Opening GATE FUTURE with the official welcome address. As Managing Director of Hamburg Airport, Berit Schmitz brings the perspective of one of Germany's major international gateways – setting the stage for two days of dialogue on the future of aviation.
Offering strategic insights into the future of airports and aviation – one of Europe's most influential airport executives speaks to the challenges and opportunities ahead. As CEO of Fraport AG, he oversees one of the world's leading airport operators, with Frankfurt Airport at its core and a portfolio spanning four continents.
As General Manager of ADV – the German Airports Association – Ralph Beisel represents the interests of Germany’s airports in politics, industry and society. He brings the sector-wide view on what airports need to stay competitive: workable regulation, investment in infrastructure and digitalisation, and a credible path to climate-neutral aviation.
As President of GATE – The Airport Technology Network, Kay Bärenfänger represents more than 120 companies shaping airport technology across Europe and beyond. In his day job he leads airport business at AMMEGA, which gives him a supplier’s clear-eyed view of what airports really need to make innovation land in operations.
Sharing how mindful innovation – not technology for its own sake – shapes the airport of the future. As Chief Innovation Officer at CVG, Brian oversees the Innovation, IT and Customer Experience divisions, turning the airport's 7,700-acre campus into a lab of advanced research. Under his stewardship CVG became the first airport in the world to trial and deploy a range of cutting-edge technologies, creating new efficiencies, revenue streams and economic value for the region.
Claus Grunow leads Baden-Airpark GmbH and Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden Airport (FKB). Previously Vice President Corporate Strategy & Digitalization at Fraport AG and a senior executive at Deutsche Bahn, he brings a sharp perspective on how regional airports can turn digitalisation and climate-friendly aviation into a workable strategy.
As Managing Director of Hamburg Aviation, Michael Vollrath leads one of Germany's most dynamic aviation clusters – bridging airlines, airports, aerospace industry and research to shape the future of aviation in the Hamburg Metropolitan Region.
As Managing Director of GATE – The Airport Technology Network, Jens Reinhard connects the airport supply industry with operators, research and policy. He is the driving force behind GATE FUTURE and brings the network’s perspective on what it takes to move airport technology from idea into everyday operations.
As General Manager of Fraport TAV Antalya Airport, Dr. Frank Quante leads one of the Mediterranean's leading tourism gateways and Turkey's second-busiest airport for international traffic. A lawyer by training with extensive experience across the Fraport Group – including five years as CEO of Fraport Twin Star in Bulgaria – he brings the operator's perspective on scaling infrastructure, sustainability and passenger experience at one of Europe's fastest-growing airports.
Explore how the airports of tomorrow are being designed architecturally, developed strategically, and enabled through technology – from masterplanning to digital infrastructure.
A focus on digital services, emerging technologies, and the next generation of passenger experience – from AI-driven operations to seamless travel journeys.
Addressing the evolving landscape of airport security – from perimeter protection and cyber resilience to emerging surveillance technologies and regulatory frameworks.
Exploring the energy transition in aviation and airports – from sustainable fuels and hydrogen infrastructure to ground electrification and net-zero airport operations.
Curated, practitioner-led sessions where technology partners and airports tackle real operational challenges together – from AI-driven ground operations to passenger well-being and sustainable equipment pooling.
A digital interface between baggage handling and fleet management – a kind of “Uber” for ground handlers. Developed with Heathrow and its handlers and heading into live testing, presented as an open session on the story and the solution.
Sharing ground support equipment across handlers – transparently and reliably. A first-hand look at the centralised non-motorised pool at Düsseldorf with 700+ units, SmartFLEET telematics, and the trust framework that makes it work.
Geometrically accurate digital twins linked to real process models, now evolved into an AI-supported forecasting tool across operational, tactical and strategic horizons – developed with Cologne Bonn Airport, with a clear look at cost, benefit and return.
Motional Digital Twin – powered by Physical AI and 3D LiDAR – continuously captures 3D spatial data for unmatched visibility into how people and vehicles really move, improving efficiency, passenger experience and safety. With deployment examples from major international airports.
Pushback is one of the apron's most safety-critical processes. Using Hamburg Airport's move toward single-operator pushback with Evitado's ELVIZ hazard awareness as a live case study, this interactive session maps the path from digital assistance to higher automation – building a shared Pushback Automation Roadmap.
The Chronolite approach: adaptive, science-based lighting across the full passenger journey – terminal to aircraft – to reduce stress and jet lag, and turn lighting from infrastructure into a strategic experience tool.
