Passenger Experience
With passenger numbers reaching 73 million, we need to ensure we are able to maintain world-class service despite the ever-increasing demand. Our aim is to provide an efficient, hassle-free and uniquely “Hong Kong airport” experience for our passengers. We are deploying the latest technologies to ensure we continue to enhance the passenger experience and deliver the high level of service that passengers expect from us.
Key initiatives
- Next generation smart check-in kiosks enabling passengers to check-in and print boarding passes and luggage tags at the airport.
- “HKG My Flight” mobile app supports signage translation into nine languages and car park booking.
- MyTAG, our new smart baggage tag, providing real-time notification to passengers when their bags are ready for pick-up at baggage reclaim belts.
- Wi-Fi access points in the passenger terminals increased from 800 to 1,200.
- 15 high-speed Wi-Fi zones with download speeds of up to 400 megabits per second.
- HKairport Shop makes shopping easy by ordering your purchases online and collecting them when you fly at HKIA.
Q&A with Inez Ko, Manager, Smart Airport
How was the idea of MyTAG generated?
“Providing our passengers with a pleasant and relaxing journey is what we aim to achieve. Since the launch of our HKG My Flight app in 2013, new features, such as boarding alerts, augmented reality wayfinding, airport directional signage translation, and more, have been regularly added to enable a more personalised journey alongside our physical facilities and services.
Nevertheless, we believe we could offer more for arriving passengers. During one of our regular brainstorming sessions in 2015, we identified baggage delivery as an area of concern in the customer journey. Upon arrival at HKIA, zipping through immigration and picking up their baggage so that they could be on their way to their final destination is a priority for many passengers. While the display at the baggage reclaim hall provides high level information, such as delivery status for the flight, the lack of information specific to each passenger can be a source of a frustrating experience as they wait for their baggage. That’s when we started to think about what we could do to provide more personalised information about their checked baggage.”
How does MyTAG contribute to our vision of building HKIA into a smart airport enhancing the passenger journey experience?
“Rapid technological advancements have profoundly influenced the expectations of our passengers. To remain competitive, airports are embracing the latest innovative technologies to enhance the customer experience in the physical and digital realms. This is ever more important for the newest generation of passengers, the digitally native millennials, where a tailored online experience complemented by intuitive self-service options are essential to meeting their expectations.
MyTAG is a digitally-enabled baggage tag that puts passengers at ease by notifying them when their baggage is ready to be collected from the baggage carousel. Used in conjunction with the HKG My Flight app, real-time notifications are sent to smartphones while waiting for their baggage. HKIA is the first airport in the world to introduce this service. This smart baggage tag is a part of our growing portfolio of digital services. These includes self bag drop, the next generation smart check-in kiosk, and e-Security Gate, all of which aim to enhance the customer journey supporting our vision of building HKIA into a smart airport.”
What was the major challenge encountered during the development of MyTAG?
“As a ground-breaking product that is not offered by other airports, there was a steep learning curve involved during the product development phase. In particular, product design was an aspect our team had to focus on during this project. We spent a lot time immersing ourselves in design thinking to consider the needs of passengers, the opportunities brought by technology and the requirements leading to business success and how they could be integrated to create a successful product.”
What were you most proud of for this project?
“I am most pleased to be part of such a great team that worked tirelessly to ensure MyTAG launched on time in November 2017 under a tight project timeline. This was also a great showcase for teamwork with other departments as we certainly would have been hard pressed to launch the product without their support. The most gratifying moment is seeing the product work in front of your eyes. The notification that popped up on my smart phone shows that the hard work has paid off.”
Annual overall satisfaction score
We achieved an overall satisfaction score of 4.86 in the 2017 Airport Service Quality Survey managed by Airports Council International, meeting our target for 2017/18. We also maintained a low level of passenger complaints, despite the record-breaking number of passengers and the pressure of approaching full capacity of HKIA.
Index of complaints received
HKIA is often the first and last impression for visitors to Hong Kong. As a gateway to the city, HKIA has an opportunity to showcase our city’s unique East-meets-West culture. Since 2015, we have been hosting a spectacular series of exhibitions and performances at HKIA by local artists for visitors to our city.
In 2017/18, we presented a four-month event featuring a diverse mix of programmes, ranging from Cantonese Opera, a Cheongsam exhibition, a showcase of Hong Kong movies, visual arts exhibitions, to harp recitals and street music gigs – immersing the airport in Hong Kong’s multicultural ambience.
