Gateways to the future: improving the airport experience

Simon Westaway: It’s in the consistency across airports – so, from 1 January this year, it’s in place, where you stand like a human statue as you go through that screening point. That’s one level of consistency. Another one is around your electronic devices, such as laptops, phones – all those items, in essence, stay in your bag. It may not seem revolutionary, but it’s certainly evolutionary. Given the amount of passenger flow we’re getting in both domestic terminals and international terminals, we think those security upgrades are really timely. There’s another element to it as well, which people do not see as much, which also relates to baggage, but specifically the CT X-ray technology lines and that screening of carry-on luggage, which does not need to be unpacked. Most major terminals have these in operation by now; there may be the odd exception, but that will be related to ongoing infrastructure upgrades at some of these airports. But in essence, that’s a consistency piece that’s technology-driven.

I think what’s been great is that the airport industry and our security partners, which work really closely with us, there are a number of providers that deliver these services around the country, and then they integrate with airports – that’s been something that we’ve known has been coming. We’re working really hard on it, and there are a couple of important reasons: obviously, from a security perspective, we have to have secure terminals and secure airfields. Another thing is to really try to get that balance right between security and efficiency of getting people through. Obviously, safety is paramount, but the volumes of customers coming through our airports are not shrinking; they’re growing. Investing in these upgrades is about a better customer experience; it’s also about better security outcomes, and, importantly, it’s about efficiency. You’re going to keep hearing us talk a bit more about efficiency moving forward, because Australian airports really are very efficient facilities, given the current bulk of people coming in and out, and supplies moving in and out of these airfields.

AA: How is new technology being used to get passengers onto planes faster?

SW: The big step change is going to be around the integration of domestic and international terminals, or what euphemistically are called “swing gates” – the ability within an existing terminal facility to move from a domestic operation and swing into an international operation. Now, these have been around for a while, but I think what we’re seeing is them starting to be integrated to greater effect. There are a few really good examples around the country that don’t have the dedicated international terminal – swing gates work extremely well at a number of airports, such as Adelaide, Gold Coast, Darwin, Canberra, Newcastle, with their new facility. It means less physical infrastructure, or, should I say, better use of that infrastructure.

What it does is that the gate, in essence, swings in and brings in the customs, immigration, and quarantine elements. So, that’s been a step change, it’s been ongoing for a while. Now, the big evolution in all of this, if you like, and some could call it a revolution, is what’s going to occur at Sydney Airport. Sydney Airport recently announced, pre-Christmas, that they’re doing a big, major, long-term upgrade to their terminal infrastructure. In essence, it’s creating around 12 new swing gates in what will be a combined super terminal, T2 and T3, which will be a holistic precinct. Obviously, there’s a huge amount of work that will be undertaken, but in essence, domestic and international flights will operate within that terminal under the one roof, and that’s part of their master plan to not just facilitate and improve growth, but importantly, really uplift the amenity at the same time.

It may not seem sexy to the average flyer, but the ability of airports to have swing gates in place and have the mechanisms around that has brought a lot of cost out, but also allows greater efficiency, and also that safety and security element, which is critical around, obviously, your customs, immigration and quarantine.

AA: What will biometric technologies enable at airports?

SW: Biometrics are obviously in place already, but we need to implement them in a far greater way. And our international passenger clearance arrangements here in Australia are obviously a big issue – they’re important, and airports are doing them. Biometrics is all about trying to increasingly streamline people in a safe and secure way, and getting people’s identities right and then the ability to process them. It hastens the process, takes some of the guesswork out of it, and removes some of the paper processes. How it works is that if you’ve got all your pre-inputted data, it takes your facial and body features and then seeks to cross-match them. It’s about speed, improved security, and efficiency. It takes some of the previous bureaucratic process out of the important check-in clearance arrangements.

In essence, it confirms identity at key touch points, wherever they happen to be. We use kiosks a lot for biometrics at the moment, and that’s how we do it. Australia has invested in that SmartGate technology for a long period of time now, so we have a two-step process on international arrivals into Australia – you go to an arrivals kiosk, you get your ticket, and then you proceed through the SmartGate. What we’re endorsing and supporting is – and part of that’s the removal of the yellow arrivals card – from an optic perspective, is just to streamline and make that a more seamless process over time. We take a level of clunkiness out of that system, but importantly, it allows greater throughput at a secure level in busy airports. So, end-to-end biometric experiences are what we’re all sort of working towards. Perth, in particular, is advanced on moving towards that; WSI, when they kick off in the last quarter of this year, will have a similar process.

