Airport Experience® News - Customer Service Issue 2025

Burke says MSP is exploring solutions for the complex journey where passengers arrive at rental car facilities and navigate elevators, trams and multiple building transfers before reaching the ticketing lobby. It’s a technical challenge centering on how autonomous devices communicate with other technology in their surroundings. Breaking Communication and Navigation Barriers While mobility devices capture attention, airports are also deploying communication technologies to break down barriers for deaf and blind passengers in environments where last-minute, critical announcements and wrong turns can make or break travel plans. MSP recently piloted a talk-to-text system for gate announcements, converting live airline agent communications into real

time captions. The technology emerged from input by the airport’s Travelers with Disabilities Advisory Committee. “I’ve personally missed gate changes and other announcements at the gate in the past and had this same experience happen to other deaf and hard-of-hearing friends, causing them to miss their flight and be rebooked on a later flight, creating more stress and frustration,” says Andrew Palmberg, chair of MSP’s committee and representative for the Minnesota Commission of the Deaf, DeafBlind & Hard of Hearing, in a news release. The system started at 25 common-use gates and expansion is being explored for nearly 100 gates by partnering with a major carrier, Burke says. “It’s been a real crawl-walk process and a lot of learning,” Burke says. “We’re still tweaking it, but we have a recent advancement that I’m really excited about,

where you wouldn’t have to necessarily be in the gate area to follow along with what the gate agent is saying.” Taking a different approach, Gerald R. Ford International Airport (GRR) piloted Signapse’s AI-driven sign language interpretation system in November 2023. Strategic screens displayed real-time messages in American Sign Language along with captions, providing information such as flight delays and gate changes. “Given how easy it was to implement, this solution is a clear win for both the airport and our passengers,” says J.J. Swain, IT manager for the Gerald R. Ford International Airport Authority. “The only adjustment involved updating screen designs to accommodate the signer.” Meanwhile, Rhode Island’s T.F. Green International Airport (PVD) deployed GoodMaps in December 2024, an indoor navigation system using LiDAR mapping

Above, Right: Vancouver International Airport last year tested mobility “pods” that can aid in passenger movements throughout the airport. A full roll-out is planned in the future. Photo credit: Vancouver International Airport / L’aéroport international de Vancouver

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AX NEWS OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2025