A cracker of a year

WITH 2018 drawing to a close, British Airways is celebrating flying high in the last 12 months with additional investment for customers now totalling £6.5bn. Here’s a recap of what’s changed at British Airways over the last year. 

In 2018 the airline offered its most extensive choice of flights in more than a decade, with more than a dozen new routes, including Marrakech, Durban, Nashville and the Seychelles. More new routes have been announced for 2019, including Charleston, Pittsburgh and Osaka. 

Customers travelling light were able to take advantage of the airline’s new long-haul basic fare on routes to the US and around the world, with fares from £143. They can reduce this cost even further by using their Avios. 

For 2018 British Airways introduced 18 new fuel-efficient aircraft to its fleet of almost 300 planes – including its 30th 787, plus A320 and 21neos, and Embraer for BA CityFlyer. The airline’s 767 fleet was retired to make way for more new aircraft, arriving next year. 

Work continued at pace to refresh existing long-haul cabins – with all seats being equipped with state-of-the-art entertainment systems and direct access to power. 

During 2018, British Airways began installing its industry-leading streaming WiFi on long-haul aircraft – all short-haul aircraft will be fitted with the system by next summer. This exciting development allows customers to use their own devices to live stream TV programmes and movies. 

The airline’s website, BA.com, received a refresh and achieved record sales. There were enhancements for the hugely popular BA app, including adding Apple’s Siri voice service on the iPhone. A new reward app was also released to help British Airways’ Executive Club members discover new ways to collect and spend Avios – including selecting seats on flights, as well as spending on flights, car hire, hotels, excursions, etc. 

The airline is focused on providing customers with a seamless and efficient journey through the airport. Throughout the year it continued to pioneer facial recognition airport technology. British Airways was the first airline to install biometric technology at Heathrow – enabling it to board domestic (UK) flights in half the usual time. It also began using the same technology to speedily board aircraft in Orlando, Los Angeles, New York and Miami.

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Zero emission Fuel Cell Electric bus service launched at Gatwick

A prototype fuel cell electric double-deck bus was shown in public for the first time at Gatwick's Annual Transport Forum on Friday 12th October.

In a first for the region, the new technology will soon trailed with an in-service trial of the bus run by local service provider Metrobus on the company's Fastway 100 service between Crawley, Gatwick Airport and Reigate. 

Metrobus expects to follow this with an order for 20 single deck fuel cell electric buses to expand provision of zero emission journeys and improve local air quality.

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Top-Up in South Korea

SOUTH Korea's largest telecommunications company, is running a special promotion for international travelers who purchase its new top-up prepaid SIM card.

Fron now through to the end of the year, KT will provide a free top-up worth 1,100 won (US$ 1) to foreign visitors who buy the new SIM card for five, 10 or 30 days of service. The top-up SIM card, which was launched last month, is the first of its kind in South Korea. It allows global visitors to make pre-paid outbound voice calls and text messages in addition to unlimited data use and free inbound calls and texts.

The new top-up SIM card can be purchased at KT's Roaming Center -- located at the Incheon, Gimpo and Gimhae airports and Busan Port.

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The World’s First Personal Hotel Concierge Robot

HOTELLOBOT is an ingenious guest information service software that can be paired with Hotellobot Robot Hardware to make the world’s first and only personal hotel concierge robot.

The software can be used in conjunction with Amazon Dot Voice Hardware, Amazon Spot Screen Hardware or Hotellobot Robot Hardware to provide an exceptional, user-friendly, guest information system. With a vocal command or touch of the screen, depending on which hardware is used, Hotellobot is able to provide guests with information specific to their hotel stay- including menus and timetables.
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World's Largest 3-D Printed Reef Installed at Summer Island Maldives

THE world's largest 3-D printed reef was submerged on Saturday (11 August) at Summer Island #Maldives, in what is hoped could be a new technology-driven method to help coral reefs survive a warming climate.

The artificial reef, assembled with hundreds of ceramic and concrete modules, was submerged at Summer Island's 'Blue Lagoon' -- a sandy part of the lagoon, where the resort hopes to create a new coral reef ecosystem.

