Success for groundbreaking service at Billund Airport

The second largest airport in Denmark, Billund Airport, has been the first in the world to launch a new service which allows passengers to print their baggage tags at home together with their boarding card. The new system has proved highly popular, making life easier for passengers and airport check-in personnel.

After a six month development and test period, Billund Airport launched a new baggage tag on 1 September which passengers themselves can print out at home along with their boarding card. The new tag means passengers avoid having to queue when checking in their baggage and the scheme has so far exceeded all expectations.

“So far, the feedback we’ve received has been 100% positive. Passengers save time at check-in, and no problems have been reported for printing the tags. Around 15% of our charter passengers have used the system since it was launched, and we want to get that figure up to 35-40% in the future,” says the airport’s VP Project and Development, Anders Nielsen, responsible for implementation of the system along with head of Passenger Handling, Henrik Munksgaard.

The tags are printed onto a standard A4 sheet of paper, and then folded according to the instructions and inserted in a plastic cover (available free of charge at the airport), which is then secured to the bag. The passenger can then use the dedicated ‘Express drop’ desks to check in their baggage. In the airports departure area without queuing up at the traditional bag drop.

Interest from abroad

Development of the new service took place in close collaboration with the airport’s software provider, Unisys, and the international airline association, IATA. The project was made possible because Billund Airport also acts as a handling agent, with its own check in software. Nielsen reports a very high level of interest from abroad:

“We have already demonstrated the system to airport managers and airlines from all over the World at the Passenger Terminal EXPO conference in Vienna, and at the IATA Passenger Experience Regional Workshop for Latin America in Miami on 20 SeptemberThere has been considerable interest all over the world in how the system has been designed.”

The system was developed by Unisys and tested during the spring on charter passengers in collaboration with Thomas Cook Airlines.

Facts about Billund Airport:

Billund Airport is the second largest airport in Denmark, handling 2.7 million passengers in 2011. The airport’s core catchment in West Denmark has 2.1 million inhabitants with an average disposable income of €23,300 per capita. More than 800.000 business related passengers travel through the airport annually, as well as almost 1 million charter passengers. KLM, Air France, SAS, Icelandair, Turkish Airlines and Lufthansa serve their respective hubs from Billund Airport, and the airport is also home to a Ryanair base as well as additional low-cost routes operated by Norwegian, Iceland Express and Air Arabia.