Exchange Communications, the UK’s leading smart building connectivity specialists, has certainly seen a rise in interest from airports across Scotland and the UK over the last couple of years, looking to become some of the most connected travel hubs in Europe.

This year, we have helped transform some of Scotland’s airports including Edinburgh and Glasgow, by upgrading their technology to meet the needs of current and future passengers and be smart about how they operate as businesses of the new era.

There are a number of key benefits for passengers, giving them access to faster internet speeds during their airport visit, but the shift to 5G also has an enormous positive impact on staff and airline partners as well as the airport, streamlining the experience significantly.

Tom Sime, CEO of Exchange Communications

But why is 5G installation in an aviation setting so important? Smart enabling the airport building can support everything from intelligent automation to energy efficiency and enhanced security. Transforming its IT infrastructure can revolutionise not only the way our airports operate, but indeed the way we travel.

There are a number of ways in which airlines, airports, industry workers, and passengers stand to benefit from this cutting-edge technology and how it can help shape the customer experience of the future.

From a technical viewpoint it allows the airport to dispense with the miles of cabling no longer required for the likes of baggage drop systems and security cameras, while delivering a platform for smart travel apps.

But looking at it from a consumer, passenger-led experience perspective, long security lines, lengthy wait times at retail stores and restaurants, and unreliable technology, such as slow or spotty Wi-Fi, could become a thing of the past. 5G has the potential to be a real game changer enabling services that can really aid these issues and make the experience much slicker.

Most airline passengers are already using their smartphones to manage air travel logistics, such as checking in, dropping off baggage, accessing mobile boarding passes, and receiving flight status updates. 5G can enhance all these touchpoints — from the journey to the airport to take-off—by providing faster network speeds with lower inactivity of data access for mobile-based activities.

From the airport’s standpoint, 5G can also provide greater capabilities to offer wayfinding apps, personalised mobile messaging and other proximity-based digital signage that can be updated in almost real-time so travellers can make best use of their time before they board their flight.

And with the airport’s commercial offering a key part of the overall experience, 5G has the potential to offer faster, cloud-based, point-of-sale systems and mobile apps, not to mention self-serve kiosks for the ordering and payment of food, beverage, and retail.

Efficient and comprehensive security measures are a top priority for airport operators and travellers. Since 5G networks can provide the ability to run effective and high-quality security systems, airports can implement high-definition video surveillance, which feed streams for near real-time data analysis promised by AI-powered security monitoring services.

This enables an airport to run its high-tech equipment much more efficiently, adding to a smoother passenger journey.

The aviation industry is continually evolving and 5G is playing an increasingly important role in facilitating the communication between aircraft and ground control systems. Increasing demand for 5G connectivity in flying operations is also expected to be one of the leading developments in aviation market trends as we move forward.

5G and aviation is an incredibly exciting area of growth just now and we are exciting to be leading with the way with several projects across the UK just now. For more information visit www.exchangecommunications.co.uk

Tom Sime, CEO of Exchange Communications

Upgrading Scotland’s airport 5G connectivity technology is taking off - Tom Sime

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