Shanghai Airport Authority (SAA) and Alibaba have signed an agreement on a strategic partnership in the areas of business development, customer service, air logistics and basic internet service and will create a fully wired “airport of the future”. SAA’s president Yiming Jing said both parties are still exploring the partnership model, but will not rule out financial cooperation, and will start with launching a series of products.
SAA will launch the “city service” online platform to leverage the public accounts channels of Taobao, Alipay and Weibo and provide travelers more convenient smartphone access to flight information, directions, online check-in, VIP service and airport transportation.
“For instance, passengers can use their mobile devices to access the information service to check the status of queues for different rides in the Shanghai Disneyland Park as soon as they get off their planes, or check flight information and service facilities while at the park,” Alibaba Group’s partner cum Ant Financial’s domestic operations director Zhiming Fan said:
Alipay users who have collected at least 700 Sesame Credit points will be offered free access to the VIP lounge at Shanghai Hongqiao Airport. The offer is limited to 50 users per day and will be valid till July 22.
Mr. Jing said Shanghai’s airports handle the largest volume of air cargo in China, accounting for a third of total domestic air freight and two-thirds of international air freight. “We hope to cooperate with Alibaba to produce a low-cost and high-return platform for shippers,” he said.
Shanghai Hongqiao Airport has been constantly experimenting with new ways to transform traditional airport operations to a platform model that offer more effective service to airlines and more precise and intuitive services to customers.(Translation by David)
