Connect with us

Technology

Edinburgh Airport Partners With Airportr To Bring Baggage-As-A-Service To One Of The UK’s Fastest-Growing Travel Hubs

Published

on

Service launches with easyJet as primary airline partner, extending Edinburgh’s multi-year investment in passenger flow, terminal capacity, and customer experience

EDINBURGH, Scotland, July 16, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Airportr, the travel technology company that pioneered Baggage-as-a-Service, allowing checked-in passengers to have their luggage collected from their home or hotel and delivered directly to their flight, has partnered with Edinburgh Airport and easyJet to bring the Airportr service to passengers departing from one of the UK’s busiest and fastest-growing airports.

Available in time for the busy summer holidays, Airportr’s door-to-flight service gives easyJet customers travelling from Edinburgh the option to check in their luggage from home, skip bag drop on departure and, when travelling to Geneva, have their bags delivered from their flight to their final destination.

“Making travel as easy as possible for our customers is at the heart of everything we do, which is why we’re really pleased to be introducing Airportr’s services for our customers flying from Edinburgh Airport,” says Kevin Doyle, easyJet’s UK Country Manager. “With the summer holidays now underway, we want to make the journey as smooth as possible for our customers whether they’re travelling for business or leisure.”

By giving travellers the option to arrive at the airport without luggage, Edinburgh Airport can ease pressure on landside areas, reduce queue lengths at check-in, and gain greater control over passenger flow during peak, high-volume periods.

For an airport that handled a record 16.9 million passengers in 2025 (including 61,636 on a single day in July), with peak-summer days expected to repeatedly surpass last year’s busiest figures throughout the 2026 season, this is a significant operational advantage.

“We’re always looking at ways to make travel easier for our passengers, and this new service from easyJet and Airportr does exactly that,” says Peter Barnes, Chief Operating Officer at Edinburgh Airport. “Being the first airport in Scotland to offer home luggage collection gives passengers even more choice and convenience, particularly during the busy summer period when many people are heading away on holiday.”  

An extension of Edinburgh’s customer experience strategy

The partnership with Airportr reflects recent investments by Edinburgh Airport in passenger flow, terminal capacity, and the on-airport experience. A £5.8 million redesign of the check-in hall delivered more space and added 50 self-service kiosks ahead of the 2025 summer season. The airport also introduced technology to better analyse and manage curb-to-flight flow management, optimising passenger movement across the terminal.

Airportr extends those efforts off-airport. By moving baggage check-in from the terminal to the passenger’s doorstep, the service removes one of the most space-intensive activities from the landside experience and reallocates time that passengers would otherwise spend in queues.

Airportr’s research indicates that the service will address a common passenger frustration and create a better airport experience, which should lead to high adoption rates; 76% of passengers with checked baggage want to spend under 45 minutes getting to the gate, 67% of Airportr customers say the ability to avoid carrying heavy luggage through the airport was the primary reason for choosing the service, and only 9% say that not having to queue and a smoother airport experience was not a benefit of the service at all.

“Our ongoing, successful partnership with easyJet has demonstrated that door-to-flight and flight-to-door baggage service provides passengers with a level of convenience and peace of mind they find highly desirable as a part of their travel experience,” said Ultan O’Brien, Chief Revenue Officer at Airportr. “Extending those benefits to easyJet customers flying from Edinburgh Airport increases the value of our service across easyJet’s network and is just the latest in what we expect to be many more exciting expansions in years to come.”

A blueprint for high-growth airports

Edinburgh Airport approached Airportr after observing the service’s measurable impact at other major hubs. While other participating airlines will be brought into the programme in due course, easyJet, the largest airline at the airport by departure share, is the primary launch partner. easyJet operates around 288 weekly departures from Edinburgh, and the carrier already offers the Airportr service at Geneva and London Gatwick, with Zurich and Basel set to follow.

The launch also demonstrates Airportr’s ability to replicate and scale its operating model at new airports quickly. The logistics infrastructure, technical integrations, and deployment processes already tested and proven at other airports, such as Frankfurt and Heathrow, were easy to replicate at Edinburgh.

The partnership between Airportr, easyJet and Edinburgh Airport shows what Baggage-as-a-Service looks like at scale, and that it can be a value-add for airports as well as airlines.

To arrange an interview with Airportr or for more information about Airportr’s partnership with Edinburgh Airport and easyJet, please contact Vanessa Horwell at vhorwell@thinkinkpr.com.

