ARINC - Airport Systems Integration Services

Annapolis, Maryland—ARINC Incorporated today announced it will demonstrate its web-enabled common-use baggage drop, ExpressDrop^TM, at ACI World 2010, the Airports Council International annual conference, scheduled November 1-3 in Bermuda.

ARINC pioneered the first true common-use baggage drop for multiple airlines in 2003 in Orlando, Florida. Since that time, the company has continued to refine the technology, and has deployed similar systems at Las Vegas, Disney World, and terminals of the world’s leading cruise lines.

ARINC ExpressDrop enables a single airline agent to check the baggage of passengers on multiple airlines in a single queue, even without code-sharing. It can expedite baggage checking and reduce operating costs whether deployed inside the terminal or off-site.

“As passengers increasingly take advantage of today’s off-site check-ins, Internet/cell-phone check-ins, and common-use kiosks, the need for common-use bag drops has suddenly come into focus,” stated Mike Picco, Vice President, ARINC Airport Systems. “ARINC foresaw this major shift long ago, and we have spent five years evolving our hosted solution—ExpressDrop—into the most versatile answer possible. Earlier this year we showed ExpressDrop at Passenger Terminal Expo in Brussels and Check-In 2010 at Las Vegas. We are not surprised to see other industry suppliers now rushing to catch up, and even claiming they were first.”

Because the ExpressDrop application is hosted over the Internet by ARINC, an airport can launch common-use bag drop service in just minutes at any location with a laptop computer and an Internet connection.

ExpressDrop simplifies the job of agents as well, giving them a common language and universal interface to check the baggage of passengers on multiple airlines. Agents can navigate the ExpressDrop interface easily—even print out bag tags with the latest radio frequency identification (RFID) features, to further expedite passenger processing.

Although ExpressDrop is capable of stand-alone operation, it is designed to complement two other ARINC remotely-hosted applications, ExpressCheck^TM and OnVoy^TM. Working together and using a single common interface, these three applications give the user powerful, cost-effective remote check-in, group check-ins, and baggage checking with only a minimal infrastructure investment. The thin-client architecture is easily deployed at any airline terminal, hotel lobby, convention center, or cruise terminal.

ARINC Incorporated, a portfolio company of The Carlyle Group, provides communications, engineering and integration solutions for commercial, defense and government customers worldwide. Headquartered in Annapolis, Maryland with regional headquarters in London and Singapore, ARINC is ISO 9001:2008 certified.

Release: 10-104

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