Travelers are facing a crisis of confidence. Bookings are down 85% from a year ago, and after rising gradually during the summer ticket sales have stalled in the past month. But airports and flights have generally been safe with no U.S. carriers reporting safety lapses or outbreaks associated with their passengers. With this window of opportunity, here’s how airlines can instill the confidence people need to get back in the air: Offer careful boarding and deplaning experiences, vigorously enforce safety standards among passengers and crew, and provide special booking and in-flight experiences.
In early August, in partnership with a major U.S. airline, Qualtrics studied the customer experience and expectations of regular air travelers, people who had taken at least one leisure flight in the 12 months before the COVID-19 outbreak. We found that half of this group is likely to travel again in the next six months, while only 20% are, in their own words ‘extremely unlikely’ to step on a plane.
But there’s another group, the third of travelers who are undecided or somewhat unlikely. They will need some reassurance to get back to air travel. By bolstering confidence for travelers hoping to fly in the near future and convincing those who aren’t sure but aren’t against it, airlines can help their customers back to the skies. And travelers themselves can point the way.
What Worries Travelers
The good news: People’s general concern about COVID is stronger than their concern about catching it while traveling.
The challenge: More people are concerned today about catching COVID on an airplane than any other location we tested, including in an airport, at a train station, or in a restaurant or grocery store.
Once on the plane, travelers are mostly concerned about the places they actually touch: headrests, armrests and tray tables. These are the top five specific areas of concern:
How to Win Travelers Back
Travelers want consistency, and most of all they want to feel like airlines are protecting them and their space from their fellow passengers. There may even be an opportunity for the airlines that do it best: 6 in 10 travelers say they are willing to pay more to fly on an airline with the best COVID-19 response.
But regardless of which airline they choose, travelers are eager to have policies that protect them. These are the three most promising actions airlines can take. In our choice-based modeling, not only, not only did they drive consideration, but customers are less price sensitive when we tested packages with these items included.
Cautious transitions including entering and leaving the aircraft in small groups. “Board passengers in groups of 10 at a time, with social distancing” was the most popular precaution for boarding (37% preference). And “Passengers deplane 2 rows at a time (flight crew managing exits from the back and front simultaneously)” was the most popular deplaning precaution (40% preference).
High crew and passenger expectations, including masks, pre screenings, and avoiding interactions during the flight. For crew precautions, the most popular choice (52% preference) was “Flight crew must wear masks at all times, pass a temperature check before each flight, and crew is required to test COVID-19 negative every week.” The preference for passengers was similar. The highest preference (51%) was for passengers to wear a mask, and complete a temperature screen and detailed symptom check administered by airline personnel the day of travel. For service precautions, the most popular choice (37% preference) was providing a snack bag to passengers upon boarding with no in-flight service.
Special booking and in-flight experiences. “No penalty or fee for cancellations or ticket changes” was the most popular choice among cancellation and rebooking policies (24% preference). And guaranteeing that the middle seat will be open was the most popular center seat policy (50% preference). Passengers even seem to be willing to pay up to $150 more for an airline ticket if they knew the middle seat was open.
Not everyone will be convinced, and that’s OK. But enacting and advertising these deliberate changes will help reassure those eager to return to travel, and ease the legitimate concerns of those who are undecided. If the pandemic has showed us anything it is that customers are willing to change their minds and be persuaded as the situation changes.
Airport traffic fell drastically, hurting sales for brands including Clarins and SK-II. Reliant on the channel, they’re staying put as digital updates are made.
The decimation of travel retail has hit traditional beauty brands hard. The channel represents up to one-third of revenues for some players, and brands aren’t willing to let it go.
“The pandemic has been extremely challenging for us,” says Sandeep Seth, CEO of SK-II, the P&G owned Japanese skincare brand known for its £170 Pitera facial treatment essence. Sales fell by a double-digit percentage in the last quarter, he said. “As a business we always prepare for crises and chaos but I don’t think anybody could have prepared for something of this magnitude.”
