Airports Council International (ACI) and Amadeus has announced the winners of the 2025 Technology Innovation Awards in Busan, South Korea.
The fifth annual ceremony celebrated technology, innovation, and sustainability across global airports in four different categories. With ACI forecasting that 17.2 billion passengers will travel by air in 2042, new solutions are urgently needed to make terminals smarter and more efficient.
ACI World Director General Justin Erbacci commented:
The 2025 Technology Innovation Awards winners are about successful innovation implementation—solutions that run every day, in real airports, under real pressure. This year’s winners spotlight measurable advances in digital transformation, data-driven operations, identity-enabled self-service, and sustainable, climate-smart terminals. These are the types of innovation airports need now—meeting today’s passenger expectations while keeping pace with rapid growth in air travel.
The 2025 winners
Best Innovation in Airport Passenger Related Processes: Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru, India
ACI and Amadeus honoured Kempegowda International for its cutting-edge biometric bag drop. Through implementing this system, the airport became the first in India to offer an end-to-end biometric experience. Its passengers no longer need to present any documents or ID to pass through the terminal: they look into a camera and the system automatically confirms their identity and completes bag check-in in under 60 seconds.
Best Innovation in Airport Operations and Installations Management: Queen Alia International Airport in Amman, Jordan
Queen Alia International’s Smart Cleaning System (SCS) deploys AI to make cleaning and maintaining the airport’s facilities far more effective. Centralising data into one dashboard, SCS has made it easier for the airport’s team to address challenges proactively and identify hotspots for staff deployment.
Best Airport Innovation Leader: Pablo Lopez Loeches, Aena (Spain)
Under his strategic direction, Lopez Loeches has overseen more than 100 innovation projects and managed Aena’s Open Innovation scheme. ACI and Amadeus recognised his commitment to delivering real impact across the airport value chain.
Best Innovation, Airport on the Rise: Roland Garros Airport in La Réunion, France
A small airport on an island in the Indian Ocean, Roland Garros has transformed into a bioclimactic terminal. To better manage increasingly extreme weather, the airport is equipped with new features to cool the building in an energy-efficient way, while also harnessing natural light. Effective rainwater management and other environmentally-conscious touches support the airport’s decarbonisation efforts.
Amadeus EVP AirOps Rudy Daniello congratulated the winners and said:
Our industry stands on the cusp of huge change as airports across the world digitally transform to offer a seamless travel experience. Now mature technologies like digital identity and biometrics are proven to drastically improve the experience of travel the door is open to even greater levels of innovation across the sector. The initiatives underlined how airports can work closely with their airline and government partners to ensure these transformative technologies are applied in a coordinated and integrated manner that delivers outstanding new passenger experiences while boosting overall capacity.
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