Avinor rolls out end-to-end touchless travel programme

Avinor, the firm operating Norway’s 44 state-owned airports, is rolling out an end-to-end touchless travel programme to tackle the impact of COVID-19 and help restore traveller confidence ahead of Norway’s summer season.

Passengers travelling from Norway’s airports will be able to check in, drop off bags, pass through security and board aircraft without interpersonal contact, or the need to touch physical machines.

A passenger will check in for a flight remotely and then receive a boarding pass barcode on their smartphone, which also acts as a coupon to print the passenger’s bag tag. Upon arrival at the terminal, the passenger presents the barcode to a self-serve kiosk and the passenger’s baggage tag is automatically printed.

The passenger can then attach the tag and deposit the bag into the baggage system with no support from agents required. Avinor’s in-house team have re-engineered the self-service bag-drop units with a new smart configuration of the existing barcode scanners and passenger dialogue in order to make the process touchless.  

The new touchless experience will be available initially at Norway’s four hub airports; beginning with its introduction at Oslo, followed by Bergen, Stavanger and Trondheim, which together represent more than 66 per cent of all departures. In total, 17 airports will be upgraded to deliver the nationwide touchless experience. The service will be available initially for passengers flying on the national carriers SAS, Norwegian Air and Widerøe.

Brede Nielsen, Group CIO at Avinor, commented: “Given our unique geography many Norwegians depend on their local airport for both business and leisure travels. Several domestic routes serve more than a million passengers every year. We operate several of Europe’s top 20 busiest routes within Norway.

“Our passengers can count on us to take necessary measures according to advice from Norwegian health authorities. This reduces the risk of being exposed to infectious viruses to an absolute minimum and we are confident that travellers will welcome our new touchless approach. We’ve worked quickly and flexibly with Amadeus and ICM to build and deploy new technology to make it both safer and easier to fly from our airports. We’re now in a strong position to serve increased numbers of passengers traveling during the summer period.”