Because of frequent flight delays and cancellations, many travelers spend more time than expected in airports, where they are often subjected to hard metal seats, blaring television screens and scarce charging or power outlets. Nevertheless, through these times of COVID-19, we have all dreamed of visiting far-flung tourist destinations, something many of us took for granted pre-pandemic. According to the Airports Council International, COVID-induced travel restrictions contributed to a decrease in the number of passengers at the world’s airports in 2020 by 5.9 billion.
As the world loosens restrictions and shifts from the “at home” culture demanded by the pandemic, the travel industry is expected to roar back to life. In 2022, air tourism is expected to recover and travelers will spend more money. As airports emerge from the downturn, we expect a shift toward high preparedness – and outsourcing will play a role. We expect trends to include a new focus on improving hygiene and customer experience, resizing the available infrastructure to the changing demand, diversifying revenue generation, automating and digitalizing processes and systems and increasing sustainability.
In their efforts to improve and grow, airports will need to re-evaluate solutions and opportunities with service providers. This ISG Research paper Pioneering Change in the Airport World explores the current outsourcing patterns in the airport industry and the role technology providers can make in customer experience.
About the authors
Titli Chatterjee
Sagnik Biswas
Paul Reynolds
Paul Reynolds leads Momentum, a division of ISG that provides research services to help service providers better target, win and retain business. Paul has 25 years of market research experience with specific expertise in methodology development, data analytics and research process design. Having found many service providers’ Advisor Relations functions to lack appropriate analytics, Paul is working to develop innovative new approaches that allow for data-driven programs based on the unique needs of each client. His approach benefits Advisor Relations, go-to-market functions, sales, strategy, marketing, and market/competitive intelligence teams.
