Airport News

Passengers at Frankfurt Airport are leading the way in terms of self-bag-drops and self-check-in, according to SITA.

However, because Frankfurt is so advanced in its use of kiosks and web check-in, interest in the use of mobile phone functionality is generally lower than global averages.

Frankfurt is Germany’s busiest airport, with more than 57 million passengers flying to 264 destinations in 113 countries.

On the day of the SITA/ATW Passenger Self-Service Survey, 45% of its passengers used a staffed bag-drop station, compared to 32% surveyed at airports across the rest of the world.

For unstaffed bag-drop, Frankfurt was also ahead of the curve; 7% of passengers used the service which is the highest rate recorded in the survey and double the global average.

Likewise, 76% of passengers at Frankfurt had used self-service check-in, compared to 68% elsewhere.

This could also explain why passengers at Frankfurt rate check-in and bag drop as less stressful than passengers do at other airports, SITA said.

Dave Bakker, SITA president, Europe, said: “Frankfurt passengers have embraced self-service enthusiastically and, exactly as intended, it is improving their journey through the airport.

“Given the success of the existing self-service facilities, it is perhaps unsurprising that mobile phone functionality holds less interest.

“However, we have seen the take-up of mobile services accelerate across the rest of the world and the signs are certainly beginning to emerge that Frankfurt will follow suit.”