FTE in Amsterdam: 20 solutions that can improve the airport experience today.
As part of our ongoing efforts to help airlines and airports improve the end-to-end passenger experience, Future Travel Experience was on-site at Passenger Terminal Expo in Amsterdam last week, where we sought out solutions that can improve the airport experience today.
Ahead of the show, we expected some key trends to dominate – ranging from the increasingly important role of biometrics for passenger processing, to the use of digital channels to create richer engagements with travellers – and these expectations were proved right in Amsterdam. Here we highlight 20 of the most eye-catching products and services that we found around the show.
LocusLabs helps Heathrow become ‘single source of truth’
LocusLabs, whose high fidelity indoor mapping and location platform is already used by the likes of American Airlines, United, Lufthansa, DFW and JetBlue, has now announced a pioneering partnership with Heathrow Airport. Heathrow will leverage LocusLabs’ location-as-a-service platform to power location services for its passengers via digital signage and touchscreens in the terminal, across digital channels including Heathrow.com and HeathrowExpress.com, and via its mobile apps.
“When I spoke at FTE Global in Las Vegas last year, I talked about joining all the dots, in order for Heathrow to become the single source of truth. This is exactly what we’re doing with LocusLabs,” explained Chris Annetts, Retail & Service Proposition Director, Heathrow Airport. Heathrow’s work with LocusLabs will benefit the airlines, and their customers, who fly from the major London hub, as they will be able to easily integrate the airport maps and various other services into their own apps and other digital channels. In fact, Delta, American and United have already finalised the integration.
“This is not just about the maps though,” said Annetts, who is a member of the ‘FTE PaxEx & Ancillary Think Tank’, which will launch its vision at FTE Europe and FTE Ancillary (26-27 June, Dublin). “We are integrating beacons, data on retail, products, services and so on. The next phase is to build the personalisation so Heathrow and our airline partners can build up profiles with the permission of our passengers.” This, he explained, will bring about myriad customer experience and retail benefits. Campbell Kennedy, Co-founder and CEO of LocusLabs, added: “This really is a great story of us co-creating an ecosystem, and creating a win-win-win for everyone involved.”
Cloud-native common use
FTE was among the first to hear about the launch of ARINC cMUSE, a new cloud-native Common Use Passenger Processing System (CUPPS), which was announced by the Rockwell Collins Information Management Services management team in a dedicated briefing.
Tony Chapman, Senior Director, Product Management and Strategic Programmes, Global Airports, revealed that Ottawa International Airport will be the first airport to implement the new platform. Chapman lauded the new solution as a “true cloud-native offering”, and pointed out various benefits, including simplified support, and faster and more affordable updates. He also said cMUSE will offer more flexibility to cost-effectively manage changing airport operations like accommodating seasonal airlines or adding more check-in desks to cater for irregular operations.
Rockwell Collins also announced that its end-to-end biometric passenger management solution – also known as a biometric single token – is ready for launch in 2017. Passengers will be able to register their facial image at the first touch point at the airport (check-in, bag drop or the security entrance), enabling them to pass through subsequent touch points without having to present their boarding pass. “We’re exploring two or three opportunities for single token trials at airports,” Chapman told FTE.
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