Innovative into the future: Austrian Airlines, Vienna Airport, and Plug and Play commence an innovation partnership

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• Cooperation partners develop innovative measures in the areas of passenger experience and operations with a focus on digitalization
• Passenger experience shall be taken to a next level
• Austrian Airlines and Vienna International Airport want to take a leading role in the digitalization of aviation

VIENNA, Austria, April 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ --Austria's flag carrier Austrian Airlines and Vienna International Airport are embarking on a partnership with Plug and Play, the world's largest corporate innovation platform with headquarters in Silicon Valley, to drive innovation in Austria and beyond. This partnership was initiated by Christian Novosel, Head of Business Development, Digital & Fleet at Austrian Airlines. The partners will work closely together to enhance the digital passenger experience and check-in processes. The focus will be on digitalization. First meetings between IT- and Innovations experts from Austrian Airlines and Vienna International Airport have already taken place.

Significant innovative impulses will also come from Plug and Play, the world-leading innovation platform for corporations with headquarters in Silicon Valley. Starting this April, Austrian Airlines will be joining Plug and Play's Travel & Hospitality program based in Vienna. The corporate innovation program is designed to connect major industry corporations to startups and scale-ups with the goal of fostering their digital transformation.

In an innovation partnership between Vienna Airport and Austrian Airlines, a joint team has recently been developing initial ideas for making the processes even easier and more convenient for customers and making operations as efficient and safe as possible. In addition to innovative solutions from startups, increased digitalization should help to foster travel comfort for guests even further in the future.

By using the open innovation principles, Austria's largest airline wants to enhance customer experience and operational efficiency, as well as develop new products, digital solutions, and additional services for its guests.

As Vienna International Airport is already part of the Plug and Play program, the opportunity is unique to jointly drive innovative solutions to strengthen the position of Vienna as an attractive hub in Europe. Together with other program partners such as the founding partner Vienna International Airport, Fraport, Star Alliance, Brussels Airport, and Aeroporti di Roma, exchange will take place on best practices and new technologies. 

"Together with Plug and Play we want to offer a wide-ranging travel experience for our guests and take a leading role in fostering digital transformation in aviation around the world," commented Francesco Sciortino, COO of Austrian Airlines.

Julian Jäger, executive board member Vienna International Airport: „Within this new innovation partnership, Austrian Airlines, and Vienna Airport work jointly on concepts, which aim to make passenger processes or check-ins even easier and more efficient. Digitalization opens new perspectives. Through our common expertise and the support of Plug and Play and their Startups, new innovative solutions will be created."  

"We are proud to kick off this partnership with one of Austria's most iconic and beloved brands. Austrian Airlines is one of the most renowned airlines in the world, and Plug and Play is looking forward to actively supporting their efforts to drive innovation and to bring customer experience to the next level," said Benjamin Kloss, Director at Plug and Play Vienna.

For more information about Plug and Play Travel & Hospitality, please visit: https://www.plugandplaytechcenter.com/travel/

Media contacts
PLUG AND PLAY VIENNA
Baiba Dreimane
Email: [email protected]
Website: https://www.plugandplaytechcenter.com/press/

AUSTRIAN AIRLINES
Press Office
Telephone: +43 (0)5 1766-11231
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.austrianairlines.ag/Press/

About Austrian Airlines
Austrian Airlines is Austria's leading airline. The once state-owned and still convincing red-white-red airline operates a global route network. Thanks to its favorable geographical location and Austrian history as a melting pot of the former crown lands, its home airport Vienna Schwechat is still a hub between East and West today. "AUA", as it is often abbreviated in Austria, has been part of the Lufthansa Group since 2009 as well as a member of Star Alliance, the first global alliance of international airlines, since 2000. In 2018 Austrian Airlines celebrated its 60th anniversary. For more information, visit https://www.austrianairlines.ag/ 

About Plug and Play
Plug and Play is the leading innovation platform, connecting startups, corporations, venture capital firms, universities, and government agencies. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, we're present in 35+ locations across 5 continents. We offer corporate innovation programs and help our corporate partners in every stage of their innovation journey, from education to execution. We also organize startup acceleration programs and have built an in-house VC to drive innovation across multiple industries where we've invested in hundreds of successful companies including Dropbox, Guardant Health, Honey, Lending Club, N26, PayPal, and Rappi. For more information, visit https://www.plugandplaytechcenter.com/

SOURCE Plug and Play