Media Release I 22 October 2013

Auckland Airport first in New Zealand to offer multi-language Flight Information Display boards

Auckland Airport has today become the first airport in New Zealand to provide travellers with foreign language Flight Information Display boards (FIDs).

FIDs provide destination, origin and flight status information and the newly installed boards are part of Auckland Airport’s wider multi-language strategy to make journeys better for our international visitors.

Richard Barker, Auckland Airport’s general manager retail and commercial, says the new FIDs are developed to display information in multiple languages.

“Over 70% of international visitors enter or leave New Zealand using Auckland Airport and we need to ensure that their first and last impressions are the very best they can be,” says Mr Barker.

“China is our second largest visitor market in terms of volume and value to the New Zealand economy. It was therefore an obvious choice to become the first foreign language displayed on our new FIDs. From this morning all Chinese flight information at Auckland Airport will be displayed in both English and Chinese.”

“We will soon phase in additional languages, including Japanese and Korean, to further improve the travel experience for our international passengers and customers.”

The FIDs are only one of a host of multi-language initiatives that Auckland Airport has recently introduced.  The airport has updated all the primary directional signs at the international terminal to include Chinese text.  As well as this, translated versions of useful and important airport information, targeted at Chinese flights, is now available through audio and visual means.

Earlier this year the airport also introduced Mandarin speaking trained volunteers to assist Chinese visitors with any queries they may have.

“The arrival of the new multi-language FIDs is perfectly timed for the inaugural commercial flight next week of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft in New Zealand on China Southern Airlines’ daily Guangzhou-Auckland route,” says Mr Barker.

ENDS

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