Every two years industry experts, manufacturers and technology specialists descend on Inter Airport Europe to hear the latest news and see new innovations for ground handling, terminal operations, airport IT and airport design. This October 10-13 will be no exception, with sector experts from airports, airlines, air cargo carriers and aviation-support all disembarking at Munich’s trade fair centre to assess the latest industry trends and solutions.
The event – which is focussing on aviation’s digitalisation and automation solutions – comes at an important and exciting juncture for the aviation industry, as technological innovations drive rapid advances in the capabilities of airport technology, and market demand for increased efficiency, security and improved passenger experience continues to surge.
A recent global research study carried out by Frost & Sullivan on the current status and future direction of Digital Transformation programmes at airports globally, showed that the vision of these programmes is to improve passenger experience and operational efficiency, while moving from a process-driven to a customer-centric business environment.
As part of this process, security plays a critical role. Airports prioritise these projects, viewing them as enablers in order to meet their strategic business objectives and KPI targets. Indeed, security-related KPIs such as security wait times, checkpoint processing speed and screening rates form the core of an airport’s performance measurement and drive operational efficiency and customer satisfaction.
In recognition of this trend toward the “interconnected airport”, inter airport Europe will in October for the first time reward one company with a Special Award for innovations: The “interCONNECTED: Special Award” has been inaugurated to reflect the rise of digitalisation, automation, data exchange and the “contactless passenger journey”.
The technologies put forward for this award reflect the innovation that is taking place across the aviation sector, with entrants including advanced screening and management platforms, via semi-automatic docking systems; 100 percent solar CAT 1 runway lights and self-propelled Pax Stairs. It’s clear that this award will be one to watch going forward.