STUTTGARTER FLUGHAFEN – Hackathon Stuttgart Visionary Sponsor 2019

Around 55 airlines connect Stuttgart Airport directly to over 120 destinations around the world. In 2018 more than 11.8 million passengers passed through Manfred Rommel Airport – a new record.

Let’s find new paths together, using digital innovations, to improve the travel experience of our passengers.

Click here for the company.

Stuttgarter Flughafen – This year we are happy to announce Stuttgart Airport as our Hackathon Stuttgart Visionary sponsor!

Thank you for supporting us and bringing new input for our hackers – we are looking forward to our cooperation. Therefore be curious what Stuttgart Airport will provide during 25.-27. October 2019! Here you can read some facts about the company:

What we do

In a world where people and the economy are globally linked, Baden-Württemberg without its airport would be unthinkable. For example in 2018 more than 11.8 million passengers passed through Manfred Rommel Airport – a new record. That is to say that around 55 airlines connect Stuttgart directly to over 120 destinations around the world and are involved in the increasing incoming tourism as well. So STR – its official abbreviation – also facilitates uncomplicated and quick access to international markets for the globally acting companies of the region. Hence it makes its contribution to the sustained economic success of the state.

Since 1957 Flughafen Stuttgart GmbH (FSG) has operated the airport, which is 65% owned by Baden-Württemberg and 35% by the city of Stuttgart.

Continuously growing

The continuous growth of Stuttgart Airport impacts on people, the environment and the region. As well as the management board the around 1,000 employees are aware of the great responsibility resulting from this. Therefore the economic success of the airport is not the only focus of company decisions, at the same time they should also be socially responsible and ecologically compatible. Through high investments and secure jobs, the airport company continuously makes a positive contribution to the local added value and the common good. „We want to be permanently one of the best performing and most sustainable airports in Europe,“ according to the strategic guiding principles of fairport STR. In other words FSG bundles its sustainability activities under this umbrella brand. That is to say that they are a fixed component of the strategic orientation of the company.

In focus: Flying as experience – #feelSTR

If you fly, you value expedience, but also comfort.  In other words the impressions passengers get from STR depend on a good reachability, the services offered and the quality of their visit. This is why it is the requirement for all service providers involved in travel to arrange this as pleasantly as possible. In conclusion under the umbrella term #feelSTR, Flughafen Stuttgart GmbH (FSG) is combining all the individual projects together that serve this objective.

The airport company has to serve many different target groups with this. That is to say that from babes-in-arms to senior citizens, from regular passengers flying for work to travel groups and families with children – everyone has their own needs.

Three areas of focus

To realise #feelSTR, FSG has therefore defined three areas of focus.

  1. Smart arrival and departure: Digital information ensures that the path to STR is structured as stress-free as possible.
  2. Shopping and gastronomy: Offers and the opening times of shops and restaurants are adjusted ideally to the passengers in order to increase the quality of their visit.
  3. Improved processes for the passengers: New passenger checks have already been set up and more will follow. Innovative furnishings and new gate designs are being tested.

1. Why are we attending the Hackathon Stuttgart?

In principle, we always ask ourselves how we can better get to know the anonymous passenger and his or her wishes. What are his or her requirements and pain points? How can new paths be found, which make his or her travel process pleasanter and improve the experience at Stuttgart Airport? At the same time, this knowledge is important to develop new digital business models and services. That is to say the changed decision-making processes require the digital optimisation of the entire customer travel experience.

We now face the challenge of connecting the many already existing data sources sensibly and in connection with digital media such as Apps or websites creating added value for the passenger . So we not only consider the stay in the airport, but the entire travel process from booking to flight – the Passenger Journey.

At present we are designing a new App for Stuttgart Airport, which should deliver this added value but which should also simultaneously be distinct from the existing applications from airlines, mobility providers or Google offers.

2. What are our expectations?

By participating in the Hackathon Stuttgart 2019 we are hoping for new impetus and creative ideas, which will support us in the further development of the airport App and take us a step further along the path to becoming a Smart Airport.

Technologies to work with

Together we design the future of traveling

When you take a flight from Stuttgart Airport, you are the customer of many companies, e.g. airlines, trains, car rental company or parking operator. But for the airport, you are an anonymous person.

The great challenge of the airport is to get to know this anonymous passenger better in order to help him improve his travel process and experience at the airport.

We focus on three goals: We want to help the passenger to save time, e.g. by finding a free parking space or by orientation on the airport campus. We want to reduce the stress on the traveller by providing up-to-date data on his flight, information on waiting times or an easy way to contact the airport if he has any questions or problems. And last but not least we help the passenger to save money by offering discounts for shopping and gastronomy or current offers for rental cars or flights.

 

Our Data

Airport Data Hub

The Airport Data Hub (ADH) is our central data source for airport and flight information for public use in digital media. In the ADH, uniform, harmonized and technically normalized information is formed from different airport systems and made available via a REST API (HTTP).

The ADH provides the following data:

  • Real-time flight information (arrivals and departures) for today and tomorrow

(flight number, destination/origin airport, airline, planned and expected time, status, terminal, check-in, gate number, baggage carousel number, aircraft type, etc.)

  • Real-time waiting times at security checkpoints
  • Season flight plan
  • Master data of the airlines

(logo, contact details, link to online checkin, etc.)

  • Master data of the shops & gastronomy

(logo, contact details, terminal, opening hours, etc.)

  • Real-time timetable data of the Stuttgart Airport bus terminal for today’s and tomorrow’s day

(destination, planned and expected time, status, line, bus stop, etc.)

 

Historical data

Stuttgart Airport also provides exported historical data in CSV or XLSX format.

  • Flight plan preview

Planned flights of one week complemented by essential flight attributes (e.g. aircraft type, seat capacity, planned parking position on the apron)

  • Departing flight plan

Flights that have taken place complemented by essential flight attributes (e.g. number of passengers, planned and actual departure and arrival times, waiting time until baggage reclaim, duration of baggage reclaim)

  • Parking space data

Capacity and occupancy of all parking spaces of one day in 15-minute intervals

  • Traffic flow data around the airport

Recording of the number of vehicles at different traffic lights around the airport every 15 minutes