Icelandic airports operator Isavia is working with Amadeus to transform IT – and the passenger experience – at Keflavik, Iceland’s primary airport.

The move supports closer collaboration between the airport and its airline partners, including flag carrier Icelandair, that will deliver significant improvements to the passenger experience. Examples include the introduction of digital payments and a new self-service check-in and bag-drop solution that will deliver a more flexible passenger experience.

By moving from a legacy, multi-provider IT environment to Amadeus Flow, an integrated cloud solution for all aspects of passenger processing, Isavia will retire its on-site systems and operate 100% of its passenger services from the cloud. The shift means airlines can now consider innovative options, such as off-airport check-in and bag drop, with services positioned at key locations, among them city centres, bus stations and hotels.

All passenger service points at Keflavík Airport will transition to Amadeus’ cloud solutions, including more than 130 check-in and boarding desks, as well as 50 new self-service check-in kiosks, and 25 new auto-bag-drop units provided by ICM Airport Technics, an Amadeus company.

As the technology partner for Keflavík and its largest airline partner, Icelandair, Amadeus will implement upgrades that improve how both organisations collaborate on the day of operations. For example, Keflavík will adopt Amadeus’ Baggage Reconciliation Solution, which is already used by Icelandair, meaning both airline and airport can work from a common source of data to improve how bags are managed.

Bjarni Sigurðsson, director of IT, Isavia, said “This major project is all about having the flexibility to collaborate more closely with our airline partners to deliver a better experience for passengers.

“Payments is a great example. For some time we’ve wanted to meet traveller demand by rolling out payment acceptance at check-in. Now Keflavík runs on the same cloud as the majority of our airline partners which means we can help them handle payments, share data more effectively and enable them to innovate by providing services off airport too.”

Yannick Beunardeau, vice president Airport IT and Airline Operations, EMEA, Amadeus, added: “With the vast majority of passengers at Keflavík flying on airlines powered by Amadeus, this project offers a playground for passenger experience innovation. We plan to push the technical boundaries of airline and airport collaboration with a commitment from all stakeholders to experiment, learn and deliver better journeys. Operating on common cloud solutions opens the door to a raft of new passenger services.”

The switch to Amadeus Flow will take a phased approach.