Mumbai international airport leads in online check-in worldwide: SITA survey

A global survey by SITA has found that Indian travellers use the web more often for flight bookings and check-in than others. The survey also found that Mumbai leads six of the world's busiest airports when it comes to web check-in ahead of Atlanta with a score of 19.3 per cent, as compared to the latter's 18 per cent.

SITA, a specialist provider of information technology (IT) solutions to airlines and airports said there is overwhelming evidence from passengers surveyed at six of the world's busiest airports across five continents that self-service is fast becoming the norm for passengers from Mumbai to Atlanta.

The first ever global survey to look at use of Passenger Self-Service at a major Indian airport, Mumbai International, has found that Indian travellers use the web more than often for flight booking and check-in.

The SITA/Air Transport World Passenger Self-Service Survey takes an in-depth look at the attitudes and habits of a representative sample of the 232 million passengers who use six of the world's busiest airports across five continents: Hartsfield-Jackson, Atlanta; Mumbai International; Charles De Gaulle, Paris; Moscow Domodedovo; Sao Paulo Guarulhos, Brazil and Johannesburg or Tambo International Airport.

The data is extracted from interviews with 2,143 passengers from over 60 countries travelling in over 100 airlines, conducted at the departure gates, earlier this year.

The use of self-service check-in at Mumbai (28.7 per cent) rivals that one of mainland Europe's main gateways, Paris Charles De Gaulle (29.9 per cent) but most significantly, Mumbai leads all six airports when it comes to web check-in with a score of 19.3 per cent just ahead of Atlanta, 18 per cent.

The survey found that 61.7 per cent of Mumbai passengers booked online, which was ahead of all other surveyed airports except the world's busiest, Atlanta, where 73.4 per cent booked online. Only 19.7 per cent of respondents interviewed at Mumbai Airport had never used online booking.

Among those who did use online booking when it was available, 30 per cent found it cheaper to book off-line, 28 per cent did not have a credit card and 20 per cent had no Internet access. Ease of use and time saved were the main reasons cited for online booking.

Maneesh Jaikrishna, SITA director for India and South Asia, said: "This survey confirms that self-service is here to stay with potential for truly explosive growth in emerging markets. It is remarkable that despite low Internet penetration in India, already almost 20 per cent of passengers at the country's largest airport, Mumbai International, are using the web to check-in. The survey demonstrates that Indian travellers are among the most technologically savvy. Globally, 93 per cent of the passengers surveyed were carrying a mobile device.

"However, the major obstacles to self-service check-in adoption according to Mumbai passengers in the survey were lack of availability of self-service for the particular flight, 27.5 per cent, and a further 24.7 per cent could not tell if self-service check-in was available. The air transport community together with IT providers like SITA must work together to address these gaps in understanding and availability of self-service options."

The survey, now in its third year but expanded to include airports across the globe, confirmed the travelling peoples' desire for greater autonomy when it comes to making their own travel arrangements. For passengers in Mumbai, price, flight schedule, airline reputation and ability to book online were the four main considerations when making their travel arrangements.

SITA covers 220 countries and territories and its head office is in Geneva, Switzerland. SITA had consolidated revenues of $1.42 billion (€1.06 billion) in 2007.