Amadeus’ Touchless Bag Drop Technology is Being Tested at Heathrow

At Heathrow Airport, Amadeus’ touchless bag drop technology is being tested.

Passengers can check their luggage without touching the kiosk screens thanks to proximity sensors.

The contactless solution from the travel technology business uses an infrared proximity sensor to detect the passenger’s finger up to three centimetres away from the screen surface.

ICM Airport Technics, an Amadeus division, is providing six of Heathrow’s auto bag drop devices for the trials.

Heathrow’s process improvement director, Mark Burgess, said: “We’re preparing to welcome back more travellers, by looking for new and innovative technologies that will help to ensure the passenger experience remains safe and efficient in a post-COVID world.

“That’s why we’re delighted to be working with Amadeus to trial these touchless self-service bag drop units. This is just one of many new measures that we’re implementing across our terminals, as part of Heathrow’s Fly Safe programme.”

ICM Airport Technics’ chief executive officer, Richard Dinkelmann, added: “We’re working closely with our airport and airline partners to deliver solutions that help them adapt passenger services to the new environment.

“Whether it’s contactless bag drop, biometric boarding, or off-airport check-in, we are working with airports to rethink how they can meet new traveller requirements.”

Since 2016, as the sole partner for self-service bag drop, which is shared by 30 airlines, ICM Airport Technics, which became part of Amadeus in 2019, has supplied more than 270 auto bag drop units to Heathrow as the sole partner for self-service bag drop. Passengers can choose to drop bags without assistance from an agent.

In recent months, Amadeus and Heathrow have been testing a number of contactless self-service technologies, including ‘screen mirroring,’ which allows passengers to control an auto bag drop unit from their own mobile device. It was decided to go through with the proximity sensor technique after considerable testing.

All check-in kiosks and auto bag drop devices might be modified in a matter of weeks when the proximity sensor trial is completed, allowing all passengers to use contactless check-in and bag drop.