The project started in a lab in Melbourne, Australia, where industrial designer Alex Goad of Reef Design Lab used sophisticated computing modeling to design reef structures similar to the coral reefs found naturally in the Maldives.

A large 3-D printer whirred away for 24 hours to print moulds of the reef structures. These moulds were cast in ceramic -- an inert substance, similar to the calcium carbonate found in coral reefs. The ceramic moulds were shipped to the Maldives, and filled with concrete on the beach at Summer Island. 220 ceramic, concrete filled moulds were then slotted together, like a giant LEGO set, to create the new reef.

The new reef sits in seven metres of water, close to the resort's existing coral nursery. Fragments of coral from the nursery are being transplanted onto the 3-D reef, where they will grow and colonise the structure.

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Up in the air . . .

FLYNAS, the national Saudi carrier and leading low-cost airline in the Middle East, announced that its mobile application reached a milestone of more than 2 million users since its launch.

flynas, the winner of the Middle East’s Leading Low-Cost Airline award in 2018, noted that Saudi Arabia has the largest proportion of “flynas” app users, as well as a significant number of users from different countries across the globe. Additionally, flynas points out that the application is most widely used by young people.

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Technology enabled travel planning

WITH innovative marketing tactics, service providers in holiday planning and booking process market in the UK are reversing the impact of Brexit and fuel hikes. Technological solutions such as OTA bookings, apps, bots, and advanced payment tools are encouraging travelers to facilitate well planned holidays. 

As part of its recent development in holiday planning and booking process, Thomas Cook has introduced two novel features such as Direct Debit Payments and Zero Deposit Offer for its summer 2019 program. With the former, end-users can choose to book their holiday plan against a minimum token amount. The latter eases end-users by booking their holiday packages without any advance payment.

Technology enabled travel planning is gaining momentum in holiday planning and booking process market in the UK. Leading holiday organizers are infusing advanced technology with meticulous planning to deliver superlative hospitality experience to end-users in holiday planning and booking process market in the UK. Noted travel planner Thomas Cook has confirmed its incorporation of Bold360ai to improve customer services. With this AI enabled service solution, Thomas Cook has garnered happy customers across Europe with the project first rolling out in the UK.

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Automated self-boarding technology to trial at Gatwick

GATWICK Airport has today announced the UK’s first trial of end-to-end biometrics – where personal data collected at the airport’s self-service bag drops will be recognised by new automated self-boarding gates - simplifying and speeding up the process for passengers and reducing the risk of human error.

The trial is being run in partnership with easyJet - Gatwick’s biggest airline - and the new self-boarding technology will identify each passenger and verify that their passport, face and boarding card all match – a process which takes less than 20 seconds.

The trial will be the first and most extensive of its kind in the UK and will run for at least three months so that around 10,000 passengers take part on the 43 Gatwick routes. 

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Biggest travel fear?

TECHNOLOGY has transformed travel, shrinking the world with thousands of destinations only a click away. However, new research from Booking.com reveals a significant two thirds (63 percent) of global travellers don’t believe they’re making the most of their #travel and ‘waste’ their holiday. Key obstacles include language barriers, finding the right accommodation and the fear of unfamiliar situations in foreign countries.

Booking.com has teamed up with ili, the world’s fastest offline translation device to help travellers overcome these travel fears. This collaboration will help breakdown language barriers and empower travellers to unlock new experiences they were reluctant to try before. The ili devices translate English into three language outputs including Spanish, Japanese and Mandarin in a little as 0.2 seconds without internet connection. These devices can help with simple interactions such as asking for directions to locations off the beaten track or ordering local food and even chatting with the locals.

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Ask the Concierge

ALEXA Skills Konsulting, a US based Information Technology company, has put forth a revolutionary product, that is taking the luxury hotels and cruises, namely the hospitality industry by storm, the ASK Concierge.

