Airport Experience News - March/April 2021 by Airport Experience News

MARCH/APRIL 2021 / V19 N233

NEW

FEDERAL FUNDING BOOSTS AIRPORTS, CONCESSIONAIRES

Doling Out Data:

Sharing Traffic Insights Benefit All

Vending Offers

Limited Touch Options

Airport Advertising

Strategies Evolve

Thank you.

To our teams: Words can’t begin to express our extreme gratitude for our front-time associates’ and staff’s commitment to the organization and first-class service for our customers over the past year. They are what drives our company, and we appreciate them beyond words.

To our airport partners: We are equally appreciative of our airport partners’ support, relief and communication as we weathered the past year’s challenges side by side. We are proud to be your partner and truly value our relationship.

paradieslagardere.com

12 Show Me the Money

The passage of further pandemic support by Congress will provide much-needed relief to both airports and concessionaires.

16 Number Hungry

Concessions operators have historically relied on limited passenger data when planning for passenger traffic ebbs and flows. With lower passenger volume, more insights are being shared than ever before as both airports and concessionaires look to maximize revenues and limit expenditures.

20 Never-Ending Vending

Gone are the days when airport vending machines were few, far between and sparsely stocked, with new concepts and a touch-conscious public driving a renewed interest in this option.

24 Ad Opportunities

While one major in the airport advertising space decided to pull out due to the impacts of the pandemic, other companies see new opportunities.

29 Reaching the Summit

The AX Virtual Summit was a two-day virtual event that reunited the industry for robust panels and informative talks on the future of airports.

4 Letter From the Editor-in-Chief 5 Data Check

Passenger surveys have been bleak since the pandemic hit, but a significant number of people are finally making plans for and looking forward to traveling again.

6 Latest Buzz

Fresno Yosemite International Airport is following through on its $115 million plan to expand its terminal and international arrivals facility.

32 Rendering to Reality

Air traffic continues to stall, but Kansas City International Airport hasn’t halted its plans to invite proposals for its concessions program and has even adapted the process for the new times.

34 Advertising Index 35 Before You Take Off

AtYourGate is bringing a robot companion to its airport delivery operations that has been turning heads and helping customers keep their distance.

9 Director’s Chair

Greenville-Spartanburg International’s David Edwards discusses his ‘lean and mean’ approach to airport management and his current efforts to right-size offerings to match lower passenger numbers.

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TEAM Desiree Hanson

Executive Vice President

Melissa Montes Publisher

Carol Ward

Editor-in-Chief

Andrew Tellijohn

Senior Reporter

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We know you’re ready to do business in person again. The Airport Experience® Conference is back, and we’re putting the finishing touches on an updated experience that will allow the industry to safely gather together after this extended period of distance. Visit our website to sign up to receive updates about registration and other AX Conference details as they are announced.

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Dear Readers, MARCH/APRIL 2021 / V19 N233

NEW

FEDERAL FUNDING BOOSTS AIRPORTS, CONCESSIONAIRES

Doling Out Data:

Sharing Traffic Insights Benefit All

Vending Offers

Limited Touch Options

Airport Advertising

Strategies Evolve

It’s been quite a year! We’ve now been dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic and its fallout for more than one year. Few if any would have predicted the massive impact the virus has had on aviation. Usually in the March/April timeframe, the AXN team is breathing a collective sigh of relief knowing another AX Conference is behind us. This year, the planning is just beginning! As many of you know by now, we were forced to postpone our annual live conference due to the ongoing pandemic. The Airport Experience Conference is now scheduled for August 15-18 in Dallas! Stay tuned – we’ll be communicating all the pertinent details through email and through our weekly News Flash in the coming months. In place of a live event in March, we recently hosted the AX Virtual Summit, a two-day event designed to connect the industry, as well as continue to forge a path toward recovery and growth. More than 400 industry executives registered for the virtual event, which featured a series of panel discussions and spotlights on best practices. On-demand access for subscribers can be found, beginning late March, at: airportxhub.com. The industry also had reason to celebrate in March with the passage of a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill that earmarked $8 billion for U.S. airports, of which $800 million will flow to concessionaires in the form of rent and MAG relief. While not solving the crisis impacting airports and concessionaires, the federal funds will ease the burden and hasten recovery. Full coverage of the funding is included in this issue of Airport Experience News This issue of AXN also highlights the benefits of vending within an airport commercial program, examines ways airports and concessionaires are collaborating on data and explores new in-airport advertising opportunities and strategies. As always, this digital issue is supplemented by our robust news offering that now includes webinars, video interviews, podcasts and more. For breaking news and additional multimedia content, check out our website at www.airportexperiencenews.com. The AXN team will continue to partner with airports and concessionaires as together we navigate back to growth. Best regards,

