The 22nd edition of inter airport Europe, the International Exhibition for Airport Equipment, Technology, Design and Services, was officially opened at the Munich Trade Fair Center in Germany. Until Oct. 11, a total of 659 exhibitors from 40 countries will present a unique variety of the latest airport equipment on a total net exhibition space of 33,550 square metres. This represents a 5.5% increase in floor space compared with the previous event in 2017. The most important exhibitor countries, besides Germany, are France, Great Britain, the USA, Italy, the Netherlands, China, Spain, Sweden and Austria.
Nicola Hamann, managing director of the organizers, Mack Brooks Exhibitions, opened the exhibition and greeted the speakers at the ceremony: Dr. Michael Kerkloh, president and CEO Munich Airport and Kay Bärenfänger, president GATE - German Airport Technology and Equipment e.V.
In her speech Nicola Hamann mentioned the increase in passenger figures in international air transport and this year’s motto of inter airport Europe, “Global passenger figures continue to grow; according to ACI World, projections for passenger numbers state more than 20 billion passengers by 2040. For manufacturers and providers of airport equipment and services at this year’s show, this is a driver 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 digitization”, said Nicola Hamann. “As the world’s leading one-stop-shop for the global airport industry, inter airport Europe is predestined to drive interconnections and data flow between the different areas and services at the airport, from terminal operations, passenger and cargo handling through to ground handling”.
In his speech, Dr. Michael Kerkloh gave a review of the history and passenger numbers at Munich airport over the last decades, “In the period from 1950 to 1976 alone, for example, the annual passenger traffic in Munich increased from 70,000 to around 5 million per year. During those 26 years, approximately 48.4 million passengers passed through the old airport in Riem / Munich. That number matches the total passenger number that we will handle at today's Munich Airport in 2019.” Following from that, he introduced a project to reduce emissions at airports: “Under the heading "Net Zero Carbon 2050", the goal is for airports to reduce their own CO2 emissions to practically zero by 2050 and to use technology to remove the remainder from the atmosphere”.
Kay Bärenfänger, president of GATE, German Airport Technology & Equipment e.V., spoke about the future demands of the airport industry: sustainability, artificial intelligence and autonomous driving. He mentioned a battery storage system for various applications at the airport, which focuses particularly on runway lighting, and discussed autonomous driving at airports: “The opportunities this offers are high, but so are the challenges. The conditions at the airport are more demanding than in normal road traffic. After all, it is not only cars that can cross the road, but also aircraft. For this reason, vehicles must also be able to detect aircraft wings or engines hanging in the air”.
Dieter Heinz, the honorary president of GATE, who has been participating in inter airport since the first show in Frankfurt, received a special honor for his contribution: “I think it is not exaggerated to say that without Dieter Heinz the journey that inter airport had made to become the leading platform for the airport industry, would have been a different one. His industry knowledge, his sense of trends and his passion for airports has had a major impact on the development of inter airport”, said Nicola Hamann.
