Smarter Airports – a Gold Sponsor and Exhibitor at APEX FTE EMEA and Ancillary & Retailing – helps airport operators and their stakeholders turn operational insight into coordinated action. Through its AIRHART Airport Operations Orchestration Platform, Smarter Airports connects data, decisioning and execution across the airport ecosystem, enabling airports, airlines, ground handlers and service partners to work from one shared operational truth.
“Our focus is on helping airports move beyond fragmented systems and manual coordination towards a more connected, predictive and action-oriented operating model,” says Martin Bowman, Chief Strategy Officer, Smarter Airports / Netcompany. “That means enabling better decisions, faster responses and more consistent execution across areas such as airside operations, turnaround coordination, disruption management, passenger flow, baggage readiness, safety processes and operational performance.”
Ultimately, this is about improving the outcomes that matter most to the aviation ecosystem: greater predictability, stronger resilience, more efficient use of airport capacity and a smoother passenger experience.
“We have always viewed Future Travel Experience as one of the places where innovation and practical application come together in aviation,” Bowman shares. “It brings together airports, airlines, technology providers and industry leaders who are not just discussing the future of travel, but actively shaping it. That aligns very closely with our mission. Our focus is on enabling orchestration not simply as a theoretical concept, but as a practical way of delivering operational value across the aviation ecosystem. We see a clear shift taking place in the industry: airports and airlines increasingly need to connect data, decisions, processes and people in real time if they are to improve performance, resilience and customer experience. Our strategic goal at the event is therefore to engage with organisations that are looking to move beyond fragmented operational systems and towards a more integrated, ecosystem-led operating model. We are particularly keen to share what we are learning from our work with leading airports such as Copenhagen, Munich and Heathrow, and to explore how those lessons can help the wider industry.”
As well as being a Gold Sponsor, Smarter Airports is also exhibiting at APEX FTE EMEA and Ancillary & Retailing. Attendees can expect to see how AIRHART is being used in live airport environments to connect operational data, decision-making and execution across complex airport ecosystems. “Our aim is to make the concept of airport operations orchestration tangible by showing how it supports real operational use cases, rather than simply talking about platform strategy in abstract terms,” Bowman explains. “One innovation we are particularly excited to highlight is the recent go-live of Airside 360 at Munich Airport. This is Munich’s first major release as part of its vision for Total Airport Orchestration, connecting data, decisions and execution across the airside ecosystem. What makes this especially exciting is the opportunity for key hub stakeholders, including Lufthansa, to leverage the platform as part of a more integrated approach to airport-airline operations. By enabling a shared operational picture and coordinated response across the airport ecosystem, Airside 360 provides a strong example of how orchestration can support better predictability, faster collaboration and improved hub performance.”
Bowman highlights three milestones that Smarter Airports is particularly proud of:
- “The first is the recent go-live of Airside 360 at Munich Airport, which marks an important step in Munich’s journey towards Total Airport Orchestration. It provides a strong example of how AIRHART can act as the orchestration layer across complex airside operations, helping connect insight with action.”
- “The second is our recent major contract win at Heathrow, where AIRHART will play a central role in modernising core operational technology and supporting Heathrow’s future operational ambitions.”
- “The third is our ongoing work with Copenhagen Airports, where AIRHART originated and continues to support the evolution of a more connected, digital and orchestrated airport operating model.”
Taken together, Copenhagen, Munich and Heathrow highlight a broader industry shift. Leading airports are increasingly moving away from isolated operational systems and towards integrated ecosystem orchestration, where airports, airlines and partners can work from one shared operational truth and coordinate action more effectively.
AIRHART represents a shift from traditional systems of record towards true operational orchestration. “Historically, many airports have relied on AODB-centric architectures as the core of their operational technology landscape,” says Bowman. “These systems remain important, but they were largely designed around the management and distribution of flight data. Today’s airport operating environment is far more complex. Airports need to coordinate decisions and actions across airlines, handlers, security, border agencies, baggage, stands, gates, passengers, airside teams and many other stakeholders. That is why the industry is now moving towards the Airport Operations Orchestration Platform, or AOOP. AIRHART is designed to connect data, decisions, processes and people across the airport ecosystem. It provides a shared operational picture, embeds decision support into the flow of operations, and then turns insight into coordinated action through workflows, tasking, alerts and escalation processes. In practical terms, this means airports can move from simply knowing what is happening to actively coordinating what needs to happen next. That is the fundamental shift: from data visibility to operational execution; from fragmented systems to shared orchestration; and from reactive coordination to a more predictive, resilient and performance-led operating model.”
What Smarter Airports values most at APEX FTE EMEA and Ancillary & Retailing is the opportunity to engage with fellow innovators across the aviation ecosystem. “FTE attracts people who are thinking seriously about how technology, data and AI can improve the operating model of our industry, not just in theory, but in practical, outcome-focused ways,” Bowman adds. “This year, we are particularly excited by the conversations around how airports, airlines and partners can work more intelligently together. The industry has made significant progress in digitisation, but the next step is orchestration: connecting data, decisions and execution across organisational boundaries. For us, APEX FTE EMEA and Ancillary & Retailing is a valuable opportunity to share what we are learning from live AIRHART deployments, listen to the priorities of airports and airlines, and explore how orchestration can help improve resilience, predictability, operational efficiency and the passenger experience.”
Hear more from Smarter Airports at the co-located APEX FTE EMEA and APEX FTE Ancillary & Retailing events, taking place in Dublin on 9-11 June 2026. Martin Bowman, Chief Strategy Officer, Smarter Airports / Netcompany, will deliver a joint presentation alongside Stefan Häberlein, Aviation Operations – Head of Traffic Supervision, Munich Airport, titled ‘The shift to Operational Orchestration: A new operating model for aviation’.
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