Meeting functional needs is the essential first step in creating a positive airport journey. Yet because airports have been built solely with function in mind, they are also stress-inducing spaces. How can we break this feedback loop of contradictions?
New traveller demographics, needs, and desires are making it more apparent than ever that we need to rethink how we design these spaces — to design for feeling. A seamless airport experience from arrival to departure is vital to encouraging a positive mindset.
Airport Futures: From Function to Feeling
Exploring shifting traveller preferences and what they mean for the future of airports
Details
Report
2025
Airports are liminal spaces of transience and transition. Portals of transportation from one place to another. More than ever, they’re full of people. Yet traveller patterns and behaviours are also in flux. Rather than passengers bearing the brunt of airport growing pains, we’re curious: how can we ‘do airports well’ together? What drives passenger stress and satisfaction?
What if we could create spaces, experiences, and products that lower stress, increase satisfaction, and actively encourage travellers to arrive early to the airport — not for fear of missing their flight but for fear of missing out on the unique services on offer?
Airport Futures: from Function to Feeling is the first in a series of reports examining these shifting traveller preferences and what they mean for the future of airports. In this report, we ask: what drives passenger satisfaction? We explore how future airports can foster connection and inclusivity, have a positive impact on our well-being, integrate emerging technologies in meaningful, seamless ways, and enhance the magic of airports through the senses.
We include 12 strategic opportunities to pull airport futures into the present and test exciting new concepts to engage the travellers of tomorrow.
This report is just the beginning — a wide-reaching thought starter with the potential to move deeper into demographics, cultural contexts, and passenger desires.
