Airport News
The 2014 Passenger Terminal Expo and Conference, which took place in Barcelona, Spain on 25-27 March, has been described as the “best place to experience the latest technologies to enter the market”, and with record numbers of visitors and delegates the event has cemented its position as the world’s leading international airport terminal conference and exhibition.
This year’s record-breaking event saw around 1,400 delegates and over 2,000 visitors attend the exhibition and conference – the highest number of visitors and delegates the event has ever seen. And with more than 160 international exhibitors Passenger Terminal Expo 2014 provided the perfect platform for the industry’s leading figures to discuss and showcase the latest technologies and trends present in the aviation industry. Visitors included CEOs, architects, airport and airline executives, suppliers and key decision makers from across the world.
This year was all about technology and how it can be used to connect and interact with the passenger. “Passenger Terminal Expo is the perfect event to see first-hand the changes taking place in the aviation industry and to keep up-to-date with all the latest trends,” said visitor Serge Petit, chief executive officer, Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport. “In Mauritius, in September 2013, we completed a new passenger terminal, but based on what is on show here at the exhibition, we have now realised that we are already lagging behind. We are very impressed by the technologies that are being launched at PTX to help improve passenger experience.”
One of the new technologies launched at the show was Air France-KLM’s electronic bag tag and baggage tracker, which enables passengers to label their luggage at home, drop bags at dedicated bag-drop points and trace their luggage worldwide. There was a plethora of other product launches during the three-day event, including new humanoid robots, baggage equipment, mobile applications, self-service kiosks and bag drops, revenue generation solutions and flight information display systems.
Christoph Oftring, international sales manager at Crisplant, which launched its new Automated Container Handling concept, said, “Passenger Terminal Expo is the perfect place to launch new products for us. The diverse range of visitors from airports around the world means that we can gain feedback on new concepts and work on ways to improve them. I have been attending the event for many years and have witnessed it growing every year. The event is the ideal place for us to discuss future trends, and to meet with existing and potential future customers.”
More information on all the latest product launches from the show can be found on PassengerTerminalToday.com.
Passenger Terminal Conference
The conference, which was held alongside the exhibition during the three-day event, hosted more than 300 international speakers. Sessions covered everything from airport design and planning to security, commercial development, customer service, check-in, self-service solutions and sustainability.
Rob Brancheau, senior director of Planning, Engineering and Construction, Greater Orlando Aviation Authority, said, “As always, the Passenger Terminal Conference has been outstanding. I have attended loads of different presentations and have found every one to be extremely relevant. The sessions I have spent most of my time in have covered topics, such as planning and design; facilitation; the airport city model; and commercial and retail. And they have all been extremely informative. In Orlando we’re in the middle of doing some very major projects including a lot of inter-model developments and some of the presentations and exhibitions are really relevant to this. I’m personally trying to encourage having one or two people from Orlando here every year. In three days, you can really see what’s going on around the world and where you stand relative to what others are doing.”
Highlights from this year’s conference included Dubai Airports’ head of Terminal Development, Peter Moore, who spoke about the airport’s A380 concourse a year after its official opening. Discussions from the presentation included what lessons have been learnt after a full year of operation and how can the rest of the industry learn from the development. Another popular presentation came from Michael Ibbitson, CIO at Gatwick Airport who spoke about the airport’s new IT strategy, which is looking at how cloud services can be used throughout the terminal. Attendees found out more about how cloud services can be used to deliver solutions such as web-based services for bag-drop and wayfinding.
Skytrax Awards�
The Skytrax World Airport Awards were also held at Passenger Terminal Expo, recognising the best airports in the industry. Singapore Changi Airport was voted as the World’s Best Airport – the second year in a row that the airport has picked up the coveted award. Incheon International came second, with Europe’s Munich Airport in third. Other categories included World’s Best Domestic Airport, which was won by Tokyo Haneda, World’s Best Airport Terminal, which was awarded to Heathrow T5, and World’s Most Improved Airport, which was given to Shenzhen Bao’an International.
"Winning this prestigious award for the second year in a row, Changi is showing itself to be much more than an airport," said Edward Plaisted, CEO of Skytrax. "Changi Airport offers a travel experience in itself and continues to develop its quality standards to be named the world's favourite airport again."
A full list of all the winners can be found here.
Passenger Terminal Expo and Conference 2015 will be held on 10-12 March in Paris, France. For more information, click here.
