Kiosks for Japanese Airline

Druckversion

In an effort to reduce check-in congestion at airport counters, Skymark Airlines in Japan has introduced automated check-in kiosks. This has led to an improvement in user convenience as well as airport operation efficiency.
 
Skymark Airlines chose the general-purpose OKI kiosk terminal Sukit for its automatic check-in machines.
 
Skymark Airlines was established in September 1998 as a low cost domestic airline in Japan. More than three million passengers now fly on Skymark flights every year.
 
Skymark conventionally engaged in face-to-face check-in operations at airport counters. As the number of flights and passengers increased, however, counters became crowded. Saori Miyamoto, a chief in the Passenger and Cargo Service Department of the Airport Operations Division, described the counter situation at the time saying "During busy times of the year or during rush hours, we had queues at the counters causing inconvenience to the passengers. At the same time, we thought we were no longer able to handle everything at the counter, especially at Haneda Airport, because there are many flights to and from there."
 
Meanwhile, the ticket machines that counter clerks used needed to be replaced. The airline asked OKI, the manufacturer that had delivered the previous models, to offer proposals for new machines. At this point Skymark started considering the use of automatic check-in machines in order to improve customer convenience and counter operation efficiency.

 
OKI proposed the Sukit kiosk terminal as an automatic check-in machine. Ms. Miyamoto visited OKI's showroom for a demonstration of the machine. "The moment I saw the terminal, I though it was cute," she recalls.
 
Ms. Risa Haraguchi from the Information System Department at Skymark commented: "We develop all business applications internally and therefore we planned to develop the system for the automatic check-in machine. For this reason, we wanted the terminal to be easy to use and also flexible and scalable so that we as developers could improve functions easily."
 
"We did consider and compare other vendors' products, but we rated OKI's proposal the highest, including its introduction cost and maintenance support plans."
 
Haraguchi continued: "Our development focused on creating simple screens to reduce the number of operations required for passengers. This was quite easily achieved by the platform middleware."
 
Results
 
An automatic check-in machine reads a 2D barcode which contains information on a reservation made online by a passenger along with his/her credit payment information and is generated on the website or sent to a mobile phone. After the machine reads the barcode, a passenger follows the on-screen instructions to check in, selects a seat, and prints out a receipt. The easy-to-understand screen and easy-to-use system seem to have been positively received by many passengers.
 
Ms. Miyamoto explained: "Clerks quite often had to show customers how to use the system at the beginning. But the customers quite quickly accustomed themselves with the system, and now, most of those who select a seat at the time of reservation walk directly to the automatic check-in machine. Approximately 50% of passengers now use this system." The introduction of the system has contributed to elimination of queues at the check-in counter even during rush hours.
 
Ms. Ibaraki further commented on the resulting improvement of operational efficiency saying "Since the workloads at check-in counters have dramatically decreased, we are now able efficiently to redeploy staff members. For example, we can assign staff members to take care of check-in luggage when luggage becomes concentrated at a particular counter."
 
Meanwhile, there have been demands for various functional expansions. Ms. Haraguchi says "We are looking into the possibility of deploying an English version. At Haneda Airport, for example, international flights will soon be available. Accordingly, we believe that an increased number of people from overseas will use our domestic flights. So it needs to be dealt with promptly."
 
There has also been a plan to incorporate a baggage check-in function into the machine. And passengers will be able to print out a luggage tag from the terminal. Such a system has not been introduced yet by any domestic airline companies in Japan. According to Ms. Miyamoto: "The self luggage check-in service, where passengers put luggage tags on their luggage and put it on a conveyor belt, has already been introduced in Europe. This not only has the ability to eliminate queues at the luggage check-in counters, but also further lowers costs."