The best-ever Future Travel Experience event in Europe – the co-located FTE EMEA and FTE Ancillary & Retailing – took place at the RDS Dublin on 11-13 June 2024, with some 750 registrations from 50+ countries around the world.
Firmly established as the definitive event for the EMEA region, at which air transport meets innovation, the show was delivered with the support of headline partners International Airlines Group (IAG), Airline Passenger Experience Association (APEX), Dublin Airport, Enterprise Ireland, and Ryanair.
The event featured an end-to-end exhibition of the industry’s most progressive companies, the FTE EMEA and FTE Ancillary & Retailing conferences, an Interactive Workshop Zone, meetings of the FTE Innovation Communities (Baggage Innovation Working Group; Digital, Innovation & Startup Hub; and World Airport Retailing Working Group), as well as the FTE Ancillary & Retailing Awards, the FTE EMEA Transformation Power List, the unique FTE Innovate Awards, the APEX Passenger Choice Awards, a fantastic social and networking programme, plus exclusive airline and airport announcements. Here is a selection of the main highlights.
Join us at FTE Global – the “CES of Aviation” – in LA, 28-30 October 2024 – registration live >> Join us at FTE APEX Asia Expo in Singapore, 19-20 November 2024 – registration live >>An outstanding exhibition of innovative industry suppliers and our biggest-ever startup showcase
More than 50 of the most innovative industry providers showcased their solutions, products and services designed to help airports and airlines redefine the end-to-end passenger experience, optimise operational efficiency and sustainability efforts, and create new commercial endeavours both on the ground and up in the air. Some of the most established global players were present at the show, including CAVU, FLYR, Hopper Technology Solutions (HTS), Swiipr, TravelX, AirHelp, Datalex, eSIM Go, NEC, Next Communications, Protect Group, Stripe, TWAI, and Branchspace. Plus, the exhibition also featured the biggest-ever Startup Zone at the co-located FTE EMEA and FTE Ancillary & Retailing events.
A unique social and networking programme
Future Travel Experience is renowned for its social and networking events and FTE EMEA and FTE Ancillary & Retailing 2024 was no exception. To kick-off the show, delegates were able to enjoy a City of Dublin Walking Tour courtesy of passenger disruption experts Plan3. This was followed by the FTE Dublin Ice Breaker at The Giddy Dolphin, sponsored by FTE’s Innovation Communities – the FTE Digital, Innovation & Startup Hub, the FTE Baggage Innovation Working Group, and the FTE World Airport Retailing Working Group.
At the end of Day 1 of the conferences and exhibition, attendees were treated to a Networking Reception on the exhibition floor, sponsored by FLYR. An undoubted highlight was the champagne provided by FLYR for the event. The evening then continued at the ‘Summer in Dublin’ Travel Massive Meet-Up at the iconic Café en Seine.
Inspiring keynotes from SAS, IAG, Aer Lingus, DFW, VINCI Airports, flyadeal, Ryanair, Schiphol and more
The conference agenda began with an exclusive keynote interview with Anko van der Werff, President & CEO, SAS, which was conducted by Dr Joe Leader, CEO, APEX & IFSA. It was a truly inspirational interview, sharing SAS’ transformative journey toward growth and sustainability. Van der Werff delved into SAS’ impending transition to SkyTeam, its sustainability goals, and its customer experience enhancements, emphasising a vision for growth and innovation. Addressing the transformation of SAS, van der Werff emphasised the importance of distinguishing the airline as a premium carrier. “We’re seriously revamping our business class on European routes and investing in premium experiences,” he explained. This includes significant improvements in inflight entertainment, Wi-Fi connectivity, and seat comfort, aiming to align SAS’ offerings with those of its SkyTeam partners. Read the full article here.
The Closing Leaders Keynote Session on Day 1 of the conferences was a fast-moving and entertaining panel discussion on customer-centric innovation and business transformation. Moderated by Jamie Heaslip, Irish Strategic Growth Lead, Stripe & international rugby legend, speakers included Annalisa Gigante, Board Member of Hangar 51 & Head of Innovation, International Airlines Group (IAG); Dave O’Donovan, Chief Digital & Information Officer, Aer Lingus; Sean Donohue, CEO, Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport; and Pierre-Hugues Schmit, Chief Commercial and Operational Officer, VINCI Airports.
