Amadeus’s touchless bag drop technology is being trialed at Heathrow.
The system uses proximity sensors to allow passengers to check-in their luggage without touching the screens on the kiosks.
The new contactless experience has initially been installed on six auto bag drop units provided by ICM Airport Technics, an Amadeus company.
The trial means passengers using any of the trial units can drop their luggage “quickly, safely and easily”.
The Amadeus contactless solution sees an infra-red proximity sensor installed along the top edge of the bag drop screen, which detects the passenger’s finger as far as three cm from the screen surface.
This allows passengers to interact with the bag drop unit as usual but without the need to physically touch the screen.
Heathrow process improvement director, Mark Burgess, said: “We’re preparing to welcome back more travelers, by looking for new and innovative technologies that will help to ensure the passenger experience remains safe and efficient in a post-Covid-19 world.
“That’s why we’re delighted to be working with Amadeus to trial these touchless self-service bag drop units.”
ICM Airport Technics, which became part of Amadeus in 2019, has supplied more than 270 auto bag drop units to Heathrow since 2016 as the sole partner for self-service bag drop, which is shared by 30 airlines, so passengers can choose to easily drop bags without assistance from an agent.
Over five million bags were dropped by passengers using this solution during 2019, with the self-service process taking less than 60 seconds on average.