Airlines and Airports are improving passenger experience at VIP lounges with Unisys solutions

Unisys Corporation  has expanded its portfolio of aviation industry solutions with three intelligent passenger recognition systems designed to help airlines and airports improve the passenger experience in their VIP lounges while reducing expenses and providing opportunities to generate ancillary revenue.

The offering combines Unisys’ systems integration experience and aviation industry domain expertise with innovative technology developed by Information Engineering Group (IEG) called AIMS that can be delivered via cloud, software-as-a-service or on-premises.

The solutions enable airlines and airports to better service passengers based on their location, preferences and travel needs. The new lounge tracking solutions include:

• Scan and Go: Provides automated passenger recognition upon scanning a boarding pass, credit card or ID for quick and seamless processing of each customer entering the lounge. With the flexibility to include optional un-manned kiosk and handheld devices, the solution improves the customer experience by offering more personal customer service, while preventing revenue leakage from unqualified passengers entering the lounge.
• Customer Insight: A powerful CRM solution that tracks traveler patterns and preferences, including food, drink, hobbies, and business travel needs. E-kiosks identify repeat passengers when they arrive at the lounge and scan their boarding pass, credit card or ID, allowing staff to provide customized services based on their likes and dislikes.
• Ancillary Management: A revenue generation tool to offer value-added services to travelers including premium food and drink packages, health and relaxation tools, and business travel support.

Data captured across all solutions is accessible via a comprehensive dashboard that can run reports on passenger traffic, revenue generation, and provide details on where customers are going and where they’ve been. The solutions offer Simplified Interline Settlement (SIS) compliant reporting and billing services, providing standardized billing and accounting for faster transactions between airline partners that share lounges.

Olivier Houri, president of global transportation for Unisys, said: “Millions of dollars are lost by unqualified passengers gaining access to airline airport lounges. AIMS intelligent passenger recognition helps lounge operators manage costs and enforce access requirements while supporting the sale of more ancillary revenue products to passengers.”

A survey of aviation industry executives conducted by Air Transport News found that the majority of airport lounges still use manual, spreadsheet based systems¹ instead of an intelligent passenger recognition system. Additionally, a four-week trial conducted at a major European airport in early 2014 estimated that real-time automation to enforce business rules and lounge access could provide airlines with more than €2.5 million (approximately US$2.7 million) in annual savings.

“The airport lounge is a critical customer touch point,” said Michael DiCorpo, president, IEG Corporation. “The AIMS lounge solution not only provides lounge operators the ability to expand access to more travelers, but also provides more opportunities to market lounge services and offerings directly to this growing population.”

Unisys offers AIMS via cloud, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), or on-premises. It can be hosted and managed in a data center, or on-premises at a client site, and is available on a per-lounge basis. The three AIMS solutions can be purchased individually or as a package, and are currently offered to both airlines and airports globally.

Unisys has more than 45 years of experience providing advanced, mission-critical IT solutions to the aviation industry. Fifteen of the top 25 airlines – and more than 200 worldwide – rely on Unisys solutions.