Over the past few years, Sustainable Airports have been a headline topic in the United Kingdom, defined by two conflicting agendas: the push for growth in air transport and the impact such growth will have on people and planet.

Today, with the natural decline in passenger traffic that has occurred as a result of the recession, arguments for adding additional capacity become a bit harder to justify. We can all agree that adding passenger capacity is important, but it is the quality of that capacity that is critical. Improving and optimising the entire airport experience must be looked at in a holistic fashion, particularly in regard to changing passenger demographics: we are seeing the largest percentage of population over the age of 65 at any point in human history.  

The concept of sustainability is generally defined as the “triple-bottom-line” of balancing the economic, environmental, and social aspects of development to ensure continued viability. We advocate that a people centered design approach is one of the most important routes in achieving overall sustainability. It brings together passengers, airlines, and operators to collectively understand how to improve the current and future customer experience.

“When you enter an airport there are many important touchpoints, and many of them are not optimized for current users, and even less for the changing demographics of air travelers of the future” says Carter Stewart of Prospect.

After creating a strategic planning model and applying it to the aviation travel experience,  several issues come to the foreground that have important impact on overall sustainability. From the ageing population, to the changing body morphology of some segments of the world population, there are several clear opportunities for airports and airlines to optimize their overall customer experience.

In the face of those quantifiable global trends, is our airport infrastructure truly sustainable? Here are just a few examples of the trends we have identified:

• With a peak in the EU population of passengers over the age of 65 expected in the next ten years, are our current airport designs - with long walks to gates and limited space - socially sustainable?
• How will the industry, in particular Low Cost Carriers, respond to the needs of increasingly ageing and mobility-challenged passengers?
• How will changing body morphology, such as obesity, impact the service delivery of screening, boarding, and ultimately flying a passenger?
• With a new generation of airliners coming on line, how will changes in airline preference in point-to-point ultra-long haul flights affect the passenger and their airport experience?
• With the potential for political and economic power shifting to Asian economies, how will Western airports cater for changing demographics?

“By harnessing the power of the potential future scenarios today, we can influence current thought on experience design and delivery for our changing demographics”, says Stewart. “How do we do it?  We assess outlying future events, and marry them with our proprietary design process to provide our clients with a competitive advantage.”

At Prospect, we believe that the application of people centered design and future scenario development are the keys that unlock true sustainability. Design equitably addresses the balance between economic, environmental, and social aspects. 

Let Prospect show you how we can develop a bespoke model to help airlines, airport authorities, and governments to iteratively review, measure, and develop policies to support long-term sustainability. What we offer is our own sustainable process model for strategic success.  

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