Swiss International Airlines (SWISS) has launched a new partnership with AirPortr, a leading provider of smart baggage management solutions, to offer passengers departing from Geneva Airport the option of having their baggage collected at home through the AirPortr service.
By booking online, SWISS passengers can have their bags securely collected up to 23 hours prior to departure from their home or hotel and delivered to the destination airport. The service is initially available across the Lemanic Region, including Geneva, Nyon, Montreux and Lausanne.
Once the initial test phase is complete, the service will be extended across the whole of Switzerland. SWISS is currently the first airline to offer this service in Switzerland, but it will soon be extended to other airlines of the Lufthansa Group.
The AirPortr offering will give SWISS passengers the opportunity to travel hands-free to the airport and through its terminals. As their luggage is already processed, customers can go directly to security and bypass the check-in and baggage drop-off areas, saving time and facilitating contactless travel in the airport.
Tamur Goudarzi Pour, Chief Commercial Officer, SWISS, commented: “Our customers tell us that managing their luggage is one of the difficult parts of travel. We listened to them and, thanks to this partnership with AirPortr, we can offer them a new travel experience, which starts at home. Together, we will demonstrate that traveling can be easy, fast and transparent, whatever mode you choose. This service is significantly superior to conventional luggage delivery services and it will make a positive impact on sustainable travel.”
Randel Darby, CEO and Founder of AirPortr, added: “SWISS, together with the Lufthansa Group, is leading the way to become the world’s most digitally advanced airline group, using digitalisation to improve the customer experience, make travel more connected, greener and optimise operational activities on the ground. Switzerland has a first-class public transport system. It therefore offers an ideal environment for our collaboration with SWISS and is the first deployment of the partnership with Swissport announced in September.”
The news comes just a month after Swissport and AirPortr announced a new strategic partnership to transform the baggage handling process across 269 airport locations.
AirPortr is partnering with Swissport to take care of the baggage pick-up process. Identity documents and boarding passes are checked upon collection of the baggage. The baggage is sealed for secure delivery to the airport where it will go through the standard security checks. The customer then receives digital baggage tags and is kept up to date on the status of their bags via emails and SMS at every step of the journey.
Bruno Stefani, Managing Director of Swissport in Switzerland and France, also commented: “We want to create added value for airlines and their passengers with the aim of offering a simpler and even more enjoyable travel experience in the future. Through easy-to-use and intuitive solutions, the complexity of baggage handling will be transformed into a passenger-oriented service, allowing them to customize ancillary services according to their individual needs.
FTE recently hosted the first round of its new FTE Baggage Innovation Working Groups, for which AirPortr was one of the Strategic Partners. These interactive calls brought together hundreds of industry stakeholders who participated in highly engaging discussions around modernising and improving the end-to-end baggage experience. You can catch up on the discussions here.
