Guest Post: Redesigning terminal experience - A strategic UX approach to inclusive airport innovation

A strategic question looms amid this tech investment surge, says Madeline Kossakowski, executive experience director at Designit, and Belinda Jain, VP customer experience and commercial at JFKIAT

As passenger preferences continue to evolve, airports around the world are embracing digital transformation - from AI-enabled check-ins and personalised retail to smart signage and automated wayfinding. But amid this surge in tech investment, a strategic question looms large: Is innovation delivering meaningful value for all passengers and measurable returns for operators?

Too often, the focus is on the innovation itself, rather than on how it serves the diverse needs of the people moving through the terminals. Technology alone will not deliver the outcomes airport leaders need. 

What’s needed is a shift in mindset: from implementing tools to designing systems that respond to real, varied human needs. UX must move from being a cosmetic layer to become a core strategic lever that drives operational resilience, supports infrastructure, and unlocks long-term customer value.

Inclusive design as a CX multiplier

Airport experiences are often optimised for confident/regular travellers, but the travelling population is far more diverse: it includes families, elderly passengers, first-time flyers, non-native speakers, and people with disabilities or limited digital access. When these groups feel underserved, satisfaction and value-for-money perceptions suffer, no matter how advanced an air terminal’s technology is.

By anticipating the needs of all passenger groups from the outset, airports not only meet accessibility obligations but also strengthen engagement and commercial value. This approach was the bedrock of the “North Star” vision at JFK Terminal 4. Driven by research and stakeholder collaboration, UX principles were used to identify friction points across the broad spectrum of the passenger journey. 

Approaches like this show how inclusive design can lower stress for passengers, increase dwell time, and encourage discretionary spend. In this way, inclusivity becomes a multiplier - transforming compliance into a commercial advantage. By embedding inclusive design as a strategic principle, airports position themselves as trusted gateways and stay resilient to shifting passenger expectations.

Scalable passenger-centric innovation

Designing outwards from human needs ensures that innovation is connected and flexible – and as airport operators continue to innovate their systems, it’s important to focus on this principle. 

Once infrastructure upgrades are in place, the opportunity lies in personalising the passenger experience without compromising operational flow. Enhancements such as self-service kiosks, automated bag drops, and updated flight information displays, when designed around intuitive, human needs, can reduce friction at key stress points like check-in and baggage claim.

It’s also more than just increasing efficiency, but also strengthening resilience by amplifying confidence and consistency across every touchpoint - outcomes that translate directly into commercial return.

Enabling predictability, unlocking human connection

As airport operators look to the future, the next innovation frontier will be enhancing predictability to enable further customisation for passengers. At many airports, AI has improved passenger flow management and congestion patterns. But how else can airport operators harness its power to benefit employees and passengers alike? 

AI can redefine how airports manage complex operations, but its impact depends on how well it serves a traveller’s experience. At JFK Terminal 4, AI-driven insights are being used to help improve passenger flow management to measure and analyse passenger volumes in real time to reduce queuing times and enhance resource allocation. In the long term, the same technologies will be used to potentially free up front-line team members, so they can spend more of their time connecting with and assisting passengers, and therefore creating more human connections.

Passengers will never see these systems, but they will feel their impact. Shorter queues, more responsive support, and more efficient routing through terminals are just some of the benefits driven by unseen AI. This creates a terminal that operates intelligently while remaining aligned with human-centred design principles.

When intelligence and empathy are built into the same system, airports achieve more than efficiency - they create experiences that feel seamless, trustworthy, and future-ready. 

From cosmetic UX to strategic impact

Inclusivity, scalability and AI are not separate initiatives, but interconnected levers that determine whether innovation translates into value for both passengers and operators. 

And when aligned through a human-centred UX strategy, they transform innovation from superficial enhancement into lasting operational and commercial value.

As airports prepare for the next wave of digital transformation, the most advanced terminals won’t be judged by their tech, but by how seamlessly they work for people.