About Airportr
Airportr pioneered Baggage-as-a-Service to address one of aviation’s most complex and resource-intensive operational challenges: baggage handling. By enabling airlines to collect and check bags before passengers reach the airport and deliver them directly to their destination, Airportr turns baggage from a cost centre into a convenient, revenue-generating part of the travel journey. The model reduces congestion, eases peak staffing pressure, and improves predictability in constrained airport environments, while making travel easier for passengers. Airportr already handles over one million bags each year, with 92% of users reporting an improved travel experience. Airportr works with leading airlines, including Austrian Airlines, British Airways, easyJet, Lufthansa, Singapore Airlines, SWISS and Virgin Atlantic, and operates with a global network of logistics and ground-handling partners. Visit https://airlines.airportr.com/ to learn more. 

About Edinburgh Airport
Edinburgh Airport is Scotland’s busiest airport and welcomed almost 17 million people in 2025 – a record for any Scottish airport. It connects Scotland to major hubs in the UK, Europe, USA, and the Middle and Far East, ensuring seamless connections for travellers.

Working with 39 airlines and flying to over 160 destinations with 240 routes, the airport is a major economic driver for Scotland. A report from BiGGAR economics in 2025 found that Edinburgh Airport generated £2.7 billion Gross Value Added (GVA) and almost 44,000 jobs in the Scottish economy. The airport strives to build on that contribution and grow responsibly through its Greater Good sustainability strategy, ensuring a sustainable future for aviation in Scotland and for the airport and the people it benefits.

VINCI Airports owns a 50.01% stake in the airport, with Global Infrastructure Partners managing the remaining 49.99%

About easyJet
easyJet is one of Europe’s largest airlines, offering a unique and winning combination of the best route network connecting Europe’s primary airports, great value fares, and friendly service.

easyJet flies on more of Europe’s most popular routes than any other airline and carried 100 million passengers in 2025. The airline has over 350 aircraft flying on over 1,200 routes to more than 160 airports across 35 countries. Over 300 million Europeans live within one hour’s drive of an easyJet airport.

easyJet aims to be a good corporate citizen, employing people on local contracts in nine countries across Europe in full compliance with national laws and recognising their trade unions. The airline supports several local charities and has a corporate partnership with UNICEF which has raised over £17m for the most vulnerable children since it was established in 2012.

In 2022, easyJet published its roadmap to net zero by 2050. The roadmap, which also features a combination of fleet renewal, operational efficiencies, airspace modernisation, Sustainable Aviation Fuel and carbon removal technology, has set an ambitious interim carbon emissions intensity reduction target of 35% by 2035, validated by the Science-based targets initiative (SBTi). The airline’s ultimate aim is to fully transition its fleet to zero-carbon-emission technology, which it will achieve through a number of strategic partnerships, including with Airbus, Rolls-Royce and GKN Aerospace Solutions. Since 2000, the airline has successfully reduced its carbon emissions per passenger, per kilometre by one-third and is the number 1 ESG rated airline in Europe by Sustainalytics, MSCI and CDP.

Innovation is in easyJet’s DNA – since launching over 30 years ago, easyJet changed the way people fly to the present day where the airline leads the industry in digital and operational innovations to make travel more easy and affordable for its passengers. In 2023, easyJet was named by TIME as one of the World’s Best Companies and, in 2024, as a Leader in Diversity by The Financial Times.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/edinburgh-airport-partners-with-airportr-to-bring-baggage-as-a-service-to-one-of-the-uks-fastest-growing-travel-hubs-302827067.html

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Technology

35.5%! LONGi Once Again Breaks World Record for Crystalline Silicon-Perovskite Tandem Solar Cell Efficiency

Published

on

By

SHANGHAI, July 16, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — At the 2026 Solar and Energy Storage Innovation Conference, LONGi officially announced that its independently developed crystalline silicon-perovskite tandem solar cell has achieved a conversion efficiency of 35.5%, certified by the European Solar Test Installation (ESTI), once again setting a new world record.

Crystalline silicon-perovskite tandem solar cells represent the mainstream technology route for next-generation ultra-high-efficiency solar cells, with a theoretical efficiency limit of up to 43% – far exceeding the Shockley–Queisser limit of 33.7% for single-junction cells. Through sustained technological breakthroughs, LONGi’s tandem cell team lifted the efficiency to 33.9% in November 2023 and further to 34.6% in June 2024. In less than a year since then, the team has achieved a series of successive advances, moving from 34.85% to 35.2%, and now to 35.5%, clearly demonstrating the R&D strength and spirit of exploration at LONGi’s Central Research Institute.

