“Smart airports and airlines: with new technologies to real customer benefit” – this was the theme of the 9th Aviation Forum which took place on 12 and 13 November at the Dusseldorf Rheinterrassen. More than 100 representatives of airports and airlines from around the world together with our partners took up our invitation to discuss the latest trends in the aviation
industry and to find out more about current projects and solutions. Top speakers from airlines, airports and associations shared their experience with self-service and other new technologies such as biometrics and RFID. Our guests also had the chance to network with each other in various workshops that dealt with the seamless travel experience.
Aalborg
One of the most avidly discussed topics was presented by Robin Rismoen from Aalborg Airport. Implementing RFID technology in the baggage handling process has been very successful at this Danish airport.
Hamburg
The implementation of what are now 20 Self Bag Drop kiosks has put Hamburg Airport at the forefront in the field of automated bag drop in Germany. Mirjam Fröhlich, Head of Passenger and Baggage Management at Hamburg Airport, presented their success story and shared her experiences from this project.
easyJet
UK´s airline easyJet is a pioneer when it comes to digital services for its passengers. Ben Robertson, Revenue Manager at easyJet, informed us about these services and explained the benefits they provide.
Lufthansa
Vasco Seifert, as Senior IT Project Manager and head of the Star Hub biometrics project for Deutsche Lufthansa, highlighted this key topic at this year’s conference. The way biometrics integration works from the point of view of Germany’s largest airline was of great interest to the audience.
IATA
Thomas Jeske from Lufthansa and Tim McGraw from American Airlines spoke on behalf of the IATA and, among other matters, discussed the latest IATA updates from the CUSS-Working Group as well as topics concerning biometrics and payment.
Weizenbaum Institute
Dr. Sascha Friesike from the Weizenbaum Institute provided interesting and refreshing insights into the topic of digitalization and encouraged the participants to focus on real customer benefits when selecting tools.
Fraunhofer IML
The baggage handling processes behind the scenes are also key: Dr. Harald Sieke from the Fraunhofer Institute presented an innovative future concept for the field of aviation logistics. Fraunhofer is developing an intelligent packing robot which supports logistics staff in the background.
A night of networking
The forum was rounded off by the partner exhibition and a lot of networking with customers and partners. The evening program included a guided tour through the beautiful Old Town of Dusseldorf and dinner in the traditional “Uerige” craft brewery.
