Dubai Airport Show Delivers Flawless Ticketing Experience

The Middle East has $119 billion of investment underway across airport projects. The Dubai Airport Show brings together the latest technologies and services for the airport sector – and is now the second largest B2B for the airport industry. Ensuring visitors have a first-class experience is vital part of its success.

The growth of Dubai Airport Show reflects the growth of the city’s airport. In 2000 Dubai Airport handled 12,321,000 passengers, in 2013 this figure had risen to 66,431,533. In 2013, the Dubai Airport Show, launched in 2000 in one hall of the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre, welcomed 6,581 visitors and 225 exhibitors across six pavilions . It is the premier airport industry event for the Middle East, Africa and Indian Subcontinent.

“The event mirrors the aviation industry’s robust growth and the region's economic resilience,” says H.H. Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President of Dubai Civil Aviation Authority, chairman and chief executive of Emirates Airline & Group. “It enables decision-makers and other aviation industry professionals to explore the latest technologies and identify future challenges, in order to further promote the success of a thriving aviation industry in the region."

For the organisers, Reed Exhibitions, delivering a professional, enjoyable visitor experience – an experience to match the standards of a business class flight – is key goal. This experience starts as soon as visitors arrive at registration desks. Each visitor will have their details logged before being issued with a badge.

Reed Exhibitions wanted this experience to be as smooth as possible. In simple terms, visitor badges must be print quickly and efficiently. However, this is further complicated as visitor numbers tend to surge on the morning of day one.

“The first day of the event is always hectic. We would expect to see 30% of visitors come through the doors on the first morning,” says Daniyal Qureshi, Airport Show Director, Reed Exhibitions. “What we cannot tolerate is long queues at the registration desks and delays in processing visitor badges.”

In response to feedback from the 2012 event, Qureshi wanted to upgrade the registration process. One issue had been with printer performance – several printers had jammed at various points, causing delays to registration and negatively affecting the visitor experience. “Unacceptable,” says Qureshi.

After investigating leading print solution providers, Reed Exhibitions commissioned Epson to install eight TM-500A prints across registration desks. The TM-500A is already a standard among airlines, used to print boarding passes and baggage tags.

Crucially the TM-L500A has print speeds of up to 250mm/sec and uses the world’s most commonly used POS communication set for printers, ESC/POS, which allows for seamless software implementation. Its ultra-compact, lightweight design provides greater placement flexibility, allowing Reed to reclaim valuable counter space. 

The TM-L500A also enables the creation and storage of profiles containing unique settings to make switching between multiple settings fast and straightforward. It is simple to install with USB, serial and Ethernet interfaces.

The 2013 event saw record visitor numbers - 6,581 up from 5,988 in 2012. The eight registration desks processed more than 2,000 visitor badges in the first three hours of day one. Registration times were faster than the 2012 event.

Qureshi says staff appreciated the printer’s easy-to-use features, speed and ability to produce consistently high quality prints. Reed Exhibitions, a major player in the Dubai exhibitions sector, plans to adopt the TM-500A at future events.

“We’ve had excellent feedback from visitors and registration desk staff,” he says. “The Epson printers coped superbly. We had no print jams, queues were kept to a minimum and the whole registration process was viewed as professional and stress-free.”