The very basic functionality of this product is to give the hotels or cruise guests an ultra savvy experience of staying in a smart room where they can control every aspect using their voice. Right from controlling the TV, lowering the blinds, adjusting the room temperature to making front-desk requests, all these tasks can be carried out just by programming in certain ‘skills’ to the Amazon’s Alexa voice devices to carry out.

When asked about this futuristic cutting edge product, Shabbir Merchant, the CEO of Alexa Skills Konsulting, commented promptly, “ASK Concierge will prove to be a very helpful product for the hotels or cruises. It will not only automate the front desk requests gathering and executing faster, but also give their guests a plush stay experience. An experience that can only be lived through to be believed in.”

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Follow me . . .

INTELLIGENT robots often play key roles in futuristic science fiction films, TV series and novels. Those science fiction scenarios are quickly becoming a part of today's real world with what seems like a daily release of a new product or gadget that relies on artificial intelligence. One area which is garnering increasing attention is autonomous or robotic luggage.

Airwheel recently launched the Airwheel SR3, a smart robotic suitcase with a host of helpful features including auto-follow, intelligent obstacle avoidance, a removable battery, an anti-loss alarm and mobile remote control. The smart piece of luggage, which comes equipped with visual tracking and sensor technology, can accurately identify its owner with real-time visual recognition and tracking algorithms and switch into auto-follow mode, while avoiding obstacles with sensor aids, in much the same way as a pet following its human owner. The suitcase's smart features can be put into action by pulling out the extendable intelligent recognition rod and switching the power on.

The Airwheel SR3 comes with multiple sensors including a camera, radar and an ultrasonic receiver coupled with simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) technology as well as visual recognition and detection algorithms, so that it can instantly identify, lock and follow the user, allowing hands-free transport of the suitcase.

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Up in the air . . .

EMIRATES has set a new record with over 1 million Wi-Fi connections made on board its flights in March alone. During the month, 1,037,016 Emirates customers connected to the internet during their flight. The connections were mainly made over mobile devices with over 94 percent of users connecting with a smartphone –twice as many connections were made on an iOS mobile phone as compared to an Android mobile, and about 2 percent with a tablet. 

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A new best friend in France

FRENCH self-drive tour company, France Just For You, has partnered up with Insidr and is now including a smartphone in their self-drive tour travel packs. Previously, travelers had reported high international roaming fees from their cellphone providers and no access to GPS on their phones, so these customized smartphones have provided the solution.

Travelers can pick up their Insidr smartphone from Charles de Gaulle international airport in Paris, or #France Just For You can ship it to the accommodation at the first stop on their travelers’ itinerary. At the end of their trip, travelers only need to place it in the pre-paid addressed envelope provided and post it back. As one traveler put it, having the Insidr smartphone was ‘like having a new best friend in France’.

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Travel hacks . . .

A London-based start-up is the first website in the world to offer hotel switching, allowing travellers to split their stay across two hotels at a single destination in order to experience more of the cities they visit and save as much as 70% versus staying in a single hotel. The site currently has access to over 59,000 hotels across more than 180 countries.

The idea for Nightly.travel stemmed from co-founder Santiago Navarro’s personal experience with manual hotel switching, a travel hack used by many savvy travellers today to manually search multiple sites and book multiple hotels in one city destination. Santiago used this trick to experience five-star hotels for three-star prices, often amazing his peers.

Hotel switching, also referred to as a split stay, is already very popular with families booking Disney holidays in Florida, but Nightly.travel is now bringing this new way of booking hotels to all travellers, leading to great coverage from publications such as Cosmopolitan, the Sun, Life Hacker, The Points Guy, and Forbes.

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Robot to guide passengers in Munich Airport

SHE is 120 centimeters tall, with sparkling, round eyes and a pleasant voice, “Josie Pepper” the robot will be answering questions for passengers in Terminal 2. Whether they need directions to their gate or want to stop at a certain restaurant or shop – #JosiePepper will look them in the eyes and give them a prompt answer.

