Model of technology-based airport customer journey management of Suvarnabhumi Airport, Thailand

Abstract

In airports, the technology creates a transformation from a regular travel to be an extraordinary with the trendily digital assistances since the pre-arrival until post-departure at the final destination. Creating smooth passengers’ journey seems to be more vital nowadays among the intensive global airport competitions. Especially when the travel pattern has been forever shifted by the Coronavirus 2019, purely service quality provided by airport and airline staffs is no longer enough. More facilitating airport technologies, therefore, turn to be a must to fulfil these evolutional changes. This research consists of four primary objectives including, 1) to explore the airport service touchpoints in the customer journey of Suvarnabhumi Airport, 2) to study the actual demand of the international passengers in selecting technological choices to facilitate their journeys at Suvarnabhumi Airport, 3) to study the factors influencing airport technology selections in each service touchpoint of Suvarnabhumi Airport, and lastly, 4) to create the model of technology-based airport customer journey management of Suvarnabhumi Airport. This thesis employed mixed research methodologies. Four hundred international airport passengers were the main population of this research, using questionnaires as a research tool. Meanwhile, thirty airport and airline staffs, and airport and airline executives, were other populations of this study, using non-structured in-dept interview forms to collect the data. The research results indicated 11 service touchpoints with high actual demands, 9 factors influencing airport technology selections, and finally, the model of technology-based airport customer journey management of Suvarnabhumi Airport since airport arrival to airport departure.