Carol Ward Editor-in-Chief Airport Experience News

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DATA CHECK

SIGNS OF OPTIMISM Enthusiasm For Travel Revealed In Longwoods Study BY CAROL WARD Travelers with Travel Plans in the Next Six Months Comparison 100 80

Percent %

66 58

11/18

12/2

1/6

1/20

2/3

2/17

40 20 0 3/11

3/26

4/8

4/22

5/6

5/20

6/3

6/17

7/1

7/15

7/29

8/12

8/26

9/9

9/23

10/7

10/21

11/4

12/16

3/3

Source: Longwoods International Travel Sentiment Study.

Within the next month

I currently do not have any trips planned

Percent %

In 6 or more months

In 3-5 months

In 1-2 months

Source: Longwoods International Travel Sentiment Study.

t’s been a long time coming, but a broad swath of Americans now say they are eager to travel in the coming months. According to the latest Longwoods International tracking study of American travelers – released March 9 – 84 percent have travel plans in the next six months, the highest level since the early days of the pandemic a year ago. This is the third consecutive wave showing over 80 percent for this key metric. In addition, the percentage of travelers who say that the coronavirus will greatly impact their travel plans has dropped to a third, down from a pandemic peak of two-thirds last April and matching the March 2020 low. “Travel planning continues to accelerate as improving pandemic and vaccine data is released,” says Amir Eylon, president and CEO of Longwoods International. “Barring another surge in infections, the beginning of the travel industry recovery appears on target during 2021.” Even with the increasing optimism about the future, only 44 percent of travelers currently support opening their communities to visitors, and about half feel safe traveling outside their communities or dining in local restaurants or shopping at local stores. Moreover, 61 percent continue to modify their travel plans because of Covid-19.

When Is Your Next Trip?

Covid-19 is also influencing the number and types of trips taken by survey respondents. Nearly one-third of respondents said they are reducing the number of trips they are taking; the same percentage said they are choosing destinations within driving distance so they can avoid flying. About one-quarter said they will travel domestically rather than internationally. Smaller percentages of respondents said they are choosing not to travel at all, are choosing rural destinations over city destinations or are canceling trips altogether. Financial concerns also remain a factor for some travelers. One-fifth of survey respondents said their personal financial situation would greatly impact their decision to travel in the next six months. Longwoods International also notes that among other pandemic travel trends identified, a third of American travelers have worked remotely while on a vacation in the past twelve months. This pattern may continue well into recovery. Longwoods International has been conducting the Travel Sentiment Study monthly for the past year. This most recent study, supported by Miles Partnership, was fielded March 3, 2021 using a national sample randomly drawn from a consumer panel of 1,000 adults, ages 18 and over. Quotas were used to match Census targets for age, gender, and region to make the survey representative of the U. S. population.

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LATEST BUZZ

FAT EXPANSION

Despite Downturn, Fresno Yosemite International Moves Forward With Terminal Development, Other Projects BY DAVID WARD

Above: Fresno Yosemite International Airport’s FATForward project includes a new International Arrivals facility, a concessions overhaul and a new concourse to better meet demand.

