Heathrow is testing Amadeus touchless bag drop technology.

The device employs proximity sensors to allow travellers to check in their luggage without touching the kiosk screens.

The enhanced contactless experience was initially implemented on six auto bag drop systems provided by an Amadeus company ICM Airport Technics.

Passengers utilising any of the trial units will be able to drop their luggage “fast, safely, and effortlessly.”

An infrared proximity sensor mounted along the top edge of the bag drop screen detects the passenger’s finger as far as three cm from the screen surface in the Amadeus contactless system.

This allows passengers to interact with the bag drop unit in the same way they do now, but without having to touch the screen.

“We’re preparing to welcome back more travellers, by looking for new and innovative technologies that will help to ensure the passenger experience remains safe and efficient in a post-Covid-19 world,” Heathrow process improvement director Mark Burgess said.

“That’s why we’re delighted to be working with Amadeus to trial these touchless self-service bag drop units.”

Since 2016, as the the sole partner for self-service bag drop, which is shared by 30 airlines, ICM Airport Technics, which became part of Amadeus in 2019, has supplied more than 270 auto bag drop units to Heathrow so travellers can choose to easily drop bags without assistance from an agent.

Passengers who used this solution dropped more than five million bags in 2019, with the self-service process taking an average of less than 60 seconds.

– India’s new age travel digital media