25th Edition Innovation Awards

1. What makes your solution or project unique or groundbreaking in the airport industry?

Airside 4.0® is a groundbreaking strategy that redefines airside operations by harmonizing complex processes through advanced digitalization. Unlike traditional systems that operate in silos, Airside 4.0® approach integrates IoT, AI, edge computing, and advanced analytics into a unified eco-system. This integration allows airports to shift from reactive, manual processes to proactive, automated operations.

Key differentiators include:

• Predictive Maintenance: Leveraging IoT-enabled devices like AXON EQ intelligent airfield lights to predict maintenance needs, reducing downtime and costs.
• Adaptive Automation: Systems like "Follow the Greens" optimize aircraft taxiing routes, reducing congestion, energy consumption, and CO2 emissions.
• Real-Time Data Insights: Cloud-based analytics transform raw data into actionable insights, enabling faster, more accurate decision-making.

This holistic approach makes Airside 4.0® not just an improvement but a leap forward in airside management, setting new benchmarks for efficiency, safety, and sustainability in the aviation industry.

2. How has it improved operations, efficiency, sustainability, or passenger experience? Include measurable results where possible.

Airside 4.0® has delivered measurable improvements across key operational areas:

Operational Efficiency:

• Reduced downtime and faster maintenance responses through predictive analytics, cutting maintenance costs by up to 59%.
• Optimized use of infrastructure, ensuring better airside availability.

Sustainability:

• Reduced energy consumption by up to 51% through adaptive lighting systems.
• Lowered CO2 emissions via optimized taxiing routes and reduced aircraft idle times.

Safety:

• Enhanced situational awareness with AI-powered systems like Runway Incursion Alerting Systems (RIAS) to minimize risks during aircraft and ground operations.

Passenger Experience:

• Faster turnarounds and improved on-time performance lead to smoother travel experiences.

3. Does it tackle aviation challenges & redefine airport operations as a transformative innovation?

Yes, Airside 4.0® directly addresses critical challenges in aviation, including rising air traffic, workforce constraints, stricter sustainability targets, and safety requirements. It redefines airport operations by:

• Moving away from traditional, reactive systems to proactive, data-driven solutions.
• Harmonizing previously siloed processes such as docking, lighting, and taxiway management into a single, integrated platform.
• Using leapfrog technologies like IoT and AI to enable predictive maintenance, adaptive lighting, and "Follow the Greens" capabilities, which reduce congestion and environmental impact.

By enabling smarter, safer, and more sustainable airside operations, Airside 4.0® empowers airports to meet both present and future challenges, transforming how airports operate from touchdown to take-off.

4. Can it be deployed across the industry?

Absolutely. Airside 4.0® is designed for scalability and adaptability, making it suitable for deployment across airports of all sizes and operational environments. The platform's modular architecture allows airports to implement solutions tailored to their specific needs, whether they are small regional hubs or large international airports.

5. Was the solution a pilot or real-world application?

Airside 4.0® has transitioned from pilot programs to real-world applications, demonstrating its effectiveness in live airport environments. Early pilot programs were conducted to validate its capabilities.

1. What makes your solution or project unique or groundbreaking in the airport industry?

MAX Automate is the first system in the airport industry to enable full remote operation and centralized monitoring of Passenger Boarding Bridges (PBBs). It transforms traditional apron operations by replacing manual, on-site control with a digital, centralized interface. This innovation allows operators to manage multiple bridges from a single location, improving coordination, safety, and scalability. MAX Automate is not just a product, it represents a paradigm shift in how airports approach turnaround management and airside efficiency.

2. How has it improved operations, efficiency, sustainability, or passenger experience?

MAX Automate has significantly improved operational efficiency by reducing turnaround times and minimizing human error. In Madrid-Barajas Airport, where the system is fully deployed, remote operation has led to a 72% increase of the operator's capacity based on the average number of operations executed by an operator in a certain day in MAD Airport (comparing manual vs remote operation). The centralized control also reduces the need for staff movement across the apron, contributing to lower emissions and improved safety. By ensuring faster and more reliable aircraft boarding, MAX Automate indirectly enhances the passenger experience through reduced delays and smoother gate operations.

3. How does it address current or future challenges faced by airports and aviation stakeholders?

Airports face increasing pressure to optimize resources, improve safety, and adapt to fluctuating traffic volumes. MAX Automate addresses these challenges by enabling scalable, remote operations that reduce dependency on physical presence and manual processes. It supports workforce flexibility, enhances situational awareness, and prepares airports for future integration with smart systems and predictive analytics. As air traffic grows and staffing becomes more complex, MAX Automate offers a resilient and future-ready solution.