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fter nearly a decade of steady growth following the Great Recession, Fresno Yosemite International Airport (FAT) in 2020 decided that, even in the midst of the pandemic, it needed to push forward on projects that will allow the central California airport to accommodate anticipated leisure and business travel growth in the years ahead. “We were bursting at the seams,” says Kevin Meikle, FAT aviation director. “We were hovering around 600,000 enplanements back in 2010, and just before the pandemic we were at one million, so that’s 60-70 percent growth.” In September 2020, the airport announced it was moving ahead with FATForward, a $115 million project to expand its terminal

and add a new parking structure and new International Arrivals facility. Meikle says parking had always been a pain point for the airport, one that the new three-level parking garage with 900 covered stalls should finally address. “The parking project is actually under construction and the advantage of moving that forward is that our parking lots are not that full – obviously, with this reduced activity everyone is going through,” he says. The second major component of the FATForward project is a terminal expansion that includes the addition of an upperlevel concourse, Concourse B, and a new 33,000-square-foot International Arrivals Facility capable of processing 400 passenger per hour.

LATEST BUZZ

Solid Demand Meikle says that unlike many small-hub U.S. airports, FAT generates a significant amount of international traffic, primarily from western Mexico cities such as Guadalajara, Mexico City and León. “This region of California has a very rich connection to western Mexico,” he adds. “We’re probably the only airport in the U.S. where our number one destination is to a foreign country, as about 14 percent of our entire traffic volume is to and from that region of Mexico.” Currently FAT arrivals from Mexico have to deplane on the ground and walk across the tarmac to the Customs and Border Patrol station. “This project will not only provide the capacity we need but will also have all-enclosed air bridges and pathways to enhance safety,” Meikle says. Meikle says the airport is fully committed to the new International Arrivals facility and terminal expansion, though finalizing the design and financing, as well as

starting the actual construction, could be pushed from later this year into early 2022, depending on how quickly traffic recovers from the pandemic. FAT’s traffic has held up better than other California airports during the last tumultuous 12 month, with traffic sometimes reaching up to 70 percent of its pre-pandemic levels. “Our internal trigger point is when we get to that 80 percent minimum of normal, meaning 2019 numbers, and trending in the right direction,” Meikle says. “Currently we anticipate later this year to start construction on that project with a window of completion in the fall of 2023. But if we have to wait until the next spring or summer, we’ll do that.” FATForward will help the airport not only serve its growing international demand, but also to appeal to new carriers and to potential travelers in a wide geographic area. In December, Southwest Airlines announced that it will launch service at FAT

this spring, and Meikle said the carrier was eager to hear of the planned improvements. “We actually have a very large geographic catchment area, essentially going from Bakersfield in the south up to Modesto in the north. It also incorporates parts of the central coast of California such as San Luis Obispo,” he says. “If you look at the living-room-to-gate-time, it’s a great alternative. We actively market up and down the Central Valley of California, [positioning FAT] as a close and convenient alternative to driving to the Bay Area or into the LA Basin.”

Below: Among the FATForward terminal design elements are plenty of windows to bring in natural light and showcase the natural beauty of the nearby Sierra Nevada mountains.

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LATEST BUZZ

Leisure/Business Mix Because of its proximity to Yosemite National Park, Sequoia National Park and the Sierra Nevada Mountains, FAT can be a destination airport for nature enthusiasts. But the city of Fresno is a business hub for inland California as well. Meikle says traffic at the airport pre-pandemic was split fairly evenly between leisure and business, adding, “Leisure gets a little busier in the summertime and the holidays but really we don’t the major fall-offs that you can have in true leisure destinations.” While both business and leisure traffic have suffered, Meikle is confident in a fairly quick turnaround. That confidence is evident in the robust plans for the terminal. In addition to the new International Arrivals facility, the terminal expansion will also include expanded outbound baggage facilities, larger security checkpoints and added tenant operations and concessions space. Meikle says the project design will build on the sense of place already established at the airport. “We have the Sierra Nevada mountains right in our backyard and of course everyone is aware of Yosemite and other national parks in the area,” he says. “When you’re in our facility, you know what’s in our backyard with the palette of colors and artwork.”