The Opening Keynote on Day 2 of the conference agenda featured an exclusive interview with Steven Greenway, CEO, flyadeal, which was conducted by Dr Joe Leader, CEO, APEX & IFSA. They discussed how disruption of the air transport industry in Saudi Arabia will reset passenger expectations, and industry approaches, in the years to come. During a captivating session, Greenway unveiled that flyadeal will launch text-based intelligent booking via WhatsApp within the next month. This innovative service aims to enhance customer convenience and streamline the booking process. “We’re launching WhatsApp as an AI tool for booking and customer service,” Greenway revealed. “Customers can simply text on WhatsApp and say, ‘Hey, give me an advance for January,’ and go all the way to booking.” This move aligns with flyadeal’s commitment to leveraging technology to improve the passenger experience. The WhatsApp-based service will offer more than just booking capabilities. It will also enable customers to manage their bookings, select seats, and add ancillary services. Read the full article here.
In a fascinating Special Keynote, Neal McMahon, Chief Operations Officer, shared how Ryanair will evolve its approaches leveraging technology as it grows to carry 300 million passengers a year by 2034. McMahon explained how Ryanair is using tech to improve customer service both at airports and onboard. This includes visa check and bag drop, travel updates via the Ryanair Day of Travel App, and a solution via the app that allows travellers to fast-track their retail and F&B purchases by ordering anything from the inflight magazine digitally by connecting to Bluetooth.
The FTE Ancillary & Retailing conference included a Special Airport Keynote from Arthur Reijnhart, Executive Director Schiphol Commercial, Royal Schiphol Group. Reijnhart provided exclusive insights into what Schiphol’s future commercial strategies will look like and the motivating factors behind setting this new course. “At Schiphol, we’re looking to restore the magic of this once iconic airport. This means moving forward with one important goal in mind: exceeding the expectations of our passengers,” Reijnhart explained. “We have taken steps on all fronts of our commercial portfolio that will significantly enhance the level of our service, from improving the quality and sustainability of our food and drinks to distinctive, recognisable and high-quality shops. Part of this involves a major modernisation and redesign of almost the entire terminal over the next five years.”
FTE EMEA Conference
A key session was the ‘FTE Future Differentiation & Business Models Think Tank Live’. Captained by Rohit Talwar, CEO, Fast Future, team members include Steven Greenway, CEO, flyadeal; Sammy Patel, Vice President Commercial, Vantage Airport Group; Guðmundur Daði Rúnarsson, Chief Commercial and Airport Development Officer, Keflavik Airport; Martin Jones, CEO, CAVU; and Tero Taskila, CEO, Beond. On stage in Dublin, Rohit Talwar, Steven Greenway, Sammy Patel and Martin Jones shared how the team has collaborated and engaged to create a unique vision, which truly inspired attendees and set the tone for everything that followed at the event. The purpose of the initiative is to develop new thinking and approaches to drive 2X-10X gains in three core areas: passenger experience, operations and technology, and strategy and business models. Rohit Talwar explained that the approach is to engage, iterate and learn. The Think Tank shared initial ideas at the co-located FTE EMEA and FTE Ancillary & Retailing, with the aim being to create “a coalition of the curious and committed” and to explore how this effort can be further advanced. Contact us to find out how to get involved in this important initiative.
An insightful panel discussion focused on taking CX experiences involving the airport, baggage & inflight to the next level for tomorrow’s customer. Moderated by Andrew Price, Managing Director, Opermium, panellists included Jennifer Schwierzke, VP of Customer Strategy & Innovation, United Airlines; Nick Woods, CIO, Manchester Airports Group; Kevin Kleist, Head of Emerging Trends, Southwest Airlines; and Giovanni Gennaro, Head of Open Innovation, Aeroporti di Roma.
There were three fascinating presentations in a session – moderated by Darin Juby, Head of Baggage Transformation, Future Travel Experience – titled ‘What are the new technologies and automation approaches that can make a transformational difference to the ways air transport stakeholders will operate in the airport in the future?’
