The world’s leading airport design and operations show opens in just six weeks! With over 300 exhibitors and more than 450 expert speakers, this year’s event promises to deliver the latest industry insights and innovations – and all under one roof! The show takes place April 16, 17 & 18, 2024, in Frankfurt, Germany, and if you want to land ahead of your competition, this is not an event you can afford to miss!
Passenger Terminal Expo – meet over 300 exhibitors
This year’s event will be an opportunity for visitors to meet with over 300 industry-leading exhibitors, to discover the latest products and technologies available within the industry. Exhibitors at the free-to-attend exhibition will showcase a broad range of technology and solutions, including baggage handling solutions, self-check-in systems, retrofit self-bag-drop solutions and multibiometric recognition technology – to name just a few of the technologies that will be on show this year! Visitors will be able to reconnect with existing suppliers while also forging partnerships with new ones.
Leading companies on the exhibition floor will include SITA, host airport authority Fraport, Siemens, Collins Aerospace and Vanderlande. Early exhibitor news ahead of the event includes details on Antibacterial seating for airport waiting areas, from Poltrona Frau; a vertiport management system from Firstco and a new airport intelligence solution using IoT and computer vision, from Acorel.
SITA will share how it helps various global airlines, airports and government authorities to extend travelers’ digital credentials beyond the confines of the airport into the wider world. From a product perspective, SITA will demonstrate its latest small-footprint Flex hardware solutions, which enable passengers and agents to control common-use airport devices. It will also showcase its next-generation total airport management system, which harnesses AI to quantifiably optimize and balance operational performance, cost efficiency, capacity provision, revenue generation, passenger experience and sustainability.
Visitors to Vanderlande’s booth will be able to learn more about the company’s vision of end-to-end passenger and baggage operations in a context where automation, digitalization and sustainability take center stage. Vanderlande will showcase its VIA digital suite, which has been designed to reflect best practices learned from the company’s longstanding relationships with airports across the world. The modular digital suite combines with a robust service platform to help airports optimize their end-to-end operations and ultimately provide an enhanced passenger experience.
Revealing an ambition to rethink baggage operations, Vanderlande’s Fleet Batch and Bagload systems will also be highlighted at the expo. Relying on advanced technologies such as autonomous vehicles (AVs), robotics, AI and smart controls, these solutions enable the automation of the traditionally labor-intensive and costly handling process.
Siemens Logistics will showcase predictive maintenance and powerful baggage handling system (BHS) software at the expo. Using the company’s innovative SmartService portfolio, airports and ground handlers benefit from optimized just-in-time maintenance scheduling and execution, made possible by sensors continuously collecting data on the condition of components such as rollers and carriers. Machine learning algorithms then analyze and evaluate the input, matching it to patterns in historical data. Irregularities can be identified, compared with current values and then fixed with just-in-time measures. Siemens Logistics will also be talking to expo visitors about baggage handling systems.
Idemia will present its AI to automate lost luggage identification. By leveraging its deep knowledge of AI, imaging and biometric technologies, the company provides a seamless solution easily integrated within the airline or airport baggage handling ecosystem. Developed in partnership with Air France, Idemia’s Alix – Augmented Luggage Identification eXperience – brings AI technology to luggage identification. This innovative, field-proven solution is simple to implement and designed to work in existing luggage handling systems. No retooling is required.
Attendees will also be able to gain insights into Leidos’s scalable, open architecture and cybersecure software platform ProSight. ProSight integrates security screening equipment, threat-detection algorithms and other third-party data. The result is a centralized enterprise-management system that delivers actionable, real-time data to improve operational efficiencies, increase throughput and reduce costs while enhancing security and threat detection. Key capabilities of this new platform include an open architecture design, centralized command view, central image processing, threat image projection (TIP), business intelligence dashboards and cybersecurity.