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The design will also showcase the importance of agriculture to the Fresno region. “With the design we’re actually looking for opportunities to showcase – with video walls, artwork and advertising – that sense of place,” Meikle says. Along with the enhanced design, the terminal expansion will also provide new food and beverage and retail opportunities. Meikle says the airport is looking at the capital project as a catalyst to overhaul the entire concessions program. “Our concessions contracts expire, one in 2022 and another in 2023, so we anticipate going back on out the street with a new RFP probably later this year,” he says. “It’s really a right-sizing because we’ve done a sustainable space analysis that’s telling us we have too much square footage devoted to concessions pre-screening and we don’t have enough space devoted to concessions post-screening.” FATForward is being financed by a combination of bonds, FAA grants, some local funds and Passenger Facility Charges (PFCs). Meikle says airport officials are confident that the project will help meet the significant amount of unmet demand in the region. “Our catchment area is close to two million people. We were sitting at around one million enplanements pre-pandemic and we’ll be back above that in the next

Above: A new three-story parking garage will have 900 covered stalls, easing what had been one of the airport’s major pain points as traffic steadily increased during the past decade.

year or so,” he says. “One of our key financial metrics is costs to the airlines. We explained that we’re not doing because we want to, we’re doing it because we need to, and it will have a minimal impact on our cost structure. They were completely on board.” Scott Miller, president and CEO of the Fresno Chamber of Commerce, says the addition of Southwest as a carrier and the FATForward project are reflective of the area’s growing economic importance. “The economy of the Fresno region is diversifying rapidly,” he says. “We have seen significant growth locally in the areas of technology, distribution, and manufacturing, among others- all of which will generate more regional demand for air travel.” Miller says that the terminal expansion could be a game changer for the airport and for the travelers who use it. “The Fresno area has a large number of local companies with national or international reach,” he says. “As that number grows, an airport that matches their travel needs is crucial.”

DIRECTOR’S CHAIR

WEATHERING THE DOWNTURN Staying “Lean and Mean” As Recovery Plods Along BY CAROL WARD ditor’s Note: Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport (GSP) was growing rapidly when the pandemic hit. Like all commercial airports, passenger traffic took an immediate and devastating blow. Now, a year later, traffic is still down by about 60 percent and, with GSP traffic weighted toward business travel, recovery is expected to be slow. David Edwards has served as the president/CEO of the Greenville-Spartanburg Airport District since July 2009. Over the years he has taken a very conservative fiscal approach, even with the $127 million terminal renovation and modernization program completed in 2017, leaving the airport in strong standing to weather the current downturn. AXN’s Carol Ward spoke with Edwards about GSP’s current standing and outlook for growth. This print version is edited. For the full video interview, click here.

Above: David Edwards, President and CEO, Greenville-Spartanburg Airport District

WARD: Like many airports, GSP was setting records going into 2020, but then the pandemic hit. Can you give me an overview of where you are right now in terms of passenger traffic and in terms of managing this crisis? EDWARDS: I think we’re really a reflection of the national numbers right now. We’re hovering in that 40 percent recovery level of normal traffic, so down about still 60 percent in seats and operations and overall passenger traffic. It’s been and continues to be a tough road. We haven’t met our forecast that we laid out last April or May, when we expected a little faster recovery. We are a very strong business market. As we all know, business travel has been slow to recover. We believe that’s going to continue to be the case even as we are moving through 2021. We’ve really downgraded our passenger estimates in a significant way from our original forecast and only expect to maybe hit 70 percent of our traffic [goals] as we move through our fiscal year 2022, which begins actually not until July of this year and runs through June of next year. Where we have seen a tremendous boon is in businesses on the cargo side. We’ve probably more than

doubled the amount of cargo volume that we originally projected for this year. A lot of that is just driven by the fact that we don’t have international passenger flights flying over to Europe right now. WARD: You had completed a cargo facility shortly before the pandemic hit, correct? EDWARDS: In September of 2019 we opened a new 110,000-square-foot cargo facility [with a] new aircraft ramp that would accommodate three 747-800s, so we were well-positioned to be able to handle this increase in cargo volume. WARD: You also have a couple of new passenger flights, correct? EDWARDS: At the end of 2020, we had Southwest Airlines restart Houston service for us. It’s a market that they served when they first came to GSP but then they abandoned that market to put all of our flights into Atlanta. They started back [service to Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI) in 2019]. We’re excited about Southwest re-engaging into our market in a more traditional way. Also, recently we got a nice announcement from Silver Airways [which will provide service] into Florida.

