Avinor partners with Amadeus to digitally transform Norway’s airports

Operator of Norway’s 43 state owned airports to become fully insight-driven with new platform

Norway’s state-owned airports are set for a major digital transformation programme under the terms of a new long-term partnership between Amadeus and Avinor that sees the airport operator extend and expand its use of Amadeus technology.

Central to the partnership is a commitment to co-create the passenger experience of the future with passenger services that can be delivered from anywhere, using any device, rather than fixed service points like check-in desks. 

This vision sees check-in agents at Avinor’s airports roam the departure hall to serve passengers of multiple different airlines using an app on a tablet or mobile. 

Roaming agents will be able to capture passport or biometric data and easily print bag tags or boarding passes from any kiosk throughout the terminal. 

With this capability, passengers will no longer need to queue and instead will be able to check-in and drop their bags from any location within the terminal.

As part of this move, Norway’s 43 airports will upgrade their use of Amadeus’ Cloud Use Service (ACUS) across more than 800 service points as well as begin powering the group’s 250 self-service check-in kiosks with Amadeus software.

Avinor’s airports also have the possibility to activate biometrics across the end-to-end passenger experience including check-in, lounge access and boarding, reducing manual document checks and further removing friction from the passenger experience.

In addition to its Oslo hub, Avinor operates several small airports serving remote locations that have relatively little traffic during the off season.

The companies envisage these smaller airports can be managed without the need for costly infrastructure like check-in desks or Flight Information Display units, with Avinor able to operate them remotely using mobile devices like iPads connected to Amadeus’ cloud services. 

The services now feature the launch of Amadeus Airport Insights, an advanced data and analytics platform. 

By harnessing AI and machine learning capabilities, this platform empowers Avinor to efficiently analyze millions of data events from various terminal touchpoints, significantly enhancing decision-making and improving the passenger experience.

This fully insight-driven approach means Avinor will be empowered with predictive analytics and pro-active alerts that support better decision-making.

Avinor’s operational teams will know how long passengers spend in different areas of the terminal, be able to proactively identify bottlenecks in the passenger flow and predict periods of high or low demand to better allocate resources.

Simen Bergsrud, head of digital services of Avinor said: “Our airline customers and travelers expect a modern airport experience with minimal queuing and a fast, pleasant and efficient service. 

"Our teams will work hand-in-hand with Amadeus to co-create an outstanding passenger experience that helps to bring the joy back to air travel. 

"Technology is advancing quickly, and we envisage a future with less terminal hardware and a much more flexible approach to serving passengers.”

Yann Guillemain, SVP EMEA airport & airline operations of Amadeus, added: “Avinor has long led the way with technology innovation and has a strong belief in the power of new technology to reduce the cost of operations and improve the airport experience. 

"This is a flexible contract that sees Avinor adopt a wide range of our existing products but I’m particularly excited about the co-development our teams will undertake to conceive entirely new ways to serve passengers.”

With a view to reducing cost and better delivering for passengers the partnership provides for a range of additional upgrades to the way baggage is processed and tracked as well as how messages are exchanged between different actors at the airport by moving to new digital systems.