Tag Archives: Michael Ibbitson

Dubai Airports, the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs (GDRFA) and Emaratech marked the completion of the installation of 20 smart gates at Dubai International’s (DXB) Terminal 1. The new smart gates are now fully operational in the arrivals area of Terminal 1 in addition to the 10 installed last year in departures. In total, some 127 smart gates are available across the entire airport reducing average transaction times from minutes to under 10-15 seconds. The launch of the new smart gates coincides with the start of UAE’s Month of Innovation, which is being observed from February 1 to 28 in response to a call last year by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and the Ruler of Dubai, to promote a culture of innovation. “Smart gates make customers’ journey smoother by slashing transaction times to just 10-15 seconds and shortening queues,” said Michael Ibbitson, Executive Vice President—Technology & Infrastructure, Dubai Airports. “What’s surprising is that only 17 per cent of our passengers take advantage of the service. If you have a UAE residency card, don’t wait in line, use it.”

Dubai Airports has launched the world’s fastest free Wi-Fi connection at an airport to millions of passengers that travel through DXB each month. Named WOW-Fi, the service provides Internet connection up to 100mbps. This follows Dubai Airports’ launch of an upgraded free unlimited high-speed Wi-Fi connection across Dubai International (DXB) and Dubai World Central (DWC) in December last year. Commenting on DXB’s latest offering, Michael Ibbitson, Executive Vice President of Technology and Infrastructure at Dubai Airports said, “As the biggest international airport in the world, we are at the heart of many journeys across the globe. To support these travellers, late last year we have launched unlimited free high-speed Wi-Fi for our customers across our airports but our goal was to offer something they have never experienced at an airport before. With WOW-Fi, passengers will get a speed of up to 100mbps to enable them to quickly download or upload emails, pictures, videos and social media updates and then get on with enjoying the airport or connecting to their friends and family across the world.” “We are always looking at ways to enhance airport experience for our customers by introducing the latest and best in technology and constantly making improvements to our existing services and facilities. During the two months since the soft launch of WOW-Fi, the service has been enjoyed by an average of over 100,000 unique users per day. We are certain the WOW-Fi experience will impress the 89 million passengers we expect to welcome at DXB in 2017,” he added. The unlimited free Wi-Fi at DXB connects with just one click and offers speed that sets a new benchmark for airports globally. To ensure the speed and …