Makassar and airports in Bali.
“We have to be ready for the digitisation to serve more passengers. How are we supposed to serve 100 million passengers if we don’t have advanced technology? […] We need to follow suit by improving our technology, because we can’t go against it,” Sumadi said.
In order to improve national airport digital service, PT Angkasa Pura II has launched the Indonesia Airports mobile application, aimed at providing up-to-date information.
President Director of Angkasa Pura II, Muhammad Awaluddin, said the app includes information regarding flights, hotels and other important contact guides, shopping and restaurants, health centres, as well as eCommerce for value exchanges, cargo and flight insurance information.
The application can be downloaded on Google Play for Android and Apps Store for iOS.
Digital improvements will be balanced with refurbishments and improvements at the airports, Sumadi added.
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Image credits: Angkasa
