Aeroporti di Roma Launches Digiport: WhatsApp Chatbot and Smart Boarding

Updates via WhatsApp on the status of departing flights and boarding operations at the gate are now available in real time on your smartphone, thanks to artificial intelligence: Aeroporti di Roma launches two innovative digital services, included in the ‘Digiport’ platform and directly available on smartphones, for Fiumicino airport’s passengers. In the first days after the activation of the ‘Digiport’ platform, more than one thousand passengers per day used this service.

This new project by ADR is part of the Mundys Group strategy, which considers innovation as one of the main levers of strategic development. Aeroporti di Roma thus accelerates on the road to digitalisation, with the aim of further improving the customer experience for passengers at Fiumicino “Leonardo da Vinci” Airport, recently named by ACI World as the best European airport for the quality and excellence of its services. In the last few weeks, Fiumicino airport has also achieved another important record, reaching almost 170 thousand passengers in one day.

Specifically, the chatbot service via WhatsApp provides passengers with real-time flight status notifications, as well as detailed information on all services at Fiumicino Airport. By scanning the QR code displayed in the lower section of the Flight Info Monitors, passengers can access a special chat to check the status of their flight at any time, without having to look at the displays in the terminal. The direct use of the world's most popular messaging app simplifies and optimises the passenger experience at the airport. Through the Digiport chatbot, passengers can also access up-to-date information on all the services offered by ADR.

Furthermore, for the 14 gates (E11-E24) of the ‘Molo E’ non-Schengen boarding area at ‘Leonardo da Vinci’ Airport, ADR has launched a ‘Smart Boarding’ service, accessible exclusively via QR Code, which employs a system of micro-cameras coordinated by Artificial Intelligence to collect and process in real-time data on boarding operations, enabling passengers to view their departure gate in live-streaming from their mobile phones, including detailed updates on how close boarding is to completion.

By monitoring the progress of boarding from their phones, passengers are thus free to choose when to queue and can make the most of their airport experience.

For ADR, both the new “Digiport” and “Smart Boarding” services are a concrete example of how Open Innovation and circularity of ideas are applied within the company. Indeed, the services were conceived and developed thanks to the collaboration with Airport AI and ZestIot, respectively; these two start-ups are among those that participated in the Call4ideas launched by Aeroporti di Roma’s Innovation Hub, the first business accelerator located in the heart of a terminal (i.e., Terminal 1 at ‘Leonardo da Vinci’ Airport), for the development of start-ups in the airport sector.

“Thanks to these new services, we carry on with our mission to revolutionise the passenger experience at the airport through the use of digital technology: today, travellers can get all their flight info directly on their smartphone, without having to keep looking at the flight information screens. By activating notifications on their smartphones and monitoring the boarding status in real-time, travellers will be able to spend their time exploring the airport worry-free, prior to departure,” Emanuele Calà, Aeroporti di Roma’s Vice President for Innovation & Quality, said.

Aeroporti di Roma takes another step forward in implementing innovative digital opportunities for its passengers. To attract future visitors, a new flight booking platform, ‘flyandvisitrome.com’, was also recently launched, offering travellers from all over the world a way of searching for and buying the cheapest tickets, with the additional option of enhancing the travel experience with a stop-over of at least 24 hours in Rome. This holiday within a holiday — with booking service provided by TripStack, a leading player in the industry, with around 30 million customers a year — is generated using the very latest cross-reference search tools of routes of more than 650 airlines.

Flyandvisitrome.com is another initiative by Aeroporti di Roma to promote internationally the opportunity to visit the Italian capital by attracting additional tourist flows to the country.