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are hyper-localized to include food, retail, business, entertainment, education, and
outdoor recreation all within the same neighborhood. The result is reduced carbon
emissions, optimized resource usage, and better quality of life.

And this is, to a great extent, what an ideal passenger experience would look like
within an airport, many of which are the size of an average city and face some common
operational challenges. Everything should be easily reachable, smooth, uncrowded,
safe, and accessible, from arrival to takeoff.

Infrastructure Behind the Scenes

Though it may not be obvious to passengers, the perfect airport experience is the
product of optimal infrastructure rather than high-end amenities. Every simple, efficient,
trouble-free, or pleasant aspect of the journey is the result of thousands of factors
coming together behind the scenes, including:

• Access for various modes of transportation
• Optimal HVAC function
• Seamless crowd control and people flow
• Powerful and secure digital connectivity
• Timely food, beverage, and goods delivery
• Working plumbing and sanitation services
• A supply chain delivering building materials such as concrete, glass, and cement
• The careful coordination of thousands of support personnel

Moreover, this journey doesn’t occur in a vacuum, but rather through deliberate
modeling, simulation, and planning at every stage of the airport’s project lifecycle.
Infrastructure assets, of which airports are one type, may spend the bulk of their
lifecycle in the “operation” phase. However, a great passenger experience begins in the
design phase, starting with the blueprints. When the passenger drop-off is located just
outside the airport entrance; when the concourses are built wide and security stations
are plentiful enough to accommodate crowds at peak travel times; when lounges,
restrooms, restaurants, and other retailers are well-stocked, comfortable, and located
exactly where they’re most likely to be desired; when runways and taxiways are built
to accommodate different airplane types and lots of traffic—all that is the product of
thoughtful design achieved through careful leveraging of industry experience and data.

Leveraging Technology for Passenger Delight

Technology is helping us create the kinds of optimal passenger experiences that
airports strive to offer. Increasingly, AI and tools, such as digital twins, are used
throughout the asset lifecycle—planning, design, build, operation, maintenance, and
upgrades. Infrastructure digital twins are real-time replicas of an entire airport under
thousands of different scenarios, accounting for every possibility that might impact air
travel and facilitating better planning for minor hiccups and major emergencies. By
enabling more careful and consistent monitoring and management, these tools can

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