They aren’t the only ones. L’Oréal’s chief executive officer Jean-Paul Agon cited the closure of airport stores as one of the main reasons for the company’s 19.4 per cent decline in sales to 5.85 billion euros in the second quarter and Estée Lauder reported global travel retail declined less than 30 per cent in recent earnings. Overall organic sales in the skin and personal care category at Procter & Gamble decreased in the single-low digits. For travel retail operators, the situation has been close to catastrophic. Industry giant Dufry saw its sales decline by 62 per cent to $1.73 billion in the first half of 2020, while Heathrow Airport’s retail revenue was down by 88 per cent in July, according to its retail director, Fraser Brown.
The closure of airport stores has contributed to declining sales during Covid-19 lockdowns.
Travel retail has been a steady growth winner for beauty brands in the past 15 years, with global revenues tripling to $69 billion by 2017, according to the Boston Consulting Group. Perfumes and cosmetics represent the largest share of the travel retail market, at 31 per cent, according to Allied Market Research, and the sector accounts for significant portions of sales at beauty brands. But the pandemic has exposed the industry’s over-reliance on the sector, especially versus nimble young direct-to-consumer brands. The strategy now is stick with it and go digital ahead of an expected rebound, but analysts are dubious.
“We live in an omnichannel world so it’s never smart to be overly reliant on one channel,” said Scott Clarke, VP and consumer products industry lead at Publicis Sapient. “Historically, people chose to buy duty-free for the price and convenience, but that has been usurped by the improved convenience that you get from shopping online.”
Patricia Abergel, general manager of export and travel retail at Clarins Americas, says travel retail will remain a significant part of the company’s business, “we just have to be patient”. At SK-II, business is beginning to pick back up, particularly in China, according to Seth. Prior to the pandemic, 32 per cent of SKI-II’s business came from travel retail, compared to 21 per cent from e-commerce. Now, e-commerce is 28 per cent, with travel retail fluctuating but ending “essentially flat” at the close of SK-II’s fiscal year, per Seth.
Even as travel retail revenue has grown, there are cracks in the model. Individual passenger spend has continuously declined since 2002 at a rate of 3.4 per cent, according to the Boston Consulting Group. Clarke attributes this to broader changes to the air travel experience.
“There used to be an enjoyment element to travel and people treated it like an event, stocking up on a lot of things they didn’t need impulsively,” Clarke says. “Today, it’s a more transactional and frustrating experience for a lot of people.”
Traveller demographics have also changed, bringing different shopping habits along with them. As more low-cost airlines like EasyJet and Spirit have entered the scene, air travel is more accessible, while luxury purchases are not, even duty-free. Millennials now also account for the bulk of business trip spending, at roughly 46 per cent, per BCG. “They are much more planned in their shopping behaviour, which online shopping enables, and their purchases are less impulsive,” says Clarke.
This presents an opportunity to rethink operations to be more flexible, says Brown, of Heathrow, which is expanding the capabilities of its Heathrow Boutique app and creating a more contactless passenger experience. A new feature lets travellers reserve a product ahead of time, enabling customers to pick it up quickly on their way to the gate. Vancouver Airport, which relies on a similar programme run by Dufry called “Reserve & Collect”, has seen more travellers using the programme throughout the pandemic, according to Scott Norris, the vice president of commercial development at Vancouver Airport Authority.
Sending travellers personalised offers and promotions via text and email when they get to the airport is another way to entice more airport shopping, says Clarke, of Publicis Sapient. “You can take advantage of the fact that the first thing people do after security or when they get off the plane is check their phone.”
Heightened customer service for travel retail, which can be less high-touch than traditional retail, may also drive growth. Effective training programmes for all retail staff drives purchases, says Norris, of Vancouver Airport Authority. On the digital side, SK-II is piloting touchless “Magic Scan” mirrors in some of its travel retail locations that offer an AI-enabled skin analysis and personalised product recommendations. Similarly, the travel retailer Gebr Heinemann is planning to roll out a virtual “lipstick bar” in some of its stores in the coming months, which features in-store tablets that use AI to see what different lipstick shades might look like on skin. Once a customer selects a colour for purchase, a light signal will indicate the exact shelf location of the product. Clarins, for its part, has begun pairing all of its products with QR codes that shoppers can use to learn more about the product.
