Heathrow Airport tests screen drop-off luggage

Mark Burgess, Heathrow’s Director of Process Development A Profile: We are gearing up to welcome new travelers and are looking for innovative technologies to help ensure that the passenger experience in the post-Covid world is safe and efficient. That’s why we are pleased to work with Amadeus to test these self-service non-contact package drop units. As part of Heathrow’s Fly Safe project, we’re one of many new operations at our terminals. .

ICM Airport Techniques, which integrated Amadeus in 2019, has provided Heathrow with 270 Auto Backdrop (ABD) units since 2016 for self-service package drop-offs. They are shared by 30 airlines. More than five million pieces of luggage were deposited by passengers in 2019 using this solution, which takes a self-service process of less than 60 seconds on average.

Amadeus and Heathrow Airport have been testing several non-contact technologies for self-service in recent months, including ‘screen mirroring’, which allows passengers to use the APD unit with their own mobile device.

After extensive testing, it was decided to test the proximity sensor approach. Upon completion of the test, all check-in kiosks and ATMs will be upgraded within weeks so that all passengers will have access to non-contact check-in and package drop-offs.

Amadeus recently offered Avinor an end-to-end non-contact solution at 17 airports in Norway.