blog

After months of Team meetings, yesterday we finally had our first “live” meeting of the Airport Technology Lab at Rotterdam The Hague Innovation Airport (RHIA). We had a full agenda and it was an extended meeting. It was great to catch up with all the Airport Technology Lab partners in person. As a nice break out session we had a competition folding and flying paper planes. There was a special thanks for the founders of RHIA, Bert Klarus (Innovation Quarter), Miranda Janse (Director RHIA) and Ron Louwerse (Director RTM). As bagchain we are looking forward continue working with the project. The Airport Technology Lab has been made possible by the European Union and the ERDF Opportunities for West II Program. 

After a long time waiting, finally yesterday the first two bagchain MPU kiosks are shipped to Keflavik. The bagchain MPU kiosks will play an important role in the check-in process of one of our latest customers. The most flexible baggage check-in kiosk, battery powered, mobile and use it anywhere via WiFi and/or 3G/4G. Any place, any time practically everywhere!

In the past months we have successfully connected 3 new airlines to our bagchain cloud. Iberia (Spain); ResIber DCS, GoAir (India); Navitaire DCS and PLAY (Iceland); QUICK DCS from TravelSky. Enabling the next generation of innovative, smart, seamless and sustainable baggage services and messaging. bagchain’s ECO system (bagchain cloud) is the single point of contact for connecting all services, such as baggage check-in, remote baggage check-in and home pick-up logistics world-wide. Our ECO system also delivers connectivity and communication to any airline Passenger Service System and airport as a service. 

For the past few weeks we have been working in close cooperation with the Iberia team in Madrid to connect our bagchain cloud to their ResIber DCS system. This all as part of the Hangar 51 Accelerator program in which we participate. This week we prepared two mobile bagchain tag kiosks. The kiosks will be tested at Madrid Barajas Airport. Once the kiosks arrive in Madrid they will be deployed and tested by Iberia. Contributing to a safe contactless environment for agents and passengers. Just scan the boarding pass on the kiosk and the baggage is checked-in and a bag tag is printed in seconds.

In December we pitched our bagchain solutions via a virtual pitch event to 250 senior industry executives. In the categorie “Contactless Travel” Hangar 51 selected bagchain as one of the finalists. And now we are participating in Hangar 51’s accelerator program.

We are working together with experts from the IAG group to deploy our bagchain tag solution. The bagchain tag solution will run as a Proof of Concept with another IAG group member. Final preparations are on it’s way. Connecting and testing the Departure Control System with our eco-system, the bagchain cloud. As soon as we finish the testing, two of our bagchain tag kiosks will be deployed at Madrid Barajas Airport. We are looking forward to the Hangar 51 demo day on February 26th.

Read the press release at hangar51

2020 has been a very challenging and strange year. Instead of face-to-face meetings we are still using video conferencing. And instead of attending conferences we are still doomed to virtual events. Despite all this, in 2020 we were selected by Plug & Play and IAG’s Hangar 51 to participate in their start-up accelerator program. And we launched three new kiosks, the bagchain MPU (multi purpose unit), the bagchain breeze and the bagchain qube. From all of us at bagchain, we wish all our customers, suppliers and industry colleagues a healthy, successful and Happy New Year.

In September we were selected from a long list of potential startups across the world by Plug and Play Travel & Hospitality in Batch 10. The past months Plug and Play supported us with several webinars, advices, learnings and introductions to potential new customers.
We are super excited that we are presenting at the Plug and Play Winter Summit on November 18th. Unfortunately not in Sunnyvale, CA this time but virtually.

And in October we were also selected by Plug and Play Vienna into the Batch 1 Program. Together with 15 other startups we are participating in Plug and Play’s Smart Cities and Travel & Hospitality vertical at Vienna International Airport.

After months @home we finally hit the road again. Today we presented live at the opening of the Plug and Play Tech Center Vienna, Austria our bagchain solutions. It was nice to be out and meet industry colleagues and others face-to-face (on a social & safe distance) at the Vienna Airport Office Park.

After the pre-production bagchain qubes passed all the tests, the first production qubes are now being assembled. The bagchain qube is especially designed for the logistic companies who offer door-to-door baggage services. Logistics & delivery vans will be equipped with the bagchain qube.

The passenger scans their boarding pass at their doorstep, the baggage will be checked-in via the bagchain cloud. Directly with the airline. Baggage allowance is checked and if all ok a baggage tag is printed. The bag is sealed and labelled and transported to the airport. Those passengers using these services can travel at their leisure to the airport. Arrived at the airport those passengers can skip the check-in area entirely. Their bags are delivered by the courier direct to the airline or baggage handling system.

The qube kiosk is a multipurpose kiosk. It can also be used for passengers in transit who have a connection but need to check-in their baggage or at the baggage make up area. These services will also help reducing the human contact moments and airports have less passengers gathered in the check-in area.

The first bagchain breeze kiosks are deployed at the entrance of several business class lounges. The complete touchless operation facilitates a reduced human contact on entry. It will assist lounge hosts and passengers to adhere to the social distancing measures. Lounge hosts receive a notification on their iOS device with the result code if a passenger is succesful entering the lounge. They can welcome the passenger by name or assist if needed.