SITA - Leo lands in Buenos Aires

Leo, the innovative baggage robot developed by global air transport IT provider SITA, has made Argentina the latest stop on its world tour showcasing the next generation of baggage handling technology. Leo is a fully autonomous and self-propelling robot which looks after passengers’ baggage. It’s an example of how robotics could be used by airlines and airports around the world to improve baggage handling.

This robot meets passengers as they arrive at the airport, checks them in, prints bag tags and takes their bags away for processing. It has an obstacle avoidance technology so can move around a busy airport without bumping into people or things. It is the first step to automating the baggage process from the moment passengers drop their bags to when they collect them at their destination.

Ricardo Lehmacher, VP Airports, Aerolíneas Argentinas, said: “We’re always interested in how SITA develops new technologies to improve the passenger experience. For example, we’re currently optimizing aircraft turnaround times, to keep delays at an absolute minimum and are introducing SITA’s self bag drop to speed up passenger check-in. Exploiting the potential of robotics is, without doubt, going to have a major impact on the way we travel and this baggage robot is a great step in the right direction.”

Leo’s visit to Argentina coincides with the launch of SITA’s annual Baggage Report, which shows the industry’s baggage handling performance has improved again. The rate of mishandling dropped 12.25% from the previous year and is now the lowest ever recorded. Much of this improvement is due to increasing adoption of smart technologies by the world’s airlines and airports. SITA is the only single-source vendor covering all areas of baggage management from data capture to management and sharing using the latest technology. SITA has been the recognized leader in bag tracking and tracing for over 20 years, with its systems in every major airport in the world.

Elbson Quadros, SITA Vice President, Latin America, said: “We constantly talk to our customers, including both Aerolíneas Argentinas and Aeropuertos Argentina 2000, about the latest innovative technologies that can improve and facilitate the passenger experience. Robotics, along with biometric identification and artificial intelligence, is changing the way airports will be designed in the future, making travel easier every step of the way and improving the passenger experience.”

SITA is the leading provider of IT and communications to the world’s airlines and airports. Almost every passenger journey relies on SITA technology. SITA Lab, it’s strategic research team, is at the forefront of travel technology innovation.