4. Can it be deployed across the industry?

Yes. MAX Automate is designed to be compatible with a wide range of PBB models and airport infrastructures. It has already been successfully tested in airports across Europe, North America and Asia. Its modular architecture allows for easy integration with existing systems such as A-VDGS, FIDS, and BHS, making it suitable for both new installations and retrofit projects. The system is scalable and adaptable to airports of all sizes.

5. Was the solution a pilot or real-world application?

MAX Automate is a real-world application with proven results. It has moved beyond the pilot phase and is currently in full operation at several international airports. Madrid-Barajas Airport is the first in the world to operate all its PBBs remotely using MAX Automate, demonstrating the system’s reliability, scalability and impact in live airport environments.

1. What makes your solution or project unique or groundbreaking in the airport industry?

Fuel sampling is a daily occurrence on jet fuel systems across the world in aviation. The method of testing this jet fuel is a trained human and using the human eye, which can be subjective depending on experience and/or ambient conditions as well as the human factor. The FuelSCAN Analyzer is the only product that can provide accurate sampling results without any subjectivity on the output, a clear 'yes' or 'no' report. Through the use of a camera and AI, the sample is the 'human eye' checking for particles and discoloration of the fuel historically performed by a trained person.

2. How has it improved operations, efficiency, sustainability, or passenger experience?

It has improved operations and efficiency by automating the sampling process and providing reports automatically, without the need for human intervention, providing a safer fuel sample before entering the aircraft.

3. How does it address current or future challenges faced by airports and aviation stakeholders?

As the world moves towards more automation, it's future proofing the fuelling systems, which have not innovated for over 40 years. The FuelSCAN Analyzer is the latest technology in fuel sampling, providing reliable and accurate sampling results through automation.

4. Can it be deployed across the industry?

Yes, it is designed in accordance with the international requirements for sampling jet fuel.

5. Was the solution a pilot or real-world application?

A real world application.

1. What makes your solution or project unique or groundbreaking in the airport industry?

Bag Check-AI, the morphological analyzer of baggages, introduces predictable Artificial Intelligence into the core of the automated Baggage Handling System (BHS). Unlike conventional vision tools, it is not just an add-on but a fully integrated component that interacts with PLCs, operator interfaces, diagnostics, and maintenance systems. This ensures consistent, reliable, and scalable conveyability assessment, protecting both infrastructure and passenger property. The uniqueness lies in moving from “AI as a support” to AI as critical automation, with uniform results across all sites and 24/7 continuous operation.

2. How has it improved operations, efficiency, sustainability, or passenger experience?

The system reduces sorting times and maintenance costs by automatically preventing unsuitable baggage from entering standard systems. It minimizes baggage damage, directly improving passenger satisfaction and trust. By providing detailed statistics, diagnostics, and configurable thresholds, it enables better operational decisions and reduces downtime. Its consistency across deployments improves resource efficiency, while 24/7 operation ensures sustainable performance with lower energy and lifecycle costs compared to manual checks or less efficient solutions.

3. How does it address current or future challenges faced by airports and aviation stakeholders?

Airports face increasing pressure to process more baggage faster, more reliably, and with fewer resources. Our solution directly addresses these challenges by enabling automation of a critical yet previously manual or inconsistent process: conveyability assessment. It improves reliability, scalability, and compliance while reducing damage and costs. Looking ahead, the system’s adaptability and configurability allow it to support future baggage types, stricter operational standards, and evolving passenger expectations, making it a long-term, future-proof solution.

4. Can it be deployed across the industry?

Yes. The solution is designed for scalability and integration across different airports and BHS architectures. It can be configured to local requirements while ensuring uniform, predictable performance worldwide. Its modular design, easy expandability, and upgrade capabilities make it applicable to both new installations and retrofits. This ensures airports of different sizes can adopt it without disrupting ongoing operations, enabling industry-wide benefits.

5. Was the solution a pilot or real-world application?

The system has been developed for real-world airport environments. It has been engineered with full consideration of operational integration: PLC connectivity, operator feedback, configuration parameters, diagnostics, maintenance interface, and continuous logging. Rigorous testing ensures reliability under real conditions, making it not a laboratory prototype or pilot, but a deployable, operations-ready solution that meets the high standards of critical airport automation.

1. What makes your solution or project unique or groundbreaking in the airport industry?

S4GA’s Solar CAT I Airfield Lighting System is the first-ever ICAO-compliant CAT I airfield lighting system fully powered by solar energy. It eliminates the need for underground cables, CCRs, and power substations — the most energy- and material-intensive components of conventional systems. This innovation provides high-intensity lighting with virtually zero operational emissions.

