Earlier this month, Katie Osborn had the opportunity to attend the 2025 Airport Planning, Design, & Construction Symposium in San Antonio, Texas. Known as the premier event of the year in the industry, the symposium brings together experts and leaders in the industry to explore cutting-edge trends and innovations through dynamic workshops, thought-provoking presentations, and interactive networking sessions. This year’s keynote speaker, Colonel Eileen Collins – a NASA pioneer, the first female space shuttle pilot, and the first woman to command a mission – inspired attendees with her journey of breaking barriers and the leadership skills required to succeed. Among the many insightful presentations, Katie found the sessions on World Class Airports, Small Changes Big Impact, and Hyper-Personalization particularly compelling, offering valuable perspectives on how airports can evolve and adapt to better meet the diverse needs and expectations of today’s travelers.
World Class Airports: Integrating Technology Design for Success
This session covered how to identify key characteristics of successful international airport programs that define “world-class” airports. It is essential to interpret and discuss an airport’s objectives and goals for capital planning, recognize current industry challenges faced by airlines, and recommend strategies for capital planning. It also highlighted how to select technology to improve passenger travel and experience.
World-class airports are more than just international gateways and travel hubs—they can become iconic symbols of the community. By embracing efficiency and flexibility, airports have the power to elevate the passenger experience through innovation, advanced technology, user-friendly design, and a strong sense of place. In creating a world-class airport, timing is crucial across all stages of planning, design, and construction. Technology plays a pivotal role, enhancing the experience by offering unique amenities, reducing the carbon footprint, and providing spaces like sensory and calming rooms to support passenger well-being.
By focusing on innovation, technology, and thoughtful design, airports can transform into efficient, sustainable, and welcoming spaces that cater to the evolving needs of passengers. As we continue to embrace new technologies and prioritize sustainability, the future of airport design will be defined by a commitment to both functionality and passenger well-being, ensuring a seamless and memorable journey for all.
Small Changes, Big Impact: Enhancing Airport Efficiency and Passenger Experience
This session dove in-depth into how we can identify ways of improving existing terminals with cost-effective solutions that will cater to passenger needs. While the practice of continuously gathering feedback from passengers is highly important, identifying strategies for improving existing airports goes beyond just feedback. Understanding who the passengers are, their mindset, behaviors, needs and expectations, interests, and demographics helps to design the most efficient and user-friendly airports.
To enhance passenger satisfaction, airports should focus on regularly collecting and analyzing passenger feedback to identify key pain points and improve overall experience. Leveraging operational data, sentiment analysis, and real-time monitoring allows airports to implement impactful changes that directly address passenger concerns. Small, cost-effective improvements, such as clearer signage, better communication, and more proactive staff engagement, can drive immediate positive results. Additionally, optimizing key processes like check-in, security, and boarding can significantly reduce wait times and enhance the passenger journey. The use of advanced technology, including AI, automated feedback kiosks, and social listening tools, further enables airports to refine services and anticipate passenger needs, ensuring a more seamless and satisfying travel experience.
This session also discussed Dynamic Digital Experiences and how, through multimedia, we can create a powerful impact through inspiration, sustainability, and streamlining in key locations such as high-traffic areas, underused spaces, and areas with blockages. Airports can boost passenger engagement through digital experiences by strategically placing digital displays in high-traffic or underutilized areas based on passenger insights. Content should align with passenger needs, such as digital art, wayfinding, and ads, while partnering with artists can enhance branding and marketing. Using walls, glass panels, ceilings, and outdated displays allows for creative use of space without major renovations.
Improving airport efficiency and passenger satisfaction requires a strategic blend of thoughtful design, technology, and passenger insights. By continuously gathering feedback, leveraging data, and implementing cost-effective solutions, airports can create a smoother and more enjoyable experience for travelers. Integrating dynamic digital experiences further enhances engagement and branding while maximizing the use of available space. Moving forward, a passenger-centric approach combined with innovative technology and smart design will position airports for long-term success in a rapidly evolving industry.
Hyper-Personalization: Optimizing the Passenger Experience across Traveler needs & Preferences
Tailoring the travel experience to individual passenger preferences, needs, and behaviors is becoming increasingly important, thanks to real-time data and AI-driven insights. Several key drivers are fueling this shift toward hyper-personalization. Technological advancements play a significant role, with AI and machine learning, big data analytics, and the Internet of Things (IoT) enabling more precise and timelier customization of services. Traveler expectations are also evolving, with a growing demand for seamless and personalized experiences. Modern travelers seek convenience, comfort, and tailored offers that align with their unique preferences. Additionally, the availability of rich traveler data from various touchpoints, such as mobile apps and IoT devices, combined with real-time data analysis capabilities, allows service providers to anticipate and respond to passenger needs more effectively than ever before.
It is important to realize and take into consideration how travel patterns and needs differ by generation, from Baby Boomers through to Gen Z. Designing to fulfill the needs of everyone leads to improved travel and takes everyone into consideration, increasing the want and excitement to travel via air. Through concourse widening to create more open movement space, passenger focused wayfinding, interactive wayfinding and customer engagement, and optimizing the passenger journey, the needs and wants of passengers can be addressed and allow for a smoother and more enjoyable travel experience. To reach these goals, it is essential to create smarter spaces. Big data should drive real outcomes by dynamically adjusting spaces and journeys. Using operational data instead of passenger data allows real-time modifications to queue paths and access control, improving passenger flow and balancing service loads. The real truth, however, is that big data projects fail 85% due to unclear business objectives. Big data is only valuable if it drives meaningful results and if projects are undertaken with clear and concise objectives. Passenger growth is outpacing workforce and infrastructure. Airports have valuable operational data, and using it to create smarter spaces can improve outcomes without expanding infrastructure.
Focusing on quiet terminals is another way to enhance airport travel for passengers. Enhancing the passenger experience through sound management involves reducing noise levels to lower stress and improve information flow. Airport teams should identify essential sounds for passenger experience and safety, survey passengers and staff to assess noise perceptions, and conduct a gap analysis to compare the current and ideal sound environment. Strategies should focus on eliminating unnecessary noise to create a more comfortable atmosphere.
Many older PA systems have a myriad of problems that can be addressed as airports are enhanced and designed. The system is outdated and lacks modern features. Its zoning is misaligned with the facility, and ambient noise sensors are either missing, turned off, or malfunctioning. Tenant and airport systems operate independently, and there is no governance over how automated announcements are used by airlines or other partners. Pursuing a holistic, unified audio-visual solution offers multiple benefits: it simplifies system monitoring and maintenance, prevents system clashes and conflicting messages, creates a seamless experience for passengers, enables unified airport-wide branding, and is easier for the authority to support.
Future Forward
Overall, the 2025 Airport Planning, Design, & Construction Symposium provided invaluable insights into the future of airport design, emphasizing the importance of evolving with the needs of passengers and embracing new technologies. From creating world-class airports that serve as community icons to making small, cost-effective improvements for better passenger flow, the discussions revealed how airports can balance functionality with passenger well-being. The move toward hyper-personalization, driven by big data and AI, promises a more tailored and seamless travel experience, while the integration of smarter spaces and quiet terminals enhances comfort and efficiency. By adopting unified systems and keeping passenger experience at the core of planning, airports can transform into more innovative, sustainable, and user-friendly hubs. As airports continue to grow and evolve, the focus on thoughtful design, technology, and passenger-centric solutions will be key to shaping the future of air travel.
Katie will be attending the Passenger Terminal Conference and Expo in Madrid Spain April 8-10. Please connect if you will be there too!
Photo Credit: ©️ Sa Events Photography