Harvey Tate, Human API – Digital Transformation, International Airlines Group (IAG), shared how IAG is exploring a path to autonomous operations, how long that might take to achieve and what it needs to see from industry stakeholders to make such a vision a reality. “In 2024, with our partners, we are now scaling up our investment to really drive these initiatives into production,” Tate explained. “In the near-term, we want to roll out machine vision on the ramp, automate stand guidance and implement teleoperated passenger boarding bridges. Longer term we want to utilise autonomous vehicles, drones and robotics.”
Claus Grunow, Vice President of Corporate Strategy and Digitalization, outlined Fraport’s digitalisation vision for the future. The AI@FRA initiative is a key part of the vision to improve customer and employee experience. Grunow explained that this includes automated apron processes to ensure operational excellence, AI support in everyday administrative work, ethical guidelines as a foundation for the use of AI at Fraport, and cultural change and data quality as the greatest challenges.
The session concluded with the official launch of BOOST – a global coalition for accelerating baggage innovation. BOOST, developed in partnership with Future Travel Experience via the Baggage Innovation Working Group (BIWG), aims to eliminate physical strain and improve working conditions for baggage workers by accelerating the adoption of advanced technologies. This initiative will leverage the collective innovation power of multiple airports, focusing on hands-on execution and rapid implementation of new technologies in the baggage journey. Launched by Royal Schiphol Group and innovation consultancy firm nlmtd, the three core airport launch partners are Schiphol, Avinor and Incheon. Each partner will tackle a specific technical challenge in automating the baggage process. Read the full article on the launch of BOOST here.
A fascinating session focused on ‘New approaches to better serving, and supporting passengers, when they need us most’. Moderated by Dr Joe Leader, CEO, APEX & IFSA, panellists included Gus Naughton, Senior Software Engineer, Emerging Technologies, Alaska Airlines; Tara Spielhagen, Founder & CEO, Swiipr; Tomasz Pawliszyn, CEO, AirHelp; and Garret Malone, Chief Operations Officer, Arajet. Read the full article here.
In a Special Segment, Melanie Harris, Managing Director – Digital Technology, shared how United Airlines is revolutionising air travel through tech, explaining that the airline’s customer technology reach spans mobile, direct messaging and out-of-home. “We recognise the importance of having customer touchpoints throughout the entire travel journey, from the moment they visit United.com to book a flight to when they sit down in their seat on the day of travel to enjoy our inflight entertainment, and beyond,” said Harris.
A truly engaging session focused on ‘New ways of thinking to drive unique and inspiring customer experiences – inspiration from industry leaders & disruptors in parallel sectors’. Led by moderator Kevin O’Shaughnessy, Founder, CityHook · Indigo, panellists included Linda Schucroft, Vice President Innovation and Customer Experience, King Salman International Airport; Gregory Owens, VP of Europe and Africa, X; Carlijn Brinkman, Service Designer, KLM; and Kieran Harte, Head of Ireland, Uber.
A Special Presentation by Alan Kiernan, Founder & CTO, Cation Consulting and Stephen Keane, Head of Digital Transformation, Customer Services, Ryanair, explored ‘Transformation at Scale: Leveraging Conversational AI and Generative AI for the Travel Industry’.
The FTE EMEA conference closed with an insightful session on ‘Innovative approaches to better drive industry transformation ambitions and protect the planet’. Moderated by Seth Miller, Contributing Editor, PaxEx.Aero. Mark Breen, CEO, Oneiros Aerospace, opened the session with a scene-setting presentation titled ‘What are the most important factors to achieving more rapid industry transformation & pathways for scaling SAF & aviation decarbonisation?’ Breen explained that multiple levers can be used in different combinations to achieve net-zero emissions, while Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) will be responsible for the greatest amount of CO2 reductions by 2050 (65%). Also joining the panel discussion were Karin Gylin, Head of Strategic Development and Innovation, Swedavia; and Gary Byrnes, Founder & CEO, Tao Climate.
