Airport Experience® News - Post-Conference Issue 2026

Right: Charlene Reynolds, director of John Wayne Airport and Mookie Patel, director of San Jose Mineta International Airport. Below: Tory Richardson, president and CEO of Gerald R. Ford International Airport and Alexis Higgins, CEO of the Tulsa Airports Improvement Trust.

Saaed’s tenure at Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) has been centered on moving the needle forward at a facility “not built for today,” he said. Saaed noted that his team’s primary focus has been to improve its facilities for the year ahead – in which the airport will welcome travelers from around the world for America’s 250th birthday celebrations, the FIFA World Cup, NCAA basketball championships and more. “Everybody wanted this to be an opportunity not just to cash out in 2026 but to build an experience in Philadelphia that would attract both visitors and businesses to the community for a long time,” said Saaed. “And [with the] airport being the front door, we needed to make sure that the airport was ready” by prioritizing physical plant projects, he added. To keep customers happy, you have to address the intersection of inconvenience and improvement, said Ryks, citing constant airport construction as a key example.

“Instead of having a blank [construction] wall, use that to promote what’s going on in your airport [and] apologize for some of those inconveniences that occur,” he advised. “I think that’s really how we’ve been able to achieve [high customer rankings] even during the time when we’ve done over a billion dollars in construction over the last few years.” Richardson and Higgins For Tory Richardson, president and CEO of Gerald R. Ford International Airport (GRR) and Alexis Higgins, CEO of the Tulsa Airports Improvement Trust (operator of Tulsa International Airport (TUL)), maintaining a small hub airport is a combination of managing operating logistics and infusing a feeling of locality into their facilities. At GRR, “we were trying to figure out what it is that our passengers, our guests, want to enjoy [and] need,” said Richardson, noting that through community feedback they have both incorporated practical amenities such as sensory rooms and adult changing tables as well as scene-setting ones, like art works from local creators. At TUL, Higgins noted that the airport’s Cultural Advisory Group has given the community at large additional input in airport programming and artworks. And as they look to continually improve their concessions offerings, Richardson notes that at GRR, the team routinely calculates changing customer needs with the realities of their buildout capacity. “How are we working together to make sure that the [passenger] journey is seamless, but also providing the services and products that travelers want?” said Richardson. Higgins agreed, citing frequent social media monitoring and customer surveys as part of TUL’s approach to staying current. “I think that the challenge is our customers

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AX NEWS APRIL/MAY 2026