FTE: Future Airport Facilities
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After Dean Bouchard’s introduction to the Airport of the Future, Rick Thall, project manager at San Francisco International Airport and Nupur Sinha, Aviation Practice associate with Gensler Design, took the stage to discuss their collaboration on SFO’s R.E.A.C.H. project, a detailed document outlining goals for the future of airport development, specifically as it pertains to SFO. The morning session at FTE Global 2014 was moderated by DY Consultants‘ Kiran Merchant.
Rick Thall noted that a great guest experience directly translates into greater retail spend within the airport terminal, so SFO wanted to look at how amenities could be implemented to improve the passenger experience throughout the entire travel journey.
16 stages within the ‘Airport Journey’ were identified by SFO, and each moment has an opportunities checklist that allows the airport to clearly identify target solutions that can address the key values associated with that journey action.
The journey moments are as follows: Approach, Ticketing, Checkpoint, Recompose, Plazas, Concourse, Concessions, Waiting & Lounge, Play Areas, Restrooms, Passenger Amenities, Arts & Exhibits, Meet & Greet, Baggage Claim, Arrivals Curbside and Connectors & Tunnels. Each journey stage may be experienced by one of the following passenger typologies: leisure, business, family, assisted, or unique.
Rick and Nupur delved into two of these moments in greater detail. For example, Recompose occurs immediately after security where guests reassemble themselves. Key values to address here are Health & Wellbeing, Wayfinding, Look & Feel and Arts & Culture, and this can be achieved by looking at lighting, finishes, ad space and passenger flow. Helpful amenities could include a yoga room, natural elements, or even just a cognizant break from technology after the potential stress of security passage.
When asked by an audience member if the art at SFO was being consumed by passengers in the way imagined, Nupur noted that art often serves as a landmark (“meet me at the statue in 10 minutes”) and is helpful for intuitive wayfinding. Art can also serve as entertainment,; it prevents waiting from feeling like lost time, which can aggravate passengers’ perception of their journey experience.
The entire REACH document is an excellent resource for the passenger experience industry, as it breaks down in detail every stage of the journey cycle and the steps airports can take to both meet their own business aspirations and meet passengers’ emotional and physical needs.