AECOM’s global aviation consulting team will reveal the infrastructure consulting it used to plan, design and deliver some of the world’s most famous airports, from John F Kennedy, Los Angeles and Boston Logan in the USA to Changi in Singapore and Lima in Peru. AECOM feels it is important to exercise innovation in everything it does, and considers how it can design more efficiently using technology, data scripting and automation; how it can minimize waste in design and construction; and what innovative tools, processes and systems can create a better and more flexible terminal that can morph and evolve. AECOM believes that developing a fully digital environment and digital twins, and integrating automated and scripted processes in design is the start.
Schiphol will discuss Deep Turnaround, its AI image-based solution for detecting and predicting different activities during the turnaround process. It detects delays as early as 40 minutes before the targeted off-block time and helps airports make informed decisions. Deep Turnaround has been rolled out at Schiphol, is live at multiple other airports and is available to be used worldwide. At Passenger Terminal Expo 2024, Schiphol will demonstrate how Deep Turnaround works and how airports can follow live turnarounds.
Starglide’s team will be at the show to explain how its proprietary rubber moving walkway better meets passenger demands by being safer, quieter and more comfortable than other systems. The fully integrated moving walk system fits anywhere and can be customized to exact specifications. Drawing on Fenner Dunlop’s 100-year expertise in conveyor systems and moving walk belt production, the team can also help airports understand their current systems and how to optimize them. Meet the company at its booth to understand how it can bring better passenger mobility and stress-free maintenance to airports.
On display on Marcus Pedersen’s booth will be the company’s innovative 100% mobile counter Air.Go assistant, which is designed to be ergonomic, flexible, adjustable and easy for staff to operate. Already in action at Frankfurt Airport, Air.Go assistant relieves pressure on traditional check-in counters. It is ideal for self-service areas and also enables passengers to be rebooked on-site if flights are canceled.
Poltrona Frau will exhibit its antibacterial seating for airport waiting areas and lounges. Its special polyurethane foam is lightweight and flexible, with high abrasion resistance and superior mechanical properties. The two-component polyurethane foam system can withstand wet cleaning and bacterial activity while meeting the minimum environmental criteria established by the Italian Ministry for the Environment, Land and Sea. Visit Poltrona Frau at its booth to find out more about its products and partnerships.
Passenger Terminal Conference – hear from over 450 expert speakers
With over 450 speakers and 15 conference tracks, the Passenger Terminal Conference will be an opportunity for delegates to see presentations from speakers hand-picked from the world’s leading aviation authorities, airports, airlines, architectural companies and consultancies. Presentations will cover the very latest trends and developments in the passenger terminal industry and offer solutions to numerous operational issues.
Among the expert speakers at the conference (rates apply) will be Olivier Jankovec, director general of ACI Europe. His presentation is titled ‘Airport climate action scales new heights with Level 5’. In December 2023, ACI launched a brand-new, topmost level of Airport Carbon Accreditation – Level 5. This new level certifies airports for achieving a net zero carbon balance for emissions under the airport’s direct control, and committing to net zero for Scope 3 emissions by 2050 or sooner. The expanded framework of the global carbon standard for airports now empowers the sector’s ambitious net zero commitments and provides a global benchmark for net zero achievement. At the moment of launch, 10 airports had met all the stringent requirements of this new level as part of the pilot program.
Vera Jakobsen, vice president of Munich Airport’s Digital Unit, will give a talk on how to keep your airport at the required level of innovation. She will aim to provide a comprehensive overview of the diverse strategies for tackling the innovation challenge, offering insights into Munich Airport’s specific approach and priorities, and underscoring the pivotal role of collaboration in achieving success.
For more of the top presentations to catch at Passenger Terminal Conference, take a look at the 10 must-see presentations selected by Passenger Terminal World’s editor, Anthony James.
Networking opportunities
In addition to showcasing the latest products and technologies and providing an opportunity to hear from industry leaders, the event will offer unparalleled networking opportunities. From the opening-day party to the prestigious Skytrax World Airport Awards, there is simply no better place to connect with other industry experts!
Download the new event app to discover enhanced networking features – including the ability to book meetings for when you’re on-site!
To learn more about this year’s event, visit the website. Register for your FREE exhibition entry pass here.
The team looks forward to welcoming you on-site in April!