Performance Innovations

Because a variety of internal and external factors can affect operations, Fraport Ground Services continually endeavors to raise the quality of its services at Frankfurt Airport.

One major contributor are projects to introduce innovations.

The company collaborates with external partners including universities, startups, manufacturers, and research institutes to work on practical solutions for specific applications.

An innovation is defined as a new product or approach that solves a problem or meets a need better than existing solutions, or else delivers a significant qualitative or quantitative benefit for the target group in a given case.

These innovation projects are comprehensive in scope, due to the fact that a single solution by itself is rarely enough to meet needs throughout the airport. Typically, a variety of approaches are taken for logistical processes.

Here are details on three of the 14 innovation clusters that are currently being worked on: 

Autonomes Fahren

 

In collaboration with several manufacturers, Fraport Ground Services is testing various systems for autonomously moving freight and baggage at Frankfurt Airport. Attention is currently focusing on baggage logistics for Terminal 3, which is scheduled to begin operating in 2026.    

Exo-Skelett

Exoskelette bei BVD im Testbetrieb

Here the aim is to technically facilitate the physically strenuous work involved in ground handling. New products for this are regularly being tested at the airport. They include active and passive exoskeletons for a variety of uses, primarily in places where it isn’t possible to deploy other, already-established ergonomic handling solutions.

Optical Tracking/Sensorical Tracking

 

Currently around 10,000 trailers of widely varying kinds are used at Frankfurt Airport. Due to the airport’s large size, it can be time-consuming and work-intensive to locate the right trailers for a given task. In addition, over the course of a day there can be peaks with heavy demand and troughs during which unused trailers accumulate. The goal is to use camera technology and permanently installed sensors to locate trailers faster and systematically make them available as required.