Clarins expects travel retail to remain a significant part of its business.
These efforts will be key for travel retail in a post-pandemic world, says Clarke. “They need to think about the consumer journey in a more integrated way, with travel retail viewed as an extension of what shoppers experience online and in traditional stores.”
But for many of these brands, the online experience is still steps behind that of younger, direct-to-consumer beauty brands. That’s meant that their efforts to digitise the travel retail experience have come hand in hand with a rush to digitise the domestic brand experience.
“Digital was already part of our strategy but the pandemic has pushed us to accelerate further and think more about how we can serve our consumer’s changing needs,” says Clarins’ Abergel, who expects e-commerce to become a “huge part” of the business. The pandemic’s effects and the importance of growing e-commerce have not interfered with the company’s travel retail plans, which include expanding further into China and opening brand-owned boutiques in airports.
At SK-II, to further strengthen its digital presence, the brand started offering virtual beauty consultations on Tmall in China and via FaceTime in Japan and Singapore. In the US, an AI-powered digital influencer named Yumi offers 24/7 advice via live text and video chat. Despite these investments, Seth does not foresee e-commerce outgrowing travel retail, which contributes the highest growth to the company. “It will supplement the travel retail experience because people still want a physical space to try the product,” he says.
Industry experts believe that beauty’s accessible price point, replenishment factor and the low suitcase-space its purchases require will continue to make it a popular category in travel retail. “I don’t think the buying behaviour will permanently change,” said Brown, of Heathrow, “but [brands will have to create more] pre-awareness of products and services, and offer pre-ordering tools to give passengers enhanced convenience, choice and peace of mind.”
Artist’s rendering of the planned new Pittsburgh International Airport terminalCOURTESY OF GENSLER + HDR IN ASSOCIATION WITH LUIS VIDAL + ARCHITECTS
Air travel looks different now, and not just because traffic has declined precipitously. Travelers at Pittsburgh International Airport, for instance, must wear face coverings and practice distancing, and staff have ramped up cleaning practices, all to combat spread of the coronavirus.
At the airport’s planned new $1.1 billion terminal and multimodal complex, things will look more different still. Although April’s scheduled groundbreaking was postponed indefinitely because of the coronavirus pandemic, the Allegheny County Airport Authority has continued the design process with a new focus on public health.
Some approaches seek to prevent crowds and long lines, like the kind often found at TSA checkpoints. Hoback said travelers in the new terminal might find themselves receiving the sort of digital notifications restaurant patrons get when their tables are ready.
“We can offer something like a digital queuing experience at our security checkpoint, so we don’t have hundreds of people in line that would have to socially distance and spread themselves way out,” he said.
Waiting areas at terminal gates, meanwhile, might have movable, wheeled seats, instead of fixed seating, to allow individuals or groups to distance themselves from other travelers, he said.
Other strategies will seek to make visiting the airport as “touchless” as possible.
“We’re thinking about how can we make that entire experience a touchless experience, by looking at things like a touchless check-in process, touchless bag check,” Hoback said. And when doors must have handles, those handles might be coated in an antimicrobial copper film, he said.
Distancing requirements might suggest that a newly constructed terminal would need to be much bigger. And indeed, Hoback said, a report commissioned by one U.S. airport found that an airport where distancing was in place with traditional traffic-flow patterns would have to be ten times larger than usual.
However, he said, “We do not believe that there’s going to be significant change in the space of our airport design.” That’s thanks to techniques like digital queuing, and designing security checkpoints as spaces that flex in response to the needs of the moment.
He also said the airport did not anticipate its post-pandemic design adaptations would add to the project’s $1.1 billion budget.
What is less certain is when construction might begin. The project was put on hold in late March, weeks after the pandemic shutdown began, and just weeks before site preparation was to begin.
The airline industry has since taken a beating, to put it mildly. At one point in April, air traffic in Pittsburgh, as around the nation, was down 95 percent. It’s since recovered a bit, but Hoback said passengers at the airport still number 4,000 or less per day – about 80 percent fewer than normal for this usually busy time of year.
