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Mumbai passengers demand better mobile travel services: Survey

Smartphone penetration in Mumbai ranks among the lowest of all airports surveyed at 62 per cent.

Passengers at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai have expressed strong interest in accessing and purchasing travel services using their mobiles, according to a recent global survey from SITA. However, first generation mobile travel services are not yet appealing enough for passengers to use them regularly, reports the SITA/Air Transport World Passenger IT Trends Survey.

Smartphone penetration in Mumbai ranks among the lowest of all airports surveyed at 62 per cent, compared to a global average of 76 per cent. However, the desire to use mobile travel services is considerably higher in Mumbai than in other regions, according to the report.Mumbai passengers would definitely access baggage status information on their mobiles (76 per cent), compared to 52 per cent globally. In addition, 65 per cent of passengers would make changes to their bookings on a mobile and 54 per cent would buy tickets via mobiles, compared to a global average of 47 per cent and 37 per cent respectively.This interest seems to contradict Mumbai passengers current use of mobile services. Only four per cent of Mumbai passengers use mobile check-in regularly, the lowest of all airports, compared to a global average of eight per cent. And nine per cent of passengers regularly use mobile boarding passes, compared to usage levels above 10 per cent in airports in Atlanta and Frankfurt.

Maneesh Jaikrishna, vice president, India and subcontinent, SITA said, ?In India, there is an opportunity to promote more self-service in general, including via mobiles. Although passengers have not adopted self-service as quickly as they have at other airports in the world, this is changing steadily. Over the next decade, passenger numbers in India are expected to triple to 450 million. To help manage

this growth, self-service, including mobile services, will become increasingly important.?When asked why they don?t use mobile services, 76 per cent of Mumbai passengers cited usability concerns. 22 per cent of passengers said they feared mobile services wouldn?t work when they needed them. However, 28 per cent didn?t see any benefit in using current mobile apps, as compared to other options such as websites and SMS, and 27 per cent said they considered the apps too complicated.

SITA and ATW conducted the eighth annual Passenger IT Trends Survey with a sample of the 299 million passengers who passed through six of the world’s leading airport hubs: Abu Dhabi International; Beijing Capital International; Chhatrapati Shivaji International, Mumbai; Frankfurt International; GRU Sao Paulo International and Hartsfield-Jackson, Atlanta.

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First published on: 06-03-2014 at 17:06 IST
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