It’s official – the world’s leading airport conference and exhibition is back! The 2022 edition of Passenger Terminal Expo, which took place at the Paris Expo Porte de Versailles in Paris, France, on June 15, 16, 17, provided the industry with much-needed access to a vast range of expert insights and new innovations to help airports and airlines emerge from the pandemic and retool their operations to ensure future growth, improved sustainability and even greater commercial success.
More than 280 exhibitors were in Paris to display the very latest in security, biometrics, check-in, baggage, wayfinding, IT, seating, design and engineering, while more than 400 speakers shared critical intel across a conference program spanning nine dedicated streams. Leading presenters included Steve Armitage, head of technology design and innovation at London Heathrow; Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports; Serkan Kaptan, CEO of TAV Airports; and Aimen Ahmed Al Hosni, CEO, Oman Airports.
Augustin de Romanet, chairman and CEO of Groupe ADP, the host airport authority for Passenger Terminal Expo 2022, got the show off to a great start, delivering the opening address to a packed audience at the conference. He welcomed visitors to the event and discussed two of the biggest challenges facing the aviation industry: the decarbonization of air travel and improving the passenger experience. De Romanet explored how Groupe ADP and the wider aviation industry can address these challenges and shape the airport of tomorrow.
The show also hosted the 2022 World Airport Awards, where Hamad International Airport in Doha, Qatar, was named the World’s Best Airport for the second year running. Other major winners on the night included Singapore Changi Airport, winning awards for the World’s Best Airport Staff and the World’s Best Airport Dining Experience; Istanbul Airport, Turkey, won the awards for the World’s Best Airport Shopping and Most Family Friendly Airport. Tokyo Haneda Airport, Japan, won awards as the World’s Cleanest Airport, the World’s Best Domestic Airport, the Best Airport in Asia and the Best Airport PRM & Accessible Facilities. King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh secured the award as the World’s Most Improved Airport.
New product launches
Zoeftig chose Passenger Terminal Expo to launch Vista – a brand-new, highly versatile beam seating system designed to respond to the needs of modern airports and passenger demographics. Vista combines generous proportions and ergonomic design with an ultra-clean aesthetic and versatile construction, to offer a comfortable yet flexible seating solution for airport lounges, departure gates and other public zones. It enables the addition of more informal social spaces, providing areas for passengers to congregate and interact in couples and larger groups; or protected singular occupancy areas for passengers who prioritize privacy and personal space. An option to add planters or privacy screens provides further opportunities to enhance the environment and improve screening and product zoning. Traditional high-density seating runs and stripped-back bench runs with a clean and contemporary feel are also available.
Ports of Jersey launched its carbon offsetting app, CarbonPass, at Passenger Terminal Expo. Carbon Pass provides passengers with information about the carbon footprint of their travel experience and the cost to balance it, alongside providing them with the option of contributing to a project of their choosing that means something to them. To calculate carbon emissions, it considers aircraft type, passenger volumes, load factors and distance. According to the company, CarbonPass is different to other carbon offsetting apps because it isn’t about offsetting but about balancing – its projects don’t have to be about purchasing carbon credits, they just need to demonstrate real, tangible environmental benefits. It offers destination databases specific to each participating airport for passengers and template contracts for airports and their project partners.
TK Elevator launched its integrated apron operations system, ApronVision. ApronVision features 3D lidar technology for long-range and ultra-high-precision object detection and measuring. According to TK Elevator, it was the first company that used laser-based technology to guide airplanes to their parking position. Its system creates a high-resolution point cloud of the apron with up to 2.6 million datapoints per second and a scanning angle of up to 360°. A full-screen, high-resolution LED display shows important, automated and customized turnaround information. ApronVision was designed to enable the full automation and digitalization of the apron to provide real-time data of the apron. This real-time data is expected to create a more efficient docking and departure process by improving the control of all apron activities. ApronVision is also designed to make all the relevant information more readily available for decision-making operators.
Transoft Solutions released its traffic modeling software solution, AirTop 3.1, at Passenger Terminal Expo. AirTop 3.1 is the latest edition of the company’s modular terminal-to-terminal fast-time airport and air traffic complexity modeling, simulation and capacity assessment software. The software simulates multi-agent models of airport terminals in 2D and 3D and can focus on the terminal as a whole or on individual facilities. This flexibility was intended to give designers, planners, airlines, airport operators and other stakeholders the chance to evaluate their designs, processes or system changes, infrastructure modification or expansion requirements and conduct what-if analyses – before incurring significant costs. The module also offers operational analysis features to ensure operations teams understand the resources needed at any given time of the day.