A vaccine for COVID-19, of course, would help restore fliers’ confidence. But Hoback acknowledges that experts say it could be up to five years before ridership returns to pre-COVID-19 numbers.
Moreover, Pittsburgh International is one of a number of U.S. airports whose credit outlook was recently downgraded by Standard & Poor’s, from “stable” to “negative.” That could make it more expensive to borrow the funds needed for the new terminal.
But Hoback says the airport is optimistic that things could begin turning around in 2021. “We’re hoping for no more than a one-year delay in construction,” said Hoback.
Improving operations and security in the airport setting
By Dan Grimm (VP of Computer Vision at SAFR)
Jun 18, 2020
Airports are unique places. They are accessed by thousands of people every day. Few other facilities in the world have to screen so many individuals for personal and environmental safety while providing a positive experience. Further, the challenge is not static. As new threats and requirements emerge, the security challenges associated with airports continue to evolve.
Fortunately, advances in artificial intelligence mean airport personnel are now able to leverage an asset they have in great numbers to respond: security cameras. By bringing facial recognition and other forms of computer vision to these cameras, airport leaders are able to identify security threats much earlier than before, as well as opportunities for improving operations that previously required much greater effort and cost. In terms of security, these same solutions provide a clear picture of who is coming through their facility by instantly detecting and matching faces to watchlists containing persons of concern and missing persons in real-time.
For operations, today’s AI-powered facial recognition solutions for live video give insights into how individuals are moving through the space and enable much faster access.
With access to greater understanding, airports are able to make data-driven decisions that augment their security infrastructure, enhance passenger experiences, increase operational efficiency, and streamline after-incident investigations.
SECURING THE FRONT DOOR
Airport security advancements have focused on keeping passengers and flight crew safe on airplanes. Strict policies and improved scanning technologies have been implemented in airports around the world to mitigate the risk of in-flight terrorism. While these programs have been successful, there remain other security challenges that are not yet being fully addressed. In fact, when looking at aviation terrorism more generally, research shows that there has been no decrease over the years in the frequency of ground attacks at airports.
Consider the 2016 attacks on airports in Belgium and Istanbul. The Zaventem airport in Brussels was attacked on March 22, when suicide bombers detonated explosives in their suitcases while standing in the check-in line. Three months later, on June 28, gunmen opened fire at an X-ray scanner in the Atatürk airport before detonating the explosives they were wearing.
In both cases, the attackers took advantage of an existing land side vulnerability, namely the fact that airport security essentially begins at the checkpoint well inside the building. Until a passenger is processed through that first point, there is no way for security staff to know who is coming through their front door.
The challenge of securing the perimeter is one that SAFR is helping airport operators and law enforcement address by augmenting existing video surveillance systems with facial recognition technology. For airports, facial recognition technology can help manage watchlists, alert personnel to unauthorized individuals in secured areas, and locate and reconnect lost family members.
GREATER INTELLIGENCE
When it comes to responding quickly to terrorist attacks, facial recognition can support security staff by providing them with increased visibility and situational awareness. When you consider that today’s airport security systems extend all the way to the edge of the parking lot, you can understand the potential benefits of facial recognition technology. If that system is able to identify and match potential threats to watch lists and other databases, it can prevent serious incidents from happening.
Facial recognition can also help prevent future attacks when it is integrated into the post-event investigative workflow. By working at incredible speeds to quickly identify anyone who attackers have interacted with, this technology can provide investigators with new insights as well as identify possible collaborators and other persons of concern.
For example, during the investigation into the November 2015 attacks in Paris, the authorities were able to identify collaborators using facial recognition and prevent further acts of terror.
HANDLING INCIDENTS WITH SPEED AND CONFIDENCE
If an incident occurs, it is crucial that airport security be able to quickly identify and find the individuals involved. This is where facial recognition can make a big difference. Working with AI allows security personnel to search for identified individuals both historically and in real-time.
When combined with traditional video surveillance, facial recognition technology allows security staff to ask the system for all video clips that include a person of concern. Being able to do this across multiple video feeds can provide a rapid view of everywhere someone has been within the airport.
