Enhancing passenger service delivery and overall operational efficiency

Supporting Partners

Data Analysis

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AI Solutions

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Data Security

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Market Overview

The global travel industry is seeing a huge surge in the number of passengers, fueled by people’s increased hunger for travel post the removal of COVID-19-related restrictions. The surge has been testing the capabilities of the facilities services and innovative measures. In addition, passengers’ behaviour and preferences have been rapidly evolving and not adopting these changes will leave the service providers behind.

Passengers now are more sophisticated, tech-savvy, and always connected. As time becomes the most valuable commodity, air travelers not only aim to reduce the time spent at the airport and demand quick service, but also require a variety of other services across the entire duration of travel. The civil aviation industry is currently upgrading their services to not only cater to the evolving set of passenger requirements and expectations but also to improve the efficiencies of the infrastructures, people, and processes. Airports and airlines are either increasing the number of services they are offering or innovating their existing services to be more efficient. Catering to the new age passenger is becoming a reality with the rapid evolution of technologies. Airlines spend over 6% of their revenue on IT representing about $31bn in absolute spend, while airports spend around similar proportions of their revenue on IT representing about $5bn in total spend. According to the Airports Council International, (ACI) the world’s airports are expected to see nearly $2.4 trillion of investment to develop their infrastructure, including the use of advanced technologies and expansions by 2040. Countries in the Middle East alone will need to spend around $151 billion to complete the expansion and modernisation projects for their airports.

Event Overview

The civil aviation industry is seeing a major transformation in digitalising and automating passenger services to improve ease of use and decrease processing time while keeping safety at the forefront. The market has a huge number of technologies that provide self-service, contactless services, passenger identity management, advanced airport operations management, passenger flow and queue management, and several use-cases of AI and data analytics that contribute to an enhanced experience making it hard to identify the ones that fit best the company’s needs 

The Great Minds Event Management is organising the World Passenger Experience Forum to bring all the stakeholders together to discuss the evolving passenger behaviours, collection of data and its usage to deliver hyper-personal services required to treat each passenger as an individual by integrating the physical, digital and emotional experiences. The forum will also discuss various technological advancements, use cases and process improvements that reduce the number of touchpoints and convert them into contactless services to ensure time efficiency and make the passenger’s journey more pleasurable while gaining their loyalty.

The forum is hosted in Dubai, one of the leading air travel hubs. Being one of the busiest airports, the host city’s airports forecast 77.8 million passengers in 2023 and about 93.3 million in 2025. The region hosts four of the world’s top 10 airports and three of the top 10 airlines globally, making civil aviation in the region highly competitive and reemphasising the role of passenger experience as a key differentiator.

Event In Numbers  

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Decision Makers 

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Speakers  

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Countries  Represented

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Panel Discussions

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Fireside Chats

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Case Studies and Technical Presentations

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Media Partners  

Forum’s Key Takeaways

Make

the passenger journey easier, quicker and safer

Improve

ancillary revenue and scale gains

Discover

the right methods to automate passenger services and improve operational efficiency

Explore

opportunities to boost the digital experience through digitally enabling passenger journeys

Learn

ways to hyper-personalise services and offerings

Identify

ways to reduce the number of human interfaces and touchpoints

Manage

the requirements of various stakeholders efficiently to deliver a seamless passenger experience

