Inter Airport Europe 2017 Review

The 21st edition of inter airport Europe, the International Exhibition for Airport Equipment, Technology, Design & Services, ended with a record visitor number.

During the four exhibition days, a total of 13,854 trade visitors from 110 countries came to the Munich Trade Fair Centre in Germany to discover the latest trends in the airport industry and source innovative equipment and systems. This represents a 9% increase in visitor numbers compared to the previous show in 2015.
With a total of 654 exhibitors from 43 countries and a net exhibition space of 31,800m2, inter airport Europe 2017 could also increase its floor space by 7 % compared with the previous event and was therefore bigger than ever.
“This very successful event once more reflects the current dynamic development of the airport industry. The airport of the future provides enormous potential for suppliers of equipment, technology, services and solutions; and the digitalisation and automation offer new opportunities for airport operators. At inter airport Europe 2017, visitors were able to see for themselves that the networked airport will soon be a reality. Driverless vehicles, automated baggage handling, highly developed systems and air traffic control – all these latest developments were presented by the exhibitors at this year’s show. We would like to thank all exhibitors and visitors for his highly successful edition of inter airport Europe”, says Nicola Hamann, Managing Director of the organisers of inter airport Europe, Mack Brooks Exhibitions.

What was on?
A first analysis of the exhibitor feedback shows that participating companies were highly satisfied with the outcome of inter airport Europe 2017. A vast majority of exhibitors were able to reach their target groups and they praised the high quality of trade visitors. Exhibitors also reported a large number of new business contacts and positive sales figures. Many exhibitors had presented themselves this year with even more impressive stands. They showcased an enormous variety of new products and innovative solutions, and many of these were demonstrated live at the exhibition stands. The new outdoor demonstration area was also very popular with visitors and very well received.
Exhibitors at inter airport Europe presented a comprehensive range of airport equipment, technology, design and services for the networked airport: intelligent passenger and baggage handling systems, baggage tracking and tracing, personnel planning software, tooling management, improved security systems, driverless vehicles and much more.

Exhibiting Countries
Inter airport Europe 2017 was once again a highly international event. Around 70% of the exhibitors were from outside Germany. In addition, more than 70% of visitors travelled to Munich from abroad to visit the world’s leading airport exhibition. The most important exhibitor countries after Germany were France, the USA, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Italy, Denmark, China, Spain and Sweden. The most important visitor countries, besides Germany, were Italy, France, Great Britain, Russia, Austria, the USA, Sweden, the Netherlands and Turkey.

Awards and Highlights
During the opening ceremony on the first show day, five exhibiting companies received the inter airport Europe Innovation Award in the four exhibition categories InterRamp, InterTerminal, InterDesign and InterData. A fifth prize was awarded in the category InterConnected, covering the recent trend in the airport industry, the interconnected airport. Award winner 2017 for the InterTerminal category is Vanderlande from the Netherlands. The award in the InterData category went to topsystem Systemhaus from Germany. Award winner 2017 for the InterRamp category is PaxLift from Italy. Zodiac Aerospace from France received the award in the category InterDesign. The fifth award in the new category InterConnected went to Dedienne Aerospace from France.
For the global active airport community, Mack Brooks Exhibitions offers a series of further inter airport events in growth regions: next year, inter airport China will take place from 5-7 September 2018 at the China International Exhibition Centre in Beijing. The next inter airport South East Asia will take place from 27 February-1 March 2019 at Singapore Expo in Singapore.
The next inter airport Europe, the 22nd International Exhibition for Airport Equipment, Technology, Design & Services, will take place from 8–11 October 2019 at the Munich Trade Fair Centre in Germany.