Munich Airport and Dabico Airport Solutions Germany have signed a letter of intent to develop fully automated passenger boarding bridges.
The two companies said they will start by determining the requirements for autonomous operation of the passenger boarding bridges, and will use the results to jointly develop a pilot system for Munich Airport.
"With this pioneering project, we aim to reduce the duration of docking and undocking operations for passenger boarding bridges, thereby increasing the operational reliability and efficiency of our handling processes," said Jost Lammers, CEO of Munich Airport.
Alexander Pfurr, managing director and CCO of Dabico Airport Solutions Germany said: "The long-standing cooperation with Munich Airport, as well as the acquisition of the passenger boarding bridge manufacturer FMT in January, lay the foundation for the Dabico Group to continue developing innovative integrated systems."
The development of the autonomous passenger boarding bridges is part of the airport’s wider digitalisation strategy.
Among the measures already in place are biometric boarding pass checks, biometric access to gates and lounges, "smart trolleys", flight information and shopping offers, chatbots for passenger inquiries, sensor technology for calculating waiting times at security checkpoints, and robotic projects for ground handling services as well as the use of robots for cleaning in Terminal 2 and the satellite.
Image: Munich Airport