Airports track thousands of motorised and non-motorised assets across open aprons, dense terminals, baggage halls and service tunnels – environments where no single radio technology works everywhere. The result is a patchwork of silo solutions, expensive to scale and unable to feed the Airport Operations Platform. Ericsson and Wittra present a Unified Hybrid Architecture: a private 5G backbone delivering ~20 ms latency and centimetre-level RTK positioning for mission-critical GSE, combined with a low-power sub-GHz mesh layer that reaches deep indoors, plus UWB where highest precision is needed. The focus is on the data – one clean pipe into AOP and other systems via open APIs – and on the integration patterns, data-quality expectations and business case behind it, illustrated by Wittra’s live deployment across 100,000 m² at Stockholm Arlanda.
The digitalisation of modern airports brings major efficiency gains – but as IT and OT systems become increasingly intertwined, from baggage handling and building automation to safety-critical command-and-control, the demands on cybersecurity, access control and the protection of critical infrastructure keep rising. This workshop covers IT/OT convergence at airports, secure remote access and zero-trust approaches, the protection of critical infrastructure and OT networks, cybersecurity risks in airport operations, network segmentation and access controls, and compliance with NIS2 and regulatory requirements – rounded out with best practices and practical solutions.
Airports are more than infrastructure. They are places of anticipation, connection, discovery, and human interaction. Every journey creates moments that shape how people feel, remember, and experience travel.
In this workshop, we explore the airport through the eyes of both passengers and staff to uncover opportunities for creating seamless, meaningful, and memorable experiences.
In a short, interactive discussion, participants jointly assess infrastructure-based marshalling as a stepping stone toward autonomous apron operations – weighing the potential benefits for safety and efficiency, the technical and operational requirements, limitations and regulatory considerations, the preconditions for an infrastructure-based approach, and hybrid models that combine vehicle-based and infrastructure-based solutions. Attendees leave with practical ideas for initial implementation.
Travel by passengers with reduced mobility (PRM) keeps growing. This interactive session shows how data-driven decisions, machine learning and AI-supported dispatching can improve PRM services – cutting waiting times, optimising coordination across the airport and making the journey smoother, more transparent and more inclusive.
Beyond the vision: a five-step framework for operationalising AI in complex, regulated organisations. Featuring the Lenze transformation as a working case study, plus a guided self-assessment for participants.
As airports face increasing demands for safety, operational continuity, and resilience against evolving security threats, traditional perimeter protection systems are reaching their limits. This workshop explores the next generation of intelligent airport security based on the fusion of LiDAR and camera technologies. By combining the precise 3D spatial awareness of LiDAR with the rich contextual information provided by visual imaging, sensor fusion enables highly reliable detection, classification, and tracking of intrusions while significantly reducing false alarms caused by wildlife, weather, or environmental factors.
A practical reality check on cutting CO₂ and OPEX in baggage handling. Moving beyond theory, the session combines real project data, operational experience and proven use cases to show where energy is actually consumed and which technical and operational levers deliver measurable savings. Short expert impulses, real-world examples and an open discussion round – with room to test your own assumptions against industry peers and leave with transferable recommendations for your airport.
How leading airports across Europe, North America, APAC and MEA are driving digital transformation to improve operational efficiency, passenger experience and data-driven decision-making. Participants gain a worldwide perspective on current digitalization trends, review best-in-class examples and discuss what German airports can learn from international frontrunners. A key focus is the identification of implementation roadblocks – data strategy, IT architecture, governance, organisational silos, vendor ecosystems and regulatory constraints – with interactive exercises to assess barriers and define actionable pathways for the DACH airport environment.
In a volatile operating environment, airports have to avoid staffing bottlenecks, safeguard service quality and become more attractive as employers at the same time. The workshop shows how modern scenario planning and more precise demand forecasting help to simulate different traffic and operational scenarios early and to take well-founded staffing decisions. Using practical examples, the session discusses how more individual shift models for employees can be combined with operational stability – focusing on concrete questions from daily airport operations: how to better model demand shifts, peak times or short-notice disruptions, how planners can compare options faster, and how this produces workforce planning that is both more resilient and more employee-friendly. Participants gain insight into methods, typical challenges and a structured approach to making airport workforce planning fit for the future.
There’s even more around the conference: join exclusive guided tours at Airbus and the ZAL Center of Applied Aeronautical Research in Hamburg on Tuesday – a rare look behind the scenes of aviation innovation.
© Airbus
© ZAL
21 – 22 October 2026 · Flughafenstraße 1–3, 22335 Hamburg · Right inside the terminal at one of Germany's largest civil aviation hubs – the venue embodies the industry the conference convenes.
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All tickets include access to all sessions, congress materials, catering and networking events. All prices excluding VAT.
Position your company as a driver of aviation innovation. GATE FUTURE unites 350+ senior decision-makers, airport executives and technology leaders – giving your brand direct access to the people shaping tomorrow's airports.
