Near Field Technology in the Travel Industry

An exciting new travel industry report from Amadeus called ‘Navigating the Airport of Tomorrow’ cites near field communication as an integral part of the travel industry, and in particular the airline industry.
Near field technology has experienced recent popularity, with applications ranging from public transport and event ticketing, swipe payment systems, loyalty schemes, social media and identification.
Contactless technology isn’t new and is actually quite popular in Europe and Japan, and has been implemented across several transport systems in Tokyo, Germany and the US. And now that companies like Google, Apple and Microsoft are getting behind the technology it should soon start to gain momentum in the United Status of America and United Kingdom.
Google recently release the near-field communication enabled Nexus S and has even alluded to plans to partner with banking groups to test mobile payment systems. There are also rumours of Apple’s next generation iPhone will include near-field communication technology. If this proves true, it is only a matter of time before the remainder of mobile manufactures follow suit making NFC a standard feature in personal mobile devices.
So what will consumers be using contactless technology for in the future? Buying your train or bus ticket, or paying for food or clothing, unlocking your computer workstation, getting event or product information from advertisements. And as the day-to-day use of NFC technology increases in popularity, we can expect more resources to be dedicated to its research and development, and as a result innovations should occur with increased frequency.
So how will near-field technology be used in airports? NFC will allow passengers to use mobile devices to perform one-touch check-in and mobile ticketing; making paper boarding passes a thing of the past. The introduction of paperless ticketing would maximise ease of check-in for passengers and relieve check-in processes for airlines.
It could also enable airlines to dispatch flight disruption updates or baggage location notifications direct to passengers’ mobile devices, thus freeing up resources and lowering passenger stress levels while easing customer frustrations.
It will also provide more opportunities to sell additional services to satisfy real time needs of the passenger as they arise. And as NFC technologies become more sophisticated, user profiles will be constructed as information is gathered and patterns are established, and is an important next step in personalised marketing. This could also mean personalised location relevant promotions, based on travel plans or other information compiled through NFC, being sent to passengers as they move through the airport. And help companies more effectively promote to the right customer at the right time that will ultimately increase the chance of conversion.
Near field and RFID technologies are set to become a game changer for airlines over the next decade, and Navigating the Airport of Tomorrow (authored by Norm Rose of Travel Tech Consulting Inc.) looks at the how these technological advances will have major implications for the air travel experience in the very near future.
You can learn more about the Airport of the Future by downloading the full travel industry report from http://www.amadeus.com/AirportofTomorrow. Amadeus have also produced a nice looking info-graphic to accompany the report, which highlights the major insights the report uncovers.