Istanbul Airport with its distinguished concept of ‘smart airport’ as well as its unique architecture, robust infrastructure, state-of-the-art technology and the outstanding travel experience it offers, was awarded the “Digital Transformation Award” by Airports Council International (ACI) as a part of the “16th ACI Europe Awards”.
As Turkey’s gateway to the rest of the world, Istanbul Airport has been selected as the ‘best airport’ in the Digital Transformation (Best European Airport Award – for digital transformation) category, as a part of “16th ACI Europe Awards” given by Airport Councils International (ACI), owing to the digitalization of all processes during its design stage and integration of technology in every corner of the airport. The award was presented to İGA Istanbul Airport at the 16th ACI Europe Awards ceremony, held in Brussels, the capital of Belgium, on Tuesday, November 17, 2020.
Istanbul Airport, leader of digitalization…
As the smartest airport in Turkey, Istanbul Airport distinguishes with the mobility-oriented, innovative technological services it offers to its passengers, in addition to the standard airport services. With the important digital services currently offered at Istanbul Airport such as e-passport, smart translation service, mobile application, smart parking, 5G, smart security and robots, we produce ‘technological value’ for Turkey.
“We have placed digitalization and technology at the center of Istanbul Airport”
Kadri Samsunlu, the Chief Executive Officer of İGA Airport Operation, making evaluations concerning the certificates awarded for the management systems of Istanbul Airport: “First of all, I would like to underline that the most important demand of our passengers is to experience digital travel… In this respect, we have placed digitalization and technology at the centre of Istanbul Airport, from the very beginning.” Accordingly, through taking advantage of different fields of technology, combined with the vision of SESAR, at Istanbul Airport we offer our passengers a unique digital journey experience thanks to the smart solutions that we provide. Increasing our speed in digital integration, our main goal is to boost airport management to ‘technological management’ in the near future. The first step of this process will be the digital wallet application, followed by a commercial platform called Ist-buy, which we can call the ‘marketplace’ of the airport. All of our outlets within the airport will have the opportunity to market their own products here. The most ambitious technological practice to be implemented at Istanbul Airport within the next 6 months will be the opportunity of traveling and shopping via biometrics, in other words, the use of facial feature data. With this, tickets, passports and digital biometric data of passengers are matched through the Istanbul Airport mobile application.
Additionally, thanks to our artificial intelligence-based smart chat system project, we will provide our passengers with instant notifications at our airport and have the opportunity to provide 24/7 support, in accordance with our “Smart Airport” concept. We have been using artificial intelligence at every point of our business processes from the very first day, aiming for a continuous increase in productivity. We have also activated tracking mechanisms at our airport with the help of an internet of things (IoT) technology. I wholeheartedly believe that success as an intelligent, sustainable and people-focused airport is subject to passenger satisfaction. Keeping such satisfaction sustainable, on the other hand, requires proper and effective exploitation of the opportunities the digital world offers us, by taking it, from time to time, beyond the edges of our imagination. That we have been awarded the “Digital Transformation Award” by Airport Council International (ACI) as a part of “16th ACI Europe Awards” stands as a concrete evidence and an exciting indication of us following the right path towards our goals. As İGA, we will further our endeavour so that Istanbul Airport, the digital infrastructure of which we engineered with the state-of-the-art technology when it was at the design phase, becomes a pioneer and serves as a global example with its ‘Smart Airport’ concept.”
“We have always believed in the power of digital transformation.”
Ersin Inankul, Deputy General Manager of İGA Airport Operations for Digital Services and Commerce, said: “It is a great honour for me and my team to be deemed as ‘the Best in Europe’ in such a hard category and among the other international airports, despite being a new airport. We feel very proud and excited to have brought such a significant award to our country. We have always believed in the power of digital transformation. By engineering a smart airport, we approached with a strategy that will rapidly synchronize technological advancements and pioneer digital transformation. We have aimed for a continuous increase in productivity by integrating artificial intelligence at every point of our business processes. We are able to carry out density analyses through artificial intelligence in check-in areas, restrooms and prayer rooms. With the sensors, we can see the degree of density in all parts of the airport and manage our teams and resources accordingly. Thanks to our beyond-the-reach technological instrumentation, we have taken our airport to a technologically top-ranking position. Where after and proudly, we have earned this award, which stands as the proof that we are the best in Europe in digital transformation.”
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