60 seconds with our #NEXTTjourney webinar speakers

Off-Airport Activities

Nathalie Herbelles, Head, Security	Stephen Saunders, Advisor (Secondee), NEXTT	Celine Canu, Head of Facilitation	Andrew Price, Head, Global Baggage Operations

What is your role within the NEXTT vision?
NH: I am associated to the NEXTT initiative from a security angle – making sure that our vision for airport security is innovative, consistent with airports’ needs and effective.

SS: Facilitating collaboration and providing direction for the NEXTT initiative. Issuing guidance and soliciting best practice case studies and future studies on how innovative thinking can shape the future of air travel.

CC: I bring the perspective on how government required processes may evolve (document check, immigration, customs etc.)

AP: Responsible for the baggage components

What do you think the biggest challenges for aviation in the next 20 years will be?

NH: Keeping the inherent speed in air travel and making sure that our airports do not become bottlenecks.

SS: Understanding its role as new modes of transport are coming of age. Inherently the aviation sector is slow to implement new processes and adapt to new technology, but the current pace of advancement will likely challenge this adage as technology has disrupted many industries at a record pace. Rigid policy and the flexibility of nations around the world will likely be the biggest barrier for adaptation of this new wave.  
CC:  The biggest challenge is to identify the key requirements to enable a truly interoperable passengers’ ID management system.

AP: Capacity, customer demand for different products  / services, fatigue (with baggage proposition at least).

How do you think we will cope with this?

NH: We need to look outside of our industry for key trends shaping our future, and understand their implications for aviation, and for aviation security in my case – this includes data, connectivity, AI, robotics, e-commerce…

SS: The aviation sector has to be willing to pilot new technologies and invite collaboration amongst internal and external stakeholders with an increased aptitude of learning through trial and failure.

CC: Public-Private partnership is essential

AP: Innovation has to be a key path, developing airline capability to make use of different services.

What do you think will change the most in the next 20 years of aviation?

NH: I hope that we will move towards more simplicity, at least from the passenger’s viewpoint. A lot of today’s processes will become seamless, happening in the background without the passenger having to stop or intervene.

SS:  The role of short-haul flights will decrease, as new modes of transport become more widely accepted and used.

CC: The broader use of artificial Intelligence will necessarily disrupt a number of processes including passenger data exchanges.

AP: The expectation of the passenger.

What are ‘Off-Airport’ activities, and why are they so important?

NH: In my area of responsibility, security already happens off-airport sometimes – for instance air cargo can be screened outside of the airport, at the production site or at a freight forwarder. We could extend this concept to hold baggage, and maybe to passengers themselves.

SS: Off Airport activities is simply defined as transitioning traditional airport processes off campus to areas more convenient and efficient. The implementation of this initiative is critical to provide relief to the increasing pressure of airport infrastructure that statistically cannot keep pace with the current growth projections. Also, as the world through technology is moving to an “easy everywhere” culture, off-airport processes allow airports to remain relevant to the growing demand.

CC: Removing cumbersome processes traditionally done at the airport is a must if we want to enhance passenger experience and cope with the growing number of air travellers.

AP: Anything you can do away from the airport! Visa, passport, identity in general, baggage, service selections, security processing even. 

What is the main issue raised in the webinar?

NH: I will discuss the opportunities and challenges associated to screening baggage off-airport.

SS: The positive and negative effects of the implementation of off-airport processes to terminal operations.

CC: How many people are worried to forget their passport before heading to the airport? How many of them wonder at the last moment if they need a visa in the country of arrival or if their travel authorisation is still valid? The webinar explores options to further automate identity and travel authorisation checks long before the day.