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01Investment Plans
Since the widespread return of demand for air travel, airports and their key stakeholders, including ground handlers, have been working hard to ramp up capacity.
Indeed Airport Council International’s latest Air Travel Outlook found numbers in 2023 would reach 8.6 billion passengers, or 94.2% of 2019 levels. In 2024, the same study forecasts 9.4 billion passengers, or 102.5% of volumes seen in 2019, underlining the speed and scale that demand is returning.
The challenge for airports across the world continues to be bringing more capacity online to meet new airline schedules and service demand. Doing so in a way that prioritizes an outstanding traveler experience, often with fewer staff and having lost experienced people that decided to leave the industry over recent years. As this study demonstrates, the industry views technology change as part of the solution.
Increase in demand coincides with industry flux and staff shortages.
When asked about key operational challenges 46% of airports told researchers they are simply seeing ‘too much demand to service’.
This increase in demand is coupled with an aviation sector still recovering from the pandemic as airlines adjust their routes, schedules and plans to cater to new patterns of demand.
This places a strain on airports that must respond quickly to enable their airline partners to operate effectively. ‘Changing airline plans and schedules’ was the second most frequently selected operational challenge (44%).
This ramp up in demand and increased flux comes at a time when airports are struggling to recruit sufficient skilled staff to cater to this demand, with 40% of respondents to the Travel Technology Investment Trends survey citing ‘staff shortages’ as a top operational challenge.
The need to increase capacity and flexibility at a time when human capital is limited perhaps explains why this survey shows airports are leading the travel industry when it comes to the intent to invest in technology over the coming 12 months.
Airports plan to increase technology investment more than any other area of the travel industry.
Airport technology leaders told researchers their airports are investing to meet these challenges. Some 94% of airports plan ‘at least moderate’ investment in their organization, with 44% planning to invest ‘aggressively’ over the coming 12 months.
Looking more specifically at investment in technology, 92% of respondents told us they will spend ‘the same or more’ over the coming 12 months when compared to the prior year. A significant 58% will spend more and only 4% will spend less.
0%
planning to ‘spend less’
0%
planning to spend ‘the same or more’
0%
planning to ‘spend more’ on
technology in the coming year
On average, airports intend to increase technology investment by 17%, which is larger than any other area of the travel industry covered by the Travel Technology Investment Trends study.
“Airports must do ‘more with less’ and many are still constrained by legacy technology while struggling to recruit.”
Holger Mattig
SVP Product Management, Airport and Airline Operations, Amadeus
Passenger experience, operational efficiency and sustainability drive technology investment.
Airport technology leaders told us they have multiple objectives competing for this increased investment in technology.
Some 56% said ‘enhancing the customer experience’ is their top short-term objective, followed by ‘improving operational efficiency’ (52%) and ‘applying technology to operate more sustainably’ (52%).
Herein lies the dilemma facing many airports. With competing demands for resources, how can budgets be spent wisely on a technology foundation that meets these multiple needs?
Respondents pointed to one possible option, with 46% of airports saying it is a short term aim to move to cloud computing to improve IT efficiency.
Top short-term objectives for investment in technology
“Too many airports have a mix of legacy systems that are expensive to maintain, inflexible and require on-site computing. ”
Holger Mattig
SVP Product Management, Airport and Airline Operations, Amadeus
