Lufthansa, Fraport, NXP and more discuss automation, AI, RFID and baggage tracking at biggest-ever joint meeting of FTE Innovation Communities

Future Travel Experience’s role as a dynamic community catalyst and enabler of industry transformation is being spearheaded via its Innovation Communities, which bring together the industry’s most progressive minds in a welcoming, informal group providing invaluable opportunities for knowledge-sharing, business development, networking and fun.

On 15 April 2024, members of the FTE Digital, Innovation & Startup Hub and FTE Baggage Innovation Working Group convened at the Lufthansa Aviation Center at Frankfurt Airport for the biggest-ever joint meeting of FTE’s Innovation Communities. The collaborative event included presentations from Lufthansa Group, Fraport, NXP, Avery Dennison and bob, who shared their insights into automation, Artificial Intelligence (AI), RFID and baggage tracking. While joint meetings of FTE’s Innovation Communities usually cover a broad range of topics, this edition had a strong emphasis on baggage innovation as it is such a big focus area for the hosts, Lufthansa, right now. Over 100 industry professionals attended in-person and 40+ online. Participants engaged in a series of dynamic discussions, experienced impressive technology demos, and had the opportunity for invaluable networking. In this article, we provide key highlights from the event and look ahead to plans for upcoming in-person meetings of FTE’s Innovation Communities, including the next in Pittsburgh on 14 May 2024 alongside the FTE Aviation & Robotics Summit.

Lufthansa Group’s vision for automation on the ramp

Stuart Holdstock, Process/Project Management and Data Protection Operations, Lufthansa Group, and Sandra Merck, Senior Manager Lean & Process Management, Lufthansa Group, shared some fascinating insights into ramp automation. They explained that the Lufthansa Group vision is to relieve long-term staff shortages by pushing for more automation on the ramp, in collaboration with technology suppliers and airport partners. Holdstock and Merck also shared details of two live demonstrations: firstly, Losch Easy Load provides efficient loading and unloading of loose luggage, up to 38.3% less physical stress on ground handling staff, and less aircraft damage; secondly, carry-on-baggage detection and assessment uses computer vision to detect carry-on quantity and size at the gate, automatically aligning with aircraft capacity – ground staff receive real-time notifications about luggage load.

Baggage Radar 24: Lufthansa Group’s next-generation baggage programme

Viktoria Rudo, Senior Manager Ground Processes, Lufthansa Group, presented Baggage Radar 24, explaining that there are four central elements to the next-generation baggage programme at Lufthansa Group:

• Prevention: Measures targeted at preventing the mishandling of bags along the different parts of the baggage journey.
• Resolution: Measures focused on increasing the speed and quality of resolving mishandled baggage incidents.
• Transparency: Focused on improving real-time transparency and self-service for customers throughout their digital baggage experience.
• Enablement: Creating improved processes and structures supporting the entire baggage journey.

Automated baggage reflighting transforming customer experience

Jürgen Lehmann, Senior Product Manager Global Baggage Services, Lufthansa Group, shared some details about eRUSH for automated baggage reflighting, describing it as an efficiency driver in standard operation and a life-saver in irregular operation, which is transforming customer experience. Between June 2022 and November 2023, almost one million bags at Frankfurt Airport were powered by eRUSH. Lehmann also presented some key insights into the OPUS Overflow Center.

Fraport highlights autonomous transportation solutions, AI-based optical tracking of baggage, and potential use cases of computer vision

Eric Agthe, Business Architect/Innovation, Fraport and Markus Mueller, Vice President Baggage Infrastructure, Fraport, highlighted a project to develop autonomous transportation solutions for baggage and cargo transport. A first Proof of Concept (POC) took place in January to March 2023, a second POC with a different system design is planned in 2024, and a third POC using a digital twin or live test will take place in 2025. Agthe and Mueller also explained how baggage handling is being improved at Frankfurt Airport with AI-based optical tracking, and the potential use cases of computer vision in the baggage handling system.

Baggage Alerting Tool a game-changer in overall transparency

Patrick Schroeder, Senior Manager Operations Performance Management and Analytics, Lufthansa Group, presented on the Celonis Baggage Alerting Tool, which provides the ability to automate actions to improve processes. He explained that the tool enables faster customer information and resource planning, describing it as a game-changer in overall transparency.

Future-proofing with RFID

Susanne Hazrati, Global Marketing Manager RAIN RFID Logistics, NXP, alongside Urban Soderberg, Market Development Manager, Avery Dennison, discussed future-proofing with RFID. They highlighted multiple ways to implement RFID, noting that IATA standards are set for global deployment, supporting a mix of solutions, including auto encoding of legacy license plate RFID in disposable bag tags, and new HTML-based baggage messages allowing tracking of solutions.

An overview of ULD tracking

Yannick Veith, Referent Handling Performance Management, Jettainer / Lufthansa Cargo, discussed various trackers for tracking ULDs. Lufthansa Cargo has been getting insights, experience and know-how about different tracking technologies (tracker types, dependencies, reliability and limitations, costs, etc) as well as about the data these trackers may collect (for optimisation of processes, new business cases, improving customer satisfaction, etc).

The Internet of Bags (IoB)

Elena Mazorra, Head of Business Development, bob, covered bag and asset tracking, presenting the Internet of Bags (IoB). She explained that bob’s flagship product ‘traveltag’ connects airlines and passengers with live Bluetooth baggage tracking information. Among the opportunities for a Bluetooth baggage tag that provides efficient and ultra-fast tracking are: remote scanning baggage tracking with fast and accurate readings; anticipating disruption as data is securely and widely accessible; and regaining passenger control, as airlines track passengers’ baggage journey across their entire network.

Upcoming FTE Communities members-only meetings

14 May 2024 FTE Digital, Innovation & Startup Hub members-only in-person meeting in Pittsburgh alongside the FTE Aviation & Robotics Summit (also streamed live on Zoom and recorded to view on-demand)

Content plans: Presentation by Pittsburgh International Airport’s xBridge (innovation lab), startup pitches, plus interactive discussion and networking.

14 May 2024 FTE Baggage Innovation Working Group members-only in-person meeting in Pittsburgh alongside the FTE Aviation & Robotics Summit (also streamed live on Zoom and recorded to view on-demand)

Content plans: Pittsburgh International Airport presentation, autonomous operations and robotics, Proof of Concept updates.

11 June 2024 FTE Digital, Innovation & Startup Hub members-only in-person meeting in Dublin alongside FTE EMEA / Ancillary & Retailing (also streamed live on Zoom and recorded to view on-demand)

Content plans: Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT) and Robotics case studies and knowledge-sharing.

11 June 2024 FTE Baggage Innovation Working Group members-only in-person meeting in Dublin alongside FTE EMEA / Ancillary & Retailing (also streamed live on Zoom and recorded to view on-demand)

Content plans: Dublin Airport presentation, Proof of Concept updates, innovations for delivering a successful summer.

11 June 2024 FTE World Airport Retailing Working Group members-only in-person meeting in Dublin alongside FTE EMEA / Ancillary & Retailing (also streamed live on Zoom and recorded to view on-demand)

Content plans: Scene-setting keynote presentations, fireside chat, and breakout discussion groups focused on the theme of ‘Understanding & Planning for the passenger evolutions of tomorrow – GI Generation to Gen Alpha’.