Systems

Busting check-in hassles

Kingfisher Airlines' endeavor to provide superior customer service was up against deficient airport infrastructure, resulting in long check-in queues. Aishwarya Ramani discovers how the airline uses technology to sidestep such bottlenecks.

Indian airport infrastructure is engaged in a constant struggle to keep up with the aviation sector's growth. As a result, it leads to scenarios of crowded airports, hassled passengers and lower customer satisfaction levels for most airlines. Kingfisher Airlines' case was no different.

According to Chandrashekhar Nene, the VP-IT of Kingfisher Airlines, inconvenience caused to travellers due to long queues reflects badly on the airline. These long queues are a result of multiple airline counters simultaneously catering to air traffic's seasonal nature. Extra pressure falls on existing airport infrastructure during the holiday season, when almost all flights fly full.

Technology came to Kingfisher Airlines' rescue in the form of the Roving Agent project. It helps the airline ease long queues at their airport counter and provide better services to their 'guests'. The Roving Agent is like a check-in counter on the move.

According to Sabre, the airline's software solution provider, this program offers a combination of Web browser and PDA functionality. It provides airport staff with real-time wireless, portable access to the airline's host reservation and departure control systems. Designed to supplement existing airport positions, the module enables airline staff to service customers away from traditional ticket and gate counters. Airlines can leverage the tool in a variety of ways such as addressing peak travel schedules without adding gate or ticket counter space, providing higher levels of service for travelers with special needs and more quickly handling unplanned impacts to operations.

Much scope for innovation

Kingfisher Airlines is a wholly owned subsidiary of United Breweries Holdings, the UB Group's investments holding company. Mumbai based Kingfisher Airlines started its operations on 9th May 2005. Its network extends to over 30 destinations and plans to fly international are in process.

Usually, travellers with check-in baggage have to weigh-in their bags before the airline grants their boarding pass. However, those travelling without check-in baggage also have to stand in the long queue to procure their boarding pass.

This is where Nene and his team saw the opportunity to innovate. "It is unfair if someone without check-in baggage has to wait in such a long line. He or she can easily skip that step. Our Roving Agent lets them do exactly that," says Nene.

Agents of facilitation

With the 'Roving Agent' arrangement, the airline official (called the 'agent' in aviation parlance) personally attends to guests without check-in baggage. Their boarding pass is promptly handed over to these travellers after identity verification. The arrangement saves these passengers the trouble of waiting their turn at the airline counter.

Every Roving Agent has a Windows Mobile powered PDA that runs Sabre (ticketing and booking software) to procure the passenger's information. Every passenger is assigned a unique PNR, which is functionally similar to a primary key. The PNR (Passenger Name Record) alpha-numeric code is used to access each traveler's details. After verifying the passenger's identity, the agent prints out the boarding pass with a Bluetooth-enabled printer and hands it over.

The Roving Agents are currently functional in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Goa and Hyderabad. The airline stations three to four Roving Agents in every major city. Kingfisher airlines has 12 counters and four roving agents in Mumbai. The airline has seven counters and three Roving Agents in Delhi. "Earlier we had just six counters in Mumbai. We have increased the number along with the increase in number of flights," says Nene.

Behind the scenes

The agent's PDA connects wirelessly to a Cisco access point dedicated to Kingfisher Airlines, which connects to the Sabre server via a VPN. The software vendor (Sabre) hosts the airline's data on their servers. When a passenger books a ticket with Kingfisher airlines, the data is stored in the Sabre server in Tulsa city, Oklahoma, USA.

There are three contact points at which every airline interacts with their customer. These are the airline's call center, the airline's website and the airline's office, which can be at the airport or elsewhere in the city. Data from each of these is collected at the Sabre server.

Kingfisher Airlines' entire suite of Sabre Airline Solutions products is fully hosted through Sabre eMergo Web access, an application service provider environment that provides the technology without the cost of acquiring and maintaining costly hardware and infrastructure systems.

The Sabre server also interfaces with travel agents. "Every travel agent has a global distribution system (GDS) installed at their end. This gives them a snapshot of all the available flights, timings and seats available," explains Nene. This data is again directed to the Sabre server. The Sabre server transfers data on a weekly basis to Kingfisher's servers (hosted at Reliance's data centre).

Hassle-free ops

Nene has no grouses with the third party hosting model. He is satisfied with the three second response time that the Roving Agents get from the Sabre host.

According to Nene, there are several advantages of hosting vital data on a third party server. "If I have my own host, I will have to make arrangements for power, maintenance personnel, etc. But in this case, I outsource the management of my transaction data to the experts," opines Nene.

Today, Kingfisher's team is able to concentrate on other core areas. The airline is still in the data acquisition phase, so it does not have a BI suite in place. Kingfisher is implementing SAP BW at the moment. Allied Digital is in charge of managing the airline's IT infrastructure.

Money matters

Customer service using Roving Agents does not come cheap. A Bluetooth-enabled printer costs Rs 35,000, and a single PDA costs Rs 70,000. A single Roving Agent's equipment costs add up to about Rs 1,05,000.

The special quality of printer paper required and money spent on the agent also have to be accounted for. "The instruments are under warranty, so I do not have to spend on their maintenance," says Nene. The airline currently has 20 functional PDAs and printers. Four spare sets are kept on standby in case of problems. However, Nene feels that this expense is worthwhile compared to the popular kiosk model.

Kiosks have advantages such as greater visibility and better branding. They also give the traveller the ease of printing his or her own boarding pass without having to deal with the airline's agents. Nene, however, is unconvinced of the model. "A kiosk costs close to Rs 2.5 lakh," he says.

Apart from the cost, Nene is also not convinced about the user-friendliness of kiosks. Only a select few of the urban population are technology savvy. Most travelers are not very comfortable using a kiosk. According to Nene, Indian travellers "like the pampering" provided by the Roving Agents. Such convenience is demanded by passengers who are willing to pay the price. To prove his point, Nene refers to a rival airline which went the kiosk way, and is now contemplating a shift to the Roving Agent model.

Shape of things to come

The recent Air Deccan takeover is an interesting point of discussion when it comes to Kingfisher Airlines. United Breweries Holdings and its nominees have recently been allotted 26 per cent of the expanded paid up capital of Air Deccan Aviation.

An initial investment of Rs 150 crore into Deccan Aviation has already been made against which shares will be allotted and further investments of Rs 396 crore are to be made before the end of June. The Kingfisher-Air Deccan group will have a combined fleet of 71 aircraft including 41 Airbus aircraft and 30 ATR aircraft.

When quizzed about the imminent system integration, Nene refrains from comment. However, he does speculate on travel possibilities between the two airlines becoming easier and more seamless.

For example, passengers will have the flexibility to fly from point A to point B on Kingfisher Airlines, and then shift to Air Deccan from point B to point C with just a single ticket. Among other matters, Nene does not rule out the possibilities of Roving Agents being used at Air Deccan.