IAG, Fraport, Galeri and InterLnkd recognised in industry’s definitive innovation awards
Our best-ever Future Travel Experience event in Europe concluded with the FTE Innovate Awards. These landmark awards are truly unique and are the industry’s definitive innovation platform. For the second time, airlines and airports competed head-to-head with their peers, shining a light on their latest innovation efforts. There were three awards categories: Most Innovative Airline Initiative, Most Innovative Airport Initiative, and Best New CX Concept. Each of the shortlisted entrants pitched on-stage in Dublin in an effort to impress our judges – Kevin Kleist, Head of Emerging Trends, Southwest Airlines; Linda Schucroft, Vice President of Innovation and Customer Experience, King Salman International Airport; and Manuel van Lijf, Director Aviation Innovation, nlmtd – and our audience, whose all-important votes decided who won. The ceremony also saw the presentation of the FTE EMEA Startup Innovation Award. Read the full report here.
FTE Ancillary & Retailing Conference
Among the highlights of the FTE Ancillary & Retailing conference was a session on ‘Transformational Airline Retailing Strategies’. Moderated by Eric Léopold, Founder, Threedot and FTE Ancillary & Retailing Content Director, the session featured two scene-setting case studies from Ricard Vilà, Chief Digital Officer, LATAM Airlines, and Keith Martin, Senior Strategy Manager, Lufthansa Group. They were then joined by Ursula Silling, CEO, Branchspace, and Wong Mei Hong, Head, Ancillary Revenue, AirAsia, for an insightful panel discussion.
A fascinating session on ‘Optimising commercial performance on airports in a fast-changing world’ saw moderator David Griffiths, Founder & CEO, The Travel Retail Consultancy, set the scene before an engaging panel discussion on evolving approaches to increase revenues amid a backdrop of less space per passenger, increased passenger numbers and expectations, inflation pressure, more leisure and reduced business traffic, more demand for quality F&B at the airport and onboard, and a limited ability to attract staff to the desired levels. Speakers included Gerald Ong, Strategy and Commercial Development, Hamad International Airport; Andrew Harrison, Managing Director UK Travel, WHSmith; Luis Marin, President & CEO Europe, Middle East and Africa, Avolta; and Arthur Reijnhart, Executive Director Schiphol Commercial, Royal Schiphol Group.
The AI Travel Retailing Symposium explored how we can leverage Artificial Intelligence (AI) for dynamic offers, disruption management, customer engagement, trip planning and much more. Moderated by Glenn Morgan, Partner, Threedot, the session opened with a presentation by Christophe Guittard, Senior Vice President for Digital, on Qatar Airways’ recently-launched world-first promptless AI booking experience and digital human cabin crew. Guittard shared insights into what the airline has learned from these efforts and where it will go next with AI. An engaging panel discussion then followed, focusing on evolving approaches to driving revenue creation and CX enhancement through AI. Speakers included Martin Kamlah, Vice President – Corporate Development, Munich Airport International; Niels Colemont, Head of New Optimization Programs, FLYR; Abe Dev, Vice President – Digital Technology and Innovation, Riyadh Air; and Bryan Porter, Chief Revenue Officer, Datalex.
A captivating session featuring ‘Innovative case studies to drive ancillary success’ was moderated by Ross Falconer, Head of Content, Future Travel Experience. The session included three distinct segments. Firstly, Charlotte Posada-Kandel, Manager Ancillary Products, SunExpress, delivered a presentation on ‘Maximising profitability through personalised experiences: How SunExpress is becoming the ultimate travel companion for diverse passenger preferences’.
Secondly, Bill McKimm, VP of Travel Sales, eSIM Go, and Timothy Haupt, Manager, Ancillary Strategy & Commercial Development, Lufthansa Group, shared an engaging discussion on ‘The Connected Traveller – how an eSIM can enhance CX, grow brand loyalty and increase in-destination ancillary revenue’.
Finally, an illuminating fireside chat with Juliana Ramirez, VP Ancillary Revenue & Digital Experience, Flair Airlines, and Ella Alkalay Schreiber, GM of Fintech, Hopper Technology Solutions (HTS), explored how Flair increases user satisfaction on direct channels and generates more ancillary profit with HTS fintech.
