State of the Industry address outlining the economic landscape of the aviation industry, key trends, policy changes and operational challenges to set the stage for the summit and the discussions to come.
8:45 – 9:00 CET
A welcome from International Airport Review Editor, Holly Miles, on what to expect and how to make the most of the conference.
State of the Industry address outlining the economic landscape of the aviation industry, key trends, policy changes and operational challenges to set the stage for the summit and the discussions to come.
Editor Holly Miles sits down with Marco Troncone, CEO of Aeroporti di Roma, and Airport Partner of International Airport Summit, to discuss the most recent innovations and achievements of the airport, taking a candid look at their strategic and operational challenges and how they are navigating this.
Following the opening fireside chat with Marco Troncone, he will be joined on stage by other international airport leaders. This high-level quick-fire panel will examine the realities of operating in an increasingly complex and fast-evolving environment.
Panellists will explore the key challenges shaping today’s airport landscape, from managing operational resilience and stakeholder co-ordination to delivering seamless passenger experiences amid rising demand. The discussion will also address how airports are balancing immediate performance pressures with long-term transformation programmes, including the integration of data, AI and digital platforms across the ecosystem.
Attendees will gain practical insight into how leading airports are building the capabilities required to not only operate effectively today, but to scale, adapt and compete in the decade ahead.
Peak season demand stress-tested EES implementation across Europe, with long processing times highlighting gaps between policy and operational reality. Drawing on real-world experience, this session examines what worked, what did not and how airports can refine processes to maintain efficiency during future peaks.
This session examines how airports can create smoother passenger flow even when operating in increasingly constrained terminal footprints. Speakers will explore approaches to queue design, data-driven flow tools and automation to improve passenger satisfaction and optimise dwell time and commercial spend across retail and dining.
The discussion will directly address how ageing terminals, rigid airline check-in practices and gate constraints create unpredictable peak pressure, and how airports are using virtual queuing, dynamic lane and ‘insert from anywhere’ baggage solutions to mitigate these pinch points.
Managing congestion at key touchpoints is essential to protect both experience scores and revenue performance, so the session will show how airports can shift passengers more reliably into dwell zones to recover spend by working with airlines, security providers and retailers to deliver a consistent, low friction‑ journey from kerb to gate.
Every airport wants to move from firefighting disruption to predicting it, yet most are held back by fragmented systems and incomplete data foundations.
This technical deep dive will focus on the practical groundwork required before any meaningful prediction, artificial intelligence (AI) or digital twin initiative can succeed. Panellists will examine how to connect core operational systems, build reliable real-time data feeds and tackle longstanding interoperability challenges between airport, airline and ANSP platforms.
The discussion will explore reference architectures, integration patterns and governance models that allow airports to create a single, trusted operational data layer across terminals and airside.
Speakers will share how fragmented legacy systems, ageing infrastructure and vendor-locked platforms create operational blind spots.
Attendees will leave with a clearer view of the technology stack and organisational changes they need to progress from descriptive dashboards to genuinely predictive, and eventually automated, decision making.
11:05 – 11:35 CET
Passengers judge airport baggage services against the likes of Amazon and Uber where they are kept constantly up to date about the whereabouts of their package or car – why should their luggage be any different?
This panel will explore how airports can improve tracking and visibility across the entire baggage journey despite unpredictable airline baggage behaviour, ageing infrastructure and a system that is already working above capacity with little room to expand. If airports can achieve this, they can reduce mishandled bags, thereby strengthening operational resilience and enhancing confidence for travellers.
Speakers will discuss practical innovations including smarter sortation logic, data-rich tracking systems, integrated baggage control centres and predictive tools that alert operators to bottlenecks before they develop. The session will also look at how airports are improving delivery times and providing greater transparency to passengers, reducing the uncertainty and stress that often accompany baggage delays.
Next generation checkpoint technologies are rapidly reshaping airport security operations, enabling airports to improve throughput, reduce queuing and enhance detection performance. Airports must now increase throughput by 60-70 trays per hour per lane over the coming months to maintain passenger experience and comply with regulation.
This discussion will examine what it really takes to deploy computed tomography (CT) scanners, automated tray-return systems (ATRS) and AI in ageing terminal infrastructure, including cases where C3 technology has not met requirements and where continuous improvement has followed.
Airports will also discuss navigating regulatory constraints, especially where regulators are behind operational realities, and share approaches to training, rostering and change management for frontline teams.
Airports increasingly recognise that traditional passenger personas do not fully capture the complexity of real behaviour in terminals. This session will explore how airports can move from static assumptions to live behavioural insights that meaningfully shape operations, passenger experience and commercial performance. Panellists will discuss moments where real‑world behaviour challenged established data models, revealing gaps in processes ranging from check‑in and security to wayfinding, baggage and dwell time management.