Make

travel more enjoyable and boost loyalty

Expert Panel

Dr. Ahmed S.Sharqawi

Deputy Managing Director

Prince Mohammad Bin Abdulaziz International Airport – Saudi Arabia

Ahmet ER

Customer Experience Deputy Manager

İGA Istanbul Airport
Türkiye

Altin Progonati

Head of Quality and Customer Experience

Ras Al Khaimah International Airport
The United Arab Emirates

Arrigo Santini

Head of Digital,
SEA Milano Aeroporti

Milan Airport
Italy

Antonio Addario

Chief Product & Customer Experience Officer, Officer

Qantas Airways Limited
Australia

Carmen Peraita Sanz

Global Leader Enterprise and Digital Integration Services

Mott MacDonald
United Kingdom

Dilanur Çetinalp

Customer Experience Process Supervisor

İGA Istanbul Airport
Türkiye

Goksu Guney

Chief Operating Officer

Favori Airports
Türkiye

Jerry Angrave

Customer & Passenger Experience Director

empathayce
United Kingdom

Melik Said Şengül

Digital Business Development Chief

İGA Istanbul Airport
Türkiye

Michalis Senis

Airport ICT Master Plan Design

Munich International Airport
Germany

Mohannad Salman AlSalmi

Chief Information Officer

Flyadeal
Saudi Arabia

Sandra Cullen

Vice President Customer Experience and Training

Air Astana Group
Kazakhstan

Navaid Ahsan

Head of Aviation Security Operations

Etihad Airways
The United Arab Emirates

Dr. Sumith De Silva

Head of Marketing & Corporate Communications

Airport and Aviation Services (Sri Lanka) (Private) Limited
Sri Lanka

Melik Said Şengül

Digital Business Development Chief

Istanbul Grand Airport

Conference Agenda

  • Day 1: Tuesday, 14 June 2023
  • Day 2: Wednesday, 15 June 2023

08:00

Registration, refreshments, and networking

09:00 – 09:05

Opening remarks by Great Minds Group

09:05 – 09:10

Welcome remarks by the Conference Chair

09:15 – 09:30

  • Understanding the requirements and expectations of passengers as the passenger spectrum widens
  • Improving the collaboration and passenger information sharing between entities to enable the right decision making
  • Providing beyond basic services, and catering to the evolving requirements
  • Identifying the right auxiliary services for your passenger

09:30 -  10:15

  • Enhancing the human experience by empowering the front-line staff with accurate real-time information to provide prompt and relevant support and services
  • Are customers moving away from human experience to digital experience?
  • How can digital experiences and human experiences from various stakeholders make it into a single seamless experience?
  • Identifying the right technological solutions that can be embedded into the customer journey map

Panelist:

Panelists

10:15 - 10:35

  • Managing passenger growth without expanding the physical infrastructure
  • Redesigning the customer journey by identifying opportunities for improving efficiencies
  • Reducing the number of touchpoints at airport terminals
  • Rethinking the functionality of each touchpoint to improve efficiency

10:35 – 10:50

Presentation reserved for a solution provider

10:50 - 11:10

  • Unlocking the hidden value in the passenger information
  • Redefining and segmenting personas based on sensitivities such as time, price, health, culture, etc.
  • Profiling and recognising passengers to provide unique services and experience
  • Improving the collaboration between airports and airlines on passenger data sharing and learning more about their passengers

11:10 - 11:30

Case study: Boosting digital services and experiences

Speakers:

11:30 - 12:00

Networking coffee break 

12:00 - 12:45

  • How can you hyper-personalize services and offerings to serve your passengers with their specific needs?
  • Understanding the passengers better and tailor-making products for them where possible
  • Leveraging digital technology to boost personalization
  • Filling communication gaps amongst the frontline staff
  • Changing the normal experiences and making them relevant to the passenger
  • Improving ancillary revenue by customising offers on under-utilised services based on data
  • How much is too much of customising and what are its downsides?

Moderator:

12:45 - 13:15

This session will highlight the latest technologies that boost operational efficiency, reduce time to serve passengers and boost the digital experience. The session consists of 10-minute back-to-back presentations from experts in the industry who will provide insights and case studies on the successful application of a variety of advanced passenger experience innovations such as:
  • Automated passenger services
  • Self-service
  • Touchless and low-touch technologies
  • Airport control systems
  • Barrier-free solutions for a non-stop passenger flow
  • Passenger flow and queue management

Joint Q&A with the three presenters

13:15 -14:00

  • Implementing integrated access solutions for efficient and smooth passenger flow
  • Enabling digital access to decrease process times
  • Reducing the number of touchpoints while travelling through various zones
  • Looking at the latest updates in services such as F&B and catering, retail, lounges, resting areas, boarding area, meeting rooms, and silent rooms?

14:00 – 14:15

Presentation reserved for a solution provider

14:15 – 14:30

  • Complying with regional and international data sharing and privacy laws
  • Identifying where to start and trialing a pilot project
  • Making airport wide deployment a possibility for a seamless experience
  • Building a secure digital identity management to automate verifications, barrier control, etc to provide a contactless experience

14:30 – 14:35

Closing remarks by the Conference Chair

14:35

Networking luncheon and end of conference day one

08:30

Registration, refreshments, and networking 

09:00 – 09:10

Welcome note by the Conference Chair

09:10 – 09:30

  • Designing an airport for smart passengers
  • Reducing the time required for passengers to be at the airport
  • Designing layouts that improve connectivity
  • Effective marketing and media planning within the airport
  • Planning F&B and retail based on the passenger routes
  • Using technologies, such as digital twins, to improve planning, layout design and maintenance
  • Considerations during retrofitting, renovation, re-planning and re-designing

09:30 – 10:15

  • How can you maintain passenger satisfaction while providing faster services?
  • Data sharing and ensuring transparency amongst various entities within an airport when planning and forecasting the facility requirements
  • Effective and efficient management of passenger flow and queue across checkpoints
  • Accelerating the routes to and from the aircraft
  • How can you serve passengers during busy periods with the same quality of the non-busy periods?
Panelists