Enhancing the customer experience and commercial retail income is and will remain a cornerstone of the airport industry. A session on ‘Unleashing Innovative Airport Strategies for Customer and Commercial Excellence’, moderated by Martijn Steur, Managing Director, Kinetic Consultancy, delved into the wisdom of industry innovators, with insights to supercharge commercial ventures and redefine the landscape of customer experience in the realm of aviation. The session featured three fantastic presentations. Mammen Tharakan, Vice President, Investment & Partnerships, King Salman International Airport, discussed how the new airport for Riyadh will rewrite the rules for airport commercial excellence. Joel Godfrey, Digital Product Director, CAVU, explored the subject of ‘Navigating New Horizons: Unlocking Innovation and Collaboration in the Ever-Changing Airport and Travel Industry Landscape’. Finally, Istanbul Airport’s Ahmet Er, Digital Transformation and Channel Management Deputy Manager, and Dilanur Çetinalp, Digital Transformation and Channel Management Supervisor, shared how the airport is taking its digital transformation and customer experience efforts to the next level through channel management, innovation, accessibility, omnichannel strategy, AI, ChatGPT and chatbots, personalisation, segmentation, research, insights and more.
The FTE EMEA/Ancillary & Retailing Digital Identity Symposium began with a pioneering case study from Harvey Tate, Human API – Digital Transformation, International Airlines Group (IAG), and Ursula Silling, CEO, Branchspace, who shared how British Airways and Branchspace have been collaborating to successfully test the first fully integrated digital identity travel experience, from shopping for flights to arrival, on a journey from London Heathrow to Rome Fiumicino. They were then joined on the panel by Bill Carleton, Director, Advanced Recognition Systems, NEC Corporation of America, and Vanesa Calvo, Head of Funding and Innovation Trends Department, Aena. The panel shared a range of dynamic approaches and learnings on how they are advancing digital identity to deliver next-level customer experiences, efficiencies, loyalty, revenue and payment opportunities, and ideas on how the industry can achieve the vast potential that new digital identity approaches can deliver.
An engaging panel discussion explored ‘How do we better optimise and evolve commercial offerings and remove friction for passengers and stakeholders?’ Moderated by Eric Léopold, Founder, Threedot and FTE Ancillary & Retailing Content Director, panellists included Carlos Ruiz, Director of Commercial Management, Cincinnati / Northern Kentucky International Airport; Caroline Bergstroem, Head of Ancillary Products, Connectivity and Retail, SAS; Nick Ashton, Global Airline Lead, Protect Group; and Adrian Keating, Independent Aviation Consultant.
The FTE Ancillary & Retailing conference concluded with the FTE APEX Lounge Innovation Summit. Moderated by Dr Joe Leader, CEO, APEX & IFSA, the session began with a scene-setting presentation from Martin Thomas, (Acting) Head of Above Wing Automation, IAG Airports, on the latest thinking on the way to develop and run lounges across the IAG group. A fascinating panel discussion followed on the evolution of future lounge experiences, and the best operational and commercial approaches behind them, with speakers also including Alex McEvoy, Product Manager, Airports and Lounges, Aer Lingus, and Gerald Ong, Strategy and Commercial Development, Hamad International Airport. Read the full article here.
Exclusive announcements from Schiphol, nlmtd, Avinor, Incheon, Alaska Airlines, CELITECH, Lufthansa and eSIM Go; plus, rebranded FTE World Ancillary & Retailing Working Group announced
The co-located FTE EMEA and FTE Ancillary & Retailing events provided the ideal platform for a series of exclusive industry announcements:
- Royal Schiphol Group, nlmtd, Avinor and Incheon International Airport Corporation officially launched BOOST – a global coalition for accelerating baggage innovation, developed in partnership with Future Travel Experience via the Baggage Innovation Working Group. Read the full story here.
- Alaska Airlines has become the first airline in North America to integrate eSIM technology into its booking platform through a new partnership with CELITECH. This collaboration enables travellers to purchase an eSIM directly when booking their trips on alaskaair.com, enhancing their connectivity and travel experience. The partnership launch was announced at FTE EMEA and FTE Ancillary & Retailing in Dublin, where the collaboration was first conceived. Read the full story here.
