Dubai International Airport

Dubai International Airport added yet another first to its long list of pioneering services with the launch of the world's first flight information voice portal during Gitex 2006. The ultramodern speech recognition system replaces the old touch-tone IVR (Interactive Voice Response) system, and for the convenience of users is available on the existing phone number for flight information (04 216 66 66).

Following its launch at the exhibition, the Arabic-English bilingual IVR was flooded with calls – both from regular ‘genuine’ enquirers seeking information on flights and the curious users who just wanted to check how it worked. In the first 24 hours of its launch the system handled over 16,000 calls.

Yousuf Al Shaibani, Customer Relations General Manager at Dubai Department of Civil Aviation (DCA), said the new flight enquiry will provide callers, in the shortest possible time, the latest information on airline schedules for incoming and outgoing flights at Dubai International Airport. “The system has a friendly interface and boasts of rapid navigation techniques making flight enquiry easy and quick. The fact that it recognises a wide range of accents and dialects makes it very appropriate for a city with the cultural diversity of Dubai,” he said.

Al Shaibani revealed that at a later stage the new system will be followed by Auto Attendant and Passenger Announcement System in the second and third phase of the project, making it the first of its kind worldwide. At this stage the system will become operator-free, and fully automated. It will not require human guidance or intervention except for the purpose of monitoring.

“The implementation of this system is another first for Dubai International Airport, but most importantly it is a public facility which is state-of-the-art yet easy to use, convenient and quick. It is a milestone for the Airport, both technologically and in terms of customer service, and am sure it will be a very popular service,” Al Shaibani said.