10:15 – 10:35

  • Evaluating the most suitable self-service for your passengers and existing physical and digital infrastructure
  • Shortening processes to accelerate passenger flow
  • Exploring the available barrier-free solutions for a non-stop passenger flow
  • Efficient traffic management with improved convenience and safety
  • Overcoming the challenges of automated systems integration

Speakers:

10:35 – 10:50

Presentation reserved for solution provider

10:50 – 11:05

Managing the requirements of various stakeholders efficiently to deliver a seamless passenger experience

Speaker:

11:05 – 11:25

  • Overview of the importance of continuous and ongoing product development
  • Enhancement of hard and soft products of different classes
  • What are the latest trends and solutions in in-flight entertainment?
  • Making high-speed connectivity a reality and enabling options such as streaming your own device
  • Adopting F&B personalisation, ensuring the right food is delivered to the right flyer, and providing dine-anytime options
  • How do we make long-haul and transit flights pleasurable?

11:25 – 11:55

Networking coffee break 

11:55 – 12:15

  • Looking at the lifetime value of a customer
  • How can you win repeat and long-term business while the interactions with customers are sporadic?
  • How can you track the passenger’s emotional experience from previous travels?
  • What encompasses a successful and value-driven loyalty program?
  • Converting passengers from just a customer to your brand ambassadors

Speaker:

12:15 – 12:55

This session will highlight the latest technologies that boost operational efficiency, reduce time to serve passengers and boost the digital experience. The session consists of 10-minute back-to-back presentations from experts in the industry who will provide insights and case studies on the successful application of a variety of advanced passenger experience innovations such as:
  • Automated passenger services
  • Self-service
  • Touchless and low-touch technologies
  • Airport control systems
  • Barrier-free solutions for a non-stop passenger flow
  • Passenger flow and queue management

Joint Q&A with the three presenters

12:55 – 13:40

  • Looking at how airlines are evolving their interior to meet the changing needs and preferences of passengers
  • Role of interior manufacturers in creating innovative and functional flight interiors
  • Selecting the right technology to provide a memorable customer experience
  • Reducing the complexity of seat design to achieve a reduced part count

13:40 – 13:55

  • How can you capitalize on the passenger’s growing spend at every step of the customer journey?
  • Improving offerings and providing more choices for passengers to create new and enhanced revenue streams
  • Boosting the user experience (UX) and user interface (UI) to increase sales and upselling
  • Identifying what the passenger wants and the right set of ancillary products that can be introduced at various steps and touchpoints
  • Tapping into targeted marketing opportunities to increase revenue

Speaker:

13:55 – 14:20

This session will discuss and bring out various viewpoints and perspectives of current and future trends such as:
  • Airport 4.0
  • Single token journey
  • Impact of AI and automation’s revolution on the workforce
  • Sustainability and passenger satisfaction
  • Cyber security and passenger data control

Panelists:

14:20 – 14:25

Closing remarks by the Conference Chair

14:25

Networking luncheon and the end of conference

Why Attend?

01.

HEAR

from regional and international airports on their recent development and future expansion plans

02.

Collaborate

with different stakeholders who are catering to the same passenger

03.

Cherry-pick

technologies that would bring a positive impact on the operational efficiency

04.

Explore

case studies and learn from implementation from peers from other cities and countries

05.

Understand

the customer behavioural and market trends

06.

Participate

in the ‘technology innovation showcase’ session which highlight key innovations and solutions enhancing the operational efficiency and passenger 

Who Will Attend?

Frame the Problem

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Step 1

Collect the Data

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Step 2

Process the Data

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Step 3

Who Should Partner and Exhibit?

Organisations offering solutions that contribute to improving ease of use, reducing passenger journey time and touchpoints, and boosting passengers’ digital experience. To explore partnership opportunities, please contact us on partnerships@gmevents.ae. 

Media Partners

Registration











    Mohannad Salman AlSalmi,

    Chief Information Officer, Flyadeal - Saudi Arabia
    Mohannad is the Chief Information Officer for flyadeal with more than 25 years of experience in Information Technology and Digitization. He has worked on several organizations in the Aviation industry and played a major role in developing and implementing digital strategies, roadmaps, and projects. In 2022 Mohannad AlSalmi has been recognized among the top 10 CIOs in the Middle East by IDC Middle East Africa.

    Michalis Senis

    Airport ICT Master Plan Design - Senior Consultant, Munich International Airport – Germany

    Michail is a highly competent, dedicated, result driven, enthusiastic professional with 23 years of corporate experience in delivering multimillion, international and state-of-the-art large scale Technological Programs which have been positively impacting the company’s operational effectiveness and corporate image as well as passenger´s experience.