AA: What are Australian airports looking to learn from overseas hubs like Singapore and Dubai?

SW: Other parts of the world are somewhat more advanced than us – ironically, using Australian technology in many cases – so we obviously are working hard from our end to try to get us back up onto the dais in terms of the best customer experience around this, around the processing of you and your bags, you and your family or your partner or whatever, how you travel. At the moment, we have this two-step process here in Australia. It works, it’s a good process that typically is not as streamlined as, say, Singapore or Dubai. These are gold stars, and we often use the example – Denpasar has a very good process; I recently experienced Bangkok again, which was a two-step process, but it was pretty efficient. What we’re trying to do is move towards that ultimate model where it’s passport lists – your identity is, in essence, addressed in the data, and then it’s cross-matched against your presence, and to ensure that you are who you are, and you’re travelling for the right reasons.

One of the issues has always been that, in Australia, we have a very strong quarantine effect to what we do. The beautiful thing about this is the future technologies, and the partners that we’re working with, our airport partners, really have taken that on board. The recent really successful trials that have been undertaken by Qantas out of Brisbane and Sydney, which have had the Department of Agriculture involved as much as Home Affairs, have worked extremely well, and we’re looking at a system that’s going to be like Singapore. So, I think the best thing to say is, we want to aim for the Singapore Changi experience. That’s the best way to describe it. They have quarantine issues as well – they’re an island and so are we – but that’s what we’ve got to work towards, and that’s the seamlessness that can be achieved, but it requires additional funding into the border with the right systems to get to that model.

AA: What about upgrades to baggage processing systems?

SW: These have been evolving for a while, mandated by government and endorsed by airports. Airports collectively, particularly our big gateways, are investing heavily in their baggage systems to improve the reliability, capacity and reliance. I’ve viewed what Sydney has been up to firsthand, I’ve been right up and touched and felt it a couple of times, and it’s really quite amazing. These new systems will use high levels of automation to reduce mishandled bags and speed up upper processing. We’ve seen Melbourne outline what its upgrades to its systems are looking like now – they’re really quite critical to handle growth without consistently expanding terminal space or downstairs space to manage the bags. The benefit will be fewer delays, fewer lost bags, better connection times, the ability to make things like your domestic-to-international connections, improved baggage systems, and the security screening elements that allow you to do that.

I think the days are gone when we hear about numerous bags going willy-nilly around the country. Our systems are strong, and the screening has improved a lot – it’s always been very high, but we’ve been required by government to update it for safety, security, terror and other reasons. I think we’ve done a really, really good job. Brisbane Airport is rebuilding and centralising its baggage processing as part of its precinct upgrades, and obviously, Western Sydney is going to incorporate the most modern, highly automated baggage systems from day one; I think users of that airport in the early days are going to get a gold-plated experience, because they’ve got all the new tech, and it looks pretty amazing.

AA: Overall, how well would you say Australian airports are meeting the challenges of the post-pandemic world?

SW: Our airports are busy places. We’ve got record numbers of flyers again post-COVID, though international inbound hasn’t returned to what it was pre-pandemic – it’ll be about another year, I saw some federal data from Tourism Research Australia, which affirmed that. Seven years is a big lag for the international market returning; in some ways, I think probably for our airports, that’s been a good thing, because we’ve got record volumes of people flying around domestically and outbound internationally, so we’ve had to be able to accommodate that. The airports are investing in efficient facilitation of people for the future and a good experience to boot. We’ve got a very, very strong aviation industry; airports are a key partner, and we need to work well with airline partners. We work well with agencies, but everyone has to continue to step up.

Outbound is insane, the growth that’s coming out of Australia. Many international markets see Australia as one of the biggest inbound receivers of visitors, and that’s only going to continue for at least the next five to 10 years in terms of demographics, with the baby boomers looking to be able to fly before they’re truly in a Zimmer frame. But we have to work well collaboratively. I do think government agencies and the rules need to continue to evolve, and work with the industry. So, we’re doing a good job, we’re all working collaboratively, but it’s important that we continue to evolve.

We’ve obviously seen a lag in how we process international passengers, compared to some of our competitor markets like Singapore and, further afield, Dubai. Now people say, “Well, they’re just big international airports, it’s different” – well, it isn’t. Sydney and Melbourne alone are serving the best part of 40 million customers a year in round terms, and an increasing share of that cohort are international flyers. Brisbane is growing very quickly. So, we’ve got some pretty big airports in our own right and our own backyard. I think it’s important that we continue to, globally, seek to be the best we can possibly be.