Low cost carrier Spicejet has lately been in the news for the proposed long haul operations. The airline has been silently transforming itself on the technology front, after coming out of near bankruptcy two years ago.
The airline has started offering “Self Bag Drop” at domestic terminal, Mumbai. (Mumbai Airport introduces India’s first Self Bag-Drop)
Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) partnered with global technology service provider SITA to introduce the self bag drop system – Scan&Fly at Terminal 2 followed by Terminal 1 used by low cost carriers for domestic flights. Spicejet is the first airline to integrate its system with the Scan&Fly setup and offer its passengers the service to self check-in and self bag drop.
The system lets the passenger search their PNR (Passenger Name Record) and has the ability to calculate the dimension of the bag along with its weight before printing out the baggage tag. The passenger is expected to attach the baggage tag to the bags and keep the baggage receipt for reference.
This feature reduces the time needed for baggage check-in and does not have opening hours like the check-in counter.
Earlier this week the airline became the first and only airline to integrate its Departure Control System (DCS) with e-Gate at Bengaluru Airport. The system allows the passenger to scan own boarding pass – which can be the conventional boarding pass, mobile boarding pass or on a wearable device like smart watch.
The airline has claimed that e-Gate would enable the boarding process to be completed in 8-10 minutes, which will translate in better turnaround times.
Over a longer period of time these technology implementations will help reduce cost on workforce for both the airport operator and the airline.
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