    He is an ICT senior consultant with a strong technical and business airport background, having worked in Aviation for ICT projects relating to operations, ORAT, master planning, construction, design, due diligence, Business Continuity Management and acquisition transformation. Michail managed or supported the Greenfield airport or airport’s terminal ICT systems openings of the following international airports: Athens, Tirana, Amman, Warsaw, Budapest and Cairo.

    Antonio Addario

    Chief Product & Customer Experience Officer, Qantas Airways Limited – Australia

    Antonio is an executive with over 15 years of experience in product management, user experience, digital transformation, and customer service. As Chief Product and Customer Experience Officer of Qantas Loyalty, he oversees the entire suite of Loyalty propositions which spans travel, financial services, and retail verticals. Antonio is responsible for the product organization and the digital and contact centre channels. With a proven track record in transforming organizations into customer-centric businesses, he has served in key leadership roles at the Boston Consulting Group, Telstra, and ING Bank. Alongside his corporate career, Antonio funded a mobile SaaS startup in Australia and an e-commerce business in Brazil. 

    Antonio holds an MBA from IE Business School and an MS in Computer Science from Uppsala University.

    Jerry Angrave

    Customer & Passenger Experience Director, empathayce

    Jerry Angrave is founder of Empathyce, a specialist Customer and Passenger Experience consultancy. Jerry is UK based and works with companies around the world including those in aviation, travel and hospitality.

    The nature of his work is around building and managing effective customer experience programs from a cultural, strategic and operational perspective. He aims to provide clarity, structure and direction for those driving their CX agenda.

    He is a member of the Accessibility Advisory Group at London Heathrow Airport, a member of the British Aviation Group and a Certified Customer Experience Professional. Jerry is author of “The Journey Mapping Playbook”, co-chair of the UK networking group for the global Customer Experience Professional’s Association and a judge of the CX World Series awards.

    Carmen Peraita

    Global Leader Enterprise and Digital Integration Services, Mott MacDonald
    Carmen Peraita Sanz is a Consultant Director at Mott MacDonald. She has spent much of her career client side in senior leadership roles, designing and leading transformation programmes in transportation. She spent 16 years in Aena, the major airport operator in the World, in different roles. Carmen was involved in the ORAT process of Istanbul Airport and spent two years as the Programme Manager for Systems and Information working for the Elizabeth Line (first digital railway), where she implemented an enterprise architecture approach to help the organisation move from construction to the operational environment. Carmen currently leads globally in Mott MacDonald ‘Enterprise and Digital Integration Services’. This is a global suite of advisory services which support our clients in transforming their organisations to enable integrated, fully digitalised approach to their asset lifecycle. With the customer at the heart, these services allow the clients to align their vision to processes, people, information and technology and adapt to the rapidly changing external and internal context.

    Altin Progonati

    Head of Quality and Customer Experience, Ras Al Khaimah International Airport
    Altin Progonati was born in Albania and have since pursued his education in various countries, including Turkey, USA, UK, and France. With 25 years of professional experience in the aviation industry, he initially studied at the Air Force Academy where he graduated as both a fighter pilot and industrial engineer. After serving as a Wing commander in the Air Force, he transitioned to civilian aviation as a pilot for Albanian airlines, Star Airways, before moving into airport management roles as an operation manager, safety manager, compliance manager, ground handling manager, quality postholder, COO, and ultimately CEO. Altin is married with three children and holds numerous certifications, including a master’s degree in Advanced Aviation Safety. In addition to his native Albanian, he is proficient in Italian, Turkish, and English.digitalized

    Melik Said

    Digital Business Development Chief,İGA Istanbul Airport

    Melik Şengül is  a technology developer in the aviation industry, focused on offering passengers high-end, innovative and effective solutions. The objectives he pursues in his current position involve continuous development of new projects to improve passengers’ digital journey.

    He manages relations with various partners such as development teams, start-ups and large-scale companies to ensure better experience and increased efficiency for all parties involved.

    Dr. Sumith De Silva

    Head of Marketing and Corporate Communications, Airport and Aviation Services (Sri Lanka) (Private) Limited – Sri Lanka

    Sumith De Silva is an experienced corporate strategist and marketer with over 16 years of experience. He currently serves as the Head of Marketing and Corporate Communications at Airport and Aviation Services (Sri Lanka) (Private) Limited, overseeing four international airports. He holds a Ph.D. in Business Management and Marketing, as well as an MBA in Marketing and a B.Sc. (Mgt.) degree.

    Sumith is also a certified Practicing Marketer and Certified Professional Marketer (Asia). He is a member of various professional organizations, including the Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing and the Academy for Global Business Advancement. Sumith has served as a visiting faculty member for leading MBA, MSc, and bachelor’s degree programs, helping thousands of students, employees, business professionals, and entrepreneurs to develop through training, education, and coaching in Sri Lanka.