In May this year, LONGi’s independently developed two-terminal crystalline silicon-perovskite tandem cell efficiency (35.2%) was included in the 68th edition of the Solar Cell Efficiency Tables published by the team led by Professor Martin Green at the University of New South Wales, Australia, marking a representative high-level achievement for this technology route at the time. Meanwhile, under conditions closer to industrial-scale dimensions, LONGi achieved conversion efficiencies of 34.3% (261 cm²) and 32.2% (274 cm²), highlighting the promising industrialization prospects of tandem technology. Furthermore, LONGi’s tandem modules delivered conversion efficiencies of 31.4% and 29.4%, both independently certified by authoritative international institutions and included in the efficiency tables, further strengthening the foundation for moving crystalline silicon-perovskite tandem technology from the lab to industrial application.

Driven by its leading technological innovation capabilities, LONGi has established a tiered R&D system of “one generation in mass production, one in development, and one in reserve,” continuously advancing technological breakthroughs and high-quality development in clean energy. Looking ahead, LONGi will remain focused on technological leadership, delivering iterative breakthroughs to contribute the innovative strength of a Chinese enterprise to the global energy transition.

SOURCE LONGi Green Energy Technology Co., Ltd.

Continue Reading

Technology

Altimetrik Joins the World Economic Forum’s Centre for AI Excellence to Advance Responsible, Enterprise-Scale AI Innovation

Published

on

By

BENGALURU, India, July 16, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Altimetrik, an AI-native engineering company, has joined the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Centre for AI Excellence. Through this collaboration, Altimetrik will contribute its expertise in AI engineering, data, and platform foundations to help shape global standards for the responsible adoption and enterprise-scale deployment of artificial intelligence.

Central to Altimetrik’s contribution is ALTi AIOS™, its recently launched AI engineering operating system, purpose-built for the brownfield realities of large enterprises. The platform is backed by more than 10,000 engineering practitioners delivering AI in production across BFSI, manufacturing, retail, automotive, healthcare, and life sciences.

“Joining the World Economic Forum’s Centre for AI Excellence is a milestone for Altimetrik and an opportunity to help shape the global agenda on enterprise AI,” said Raj Sundaresan – CEO, Altimetrik. 

“AI is receiving unprecedented attention, but real transformation requires more than deploying tools. It requires organizations to be engineered to run AI responsibly, securely, and at scale.”

Most enterprises today are not greenfield. They are running decades of accumulated systems, data estates, and operational processes that AI must integrate with, not replace. ALTi AIOS™ abstracts that complexity, standardizes how humans and AI interact, and manages models, data, and governance through a unified operational layer. Through ALTi AIOS™, AI shifts from isolated pilots to enterprise-wide execution, with measurable business outcomes and built-in governance from the start.

“The enterprises that define the next decade will be the ones that engineer context, orchestration, governance, and trust into every layer of their agentic systems, not bolt it on after the fact,” said Niraj Nagrani – Chief Data and AI Officer, Altimetrik.

“The World Economic Forum’s Centre for AI Excellence is the right platform to advance that agenda, and we’re proud to bring ALTi AIOS™ and our production AI experience to that conversation.”

The WEF Centre for AI Excellence advances responsible AI through workstreams focused on accelerating impactful innovation, preparing industries and societies for the Intelligent Era, and promoting trustworthy technology through effective governance. Altimetrik joins a cohort of global organizations contributing engineering depth, sector expertise, and applied research to those workstreams.

Learn more about ALTi AIOS™.

About Altimetrik

We are Altimetrik, an AI-native engineering company helping some of the most revered and iconic enterprises modernize systems, data, and processes at the heart of their business, so they can move faster, operate more efficiently, and innovate continuously. Through ALTi AIOS™, our AI-native operating system, we combine the latest AI capabilities with deep engineering expertise to help clients solve complex challenges, accelerate modernization, and deliver measurable outcomes at scale.

Our clients get access to the latest AI innovations while maintaining the flexibility to choose the right technologies for their business, through trusted relationships with OpenAI, Google Gemini, Anthropic, Databricks and major hyperscalers.