- eSIM Go announced a new partnership with Lufthansa Group (LHG) to provide eSIM mobile data services to passengers across four of its airlines. Having successfully proven the business case with the positive launch of a SWISS eSIM service earlier this year, LHG is committed to replicating the model for Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines and Brussels Airlines. Read the full story here. In addition, eSIM Go also used the occasion of FTE EMEA and FTE Ancillary & Retailing to celebrate the one-year anniversary of its collaboration with Fraport.
- Future Travel Experience announced the rebranding of the FTE World Airport Retailing Working Group to the FTE World Ancillary & Retailing Working Group, as part of our commitment to taking our engagement with all industry commercial leaders, including airlines, to the next level. The FTE World Ancillary & Retailing Working Group will continue to bring together the brightest, most progressive minds in the commercial sector globally to network and share ideas, visions and learnings on how the industry can improve its commercial offerings, strategies and collaboration. The Working Group remains free to join for all relevant industry stakeholders.
Startup Pitch Session – a hotbed of innovation
The conference agenda also featured the ‘Startup Pitch Session Powered by the FTE Digital, Innovation & Startup Hub’. This showcased a diverse range of startups with a selection of pioneering products and services – from car rental innovation to real-time digital twins, ancillary opportunities, baggage tracking and much more – including Adapta Mobility, Cielo, Emu Analytics, InterLnkd, LiFE in the Air, Shabstec, and UCPlaces.
Interactive Workshop Zone
The Interactive Workshop Zone provided a platform that encouraged engagement and interaction between participants. It featured workhops focused on ‘Building Innovation Culture: Unlocking faster digital change in airports’, ‘The FTE APEX Commercialising Inflight Symposium’, ‘What are the key areas of the baggage delivery process that airlines and airports need to improve to support growth and strengthen trust with passengers?’, and ‘How can we engage our customers in sustainable aviation efforts whilst green-claims are under a magnifying glass?’
VIP tour of the exhibition
Day 1 of the co-located FTE EMEA and FTE Ancillary & Retailing events featured a special VIP tour of the exhibition. Ahead of his Opening Keynote, Anko van der Werff, President & CEO, SAS, joined a high-level delegation alongside Dr Joe Leader, CEO, APEX & IFSA, and Daniel Coleman, Founder & CEO, Future Travel Experience.
ADR, AirAsia, IST, Ryanair, LHR, PLAY, DOH, Riyadh Air, MAG and Pegasus Airlines recognised in FTE EMEA Awards
Future Travel Experience announced the winners of the FTE World Airline Ancillary and FTE World Airport Retailing Awards, as well as the airline and airport leaders from the FTE EMEA Transformation Power List. The presentation ceremony was held at the co-located FTE EMEA and FTE Ancillary & Retailing events, as part of the Networking Reception sponsored by FLYR. Read the full report here.
APEX Passenger Choice Awards
The APEX Passenger Choice Awards ceremony also took place during the co-located FTE EMEA and FTE Ancillary & Retailing events, recognising airlines from Europe, South America & North America for their outstanding CX efforts as voted for across 1.2 million flights through TripIt. Find out more here.
FTE Digital, Innovation & Startup Hub members-only event
The FTE Digital, Innovation & Startup Hub members, including international airlines, airports, investors, and vendors, attended an engaging event hosted by Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Enterprise Ireland at the Amazon Ireland – DUB19 offices in Dublin. The event focused on the very latest technologies and trends, including Artificial Intelligence (AI), Robotics, and the Internet of Things (IoT), key themes for the FTE Hub in 2024.
The session opened with welcome addresses from Ryan Ghee, COO of Future Travel Experience; Kevin Kleist, Head of Emerging Trends at Southwest Airlines and Head of Digitalisation, Innovation & Startup Engagement at Future Travel Experience; David McAvinue, Senior Account Manager at AWS; and Niall Diffley, Development Advisor at Enterprise Ireland.
Bob Kwik, Worldwide Head of Airports and Ground Transportation at AWS, delivered the keynote, discussing AWS’ role in digital transformation for airlines and airports through data adoption, digital twins, autonomous operations, generative AI, and more. Presentations followed from Colin O’Brien, Head of QA & Change Control at Ryanair Labs; James von der Fecht, Technology Product Director at Manchester Airports Group (MAG); and Alan Kiernan, CTO and Co-founder of Parly by Cation Consulting.
