Air New Zealand Speeds Domestic Airport Travel with Tech Installs

Air New Zealand unveils its new state-of-the-art check in and boarding experience, introducing a new layout and design, new kiosks that enable customers to print their own bag tags, a direct to conveyor belt bag drop zone to eliminate queues, new gate scanners for straight to gate check in and boarding for customers without bags and several new technological enablers for frequent flyers.

Air New Zealand Group general manager short haul airlines Bruce Parton says the launch will mean a speedier journey through domestic airports, something long asked for by regular domestic commuters.

"We challenged ourselves 12 months ago to create and deliver a new experience that would allow our customers to move quickly and seamlessly through domestic airports. Our goal was to get rid of frustrating queues, cut customer waiting time and make checking in and boarding as quick and easy as possible," says Parton. "Customers will now have much greater freedom and choice: they can choose to book their seat online, obtain their boarding pass in the way that most suits them and deal with their checked baggage in a quick, efficient way."

Kiosks, gate scanners and more
New kiosks will be progressively introduced to other larger domestic airports over coming months, and gate scanners allowing customers to scan their boarding passes will be in place at all 26 domestic terminals used by Air New Zealand. In total, 112 new kiosks and 84 gate scanners will be introduced.

Parton says the airline has invested more than $30 million in the new airport experience, which is just one of a large number of changes being made to benefit domestic travellers. "We expect the changes to be very appealing, particularly to business travellers. Those who aren't carrying baggage will be able to go directly to the gate and self-board, and those with baggage won't waste any time standing in queues," he says.

There will be a number of new and improved options available to customers, including email, mobile phone or a permanent unique RFID identifier.

• myBoarding Pass -- passengers choosing their seats online will receive a boarding pass by email featuring new 2D barcode technology in addition to their e-ticket, which can be used to confirm their seat at the kiosk or directly at the gate
• mPass -- a boarding pass including a 2D barcode that is sent to a mobile phone and can be scanned at the kiosk or gate;
• ePass -- Gold Elite, Gold and Silver Airpoints members, as well as Koru members, will be provided with this RFID tag ePass to attach to the back of their mobile phone. This can be scanned at the kiosk or the gate and used as a boarding pass.

Air New Zealand is also introducing www.myairnz.com for loyalty members, a secure page that members can tailor with all their Air New Zealand, Airpoints and travel information.