How Aviation Industries Has Developed and Changed with the Advance of Technology
This essay will discuss about how aviation industries has developed and changed with the advance of technology. The technology plays the vital role and it is also seen as the key of their success in this aviation industry. Compare to early years without technology and these modern years with various technologies have made some impact and changed in the market of aviation environment. There have been changes on products and services offered by airlines and changes on working practices of aviation environment.
Looking to the history of aviation in terms of technology, it has been huge change in compare to these years. Passengers were needed to wait on queues for booking their flight tickets. Not many sources like computer, internet or mobile phones were introduced to book flights for passengers. The technology has also led the structure of aircraft to the whole new level which started from air balloon and led on developing aircraft like The Concorde, Boeing 747, and SpaceshipOne etc. Many aircraft were taking off for longer hours to their destination but there was not any inflight services and entertainment for passengers.
Moving to recent years, one of the fastest emerging airline "Emirates" has took lead on aviation industries by introducing many technology products and services in their airport. Passengers do not have to wait any longer on the queue because this airline has provided fast-track check-in system for their passengers which include self-service check- in for all classes at Emirates Terminal 3 in Dubai International Airport. When it comes to the in-flight services, technology has made passengers' travel a lot easier. On the long haul flight, Emirates offer range of products, even when they are on the air, passengers can still connect with their families, friends and to their work. Each of the seats on their aircraft is provided with a personal satellite telephone and feature AeroMobile which allows passengers to use mobile phone onboard (Emirates 2011).
Looking at the development of Airline it has led both crew members working in airline and passengers to try out different things and make their service and travel easier. For an example E-ticketing which is the most easiest and convenient way to use nowadays for the passengers on their travel. As, Edmunds (2012:68) states that "passengers are no longer given paper which can be lost but an electronic paper reference (PNR)". So this statement clarifies that the passengers do not have to carry all of their paper work but instead they will be given their own unique preference number while travelling to their destination which result on making their travel a lot easier for them.
Recent years, Airline has been taking further step in terms of technology by persuading their clients to use their own website to book for their flight tickets. Many airlines have been working with travel agencies where they use Computer Reservation System and these systems will record the bookings and store their clients' detail. It also contains the information of schedules, availability fares and facility of reserving seats (The Intrepid Traveler 2013). So, for the Airline rather than using CRS they have introduced new technology of using their own website to book flights for their passengers. In this way on one hand airline does not have to pay any commission for travel agencies and on another hand customers will have easy access on booking flights to those airlines.
The latest technology has not only provided easy access to the crew members and passengers but it has also resulted on providing safety environment in airport and airline. These new technologies like security scanning, x-rays and biometrics had ensured that all the threats are detected and passengers are board safely to their airline seats. According to Duffy (2003) the research on future airport security states that due to factors like terrorism, many new technologies are introduced and almost £30m a year was invested towards the improvement of security in major airports of the UK. As a result, after the 9/11 attacks more concern was directed on the airport security around the world.
There are many technologies in terms of providing security in airport and one of the technology like "Advanced Imaging Technology" allows security to detect any kind of threats and this technology is so quick and sharp that it recognizes any metallic and nonmetallic equipment’s which can be threat in the aviation environment (The Transportation Security Administration 2013) . So, with development of this kind of technology it will ensure that passengers and other staff working in airport are safe and protected.
Aviation is such a competitive industry and development of the technologies have made these industries stronger and made able to introduce more of the products for their crew members and passengers. As, discussed on the history of aviation environment passengers was needed to queue for the tickets and for their flights with no entertainment facilities. However, on these recent years instead waiting for longer hours, technology has engage passengers to different activities and services that have been provided by airports. It has also shown the improvement on customer service as technologies have been making it easier and quicker on their service in the airport.