A corporate leader with diverse experience, he is harnessing the latest technological advances to spur Malaysia Airports to greater heights as a smart aviation regional hub.
This month, Dato’ Mohd Shukrie Mohd Salleh enthuses about KL International Airport’s (KLIA) emergence as one of the world’s top 10 airports in the Airports Council International’s (ACI) global Airport Service Quality survey for the over 40 million passengers per annum (mppa) category in 2020, thanks to the continuous digitalisation measures undertaken by the airport operator. Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen International Airport’s (ISGIA) was also recognised by ACI in the Best Airport Award 2020 for the 25 to 40 mppa category. Its robotic pilot project Aerobot has also taken off ground.
Driven by our passengers’ confidence and satisfaction in our facilities and services, I am elated to
announce that KLIA has achieved an annual score of 4.98 over 5.00 in 2020 compared to its previous year’s 4.76 score, to be now placed among the world’s top 10 airports.
Our passengers can look forward to shorter wait times and facial recognition technology this year, which are all part of our digital transformation. We are using a new 3D sensor technology for the automated queue management system (AQMS) at KLIA to cut queue-waiting-time to under 10 minutes.
The data on the wait times from the AQMS will be integrated into our Flight Information Display Screens and MYairports mobile app at a later stage to allow passengers to plan their journey at the airport better. Meanwhile, phase one of the AQMS has been completed for all security screening check points, including the boarding gates.
Dato’ Mohd Shukrie Mohd Salleh Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) of Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad
The system will be implemented at all critical touchpoints with phase two, now customs, targeted to complete by June. We hope to create strategic value to all the relevant partners and government agencies by leveraging data captured from the AQMS to be more efficient and effective in resource planning and allocation. This distribution of analytics is a concerted effort for the airport community to work together in enhancing the passenger journey.
We have also planned to introduce private health safety screening services for passengers and the Covid-19 swab test to be done swiftly within comfortable surroundings for them to enjoy faster clearance upon arrival. Our ultimate goal is to remain focus on our Airports 4.0 journey in future-proofing our services and heightening the passenger experience.
We are piloting robotic technology at ISGIA, our emerging city airport in Turkey as it has shown better traffic movement recovery from the Covid-19 travel bans compared to our flagship KL International Airport (KLIA). The first two months of 2021 saw ISGIA registering 1.3 million passenger traffic movements or 60% of our Group’s total.
ISGIA was not only awarded by ACI as a “Highly Commended” airport recently but was also certified with an Airport Health Accreditation in recognition of its efforts to deliver a safe airport experience during the pandemic. The mobile robot Aerobot has been programmed to assist passengers in wayfinding and remind them of the new travel practices in our efforts to promote safe and contactless engagement as part of our Airports 4.0 initiative under the new norms.
Aerobot is a marvel with the ability to communicate in more than 20 international languages, including English, Arabic, Spanish, Russian and French. Equipped with artificial intelligence, it can do many wonders such as reading barcodes, answering flight inquiries and accompanying passengers to their boarding gates. As a Group, we are always actively finding technology solutions that can enhance our safety and service levels for the guests to our airports.