Star Alliance Launches its New Check-In Concept at Tokyo–Narita

Source: https://airwaysmag.com/industry/star-alliance-launches-its-new-check-in-concept-at-tokyo-narita/

Star Alliance has launched today its new check-in concept at Japan’s Tokyo Narita Airport (NRT), offering customers departing from Terminal 1 an enhanced passenger experience.

The new check-in area located at the south wing has a new layout, in which passengers will now find the counters allocated by airline rather than class of travel, further complemented with the installation of self-service kiosks which issues both baggage tags and boarding passes for travelers.

“Our initiative in Narita is part of our global strategy of reducing operational complexities and striving for standardization with the aim of providing customers with a better travel experience”, said Mark Schwab, CEO Star Alliance. “Initial statistics show that the majority of travellers are already making use of the new self-service option.”

These changes implemented are due to add extra capacity due to the large number of Star Alliance airlines operating out if Narita, with 18 carriers serving the Japanese airport, and all but one—Air India—flying to Terminal 1. Also, given the growing passenger volume, the gained space was needed.

This new concept was based on the experience gathered during the Terminal 2 project at London Heathrow, wherein Star Alliance succeeded in reducing the required check-in space by 20%.

In addition to Narita, the global airline alliance has implemented this check-in concept in S?o Paulo – Guarulhos and Los Angeles Tom Bradley International Terminal. There, all Star Alliance member airlines use the same check-in kiosks, make use of common bag-drop counters and even share Economy Class check-in desks, thus smoothing service to Alliance’s passengers besides optimizing infrastructure space and operational costs.