Airport Experience® News - Post-Conference Issue 2023

NEW MOMEMTUM Airport Directors Discuss Strategies As Passenger Numbers Soar Again

BY SALLY KRAL

Airports have begun to bridge the gap from recovery to growth. As they face what could be for some airports a record-breaking year in passenger traffic, a panel of North American airport directors discussed the what they’ve learned from the pandemic and their key challenges going forward. Moderated by Matthew Cornelius, executive vice president, Airports Council International-North America , the panel was composed of Daren Griffin, president and CEO of the Reno-Tahoe Airport Authority ; Alexis Higgins, CEO of Tulsa Airports Improvement Trust ; Lance Lyttle, managing director of Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA); and Jacqueline Yaft, executive director of Austin Bergstrom International Airport (AUS). The airport leaders highlighted their initiatives to accommodate new passenger needs and high-volume hubs, ideas to hire, retain, and attract talent, as well as strategies to adapt to inflation and supply-chain issues.

Growth was top of mind for all the panelists, whose airports had nearly recovered or, in some cases, exceeded 2019’s pre-pandemic traffic. For Yaft, who manages one of the nation’s fastest growing airports, accommodating events like the SXSWFestival or Super Bowl requires short-term creative space adaptation and long-term planning. “We are utilizing every square inch to handle the capacity,” said Yaft, who noted that the airport is adding a midfield satellite concourse and planning significant capital projects to expand space. Lyttle reflected on SEA’s decision to keep its own build projects moving through COVID, a strategy that he felt had paid off with the return of customers. “In April 2020, you could roll a bowling ball through the terminal and you wouldn’t hit anyone,” said Lyttle “We made an assumption that despite the disruption, we would recover.” Griffin agreed, noting RNO’s major capital plans now in the works. “The lesson we learned in the Great

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