With the rollout of Josie Pepper, Munich Airport and Lufthansa are breaking new ground: It is the first-ever test of a humanoid #robot equipped with artificial intelligence at a German airport. For the next few weeks, Josie Pepper will welcome travelers to the non-public area of Terminal 2, which is jointly operated by Munich Airport and Lufthansa. In her initial deployment, Josie Pepper, who speaks English, will await passengers at the top of the ramp leading to the shuttle connecting the main terminal to the satellite building. This test phase will be used to show whether Josie Pepper is accepted by passengers.

Pepper was developed by the French company SoftBank Robotics. The lady robot was given the name “Josie” by the staff of Munich Airport and Lufthansa when she arrived at the airport.

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New technologies strengthen the airport security landscape

THE constantly changing face of illegal migration trends, terrorism threats and transnational organised crime methodologies have made airports look at new methods and solutions to tackle these extraordinary security challenges and risks. 

Security continues to play an increasingly important role as airports remain keen to accelerate their outputs, minimise disruption and ensure better customer experience. Airports in the Middle East, especially the UAE, have been at the forefront when it comes to adopting the latest security technologies. 

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Designed by pilots for use by passengers

AN Australian-based company, today announced the launch of their new in-flight entertainment and flight-tracking app, Inflighto, in the Apple App Storeand the Google Play store. The Inflighto app is the first in-flight entertainment app designed by pilots for use by airline passengers while in-flight. 

It combines highly-accurate ADSB flight-tracking technology and premium content to give passengers an elevated perspective of the world from the air. The Inflighto app supersedes the traditional ‘moving-maps’ currently used by airlines. Inflighto Pty Ltd is an Australian-based technology company formed in 2017 by two Australian pilots, John Hopkins and Christopher Smyth.

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Up in the air . . .

BERGEN Airport is following the example of its Avinor sister airports, Oslo and Stavanger, by implementing BlipTrack queue management technology to eliminate wait time guesswork, optimise resource utilisation and improve the passenger experience. 

Bergen Airport, Norway´s second busiest with over 6 million passengers annually, has adopted the BlipTrack queue management solution to accurately measure and predict how many people are standing in line and for how long. The detailed, minute-by-minute measurements and prediction insights will help the airport to better comply with service level agreements and minimise queue build-up in, to ensure that passengers have an optimum airport experience.

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Appy to fly from Gatwick

GATWICK'S new app – one of several passenger-facing digital innovations coming on stream soon - offers passengers personalised flight alerts, real-time queue updates for check-in and security, intuitive navigation using beacon technology and shopping, restaurant and airport offers.

The new app means that holidaymakers and business travellers can enjoy a more seamless experience when travelling through Gatwick as it boasts a range of features including:

• Personalised flight information – real-time updates onflight status and gate information straight to your mobile.
• Real-time queue updates – for check-in and security to plan your time at the airport.
• Intuitive maps - guiding passengers through the airport using 2,000 navigation beacons located throughout terminal buildings.
• Shopping and eating offers – specific to your terminal and instantly redeemable from your phone.

Personalised flight information pushed to your phone includes boarding status and gate access, which means passengers can enjoy their time at the airport without having to hunt for flight information screens.

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Above the clouds in comfort with Lufthansa

LUFTHANSA has revealed one of its best-kept secrets and unveiled the concept for its brand new Business Class. It will be available on regular routes for the first time in 2020, with the roll-out of the Boeing 777-9. The new seat is the key element of the service and comfort level in the cabin, which have been improved even further. It was developed with the goal of facilitating the best and soundest sleep up above the clouds.

The brand-new Business Class seat was developed exclusively for the German premium airline together with Lufthansa’s customers. Over 500 guests provided in-depth support during the development phases. Privacy and an optimum of comfort for sleeping are two of the most important needs of passengers on international routes – both are handled perfectly with the new Business Class concept. 

 The new Business Class will also be setting standards from a technological point of view. Thanks to digital interfaces, all the functions of the seat as well as the in-flight entertainment system can be controlled using the passenger’s personal device. Smartphones and tablets can be recharged at the seat using wireless technology. And in the future, anyone who wants to watch one of the movies from the extensive entertainment program will experience the blockbusters on much larger screens, in full HD.   


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