IAR Spotlight on International Airport Summit 2024 Speakers

With the International Airport Summit 2024 set to take place on 13-14 November in Amsterdam, we take a look at some of the speakers in the spotlight for this exciting event.

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Find out below what they will be exploring in their various sessions.

Brian Dranzik, Airport Director, Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport 

Speaking on ‘Revolutionising the retail and F&B experience’ – Day 1.

C: MKE

Airports have unique opportunities to leave first impressions on visitors to new cities. Most airports roll out the welcome mat by incorporating some elements of local neighbourhoods or landmarks into their offerings.

Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport (MMIA) has elevated those concepts with neighbourhood-themed food and retail options like the Concordia Market, an homage to the Concordia neighbourhood, that opened in April on Concourse C. It joins offerings such as Bronzeville Crossing, Bay View Exchange, Miller Valley Marketplace and Garden District Kitchen and Bar, along with Barons’ Beer Garden, the first beer garden of any U.S. airport, and the only used bookstore in an airport (Renaissance Books).

“Time is a valuable commodity for passengers. They have limited time to decide where to shop and where to eat, influenced by time of day and flight schedule. So, what makes a location stand out and draw their attention?  Is it the name, concept, or offering?  Is it something unique, something familiar, or is it inviting, interesting, or innovative? All these elements should come into play when thinking about successful concessions programming.”

Dr. Lutz Weisser, Managing Director, Munich Airport International

Speaking on ‘Smart airports: What is a smart airport?’ – Day 2.

Dr. Weisser will cover the following talking points in his panel:

• The end of the stop-and-go process: digitalisation and passenger processes
• Fight for the screens!
• Experiences from a 5-star airport operator

C: MUC.

Munich Airport is no stranger to using robotic technology having trialled a number of devices over the years, the latest of which is a new snackbot from which passengers can buy food and drinks. Last year they introduced smart trollies in Terminal 2 that were equipped with their own tablet, which allowed passengers to enter their flight data manually or scan their boarding card, use a digital map to guide them through the terminal, and provide flight information updates in real time.

Laxman Moyo, Director Aviation Security, Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe

Speaking on ‘Security measures against rebounding and emerging threats’ – Day 2.

Current and emerging threats: bomb threat

Laxman recently co-ordinated a response to a bomb threat involving three airports and found that nothing went according to expectation/plan:

• There was no smooth flow of information between relevant agencies;
• Cases of bomb/firearm threat are on the increase and most of them turn out to be hoaxes;
• Specific airports/airlines are targeted for various reasons;
• It is easy to commit since it only takes transmission of a threat alert to target; and 
• Seldomly, there are no arrests for communicating falsehoods (a serious act of unlawful interference) 

C: CAAZ.

Impact of bomb threat incidents

• Unnecessary panic and despondence to authorities and the public;
• Serious business disruption: airport evacuation, flights diverted and cancelled for more than 24 hours;
• Implementation of heightened security measures impacting on passenger facilitation; and
• Reduced confidence or appetite to use the air transport system.

Mitigation

• Regular table-top and full-scale testing of airport contingency plans;
• Raise awareness on roles and responsibilities of the responding agencies;
• Risk and threat assessments to keep under constant review the level and nature of threat; and
• Enhanced sharing of information, collaboration and coordination.
• Conduct post incident review meetings 

This story will also raise the growing influence of insider threat where disgruntled or rogue airport/airline staff originate bomb alerts. The emphasis is that with the advent of sophisticated and organised crimes such as cyberattacks, human trafficking, biological and nuclear attacks, civil aviation is slowly reverting to being an attractive target for bomb/firearm threats which are easy to perpetrate (lone rangers) yet very costly to business operations. 

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