 |
The Dubai Airports App aims to drive travellers towards commercial services at Dubai International Airport |
UAE. Dubai Airports has launched a mobile application for Apple and Android devices designed to make navigating one of the world’s busiest and largest airports easier.
Called myDXB (available free from the app store), the application provides information on flights and gate numbers as well as way-finding to locate customer-facing services across the three terminals of Dubai International Airport.
“The idea behind creating myDXB was to simply communicate the availability and location of commercial services to millions of passengers that pass through our terminals each month,” said Dubai Airports Senior Vice President of Commercial Unit Eugene Barry.
“The application is also a great way to plan ahead, enabling passengers to maximise their time with us, and direct them towards services from currency exchange to their favourite retail or food brands.”
Barry added that Dubai Airports was looking at ways to make the passenger journey more convenient, adding that innovative technologies are a natural choice for achieving that objective.
“We understand the connection between way-finding and customer experience, and this application is the first step in offering our customers tools to plan their time at Dubai International, and to ultimately influence behaviour and spend,” Barry said.
Built with a simple interface, myDXB can be downloaded on iPhones and iPads as well as on the wide range of Android phones and tablets in seconds. While Dubai International offers free Wi-Fi Internet connectivity throughout the airport, the directory element of the application has been designed to operate offline so that more customers can access and benefit from it.
THE MOODIE APP REVIEW
MyDXB opens quickly to a neat menu comprising: Flights; Food & Drink; Shopping & Services; Airport Info; DXB Connect and Parking & Transport – in short a full suite of airport aeronautical and non-aeronautical services for the consumer, writes Martin Moodie.
I took a particularly close look at Shopping & Services and Food & Drink.
Shopping & Services includes a separate button for all three terminals at Dubai International Airport plus “˜Events’ and “˜Special Offers’.
The three terminals are then sub-segmented into Beauty, Duty Free and Financial Services. Each of these takes the user through to easily enlargeable maps of the respective areas. Helpfully, Duty Free is split across ten categories. That’s the extent of the information, however.
Events is denoted “˜Coming soon’ while no “˜Special Offers’ are currently showing.
Food & Drink comprises the same main segmentation but then is broken down, commendably, by an excellent sub-categorisation of the offer: Fine Dining, Casual Dining, Cafes, Confectionery, Bars and Fast Food. Clicking on, say, Fast Food, takes the user through to a list of outlets in each terminal with a logo and a brief description. There’s even a link to the concessionaire’s website and a phone number to call. Excellent.
Here too, Events and Special Offers are yet to come to life.
The other main menu buttons assist the passenger further. Transport takes the user through to a choice of Public Transport, Limousines, Valet Parking and Car Hire. Flights is split by arrivals and departures supplemented by a handily tailored “˜My Flight’ button.
Airport Info covers a whole suite of airport services from check-in to prayer rooms to restrooms to information desks. “˜Airline Lounges’, for example, gives you the location of the individual facilities plus supplementary information.
DXB Connect offers consumers the opportunity to sign up for the airport company’s new pre-paid “˜travelpak’, including a reloadable pre-paid MasterCard and Etisalat SIM card, offering discounts in many outlets, including Dubai Duty Free.
Conclusion: myDXB delivers neatly on its pledge to communicate simply the location (and quite a bit more besides in several cases) of its commercial services.
Food & Drink, Airport Info and Flights are particularly good. Shopping looks like work in progress.
It’s great to see an airport majoring on commercial services as well as general airport information in its app development. This is what embracing the digital media opportunity is all about.
Download free from the iTunes App Store | |
