From a recent interview with Regional Gateway, Airport Dimensions CEO Mignon Buckingham explores how airports can better unify the end-to-end journey, combining physical infrastructure with digital innovation to meet the expectations of the modern traveler.

Evolution of the airport experience

Airports have come a long way in a very short time. They have fast evolved from tired waiting rooms full of weary travelers into spectacular monuments to travel and, yes, to commerce. Our 2025 Airport Experience research has tracked this, with a record 79% of regular travelers suggesting that they are satisfied with their airport experience. This is both a reflection of and a huge credit to the investments that airports have made in airport “hardware”.

However, airports are now recognizing that the traveler journey needs to be more than just spectacular architecture or the operational mechanics of travel. Travelers want an experience. Dubai Airport's Paul Griffiths summed it up well when he said: “We’re not in the business of airport infrastructure and operations, we’re in the hospitality business.”

Fragmented and frustrating

Investment in the “software” side of the airport has lagged. Even the best airport can still be a fragmented and frustrating experience. Critical journey information for the traveler can be too hard to access, navigating huge and unfamiliar spaces is a challenge, and with many concessions now building out their own digital propositions, the prospect of multiple apps and multiple logins simply undermines participation.

In a world committed to customer-centric experiences, airports can still feel very operationally focused. A stressful airport experience not only leads to unhappy travelers but discourages spend.

What passengers want

Passengers are leading the charge for a more integrated and omni-channel airport experience. From our research, 56% of travelers say they would use a single app that delivered their overall airport experience. And when it comes to retail, they want greater value: 83% say they would spend more if they were offered better pricing. Greater value that can only be delivered, avoiding dilution, by intelligent and well targeted offers and incentives.

Connecta delivers

The solution to this challenge is a platform that brings together three critical needs for the airport. A single relationship and engagement with the passenger; access to information, support and services that make the journey easier and more enjoyable; and an e-commerce platform that brings together all airport commerce and services into one place and that can drive promotional bundling and incentives that encourage more spend.

Connecta delivers this. A platform from Airport Dimensions which offers a single digital airport ecosystem and supports the traveler on every step of their journey. Critically for the airport, Connecta also delivers a single view of the customer – their behaviour, needs and performance across the journey. Generating insight that supports the airport from strategic planning through to hyper-personalized experiences, support and promotions.

Benefits to all stakeholders

Connecta delivers for stakeholders. For the airport operator, it puts them in the driving seat of a single airport commerce and service ecosystem which brings revenue growth and increased satisfaction. For concessions, it plugs them into new audiences, provides distribution and a promotional platform driving sales. And for travelers, it makes the journey better. Offering support and guidance on the journey, informing and advising and suggestion experiences and spend opportunities that produces value for passenger and the airport.

The path forward

Spend and commerce growth is important and – outside of the airport – digital tools have proven their ability to deliver this. But it is even more important for airports to ensure that they deploy digital tools to deliver and support a single seamless journey, making the journey easier and more enjoyable for passengers and providing access to the services they want at the time that they need them.

The successful airport of the future combines the hardware and software to seamlessly deliver a better experience for the passenger and revenue growth for the airport community.