Although we were told by one brand (that didn’t attend) that they feared that PTE might be quiet this year as they didn’t consider Stockholm a good destination, the show seemed fine to us and to exhibitors we talked to. It’s a very specialist show and there is lots of activity in the airport sector.
There was lots of new technology, especially in looking at travellers, identifying them and allowing to go straight through security checks. Other ideas we saw included a concept of an arrival locker – it includes a boarding card scanner, so luggage would be delivered to the back of the box and only released when the correct pass is scanned. The service could be offered for premium travellers or as an extra cost service (it would take a lot of space and cost if you wanted to provide it for everyone, we think).
This baggage arrival locker is opened by a matching boarding pass. Image:Meko
It’s always interesting to see who’s not at the show and a notable absentee was Data Modul, which has for a long time been a stalwart in the aviation and FIDs market. However, a comment from a competitor was that the firm had done a lot of work on special casings and protection, but these were not seen as being needed these days and the company has been winning fewer deals and moving into other areas.
We also noted the absence of Bagtags and Rimowa, both of whom have been developing E Ink-based baggage tags, so we didn’t see any signs of this at the show. Rimowa was listed on a partner’s stand, but was not there.
