inter airport Europe 2021 kicks off Runway to recovery: Successful meeting place for the airport industry concluded in Munich

The 23^rd edition of inter airport Europe, the International Exhibition for Airport Equipment, Technology, Design & Services, ended at the Munich Trade Fair Centre in Germany after four show days. A total of 10,000 attendees from the global airport industry met this week to network, discover latest trends and developments and source innovative equipment and systems, of which 5,100 were trade visitors. Visitors have come from 79 countries to visit inter airport Europe this year; the most important visitor countries, apart from Germany, were France, Italy, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Spain, Poland, Norway and Turkey.

Olaf Freier, Portfolio Director of inter airport Europe at the organisers Mack-Brooks Exhibitions, commented: "We are more than happy that we have been able to bring the entire airport industry together successfully for the first time since the start of the pandemic, and this has been extremely valued by all our customers. It is unfortunate that not everyone was able to join us this week in sunny Munich to share this experience. We spoke to many exhibitors and visitors and the feedback we have received was exceptionally positive. A vast majority of exhibitors were able to reach their target groups and they praised the high quality of trade visitors. All in all, our effort to offer this market and meeting place for the airport industry to support their runway to recovery has definitely paid off!”.

Nicola Hamann, Managing Director of the organisers, Mack-Brooks Exhibitions, opened the exhibition on Tuesday and greeted the speakers at the ceremony: Kay Bärenfänger, President GATE - German Airport Technology & Equipment e.V. and Ralph Beisel, General Manager ADV e.V.

In her speech Nicola Hamann mentioned the recent developments in the industry and thanked all participants: “For manufacturers and providers of airport equipment and services at this year’s show, all these challenges and opportunities are drivers for innovation and further technical development. Thus, many of the new products and systems here at the show focus upon cost-efficiency, low or zero emission, enhanced passenger experience, automation and digitalisation.” “I would like to thank all exhibitors, partners and visitors for their contribution and loyalty to the success of inter airport Europe. Everyone involved has been going the extra mile this year to make this event possible”, said Nicola Hamann further.

Kay Bärenfänger, president of GATE, German Airport Technology & Equipment e.V., spoke about the importance of the airport industry: “The challenges are great - but as the association of the supply industry, we know that hand in hand, together with the airports, we are in a position to make a difference - whether it is the topic of "Green Airport" and the associated demands of politics, or passenger safety. Both are driving our industry to top performances. These are just a few of the issues that will keep us busy in the future - regardless of how passenger volumes will develop. One thing is certain, however. People want to and will continue to travel the world by air.”

Ralph Beisel, General Manager ADV e.V. was talking about the airport industry returning to growth: “We want to look forward and overcome Covid, stay together as an industry, believe in our passion for the aviation field and try to get over this pandemic to restart our business. And that is why we are here and that is why I would like to say thank you to all of you for coming here. We are also here to discuss two main challenges; the first challenge is to restart our industry. And ‘Runway to recovery’ is an excellent title for this inter airport because we want to become profitable again. For that we need strong markets, good products and innovation. The other big challenge is bringing our industry to a growth path which is in line with the sustainability requirements. We have a clear commitment as airports, airlines and the whole industry to bring CO² emissions down to net zero”, Ralph Beisel concluded.

The inter airport Europe 2021 Innovation Awards Winners

After the opening ceremony, the inter airport Europe Innovation Award winners were announced and handed over to the winning companies. The Award winners were once again selected via an online voting system on the inter airport Europe show website. Exhibitors submitted their entries in the four categories Terminal, Data/Digitalisation, GSE and Sustainability.

Award winner 2021 in the Terminal category was Dynell from Austria. Dynell introduced a new benchmark for green ground power units with an innovative 400Hz solid-state concept, delivering efficiency values of up to 96% besides other advantages such as modularity, reliability, and best voltage quality values.

The winner this year in the category Data/Digitalisation was MC Solutions from Italy for their MIA System: the ALCMS of the future based on a PC logic and available on portable devices for maintenance operations and remote towers. The system is also tailored from the layout up to the alarm management and the integration of other systems.

The winning company in the category GSE was S.C. ELECTRO MAX S.R.L. from Romania. They received the award for VISTA. The system includes all required LED lights for marking and guidance, powered and controlled in 1.4ADC constant current. The controller can switch the circuits ON/OFF, change brightness & check failures.

Midstream Lighting Ltd from the United Kingdom won the Sustainability Award. They have received this award for their apron floodlighting. Airports typically use generators and high-power lights to deliver the lux levels. The Midstream solution, using high efficiency LED projectors with proprietary asymmetric optics is able to reduce the typical energy consumption by 70% and is now available in Hybrid.

inter airport Europe Runway to recovery Seminars

At this year’s show, visitors were able to join a comprehensive seminar programme which was organised in partnership with SMART Airports for the first time. The seminars took place on all four exhibition days and were very well visited across all sessions. They covered the following topics:

• Smart Airports: Design, Development & New Opportunities
• Building back Operational Efficiency: Ramp & GSE Innovations
• Sustainable Airports: Greener & Cleaner Solutions
• Airport IT & Passenger Processing

Digital platform offered further meeting and matchmaking options to participants

Once registered, all participants enjoyed full access to the entire inter airport Europe digital platform and had the option to contact everyone exhibiting at inter airport Europe 2021. This option allowed them to research for products and services, and to directly speak with suppliers and peers. An AI-powered matchmaking service offered one-to-one business networking, helping suppliers and buyers make smarter networking decisions by suggesting relevant people to meet. The feedback from participants on the matchmaking and meeting options was very positive. All seminar sessions were live streamed and will remain available on demand for two more weeks via the platform.

inter airport Europe is part of the Global Reach Airport Shows initiative. For further information on the Reed Exhibitions’ airport shows, which pool together inter airport Europe, inter airport China, inter airport South East Asia, NAIS Moscow and the Airport Show Dubai as the world’s leading exhibitions for airport equipment, infrastructure and design, please visit www.interairporteurope.com.

inter airport Europe will return to the Munich Trade Fair Centre in Germany for its 24^th edition in the usual event slot. The date for the next event is 10 – 13 October 2023.