Changi Airport kickstarted its innovation journey in 2016 with the move to understand its customers’ needs better. A year in, the initiative evolved into Changi’s own Digital, Innovation, Ventures and Analytics (DIVA) journey. The DIVA team now resides in a collaboration space in Terminal 2, where different clusters from Changi work together with partners from Accenture to ideate, experiment and design solutions on problem statements. Making use of innovative ways of working and leveraging emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, DIVA takes a new look at new digital products and services to tackle these challenges facing Changi.

One of the most recent solutions created to enhance passengers’ experience at Changi was PlayPass. During the recent June school holidays, PlayPass was rolled out to visitors of the Spider-Man: Far from Home at Changi Airport event. With PlayPass, parents just need to scan the QR codes on their receipts to be brought to the PlayPass platform. From there, they could then select a date and book a timeslot for their children to enjoy the activities at the attractions, making the entire process seamless and hassle-free, replacing the previously manual queue system.

From 5 August to 15 November 2019, diners who meet the minimum spending on weekdays at participating food and beverage outlets at the public areas across all terminals can also use PlayPass to redeem complimentary parking coupons. Scanning the QR code on the receipt will launch the PlayPass platform where customers can then check if the coupons are available for redemption. Once they have confirmed that a coupon is available, they just need to head to the designated Customer Service Counter to collect it. Having everything digitised and in one system means staff will no longer need to key in the information manually, as well as making it easier for visitors to manage their bookings conveniently on their phones. Being able to monitor the PlayPass platform also helps Changi Airport to better understand how customers interact with the service, so as to be able to serve them better in the future.

Besides PlayPass, Changi has introduced MAX, the airport’s own virtual assistant. The chatbot is developed in collaboration with the DIVA team as a way to improve passengers’ experience by offering them help with questions when they need it. Max can provide flight information and alerts, tips on things to do around Changi Airport, and even help with Lost & Found. The chatbot is available on Facebook Messenger, Changi’s website and on the iChangi app. As MAX learns and evolves over time, the team can prepare replies that better address passengers’ questions.

It has been 3 years, but Changi’s innovation journey is only just starting. DIVA has already been given its next challenge – to identify any gaps in Changi’s operations and to see how creative and effective digital solutions can be introduced to deliver a personalised, stress-free and positively surprising passenger experience to every visitor in Changi Airport.