Focusing on practical application, the discussion will examine how airports gather and interpret behavioural signals from frontline staff, operational systems, CCTV analytics and the voice of the customer (VoC). Speakers will share examples of how these insights have informed operational decisions, from queue design and staffing to communication strategies for diverse passenger groups. The session will highlight measurable outcomes, demonstrating how behavioural understanding can reduce friction, increase resilience and support more responsive, passenger‑centred airport operations.
13:25 – 14:25 CET
14:30 – 15:15 CET
Short, sharp presentations on the leading innovations helping airports to solve operational and passenger experience challenges, today.
Copenhagen Airport has made AI based optimisation a central part of its operational strategy to address growing baggage volumes and limited physical expansion options. This presentation introduces the Departure Operator Module, a decision science solution that uses machine learning, forecasting, and optimisation algorithms to improve the utilisation of baggage chutes, make up positions, and early baggage storage.
The session demonstrates how AI is applied as a practical operational capability, tightly integrated with control systems and supported by strong change management. It highlights how data driven optimisation delivers immediate capacity gains while preparing the airport for future growth.
This presentation explores how Tampa International Airport has established a pioneering LiDAR laboratory to enhance operational intelligence and drive next‑generation digital innovation. It will outline the airport’s motivation for investing in advanced sensing technologies, the collaborative approach taken to develop the facility, and the role of LiDAR in shaping future projects.
Attendees will gain an understanding of how the airport is using high‑resolution spatial data to improve situational awareness, support automation and strengthen decision making across its operations. Understand every aspect of all events associated with under-wing from availability, readiness, performance, safety, and reporting. Understand and manage your under-wing from anywhere.
This case study explores how Aeroporti di Roma has redefined aircraft turnaround performance through a structured, data-driven transformation journey. Moving from initial pilot to full-scale deployment across 57 gates, the presentation will reveal how ADR has embedded operational intelligence at the heart of its airside processes.
Attendees will gain insight into how real-time data, advanced analytics and enhanced situational awareness are enabling faster, more informed decision-making on the apron. The session will demonstrate how turning fragmented operational signals into actionable intelligence can unlock measurable gains in efficiency, resilience and overall airport performance.
Airports are under growing pressure to do more with tighter margins, rising passenger expectations and a dwindling workforce. This panel explores how the next wave of artificial intelligence can unlock measurable operational return on investment when paired with the irreplaceable expertise of human intelligence. Rather than replacing people, leading airports are using AI to enhance decision making, automate routine tasks and redirect skilled staff to higher value work.
Speakers will discuss where human-in-the-loop AI is already delivering results in live airport environments, including AI-enabled asset maintenance, real-time disruption response and intelligent resource allocation. They will also examine the change management and technical foundations needed to make these systems work, from data governance and system interoperability to building trust and transparency with frontline teams.
Panellists will share lessons on how airports can introduce AI responsibly, communicate its purpose clearly, and create workflows that blend automation and human judgement to deliver stronger safety, efficiency and resilience.
Airports aiming for net zero by 2050 are transforming the assets and operations directly under their control, and this panel will examine the strategies now defining Scope 1 and 2 emissions, aiming to reduce their energy consumption and transition to more renewable sources.
For airports investing in infrastructure renewal, speakers will explore the move to fully renewable energy, including large-scale onsite energy generation such as solar, wind or geothermal. They will also discuss the rapid electrification of ground support equipment and what it takes to build the charging and operational ecosystem required to support a fully electric fleet.
The conversation will highlight how smart infrastructure underpins the resilient energy transition, from digital twins and AI-driven HVAC optimisation to IoT‑enabled energy management that can cut terminal consumption by up to 30%. Through practical case studies and lessons learned, this panel will give airports a clear view of the tools, technologies and investment pathways needed to decarbonise at pace while maintaining operational resilience and passenger comfort.
16:15 – 16:45 CET
16:50 – 17:50 CET
Closed-door, invitation-only roundtable discussions for airport leaders tackling the real industry challenge topics. Discussions will be a deep-dive into a set topic of critical importance to airport leaders. Click here to read more about the roundtables. If you wish to join, please email Stacey at [email protected]
Airport challenge labs provide an interactive forum where airport teams present a real-world operational and strategic challenges to a room of peers and industry experts.
Designed to move beyond theory, these crowd source solution sessions foster meaningful peer-to-peer exchange, enabling airports to collectively tackle common issues, build new connections and uncover actionable solutions that can be applied across different operational contexts.
17:50 – 18:50 CET
20:00 CET
Join us for a night of celebration as we celebrate the winners of this years prestigious Airport Honour Awards. See the categories here.
