Airport Experience® News - Customer Service Issue 2025

future-proof our infrastructure for future public health matters.” DEN echoes the theme of wellness, though from a lifestyle angle. “We wanted to make sure our airport embodied the Colorado lifestyle,” says Stacey Stegman, DEN’s senior vice president of communications, marketing and customer experience, describing patios where both employees and passengers reset between flights, often with mountain views in the distance. Operational benefits also flow from outdoor space. Barrett of PSP points to congestion relief. “The courtyard helps balance passenger flow during peak times by giving travelers another comfortable place to wait,” he says. The Stay & Play Visitor Pass extends that utility to the community, drawing residents into the terminal for shopping, dining, and cultural connection. Hoback describes another layer of resilience at PIT, where rainwater capture and irrigation planning sustain terrace landscaping through all four seasons. At SAN, Zachrisson frames the terrace as a competitive asset. “Southwest anticipates that the new offerings in Terminal 1, including spaces like the dining terrace, will help the airline grow its market share and ultimately benefit the economic vitality of the community,” she says. Barrett hears a similar expectation

Above: The extensive outdoor spaces at Palm Springs International Airport offer welcome respite for travelers, but they also generate revenue for the airport through concessions and advertising spaces.

from Palm Springs residents, who want growth to come with character intact. “We’ve consistently heard from residents that as the airport grows, they want PSP to maintain its charm and special sense of place,” he says. Outdoor terraces and courtyards redefine how terminals operate. They ease congestion, extend dwell time and root the passenger experience in landscapes and identities beyond the reach of walls and ceilings. Hoback points to health, Stegman to lifestyle, Barrett to flow and community, Zachrisson to airline strategy, yet all describe the same outcome. These spaces generate revenue, create civic value and reset the rhythm of travel. They function as infrastructure and they read as hospitality. The air does its part, the architecture frames it, and the result is a terminal experience that runs on schedule with a sharper sense of place.

Above: Harry Barrett Jr., executive director at PSP, says the outdoor space at the southern California airport feels more like a resort than post security space.

Beyond the Amenity The outdoor spaces carry public health, operational and civic weight that stretches well past traveler satisfaction. Hoback remembers how PIT’s terraces nearly disappeared during early cost cutting reviews of terminal design. “Prior to the pandemic, they were nearly value engineered out,” he says. That changed when fresh air became an essential public health tool. “We took a hard look at this design during the pandemic and really wanted to

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AX NEWS OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2025