“Airports aren’t standing still, but the challenge is airports are designed with the assumption that every flight will depart on time and there’s never bad weather or problems,” said Henry Harteveldt, a travel industry analyst and the president of Atmosphere Research Group, a market research and advisory firm to the travel industry. According to Airports Council International, the trade association of commercial airports in the United States and Canada, the passenger facility charge has not been raised in more than 20 years and stands at $4.50 maximum meanwhile, airports have an infrastructure backlog of $115 billion. In the United States, airport infrastructure funding sources include federal grants operating revenue from things like tenant leases and parking and the passenger facility charge fliers pay when they purchase their plane tickets. “In the U.S., we view airports as a service provided not necessarily as a civic building, whereas the rest of the world wants to view it in a city context,” said Ty Osbaugh, an architect and the leader of the aviation practice at Gensler, which has designed airport terminals in numerous cities, from Pittsburgh to Incheon, South Korea. Only 14 American airports are in the top 100, which is currently led by Hamad International Airport in Qatar. Houston George Bush Intercontinental, at number 25, is the highest-ranking American airport, with Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International next at 42. According to SkyTrax World Airport Awards, an annual set of awards based on passenger satisfaction surveys, the highest rated airport in North America is Vancouver International in Canada at number 24. ![]() “Covid was a shock event that caused a great disruption, and accelerated thinking about giving back the joy of travel,” said Alex Thome, the head of the airport division in the United States at Stantec, which has designed airports in Denver, Toronto, Nassau and elsewhere.Ĭompared to global gateways in cities like Singapore and Tokyo, American airports have a lot of work to do to improve the passenger experience. ![]() Travel’s comeback this summer, as tenuous as it is, has the entire industry - including airport managers and architects - thinking about doing things better. Fleetwood Mac’s bouncy “Don’t Stop” played over the sound system, signaling a more inviting approach to what the industry calls “hold rooms” or gate waiting areas. The Federal Aviation Administration reported more than 4,000 cases of unruly passenger complaints this year through August, initiating more than 700 investigations to date, compared to 183 in 2020.ĭeep into a six-hour travel delay recently, as I was pondering the role of airports in aggravating travelers, I found my way to Denver International Airport’s Concourse B-West and a set of new gates with floor-to-ceiling windows, modular furniture, high-top library tables with ample outlets, clear signage, no TVs and - the biggest surprise - an outdoor lounge with views west to the Rocky Mountains. Add anxiety over Covid-19 and disagreements regarding mandated masking and it’s little wonder incidents of bad behavior have surged in the air. During this summer of frequent flight delays and cancellations, many travelers spent more time in airports than expected, often subjected to blaring TV news, rock-hard seats and scarce electrical outlets.
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