Fraport AG, one of the leading players in the global airports business, is pursuing its strategy of ‘Connecting the world with tomorrow’ with full force. Not surprisingly, digitisation and artificial intelligence are set to play an important role in this quest.
With its AI@Fraport initiative, the Fraport group is positioning itself at the forefront of the digital transformation. It is taking advantage of AI to make processes more efficient with the overarching goal of making Fraport fit for the future, while increasing the satisfaction of airlines and passengers and supporting employees innovatively.
Dr Rolf Felkel, Senior Vice President Applications and Partner Management, spoke to Business Focus about how Fraport’s AI@Fraport initiative is enhancing operational capabilities and passenger experience.
“AI@Fraport is a centralized framework that governs most AI-related projects across Fraport’s operations, including its subsidiaries,” he says. “This initiative started at Frankfurt Airport nearly two years ago with two aspects – AI@OPS, addressing the ground handling and aviation operations mainly at Frankfurt airport but also at international subsidiaries; and AI@Workplace which handles technologies and solutions to support office workers.”
Improved airport processes
He further explains that the two aspects run in parallel, covering around 10 ongoing projects, of which two are currently in tight focus.
“One of our flagship projects is the Intelligent Dispatching Agent (IDA), aimed at optimizing the dispatching of loading crews in the ground handling department. IDA introduces a deep reinforcement learning algorithm to enable automated and efficient crew allocation, allowing over 80% of all handling orders to be fully automated.”
“If the system works as designed, we will have developed a completely new approach to dispatching algorithms on a global level. As far as I’m aware, this will be the first time that a solution like this will be used at an airport for dispatching activities.“
The project’s significance lies in its potential to revolutionize global airport ground handling operations. IDA is expected to be fully developed by late 2025 and in operational use in 2026, enhancing the speed and accuracy of loading crew assignments, minimizing idle times, and ultimately improving the turnaround time of flights. Partnering with InstaDeep, a company specializing in advanced AI algorithms, Fraport aims to set a new global standard for dispatching systems.
The second project, Performance System FRA, relates to the Aviation Department and focuses on stabilizing aviation processes at Frankfurt Airport. By leveraging historical and real-time data, this system aims to predict and mitigate delays, and ultimately to increase the performance of Fraport’s whole airport system.
“Having knowledge of what is happening during the day before the issue of the Night Flight Ban at 11 pm would be a great advantage for us,” reflects Dr Felkel.
The project integrates advanced forecasting algorithms and computer vision capabilities to monitor aircraft turnaround processes. “We intend to widely adopt computer vision technology, and plan to implement it across more than 200 aircraft stands at Frankfurt Airport. This project presents unique challenges,” he admits, pointing out that Fraport is working with other stakeholders, such as Lufthansa’s subsidiary ZeroG, to overcome these hurdles. “The focus is on making the operations more stable, more predictable.”
Strides towards a better passenger experience
While sustainability may not be the primary objective of Fraport’s AI projects, it emerges as a natural by-product. By improving operational efficiency – whether through better dispatching of loading crews or reduced baggage handling errors – Fraport minimizes resource wastage, energy consumption, and unnecessary vehicle movement on the tarmac. These advancements contribute significantly to the airport’s environmental goals.
Ultimately, the enhanced processes will improve the passenger airport experience. Dr Felkel points out that Fraport has made significant strides towards improving passenger security processes, taking over responsibility for security checkpoints two years ago.
“Now, two years later, we really can say that here, at Frankfurt Airport, we have achieved our goal – through the widespread development of CT scanners, we can offer one of the most efficient security processes in Europe.”
Another significant achievement has been reached in the baggage handling area – three years ago, Fraport implemented LuRAI, Fraport’s AI-driven baggage handling system. LuRAI employs computer vision to monitor and align luggage during the scanning process, significantly reducing misalignments. By comparing images of luggage before and after scanning, the system has eliminated 95% of baggage misalignments, minimizing delays and mishandled luggage incidents.
‘LuRAI means a significant improvement not only for the operation but, importantly, for passengers. This technology also opens up possibilities for future advancements, such as tagless baggage handling between airports,” says Dr Felkel.
A cornerstone of prospective growth
He points out that solutions that Fraport is developing under the AI@Workplace umbrella can be used at other subsidiaries in Frankfurt, but also at other airports all around the world. One of them is FraportGPT, a customized version of ChatGPT designed exclusively for Fraport employees.
Hosted securely under the European data privacy regulations, this tool empowers staff to access AI capabilities without risking sensitive company data exposure. By integrating such technologies, Fraport ensures its workforce remains equipped with cutting-edge solutions to address daily challenges.
In order to use AI solutions as effectively as possible in the future, Fraport is currently building its own 5G network. In collaboration with NTT, Fraport has developed Europe’s largest private 5G network, which serves as a backbone for various digital projects. Licensed three years ago, the network supports not only Fraport’s operations but also those of its partners such as Lufthansa, facilitating faster and more reliable connectivity, enabling seamless integration of digital systems across the airport.
Dr Felkel reflects that Fraport envisions a future where autonomous technologies play a pivotal role in airport operations. “Given the challenges of labour shortages and the need for scalable solutions, autonomous systems present a viable path forward. However, we can’t make this progress alone – there are companies offering these technologies, but they would not be interested in providing their solutions to a single airport.”
“Therefore, we are exploring partnerships with other airports and industry leaders to push for development of autonomous driving and cyber autonomous systems in our industry. It is clear that AI is set to serve as a cornerstone of our prospective growth,” he concludes.
