How cloud technology can improve baggage handling

Global travel technology company Amadeus has recently been selected to provide services to Western Sydney International Airport (WSI) and Noida International Airport (NIA), serving as the airports’ strategic technology partner.  

WSI, to open in late 2026, announced that Amadeus’ systems will manage assets and touchpoints across the airport. This includes flight data, check-in facilitation, aircraft stands and gates, bag-drop, boarding and biometrics services. 

One of the company’s solutions is Amadeus Flow, a cloud-based integration solution that can manage passenger services end to end.

As well as Flow, Amadeus’ self-service hardware will also be used at WSI, as well as Amadeus’ Airport Management solution to manage core flight data and allocate resources like check-in counters and gates. 

“In 2012, Amadeus decided to diversify a couple of different areas. One being the area of airport IT. Inside Amadeus, we took a different approach to what the industry was doing with their systems on-premise.,” says Stephan Hirmer, head of end-to-end passenger servicing at Spain-headquartered Amadeus. 

“We brought our cloud-computing expertise to the market. Cloud computing can bring flexibility and innovation to the airport IT industry.” 

Airport baggage handling has been a key area of concern since passenger volumes have increased post-pandemic.  

“In the context of the pandemic, many airports had to downsize their operations. They had to let go of a lot of their staff, but with volumes coming back stronger than expected, there is also a higher volume of mishandled bags. We believe this can be solved or improved by using cloud technology,” explains Hirmer. 

In May, Amadeus signed an agreement with Noida International Airport (NIA) for the provision of a passenger processing system (PPS). The contract includes common use check-in, boarding, baggage reconciliation, and DigiYatra-enabled biometric capabilities for passenger checkpoints.  

Amadeus is responsible for the design, supply, and commission, as well as the operation and maintenance of the cloud-hosted end-to-end PPS at NIA. Self-service PPS touchpoints include check-in kiosks, automated bag drops and eGates which will be integrated in real-time with airline departure control systems.  

The baggage system uses real-time information to reduce errors in ground handling. The system can access all passenger, flight, and baggage information, meaning that passengers are more accurately matched up to their baggage as a result.  

“In our private lives, cloud technology is literally everywhere. There is an aspect of people just getting used to cloud computing and trusting it more and more,” says Hirmer.  

“We have a new generation of passengers, younger passengers who know the world as it is with the internet. They come to the airport and have high expectations in terms of IT.” 

Cloud-based hosting removes the need for energy-intensive on-site servers and local technical support. Amadeus’ airport cloud solution is in use at over 100 airports and provides more than 220 airline departure control systems with access.  

When a new airline starts operating at an airport, building costly departure control system connections is not necessary, as Amadeus uses the cloud.  

Cloud technology also removes the need for expensive on-site infrastructure to service passengers as software can be accessed on-demand over the internet. Passenger handling can adapt depending on airport capacity as a result of automation.  

Amadeus Flow also offers travellers a range of contactless credit card payment methods which are accessible from the cloud In addition, biometric passenger identification is used at airports. The cloud can simplify the deployment of this. 

“Like with all technology, you always see different attitudes towards adopting the technology. There are airports that are willing to try out the new technology, and there are others who are a bit more hesitant,” Hirmer says. 

“I think we are almost ten years down the line in terms of cloud technology entering the aviation industry. I think the vast majority are open to cloud technology, and you see more airports joining that trend.”