APEX FTE Ancillary & Retailing will include a series of exciting new features for the 2026 edition, which will take place in Dublin from 9-11 June.
Designed for senior airline, airport and commercially-focused aviation industry executives, APEX FTE Ancillary & Retailing 2026 will include several new features, including a dedicated Marketplace, a new Agentic AI Day, and the exclusive launch of a Commercial Collaboration Playbook, which will be officially unveiled at the event and then made exclusively available to attendees. This first-of-its-kind Playbook will focus on the most progressive approaches to airline and airport retailing and revenue growth, and lay out best practices for others to learn from and implement within their own organisations.
Under the theme ‘Transformative Approaches & Business Models’, APEX FTE Ancillary & Retailing 2026, co-located with APEX FTE EMEA, will examine how airlines, airports and their partners are rethinking retailing, ancillary revenues and end-to-end commercial models in response to changing customer expectations, evolving technology and increasing competitive pressure.
Guided by an Advisory Board of leading commercial figures and shaped by the continued involvement of industry expert Eric Léopold as Content Director, the conference programme will focus on real-world strategies, case studies, emerging business models and practical lessons that organisations can apply to their own commercial planning and decision-making.
Building on this foundation, three exciting new features will be introduced for 2026.
Register for APEX FTE Ancillary & Retailing, co-located with APEX FTE EMEA >>Future Travel Experience (FTE) Marketplace
A major new feature for 2026 is the Future Travel Experience (FTE) Marketplace, a purpose-built environment designed to support structured, high-quality engagement between airline and airport commercial leaders and solution providers.
The Marketplace will combine a curated exhibition with a programme of pre-arranged one-to-one meetings with the full breadth of companies supplying capabilities and services to help drive air transport revenue growth. This will enable participants to take part in focused, relevant discussions around specific commercial challenges and opportunities. Taking place at a key point in the annual planning cycle, the Marketplace is designed to support evaluation and comparison of solutions well ahead of the Autumn/Fall budgeting and strategic decision-making season.
Representation within the FTE Marketplace will span the full spectrum of airline and airport commercial activity. This will include airport and inflight retail, food and beverage, baggage services, passenger services, lounges and inflight amenities, as well as advertising and media across both airport and inflight environments. The Marketplace will also feature providers specialising in payments and fintech, digital identity, loyalty, co-branded credit card programmes, seat upgrades, marketplaces, subscription services, apps and digital platforms.
In addition, the Marketplace will encompass a wide range of ancillary and non-aeronautical revenue categories, including ground transportation, car hire and parking, destination services and experiences, insurance, mobile roaming partnerships, sustainability-focused offerings, and specialist consulting and advisory services.
Agentic AI Day at APEX FTE Ancillary & Retailing
APEX FTE Ancillary & Retailing 2026 will also include a dedicated Agentic AI Day, focusing on the emerging role of AI agents in travel commerce.
The programme will explore a future in which consumer AI agents research options, compare offers and purchase travel on behalf of individuals, while business AI agents deployed by airlines, airports and their partners autonomously create, optimise and negotiate commercial offers. Sessions will examine what this shift could mean for pricing, merchandising, data sharing and brand visibility, as well as how organisations may need to adapt their commercial and technology foundations to prepare for this seismic shift.
By focusing on practical implications and early use cases, the Agentic AI Day will help attendees better understand how agent-to-agent commerce will reshape the air transport commercial ecosystem over the coming years.
Commercial Collaboration Playbook
In addition, APEX FTE Ancillary & Retailing 2026 will offer attendees exclusive access to a new Commercial Collaboration Playbook. The Playbook, which will be officially launched during the APEX FTE Ancillary & Retailing conference, is being developed to share invaluable insights into how airlines, airports and their partners can work together more effectively to unlock greater commercial value.
It will focus on collaborative approaches to retailing and revenue growth, examining how new partnership models, data strategies and enabling technologies can support more integrated, customer-centric commercial outcomes. Available exclusively to industry executives attending APEX FTE Ancillary & Retailing, it reinforces the event’s role as a leading forum for informed commercial discussion and strategic alignment.
Commenting on the 2026 programme, Eric Léopold, Founder & Managing Director of Threedot and Content Director for APEX FTE Ancillary & Retailing, said: “APEX FTE Ancillary & Retailing plays a key role in bringing together the people who are shaping the future of airline and airport retailing. The new elements being introduced for 2026 reflect where the industry is heading, towards a new world in which innovative collaborations and technological advancements such as Agentic AI will create exciting new opportunities for airlines, airports and all of their commercial partners.”
Free attendance for airlines and airports until 13 Feb
This year, airline and airport representatives can register to attend APEX FTE Ancillary & Retailing free of charge until 13 February. After this date, airline representatives will continue to be eligible for complimentary attendance via the opt-in rate, while registration options for airport representatives will change. Eligible attendees will receive full access to the conference programme, exhibition, networking events and the event’s networking app, ensuring strong participation from those shaping commercial, innovation and customer experience strategy across the air transport ecosystem.
With a renewed focus on structured and highly relevant engagement, emerging technology, and collaborative commercial models, APEX FTE Ancillary & Retailing 2026 will provide a truly unique platform for airlines, airports and industry partners to share insights, assess new approaches, and shape future commercial decisions.
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