The event also featured two startup pitch sessions with ten high-potential startups, including Fairlyne, Ostrum, Tao Climate, Travpal, FLOX Robotics, Frequency, MOST, PRM Assist, CloudCards, and Snapfix. The networking opportunities were abundant, highlighted by the end-of-day networking drinks sponsored by AWS at an authentic Irish pub.
Contact us to learn more about the FTE Digital, Innovation & Startup Hub >>FTE Baggage Innovation Working Group meeting at DUB, plus exclusive Oslo Airport baggage tour
Ahead of the co-located FTE EMEA and FTE Ancillary & Retailing events, members of the FTE Baggage Innovation Working Group (BIWG) had the opportunity of an exclusive Oslo Airport visit. Avinor demonstrated the results of its long-time strategy of a new baggage handling system design to BIWG members (see the slideshow of images below). Idar Sørgjerd, Department Manager, BHS, Tech & Op. Excellence, Avinor and a BIWG Captain, shared details of the tour during the BIWG meeting at Dublin Airport. “Visitors were able to see the full system,” said Sørgjerd. “The visitors received a full ‘front row’ demonstration with a walkthrough of the system. We ended up in our test centre where there is a full-scale loadcell installed. This area will by mid-summer be upgraded with a new installation from Vanderlande, introducing the Proof of Concept of our next strategic step towards full automation, including AGV for ULD/dolly transport and a loading robot for loading. This area is planned to be completed and run with live bags by end of this year.”
The meeting at Dublin Airport, led by Darin Juby, Head of Baggage Transformation, Future Travel Experience, was also preceded by a tour of Dublin Airport’s baggage facilities.
A new member presentation from Waites on baggage system monitoring technology was delivered by Michael Healy, Senior Consultant, Waites and Dominic Cosentino, Director Strategic Partnerships, Waites, and was followed by a truly fascinating group discussion on inbound baggage – ‘the sometimes-forgotten process’.
The in-person BIWG meeting then concluded with an update on current Proof of Concepts from Lowri Griffiths, BagsID; Dennis van Kleef, Programme Lead Baggage, Royal Schiphol Group; and Wopke Dost, Programme Management Lead, nlmtd.
Contact us to learn more about the FTE Baggage Innovation Working Group >>FTE World Airport Retailing Working Group members-only event, plus announcement of Working Group rebrand
Members of the FTE World Airport Retailing Working Group (WARWG) – which remains free to join for all relevant industry stakeholders – met at the Dublin HQ of Stripe (inaugural partner of the FTE WARWG).
Under the theme of ‘Understanding & planning for the passenger evolutions of tomorrow – GI Generation to Gen Alpha’, the meeting agenda included a scene-setting from Kevin Dowling, Global Head of Partner Solutions Engineering, Stripe; a keynote from Alex Avery, CEO, Pragma Consulting on global consumer insights; and a fireside chat and audience Q&A led by Sammy Patel, Vice President Commercial, Vantage Airport Group and Martijn Steur, Managing Director, Kinetic Consultancy. Attendees then participated in breakout discussions to brainstorm future commercial strategies for airport terminals, focusing on evolving passenger needs. The session concluded with groups sharing their findings, followed by relaxed networking.
At FTE, we are committed to taking our engagement with industry commercial leaders to the next level. As part of these efforts, we are pleased to announce that the Working Group is being rebranded as the FTE World Ancillary & Retailing Working Group, further broadening the platform and community to all relevant industry stakeholders, including airlines. The FTE World Ancillary & Retailing Working Group will continue to bring together the brightest, most progressive minds in the commercial sector globally to network and share ideas, visions and learnings on how the industry can improve its commercial offerings, strategies and collaboration.
Contact us to learn more about the FTE World Ancillary & Retailing Working Group – free to join for all relevant industry stakeholders >>What’s next – FTE Global, LA, 28-30 October 2024, and FTE APEX Asia Expo, Singapore, 19-20 November 2024
