June 20, 2025
Yesterday in Athens, the winners of the annual ACI Europe Best Airport Awards were revealed and celebrated at ACI Europe’s 35th Annual Congress and General Assembly. With these awards the airport association honors airports that have made a significant contribution to the development of the airport industry.
Munich Airport is the winner of the Digital Transformation Award, a joint initiative between SESAR Joint Undertaking and the European airport association ACI Europe. The airport has garnered acclaim for the successful implementation of its "Premium Innovation Hub" strategy which encompasses an array of advanced technologies meticulously engineered to elevate the passenger experience and optimize operational efficiency. This strategy is mainly based on a comprehensive, collaborative, and sustainable approach to digital innovation, leveraging automation, data sharing, and AI for future-proof operations. Particular praise was given to the approach of creating a collaborative ecosystem that includes the internal Munich Airport Digital Community as well as partnerships with Lufthansa, research institutes, IT partners, and airports.
The new technologies and pilots include, among many others, service robots to enhance the passenger experience, remote-operated jet bridges, AI-supported turnaround management at aircraft stands, a chatbot to answer passenger inquiries, security control technologies, digital allocation systems, predictive incident management, and process mining.
Jan-Henrik Andersson, Chief Commercial and Chief Security Officer at Munich Airport: "Munich Airport was one of the first airports of its size to introduce such a comprehensive and cross-functional approach to digital transformation. We are delighted that this commitment has been recognized with the Digital Transformation Award."