Key partnerships
Reinforcing its value as one of the best networking opportunities of the year, Passenger Terminal Expo also saw the formation of a number of important strategic partnerships:
Aviation tech company SITA signed a partnership agreement with baggage handling company Alstef Group to launch a self-bag drop solution named Swift Drop, which has been designed to speed up baggage operations. The Swift Drop interface was created to be fast and intuitive, to enable passengers to quickly check in their bags and avoid long queues at traditional check-in points. Passengers can print their own bag tags without assistance and load their baggage directly onto the accessible conveyor. SITA also launched its common-use, API-powered platform, SITA Flex, at Passenger Terminal Expo. Powered by application programming interfaces (APIs), SITA Flex uses Microsoft Azure to give clients the cloud without the need for a traditional common-use environment. With this solution, airline staff can be completely mobile, untethered from fixed points in the airport such as a check-in counter or kiosk.
By the end of this year, Schengen member states will be required to have a biometric entry and exit system to register non-European citizens crossing an external EU border. At the expo in Paris, Thales announced that its collaboration with Zelenza has been selected by Spain’s Ministry of the Interior to provide more than 1,500 manual border control inspection units across all border-crossing points and it displayed the units for the first time at the show. Units located at the border officer’s control point will be equipped with Thales EES Border Control Clearance Software and Thales devices such as document readers with embedded document verification, fingerprint scanners and face pods with a facial capture system. Combined, these integrated systems will deliver a fast and secure identity enrolment and clearance process for non-EU citizens at borders. Thales also launched a stationary, compact and lightweight cabin baggage explosive detection system (EDS CB) at the show. Helixview is a C3-compliant scanner (next EDS CB standard) that combines x-ray nanotechnology-based electronic scanning and 3D imaging reconstruction. With this solution installed at checkpoints, passengers will no longer need to remove items from their luggage.
Indra signed a collaboration agreement with startup IntellAct to develop new artificial intelligence applications for airport operations management. Indra partnered with IntellAct to automate some of the processes, indicators and calculations that it implements in its services – using video. IntellAct is a turnaround management company that works to increase the speed of airport operations. The startup uses internet cameras that monitor vehicles, staff and other activities; these cameras can detect when bridges are connected and cargo is unloading. With this solution, operators won’t have to wait for human handlers to confirm if they are on time or not. This solution has been designed to detect potential delays in these activities and predict how much time they will take, and its applications are expected to help improve compliance with flight schedules.
Air traffic management (ATM) solution companies Frequentis and Metron Aviation signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to cooperate on projects of mutual interest in the fields of air traffic flow management (ATFM), arrival management (AMAN) and departure management (DMAN) solutions. The partnership aims to improve the efficiency of air traffic flow by bringing together the companies’ experience and product portfolios. This collaboration will, the companies say, increase the predictability of flight operations and reduce financial costs and environmental impacts caused by capacity imbalances.
Airport technology company Veovo announced its partnership with airport operator Swedavia at the expo. The companies partnered to introduce environmental emissions incentives at Stockholm Arlanda Airport and Gothenburg Landvetter Airport in Sweden – and to incentivize airlines to switch to more efficient aircraft. Automated emission charges will be calculated with Veovo’s revenue management software and industry emission data sets. Swedavia recently introduced the CO2 and NOX Emission Charges following a Swedish government requirement that airport charges should be differentiated for environmental purposes. The charge adjustments will penalize those with higher emissions while rewarding cleaner aircraft – with an overall airport revenue-neutral effect.
Next year’s show
For more information and videos from this year’s event, click here. With the 2022 event a resounding success, dates have now been announced for next year: Passenger Terminal Expo 2023 will take place in Amsterdam, Netherlands, March 14, 15, 16, 2023.
Visitor quotes
“This year’s expo in Paris is extremely engaging,” Khaled Naja, executive vice president for the infrastructure and development division of Dallas Fort-Worth Airport in Texas, commented at the event. “We’ve met firms and colleagues from across the globe. The quality of the venue, as well as the structure of the setup and the material provided, have been second to none.”
“We’ve been to Passenger Terminal Expo for the last 10 to 12 years,” said Christian Tischler, general manager of finance at Sittig Technologies. “It targets the right people and it’s exactly the right fair for us. Compared with other airport shows, it’s much more specific to our customers so it’s very useful.”
Andrea Marcellan, CEO of Magnetic’s parent company FAAC Group, said, “It’s my first time here at Passenger Terminal Expo but I can see that it’s the kind of event that is extremely successful and productive because it is very specific. It also has a relatively short timeframe, which means that in one shot you can meet the entire world of airport terminals for great value for money.”
“We’re keen to understand the challenges facing airports and their stakeholders, which is why we’re here at Passenger Terminal Expo,” said Yannick Beunardeau, vice president of airport IT and airline operations of Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) at Amadeus.
“This is our first participation in the exhibition, and it has been extraordinary for us,” commented Margareta Iancu, international business developer at Nooka Space.