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Mumbai: In their bid to provide air passengers with an easier option to check-in within the least possible time, domestic airlines are now setting up kiosks in hotels, malls and commercial buildings across major cities.
"Airlines prefer these kiosks as they reduce the average processing time from four to six minutes in normal check-in to about 60 seconds per international passenger," Kingfisher Airlines marketing head Vikram Malhotra said. Along with easy check-in, passengers can also make ticket reservations through the same kiosk.
Kingfisher, which launched its international operations on September 3, will be the third Indian carrier to set up its self-service kiosk called Red Cube. Air India and Jet Airways already have such kiosks in place.
"These kiosks will eliminate long queues at airports. Imagine if you could check in and get your boarding pass at Colaba and directly proceed for immigration and security check at Sahar," Kapil Kaul, CEO, Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation said. Kaul added that since the kiosks are like automated teller machines (ATM's) they would do wonders in a non-traditional service environment such as malls, hotels and commercial buildings.
Doing it themselves
According to analyst firm Forrester, eighty six per cent of 2,869 Indians who traveled abroad between January and June 2008 had used and preferred a self-service check-in kiosk to a normal check-in.
"We have got a tremendous response to the kiosk put up at the Leela's. It makes traveling much simpler for hotel guests," said a Jet Airways spokesperson. The airline has a standalone kiosk installed at the hotel.
International check-in as well
It's not just the airlines installing such kiosks. The Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) too is installing self-service kiosks. MIAL has tied up with SITA, whereby the Geneva-based information technology provider would be setting up kiosks for easy check-in facilities for passengers.
"Unlike Red Cube which will cater only to Kingfisher passengers, the MIAL-SITA kiosks at the airport will be shared by airlines and offer multiple choices to passengers," an MIAL official said. These new common-use self-service or CUSS units are being installed within the passenger check-in areas in the terminals as well as separately.
SITA will commission 150 check-in counters at the Mumbai airport, while 50 other common use terminal equipment check-in kiosks will be located at different locations in Mumbai. Twenty of these will be located in prominent city hotels.
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