A member of the World Economic Forum’s Centre for AI Excellence, the Forum’s global hub for shaping responsible AI, Altimetrik is also recognized in the 2025 Constellation Research ShortList™ for Global AI Services and named a Major Contender in multiple Everest Group PEAK Matrix® assessments, including Software Product Engineering Services (2026), Enterprise Quality Engineering Services (2025), and Digital Engineering Services for BFSI and Life Sciences. Learn more at altimetrik.com.

 

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/in/news-releases/altimetrik-joins-the-world-economic-forums-centre-for-ai-excellence-to-advance-responsible-enterprise-scale-ai-innovation-302827303.html

Continue Reading

Technology

GIMM Festival brings leading microbiology experts to Lisbon to discuss emerging viruses, antimicrobial resistance and biological engineering

Published

on

By

Charles M. Rice (2020 Nobel Prize in Medicine), Bonnie Bassler, Yasmine Belkaid and Isabel Gordo are among the confirmed speakers.

LISBON, Portugal, July 16, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Bacteria are continuously evolving and becoming increasingly resistant to life-saving medicines. Understanding how microorganisms adapt, communicate and influence human health is now a global scientific priority. This will be one of the central themes of the second edition of the GIMM Festival, taking place in Lisbon from 17 to 19 September.

Under the theme ‘Microbes – The Questions of the Future’, the festival will bring together internationally renowned researchers to explore the role of microorganisms in human health, biological evolution and ecosystem sustainability. The event aims to foster dialogue between science, society and biomedical innovation, at a time when challenges such as pandemics, antimicrobial resistance and environmental change are raising urgent new questions for research and policy.

The programme features some of the most influential names in contemporary microbiology:

Charles M. Rice (Rockefeller University), Nobel Prize winner in Medicine (2020), whose work led to the identification of the hepatitis C virus and enabled the development of effective antiviral treatments;Yasmine Belkaid, President of the Institut Pasteur, recognised for her pioneering research on the microbiome and immune system interactions;Bonnie Bassler (Princeton University), a leading expert in quorum sensing, the chemical communication process used by bacteria;Isabel Gordo (GIMM), ERC Advanced Grant recipient, who studies bacterial evolution within the human body and the mechanisms behind antibiotic resistance.

Over three days, researchers and the public will engage in discussions on major scientific challenges of the 21st century, including host–microbe interactions and disease, antimicrobial resistance and bacterial evolution, emerging viruses and preparedness for future pandemics, as well as microorganism engineering and synthetic biology.

Antimicrobial resistance is considered by the World Health Organization one of the greatest threats to global health, with the potential to cause millions of deaths in the coming decades if no effective action is taken. At the same time, advances in microbiome research and the growing capacity to engineer microorganisms are transforming fields such as medicine, biotechnology and environmental sustainability, opening new possibilities for prevention, diagnosis and treatment.

“The microscopic world has a profound impact on our health, ecosystems and the future of biotechnology. The GIMM Festival aims to bring researchers and society closer together to discuss how these discoveries can shape the future,” says Maria Manuel Mota, CEO of the Gulbenkian Institute for Molecular Medicine.

With the participation of world-leading scientists, including a Nobel laureate, the GIMM Festival positions Lisbon as an international hub for scientific debate, reinforcing its role as a meeting point for cutting-edge research and innovation in microbiology and global health.

The full programme and registration are available at www.gimmfest.pt.

About the Gulbenkian Institute for Molecular Medicine (GIMM)
The Gulbenkian Institute for Molecular Medicine (GIMM) is a biomedical research institute created through the merger of the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência (IGC) and the Instituto de Medicina Molecular João Lobo Antunes (iMM). With a strong commitment to advancing knowledge, developing innovative solutions for health and translating discoveries into real-world impact, GIMM aims to establish itself as a global leader in life sciences and biomedical research.
www.gimm.pt 

About the GIMM Festival
The GIMM Festival is an annual event in Lisbon that celebrates science as a driver of social transformation. Organised by GIMM, it brings together national and international experts to discuss the major challenges of global health, promoting the connection between cutting-edge research, biomedical innovation and society.
www.gimmfest.pt

Press Contacts
Rita Resendes   
Communications & Media Relations Manager, Fundação GIMM 
rita.resendes@gimm.pt
+351 916 519 630

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/gimm-festival-brings-leading-microbiology-experts-to-lisbon-to-discuss-emerging-viruses-antimicrobial-resistance-and-biological-engineering-302826363.html

Continue Reading

Trending