The parent company of British Airways is looking to tap into the region's budding robotics- and other technological-based strengths as part of a new partnership that has taken off at Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT).
On Tuesday, International Airlines Group (IAG) officials announced that the U.K.-based company is the latest organization to join xBridge, an innovation-based program that looks to build and pilot various technologies at PIT. About a dozen organizations have joined the program since its launch in 2020, which includes real-world testing on the airport's grounds of remote-controlled passenger vehicles, autonomous delivery robots and clean air filtration systems, among others.
While specific details have yet to be realized in terms of the types of innovations that will be developed and tested locally, IAG’s Senior Vice President of Americas Gurm Nijjer said he is looking forward to the potential opportunities that xBridge will offer the company, which he believes will complement similar efforts IAG has underway in London as part of an innovation program called Hangar 51.
It's also an announcement that comes as the British airline looks to start ramping up its flight offering frequency between PIT and London Heathrow Airport, which climbs to five flights per week starting the week of April 24 followed by six flights per week by mid-May.
"I was blown away by Pittsburgh and Allegheny County Airport [Authority]'s vision and how it matched our own in terms of technology. The local talent here in Pittsburgh showed that they are developing robotic technology, which is ahead of many of our competitors in the world," Nijjer said. "It's a great fit for us in terms of working together. … It's a unique relationship and partnership, and I think it's a platform for us to really show the world what we can do in an airport environment."
According to Allegheny County Airport Authority (ACAA) CEO Christina Cassotis, the aviation industry is ripe for innovation, and the new partnership between IAG and xBridge will look to improve experiences for passengers and commercial partners alike.
"It's been a while since we've seen any real great innovation in this industry, maybe back to Orville and Wilbur [Wright] if I'm really candid," Cassotis said. "So why don't we work together to advance passenger service, customer service [and] sustainability? What can we all do together? And I think that an airport-airline relationship, especially one that's global, is a great example of that."
Defining actual projects that IAG will work on at xBridge, which includes access to a 10,000-square-foot innovation center on the airport's grounds for the building and deploying of new technologies, will come with time, Cassotis said.
"Everything that they're going to do and we're going to do is going to benefit the passenger or we're not going to do it," Cassotis said. "Whether you're taking cost out of the system, you're putting efficiency into the system, you're creating passenger benefits. The real filter is: Will it benefit the passenger at the end of the day? That's what we both do; we're in the people business, we move people or we move goods that people need. At the end of the day, it has to benefit the passenger, it has to benefit the teams that are working at the airports and that's the kind of stuff that we can test."
Nijjer said it is "unlikely" that IAG employees will be based here to carry out this work, though teams will travel between Pittsburgh and London frequently to see it through. The partnership will primarily look to share knowledge across the two organizations for now.
