Aviation and Technology

Thanks for joining our conversation around aviation industry moves. In today’s world, it’s no surprise that emerging and well-established digital technologies are going to continue to shape the airports of the future.

We hope you enjoy hearing from Geoffrey Ax, our Aviation lead for the America’s, where he looks at design through the customer’s journey and the intersection of all things tech including esports.

A simple way to think about the customer journey, be it to travel or to see your favorite artist or sport, is that faster and more optimized processes for passengers leads to more sustainable operations.

In the same way that events need to offer enough enticements to draw people out of their homes and away from their streaming devices, the travel industry is looking to create new and different experiences for travelers to pack their bags, more often.

New and existing technology will be a big part of the solution, for example the creation of the Biopass that can be used in any affiliated airport. Biopass allows a completely touch-less and paper-less experience from your home to the aircraft, including online check in, self-bag drop, security control, lounge access, departure control system and boarding gate access.

Not only are transactions now touchless and faster, they are also based on newer technologies that both enhance the customers’ experience and provide data to allow for greater planning and communication in real-time. Digital signage and apps already monitor crowd flow in terminals and suggest shorter queues or highlight special retail offers to passengers on the go.

“Like other types of major public infrastructure, such as convention centers or arenas, airports need to be adaptable, flexible and able to foresee major changes in consumer needs.”

Our team have developed deep expertise around creating experiences for large groups of people to come together to enjoy the annual NFL Super Bowl, to Olympic Games to convention and exhibition facilities like ICC Sydney.

Starting the design considerations around many different users and their different needs and journeys, combined with taking lessons from emerging technology solutions already tested at major event venues, allows our team to take a different approach to working with the travel industry.

Some of the work we’re doing now at Austin Bergstrom International Airport brings to life their desire to revolutionize airport connectivity for passengers and experiences as we work to redevelop what the customer journey looks like for the future of the Austin traveler.

Customer behaviors can also be assessed and analyzed in order to provide faster responses to their various needs. As an example, cameras located on curbside areas can quantify and identify traffic peaks informing the management staff in real-time so they can act upon it and prevent traffic blocks and long queues.

We’re also busy exploring design in the metaverse with esports clients in the Americas and Asia-Pacific, including a virtual elite training facility in Fortnite for popular gamer Lachlan Power’s team and fans. Designing for physical and virtual use of a building is teaching our designers new things about creating experiences and it’s an aspect of design that will just grow exponentially, which is really exciting!

“Airports around the world are developing and implementing new ways of reducing operational times and managing large amount of data in their benefit.”

The operators who are also looking at their customer’s experiences and wider travel eco-system are likely to achieve smarter and more autonomous operations, more collaborative solutions and more revenue.

Pedro is going to share trends and moves we’re seeing in sustainable airport design next.

Until then, if you’d like to get in touch, please DM me on my LinkedIn account