The future of airports isn’t built on concrete, but bits and bytes

If your airport infrastructure, systems and people are already floundering under the pressure of today’s growing passenger numbers, then how much strain will they be under when global passenger traffic hits 19.5 billion by 2042?

We recently hosted two high-level webinars that unpacked exactly this dilemma - and offered some actionable solutions to airports.

On hand to share insights and to answer questions were Catherine Mayer, an active participant of Airports Council International (ACI) and, from SITA’s side, Dr Carlos Kaduoka, Chief Operating Officer, Dr Jihad Boueri, Vice President, Strategy & Transformation, Swati Unnikrishnan, Director: Consulting, and Sanjeev K, Vice President, Business Management, Asia Pacific.

The crux of the matter is that aviation is becoming a victim of its own success as the desire to travel boosts passenger numbers. So far, 2025 has already seen a two-fold increase in travelers compared to 2024. While this is great news for travel and tourism, for government coffers and for the aviation sector, processing this volume of people is putting airports under severe pressure. The squeeze, however, has only just started.

Fortunately, there is a lever that airports can use to become more efficient and adept at managing change and expectations: technology.

The digital technology era

At a time when physical infrastructure expansion is increasingly capex heavy, technology enables airports to do more with the space they have through the application of biometrics, self-service applications, automation, and artificial intelligence (AI)-powered data intelligence solutions. It’s hardly surprising, that more than 50% of the world’s top-10 airports have already embarked on their own digital journeys - often out of a desire to improve efficiencies, compensate for resource shortages and get an ‘edge’ over competitors.

Regional airports are also finding that technology gives them the flexibility they need to scale up - and down – as required. Seasonal routes – such as Air Canada’s new direct summer-only flights between Montreal and Edinburgh – are becoming an increasingly popular and must be accommodated. At the same time, geopolitical conflicts require swift responses by airlines flying to impacted regions.

Major international sporting events like the Olympics or the FIFA Soccer World Cup also require flexible scaling - no matter how modern and well equipped the airport in question. For instance, during their 2022 hosting of soccer’s World Cup, Qatar had to process an additional 58 million travelers. Flexibility was key. Fortunately, smart technology and a clear total airport management plan enabled Hamad and Doha international airports to manage these significantly higher numbers, along with air traffic and charter flight demands, ground transport operations, and exacting border security requirements.

This digital technology transition did not happen overnight. Like many other airports around the world, it started with a clear vision, a total airport management plan, and small, smart and scalable decisions taken over time and based on specific needs.  

Why foresight matters

For the most part, airports are juggling their short-term (one- to four-year) needs with longer-term goals. While the future vision may be to unlock new revenue streams in the next decade, or create zero-anxiety airports where each touchpoint is effortless, more immediately airports need to speed up (or eradicate) passenger queues and optimize operations without putting current staff under pressure.

The best way to achieve this is through a combination of technology and innovative thinking. Some airports are trying to ease physical pressures by moving certain airport processes off-terminal. A great example of this is off-site baggage check-in via hotels or home pickups, with Saudi Arabia’s implementation of the Red Sea Project introducing a comprehensive door-to-door service providing passenger processing and baggage handling from the point of origin to the final destination, whether home or hotel. Others, like Munich in Germany, are using robots to assist passengers with flight information and directions. In the USA, San Antonio airport is deploying autonomous ‘K5’ robot patrols in terminal areas and entry points. These robots use 360-degree cameras, thermal sensors and AI-powered threat detection to reduce the need for manual monitoring.

If all of this sounds rather futuristic, then it should. But it’s not the only gamechanger shifting the dial towards more technology-enabled airports. Digital identity is another. Without this push, and the biometric technology that enables it, the vision of passport-less travel and a walk-through experience would still be a pipedream. In India, we are already witnessing digital identity-enabled travel in action. Over the past 18 months, more than 20 Indian airports have gone live with the country’s Digi Yatra mobile travel credential platform, which has already facilitated over 45 million journeys and surpassed 10 million active users.

Each of these Digi Yatra users was willing to share some personal data to achieve faster and easier travel. In the future, this information will be used to further improve the travel experience when micro-segmentation becomes a reality. Based on shared data like travel history, biometrics and demographics, the airport of tomorrow will be able to tailor special offers and services like fast-tracked security for frequent flyers or special services like lounge access.

Re-imagining the airport of tomorrow

Where it starts to become even more exciting is when these technologies begin to transform and redefine airports into mobility facilitators and travel ecosystems.

Some of these shifts might include Urban Air Mobility (UAM) services like electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicles, which would offer city-to-airport flights and ‘flying taxi’ services. In the USA, United Airlines has already invested in 200 eVTOLs as part of its responsive air transport vision.

The ‘Uberization’ of ground services is another exciting opportunity. This would see airports sharing autonomous equipment with airlines on demand. Usage would be metered and the airline would be billed per use, bringing down costs and improving efficiencies.

However, the big buzz - for obvious reasons - is all about AI. Not only will the rise of autonomous AI move airports beyond the need for human intervention, but it sets the scene for an exciting evolution from aviation hub to hyper-connected transport interface.

Enabling airport interfaces

In Toronto, AI-based modelling is being used to predict queues and suggest allocations in real time – helping to optimize staffing and reduce congestion. Miami International Airport is already leveraging Internet of Things censors and centralized AI to move from reactive maintenance to a real-time, predictive model that doesn’t just manage delays but eliminates them all together.

Once airports are in a position to collect data from every program operating within the airport ecosystem, it will then become possible for airports to be managed off-site. Another significant cost-saver, this transition would reshape how air traffic is controlled, efficiencies are achieved, and scalability is leveraged. We see this playing out in Norway, where airport authority Avinor is operating 11 airports via a single tower center. Sweden, Germany and the UK are also keen on this model and the technologies that underpin it.

As airports continue to transition into fully-fledged mobility hubs, their journey will continue to be enabled by technology. The future of airports isn’t built on concrete. It’s going to be built on data, collaboration and foresight.

While a machine-supported future is fast emerging, for airports grappling with current and long-term ambitions this can be daunting. In our experience it is always best to view a digital transformation journey as part of a broader travel management plan that considers immediate and evolving needs, stakeholder relationships, skills and team support, passenger buy-in, and change management fundamentals.

Involving technology partners like SITA from the very beginning of your journey, helps to create an environment of co-creation and sets the tone for a multi-stakeholder, shared vision for the future. From there, you can set the technological transformation wheels in motion at your pace using small, smart and scalable steps.

If this is a journey you would like to take with SITA, contact us today.

To access our full webinars on this subject, click here.