The ability to track and locate persons of concern quickly enables security personnel to respond decisively. Depending on the nature of the event, this can help stop or contain an evolving situation.
Once an incident is over, security personnel, law enforcement, and others shift their focus to investigation. At this point, facial recognition technology can provide a clear picture of where persons of concern have been, who they interacted with, and how long they were in the airport. This can help investigators understand what led up to an event, who was involved, and if further investigation or identification of collaborators is required. Seamless Curb-to-Gate Access
Airport function has expanded. Once seen as purely functional, airports now focus on revenue generation across range of economic activity beyond flights, including tailored consumer experiences. Every minute a traveller saves from a faster line, is another minute they are able to enjoy an airport’s retail offerings.
When passengers don’t have to stand in line waiting to check-in or get their boarding pass, they are less frustrated and spend more time—and often more money—in restaurants or at the duty-free. Because they are one of the primary revenue streams for airports, offering more and better services makes economic sense.
To ensure an easier journey, airports are now considering biometric technologies. The idea is that, in essence, your face could be your boarding pass. You could walk up to a kiosk, be recognized, and then be directed to your gate—100 feet to the left.
While this technology has not yet been fully implemented, there are currently a number of airports around the world that are undergoing major renovations to be able to provide this experience. And we are excited to be helping airports along this path.
PROCESSING PASSENGERS FASTER
In 2019, SAFR was one of 12 solutions accepted into in a Biometric rally held by the US Department of Homeland Security. The rally was a hands-on competition based on a set of pre-established performance criteria about how quickly you could process a passenger through a check-point. There were two components: (1) getting an optimal image of the face for facial recognition and (2) matching that face against the database. SAFR (code-name Jarvis) came in second, well ahead of the industry’s largest players.
When it comes to facilitating curb-to-gate access, having capabilities around rapid biometric acquisition and matching will be crucial for providing the seamless passenger experience that airports want to deliver. Faster and lower-frustration traveller journey is good for travellers, airports and airlines.
INCREASE REVENUE THROUGH IMPROVED OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY
How long does it typically take passengers to move through airport check-in and security? Does that vary depending on the time of day or the day of the week? Unfortunately, most airports do not know how long a multi-stage journey through their facilities really takes.
With this information, airports could begin to make operational decisions that keep passengers moving and enhance their overall experience. Reducing bottlenecks can have a positive impact on how passengers feel. It can also improve security by reducing the places where incidents can occur as well as providing personnel with a less cluttered view.
Until now, airports have relied on people-counting applications to get a general sense of where people are at a given time. But, they don’t provide the full picture. With facial recognition technology, airports have access to a wide range of data points as well as a more precise view of what is happening. This can be especially important when you are looking to understand how quickly people move from one place to another.
Before AI-powered facial recognition, you had to extrapolate how quickly people moved from point A to point B by calculating how many people a camera at each location captured within a given time frame. But the system didn’t know how long it took an individual to get from one place to another. Using facial recognition, you can calculate how long it takes a specific person to move through the space.
CAPTURING THE REAL PASSENGER JOURNEY
The challenge here is initially capturing a high-quality reference image of an individual at the start of their journey so that the AI can then identify them again in a second camera later on. Given our world-leading accuracy and performance on live video, we are enabling customers around the world to do just that.
To illustrate, when a face passes by a camera, our platform creates a biometric template, or signature, that is stored temporarily along with the time of day and camera information. When that individual’s face is captured again by another camera later during their journey, the image is then compared to the previously stored face templates. A match between the images then provides the exact duration for that traveller’s journey.
Of course, one of the concerns around facial recognition technology is the perceived invasion of privacy. At SAFR, we understand this and built Privacy By Design into SAFR from the start. For this use-case, the identity of the traveller is kept anonymous as the process does not require matching their face against any databases. Individual privacy is further protected since all face images and templates are automatically deleted from the system at pre-determined intervals, usually between two and 24 hours.
