This presentation will help you develop your digital transformation strategy based on a smaller budget, enabling and identifying suppliers with more tailored solutions for small-mid sized airports. It will also help you explore strategies for getting proposals approved by your board.

We are giving you the chance to participate in a roundtable setting, sharing your experiences and knowledge with your peers. You’ll have an opportunity to vote pre-event on the topics you would like to see covered.

Airports worldwide are looking to apply digital twins and AI to deal with disruptions at various levels of their organisations. Predictive maintenance, decision science, forecasting and scenario-planning are top priorities. Decision making must happen on-the-fly. Any disruption equals low operational performance and the consequences of a bad decision are likely to cause even more stress. This is the main reason airports are looking into applying tools like digital twins and AI. The question is, how can we build trust into these tools?

Speaker: Per Engelbrechtsen, Business Development Director Beumer Group

Sponsored by

This case study will demonstrate how working with the digital twin concept gives the building owner/operator a chance to analyse, stimulate and make decisions in a data model. It offers airports virtual models of their buildings and surrounding sites, where all data and information on assets and operations are brought together in one place. The benefits of the concept are more robust decision making and better knowledge-sharing.

Customer service has been a major driver of change in baggage processing. According to the IATA Global Passenger Survey, 84 per cent of passengers expect baggage tracking as a matter of necessity. Self-service has provided the initial means to increase passenger numbers. Increasingly, airlines are working with airports to develop off-airport baggage acceptance. This session will look at the new ideas being pursued around off-airport baggage acceptance aswell as automation solutions at the airport.

ACI and IATA are partners on New Experience Travel Technologies (NEXTT) initiative. This industry collaboration is aimed at

how to get more innovation into the regulated environment and true collaboration across airports across the industry. NEXTT addresses growing capacity issues, the need to maximise the use of infrastructure and become more efficient. Off-airport processes and advanced technologies, for example, robotics, biometrics and data-sharing between all stakeholders are key components. The panel will discuss some of future ideas, as well as some of the solutions which are being tested.

This case study will cover the digital innovation initiatives being implemented at this airport to ensure a good passenger experience and an efficient baggage process.

This case study will cover how automation is being used in the airport, for example, utilising robots and the introduction of autonomous vehicles.

This session will cover the seamless digital commercial approach which has been taken with a strong technology infrastructure. Using new devices, sensors and security cameras in the new airport will provide meaningful data, gathered on a common platform. Including the integration work with stakeholders, this has resulted in a huge amount of data being gathered and exchanged including the flight details and also passenger number details. This data is then being used to enable the airport to optimise its resources.

This case study is on the use of different technologies to improve the passenger experience. It will cover the shift to automation, single token journey, baggage automation, use of robotics and the introduction of autonomous vehicles in connection with customer
service and creating cost efficiencies.

ACRIS (Airport Community Recommended Information Services) focuses on the topic of data-sharing. This ACI initiative sets the standard for information and data exchange in the aviation community, helping airports meet the demands of today and the growing needs of the future. This session will update the audience on the solutions the Working Group are working on.

Non-aeronautical revenue has under-valued potential. Many airports have seen their car parking and rental income, their primary source of non-aeronautical revenue, reducing due to the trend for off-airport parking, ride-sharing and alternative transportation. Retail is also a strong non-aeronautical revenue generator, but this is also subject to disruption at times. Making every minute count is vital; passengers who enjoy a smooth, uninterrupted journey through the airport are likely to spend more. To tackle these issues, and to boost retail spending, many airports are turning to data analysis to understand passenger flow and behaviour.

With different stakeholders in the aviation sector now able to collect large volumes of valuable data, the right models are required in order to pool it and use it. This session focuses on how it requires airlines, airports, government agencies, regulatory bodies and any other third parties involved in airport operations to work much more closely together to share the data collected. As part of this, concerns around data privacy and ethics will inevitably come to the fore and will need to be addressed. Understanding the boundaries so that progress can be made will be a priority for airport executives in the next year.

Biometrics have been integral to reducing queues at airports and increasing the passenger experience. It will focus on the introduction of self service and enhanced passenger identification through facial recognition, and the challenges faced and benefits reaped through
implementation. The discussion will address how the technology is streamlining the passenger journey from check in to take-off, and demonstrate the beneficial impact reducing the average passenger’s journey time.