Airport Experience® News - Post-Conference Issue 2025

Left: Atif Elkadi, CEO, Ontario International Airport.

Another key aspect of the airport director role? Maintaining and continually improving customer experience through new facilities, time-saving technology and updated amenities. “It’s all about trying to meet that customer where they are [...] and trying to meet those needs in one facility,” said Kim Becker, president and CEO of the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority , noting that her team will soon open a new Terminal One at San Diego International Airport (SAN) that will feature sense-of-place building elements like regionally focused art as well as outdoor decks for passengers to enjoy. For Jim Szczesniak, director of aviation for the Houston Airport System (HAS), spearheading initiatives like a recently installed prayer room for the large population of Muslim travelers at George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) is an example of the ways that he hopes the HAS can meet passengers where they are. At both IAH and William P. Hobby Airport (HOU), Szczesniak’s team has also implemented updated biometric and facility management technology as a means of streamlining airport operations and improving the passenger experience, he said. “We worked with our in-house team to develop an app for our senior staff and employees,” noted Szczesniak. “We’ve got about 13 metrics on there that tell us tactically what’s happening exactly in the airport at that time. I know my TSA wait times, my customs times, my

Right: Jack Potter, president and CEO, Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority.

bathroom cleanliness, my lift stations, my parking, and that gives us the ability to really tactically react to the customer experience, because we can see holistically what’s going on at the airport,” he added. At DCA, Potter noted that the team’s post-Covid push to update concessions has resulted in a significantly improved customer experience: “It really gave us the opportunity to treat what was an underserved terminal where we didn’t have enough concession space,” said Potter, “and make it a much more pleasant environment.” And while the panel at large agreed that navigating federal, state, and city government agencies extends the timeline of their capital improvement projects, they also agreed that continually refining their offerings was worth it, especially when reflected in customer feedback. “On Fridays, I’m in the terminals in an orange shirt doing customer service,” said Szczesniak, “so I get direct feedback from the traveling public when I’m out there working with the folks to be able to understand what’s going on in the actual facility.”

Above: Kim Becker, president and CEO, San Diego County Regional Airport Authority.

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AX NEWS MAY 2025