Airport Experience® News - Post-Conference Issue 2024

CONFERENCE KICK-OFF Conversations With Inspire Brands’ Christian Charnaux and AXN Founder Pauline Armbrust

Above: More than 1,000 industry executives gathered in Dallas in early April for the 2024 Airport Experience Conference.

BY SALLY KRAL

A sold out Women In Leadership Breakfast set the stage for a dynamic three days of programming for the 2024 Airport Experience Conference in Dallas. After the breakfast (see special coverage, page 43), the general sessions began with opening remarks from Ken Buchanan, executive vice president of revenue management and customer experience at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW), the official airport partner for the 20th anniversary of AXC. As the second busiest airport in the world, DFW welcomes more than 80 million customers every year. “We saw our busiest day in the summer of 2023, where we served 281,000 customers in one day—I was actually told this morning that we’re going to exceed that number at least 20 times this summer,” Buchanan said. To address this anticipated growth, DFW is undergoing a $9 billion capital infrastructure project this year, which is also

the 50th anniversary of the airport. “We’ll be reconstructing our oldest and busiest terminal, Terminal C, and we’ll be adding a sixth terminal, Terminal F,” Buchanan said, adding that by the end of the decade, he sees DFW generating one billion dollars in gross receipts and serving over a hundred million customers each year. “The future looks so bright for us,” he said. “With your support and with your help, I know we’ll build probably the first billion-dollar concessions program here in the United States. That’s our vision. That’s our goal.”

Right: Christian Charnaux, chief growth officer for Inspire Brands, discussed a consolidated platform that will enable its brands to share investments and consumer data insights and ultimately perform better together.

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AX NEWS APRIL/MAY 2024