IMPROVING AIRPORT OPERATIONS AND SECURITY
It’s clear that airports are complex environments that require powerful solutions to address their unique needs. They have a broad range of challenges relating to operational efficiency and security. And, with so many assets, systems, and people to safeguard, there’s little room for error.
Our goal at SAFR is to provide the technology that gives airports the actionable data they need to enhance passenger experience and maintain safe environments. With more data and a greater understanding, they can make better informed operational and management decisions while also mitigating risks and responding to events and incidents more effectively.
NORTH AMERICA. KPI North America has revealed the results of its survey into how willing people will be to travel after the COVID-19 pandemic and the steps they expect airports to introduce.
The survey of 509 respondents from the US and Canada found that 75% of passengers will return within six months of being told it is safe to fly and 84% of frequent travellers will travel within the first three months.
The research from the aviation marketing company looked into what would make passengers feel safer at the airport, and what they are expecting to be introduced across the flying experience. KPI North America has found 65% of respondents would be more willing to travel by air in the next six months if hand sanitiser stations were introduced throughout the airport. Passengers also said they would want to see employees and passengers wearing face masks and active social distancing in force.
A large percentage of respondents also said they would be prepared to wear a mask and gloves, as well as have their temperature checked on departure or arrival. 57% of passengers would also be willing to arrive at least 30 minutes earlier than normal to complete any required checks.
When asked about the airport’s retail area, 67% of people said there should be hand sanitiser stations at the store’s entrance and exit. A large percentage also expect all employees to wear masks and gloves, and for there to be limits on the number of people allowed in shops.
Similarly, 64% said they expect hand sanitisers to be available in F&B outlets, while 52% want employees to wear masks and gloves.
KPI North America Chief Executive George Karamanos said: “Passengers are prepared to change their travel habits; arriving earlier at the airport and undertaking new procedures and checks, but many need reassurances to do so. Airports must incorporate the new processes into their customer experience journey map in the most seamless and efficient way to make travellers feel that it is still worth taking a flight.”
As Swiss research agency m1nd-set has been “inundated with requests” from both current and new clients hoping to gain insight on post-lockdown shopping trends, the agency is releasing regular complimentary insight reports.
The first insight report
The first report is focused on the Chinese traveller, as the group most likely to resume international travel before other nationalities.
An “express survey” that m1nd-set conducted on May 14th and 15th asked questions of 1,000 Chinese who had travelled internationally in the past 12 months.
Results of the survey
Of these travellers, 7 out of 10 say they intend to fly internationally as soon as they are able to once international travel restrictions have lifted.
Approximately half say they are motivated to fly out of frustration of not being able to travel internationally for this extended period. About 58% say their destination will be in Asia, with hopes to travel within this region as early as the beginning of summer.
Demographically, Millennials are the group most likely to fly immediately, with about half of those intending international travel under the age of 35.
Just 12% of those surveyed said they intended to embark on group travel once able to fly internationally.
About shopping
While 55% of those surveyed who plan to travel said they would spend more on travel than they did before the pandemic, 63% said they would budget a lower amount for shopping.
As always, promotions and discounts will play an important role in shopper motivation with 69% saying they would purchase promotions when they travel. Meanwhile, 90% said they will be loyal to the brands they are familiar with.
Sustainability increases importance
Luxury brands remain important for the Chinese traveller, with more than 6 out of 10 claiming this as their shopping preference; just less than half (47%) proclaim interest in sustainable products.
Social media remains resoundingly the preferred source of shopping information for these Chinese travellers.
Anna Marchesini, Project and Business Development Manager at m1nd-set commented: “m1nd-set has developed a strong reputation over the past few years as the most trusted source of reliable and relevant insights concerning all aspects of shopper behaviour in the travel retail environment. As a gesture of support for the industry we work so closely with, servicing more than 60 clients across all sectors, we have launched this insights programme to ensure our partners and other stakeholders are well equipped for the recovery and kept informed of how consumers are planning to travel and shop again.”
“We will be conducting a series of these express surveys, Marchesini continued, “based on industry needs – based both on what partners are saying is most vital to them and on how the situation evolves across the globe in the coming weeks and months.”