This week's insights: London Fashion Week takes off at LHR, technological upgrades at JFKIAT, airport waste management strategies and much more!

Welcome to this week's edition of the International Airport Review newsletter, your essential source for aviation updates. We start with a glimpse of London Fashion Week scouts at London Heathrow, highlighting the intersection of fashion and travel. We also discover advancements in passenger experience through technological innovations at JFKIAT, sustainable travel initiatives via enhanced airport waste management, and insights into digital integration in traditional sectors.

???Latest articles: Dive into our Editor’s picks

London Fashion Week starts early as scouts look for new models in London Heathrow’s Terminal

London Heathrow Airport (LHR) has launched a new scheme for aspiring models to be scouted, for London Fashion Week. The airport has partnered with the inclusive model agency, The MiLK Collective to choose passengers to join as a model. The agency is renowned for its diversity and challenging conventions.

“We’re excited to partner with The MiLK Collective to give aspiring models a chance to ‘take off’ right here at the airport. And for passengers looking to get into the Fashion Week spirit, there’s no better place to shop. From Burberry to Reiss, we’ve got the brands that make Heathrow the ultimate pre-runway shopping destination,” said Fraser Brown, Heathrow Retail Director.

The event was kicked off with an array of airport fashion by four agency models who strutted down a catwalk in classic travel apparel including leggings and neck pillows, as well as linen suits, vintage dresses and casualwear. A record 1.75 million passengers will travel through Heathrow for Fashion Week, including industry executives, brands, designers and models. Aspiring models will have a chance to be spotted when scouts return to Terminal 5 on Friday 13 September.

Enhancing passenger experience through technological innovation

For Issue 2 2024, Stephen Tukavkin , Vice President of IT and Digital at JFK International Air Terminal , discussed the innovative technologies JFKIAT has been implementing behind the scenes at the airport to continuously enhance the passenger experience.

JFK T4 passengers can now navigate to places within the terminal with Google Indoor live view. How does it work?

Google Indoor live view is an interactive tool accessed through Google Maps and uses the passengers’ camera, live feed and augmented reality to point them in the right direction. It enables travellers to navigate a large terminal to find the closest restrooms, lounges, taxi stands and more.

It’s an awesome technology from Google called global localisation. It uses artificial intelligence (AI) to scan billions of different images that are stranded together to help determine the precise altitude and the placement of objects within the building. It then provides the right directions on the passenger’s smartphone and helps them navigate to the chosen destination within a terminal. These recordings are compared with the background on the passengers’ cameras on their smartphones to show the correct route in augmented reality (AR) view. It was a massive undertaking to get this implemented and took about two years in partnership with Google to focus on enhancing the intuitive navigation from curb-to-gate. Google came in and recorded the interior and exterior of the airport terminal for the new indoor live view function.

Elevating airport waste management: A gateway to sustainable travel

For International Airport Review, Grégoire James s, Commercial Director of the International Aviation Waste Management Association (IAWMA) , writes how airports can play their part in waste reduction through recycling, composting, collaborating with airlines and reusable materials.

In a world where travel and sustainability are converging priorities, airport waste management demands a spotlight. Yet, within this challenge lies a promising opportunity. As airports navigate sustainability intricacies, they hold the key to significant strides in waste reduction. The modern traveller, increasingly attuned to environmental consciousness, expects airports to match their aspirations. By forging alliances with tenants, concessionaires, airlines, and ecosystem partners, airports can lead the charge in waste diversion, setting a new benchmark for sustainable practices in the industry by deploying some of the following strategies......

Samurais and seizing the digital initiative

David Elliott , Consulting Director of Aviation at Cohesive , emphasises the critical role of data in transforming airport operations to enhance efficiency, resilience and passenger experience.

The Paris ’24 Olympics has finished but in the airport sector records are still being set. London Heathrow saw off competition for the busiest airport in Europe in H1. Before July 2024, it had never surpassed 1.8 million passengers for one week – but then beat the tally for three consecutive weeks.

If anything gives a clear indication that the impact of lockdowns and restrictions are now a distant memory, these figures are it.

With those most challenging of four years behind them, airport operators globally are re-focused on their business-as-usual areas: Strengthening their operational resilience, delivering the highest-quality passenger experience, driving efficiencies, investing in asset enhancements and capital projects and reducing carbon emissions.

Their approaches will vary but my 25 years of experience supporting major airports with digital programmes has taught me that any masterplan for responding to each of these areas must have one aspect at its core: data.

??VIDEO: Chad Makovsky, Aviation Director at City of Phoenix, on the evolving passenger demographic

International Airport Review’s Chunekshi Wimalasuriya attended this year’s Passenger Terminal Expo in Frankfurt, Germany. During the conference, she was able to catch up with Aviation Director of the City of Phoenix Chad R. Makovsky, A.A.E . Here, they discussed:

• The changing passenger demographic – Arizona used to predominantly receive passengers for leisure travel, tourists visiting sites such as the Grand Canyon, but now there is a rise in those travelling for business. Chad delves into how the airport has been adapted for this need.
• The importance of sustainability – Arizona is a desert community, therefore a sensible approach to resources is required.
• Dealing with capital investment for expansion – how can airports optimise their investment for financial growth.

Watch the full interview to learn all the details!

??OUR LATEST PODCAST: Talking geopolitical and activism security challenges in aviation with Johnnie Müller

For this exclusive International Airport Review podcast, Editor Holly Miles caught up with Johnnie Müller, Senior Vice President of Security Services and Crisis Response at Copenhagen Airports A/S.

Johnnie discussed the security incident which saw the security checkpoint at Copenhagen temporarily closed on April 9, 2024, due to a “suspicious object” and their lessons learned. He also went on to discuss the rise in activism and drone-related security threats and how they are working to tackle this.

The threat of war and geopolitical tensions are the biggest threat according to Johnnie, European countries talk about preparing for war – defence budgets are increasing in Europe and in NATO allies and this has an impact on aviation, because if countries are increasing their armies then this has an effect on an airport’s workforce.

Johnnie concluded by talking about his workforce, saying that after the COVID-19 pandemic, aviation has lost its appeal.

In 2022, 50% of the security workforce at the airport was new recruits, this number has now gone up and currently 65% of the airport’s security workforce have been recruited in the past 6 months. Copenhagen Airport runs its security in-house which they are very proud of and helps them create a strong security culture.

Listen to this exclusive interview on security challenges in aviation now.