2. How has it improved operations, efficiency, sustainability, or passenger experience?

Solar CAT I delivers up to 40% lower CAPEX by eliminating trenching, cabling, CCRs, and power substations, and up to 80% lower OPEX thanks to zero electricity consumption, no fuel use, no CCR overhauls, and no cable testing. It also removes unplanned downtime costs entirely: no emergency repairs, no runway outages, and proactive issue detection via ALCMS. If we make rough estimations, a Solar CAT I AGL system can save an airport up to €2.8 million after 15 years of operation (based on a 3000 m runway with a single-ended CAT I approach, 2× PAPI, and a small taxiway). This drastically cuts environmental impact while ensuring predictable, long-term operation with minimal maintenance.

3. How does it address current or future challenges faced by airports and aviation stakeholders?

The system enables airports to reach sustainability targets without compromising safety. Its decentralized solar design removes dependence on fossil-fuel-based grids, while its ultra-low maintenance requirements reduce the need for technical staff. This makes Solar CAT I especially valuable for airports facing staff shortages, rising energy costs, and strict environmental regulations.

4. Can it be deployed across the industry?

Yes. Solar CAT I is designed for global scalability. It can operate as a standalone system at remote airports or integrate seamlessly into existing airfield lighting networks at busy hubs. Its modular design and ICAO compliance make it ready for adoption across civil and military airports worldwide.

5. Was the solution a pilot or real-world application?

Both. The solar AGL technology itself is already proven in real-world use, with hundreds of airports worldwide operating on it. What’s new is the Solar CAT I configuration — introducing this proven solar technology into the CAT I airport segment for the first time.

1. What makes your solution or project unique or groundbreaking in the airport industry?

Our solution introduces Spatial AI as a new way for airports to understand and manage passenger flows. Using 3D data from LiDAR sensors, it creates a real-time, anonymous digital twin of how people and vehicles move across the airport, from curb to gate. 

A unique strength of this approach is the ability to capture flows with great precision and consistency at scale (>50 000 pax simultaneously in specific Terminal), regardless of lighting or crowd density (>3 pax/m2), while protecting privacy by design, as no image or personal data is ever captured. 

Outsight’s Spatial Intelligence solution creates a Motional Digital Twin of the terminal, offering continuous actionable insights instead of fragmented snapshots of single checkpoints. This gives operators a clear and continuous view of bottlenecks and movement patterns and makes it possible to bring real-time 3D intelligence into daily airport operations at unprecedented scale.

2. How has it improved operations, efficiency, sustainability, or passenger experience?

Airports using our technology report smoother flows and faster response times. Staff can see queues forming early and open lanes before passengers become frustrated. Managers can replay past events to understand what caused delays and adjust staffing or layouts accordingly. 

What makes the difference is that the system does not only capture what happens a single checkpoint. It gives a full view of the entire passenger journey: Authorized users can both Zoom in to a specific individual (anonymous ID tracking) and Zoom Out to understand aggregated KPIs based on the physical flow of people & vehicles. 

This broader picture reduces wasted time, improves resource allocation, and helps meet service-level targets. 

Also, because the system processes data efficiently on CPUs rather than energy-hungry GPUs, it also lowers the environmental footprint of advanced AI adoption at scale. 

For passengers, the impact is a calmer, more predictable journey and a safer environment. By optimizing flows c

3. How does it address current or future challenges faced by airports and aviation stakeholders?

Today’s airports are under pressure from rising traffic, staff shortages, and stricter service requirements. 

Our solution tackles these issues head-on by making operations proactive instead of reactive. In the future, as volumes grow and expectations rise, the system’s ability to provide predictive insights will help airports stay ahead of congestion and resource bottlenecks. It also addresses privacy concerns by being anonymous by design, which makes it fit for a future where security and personal rights must coexist.

With most airports nearing full capacity and new infrastructure unlikely to be built in time to meet growing demand, operators must optimize operations and enhance passenger flow within existing facilities through precise monitoring and actionable insights.

4. Can it be deployed across the industry?

Yes. The platform is already in use at international airports on four continents, which shows that it can adapt to different layouts and regulatory contexts. 

It is LiDAR-vendor agnostic and works with all relevant manufacturers and models. Airports and partners can also connect to it through our APIs, so the insights can be added to existing dashboards and workflows.

5. Was the solution a pilot or real-world application?

It is a real-world application. The technology is live today in operational airports and actively supports teams in their daily work. 

This is not a prototype or a limited trial, it is proven at scale and continues to expand worldwide.