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DIRECTOR’S CHAIR

WARD: Let’s turn to facilities. GSP completed a terminal expansion in 2017 so you’re probably all set on facilities. Did you have any major projects that were curtailed because of the pandemic? EDWARDS: We did finish our $127 million terminal modernization and renovation project in 2017. However, just pre COVID, we were engaged in a new terminal area study for another expansion of the terminal facility. The design and construction of that has been put on hold, but we did have some other projects. This time a year ago we were running out of parking, so we had some major parking facility projects. We’re investing about $20 million in a new surface lot and roadway improvements on a new employee lot. That project will be wrapping up in the next two months and we’ll have those additional parking spaces available when traffic starts to come back. We put a $75 million parking garage and rental car facility on hold. As soon as we see traffic re-engaging, we’ll get that project restarted and back on track. WARD: Let’s talk about the concessions program. Obviously with passenger numbers down by 60 percent, I’m sure concessions are struggling. What’s the latest? EDWARDS: Really early on in the process we waived [minimum annual guarantees]. We started that in March of last year and we extended [over the summer] to June of this year. We did go through a process that was already underway to work with our primary food and beverage concessionaire on an exit strategy for them. We actually bought them out last spring after COVID hit and took over. We just took the facilities because there wasn’t any sense in going down a path to

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Top-Left: GreenvilleSpartanburg International Airport completed a major terminal redevelopment project in 2017. The vast majority of the $127 million price tag was paid in cash. Top-Right: The airside garden at GSP gives passengers space to relax before and after a flight.

open anything up. We did something a little different than most airports. We went out on the street with an RFP for a management agreement. Through that process we selected Metz [Culinary Management] to be our management company for food and beverage. We’ve got all the risk at the end of the day. We’re paying the management company a fixed fee in order to run the facilities, then we have a share of net revenue that comes into play at the end of each year. With that we reopened our Chick-fil-A location and… the Wolfgang Puck restaurant. Vino Volo actually opened this past September [under a direct lease with Paradies Lagardère]. We’re going to be very careful about how we continue to bring other concepts on within the terminal.

Above:: In an unusual move, GSP opted to enter into a management contract for its most of its food and beverage program in 2020. Metz Culinary Management brought brand-name concepts, including Chickfil-A and The Kitchen by Wolfgang Puck, to the airport.

DIRECTOR’S CHAIR

The management company holds the franchise agreements for both Wolfgang Puck and Chick-fil-A, and they also hold a franchise agreement for a Qdoba Mexican Grill concept, which we’re going to be bringing into the terminal as well. This is a true management agreement. They’re staffing, as the management company, all of the concepts. So far, it’s been working out great. Metz has been doing a fantastic job for us – very collaborative, as it needs to be. WARD: Do you feel that GSP concessions are right-sized for the traffic situation? EDWARDS: In fairness you know, with Vino Volo open and Wolfgang Puck and Chickfil-A, I could say we’re a little bit overconcessioned right now from where we need to be. We’re trying to balance the options for the traveler. WARD: Turning to the larger industry, we’re facing a year under this pandemic and so much has changed. What’s the way forward in terms of how airports can maximize their potential in this environment?

EDWARDS: I think the key is staying lean and mean. We’ve been fortunate where we have not had to make any decisions to lay anyone off. We’re on really solid financial ground. We have always performed in a way where we have very low debt. Cash has been king for us and we’re going to continue to operate that way. For our $127 million terminal project, aside from some [Airport Improvement Program] dollars and a little bit of [Transportation Security Administration] money for the outbound baggage system, we paid for that project in cash. That’s going to continue to be the way we try to deliver the majority of our projects. I think we need to stay vigilant about our facilities, keeping them clean, keeping confidence in the traveler up. People need to know that we’re continuing to be as safe as possible. I think we need to be patient. Especially for markets like us, a business market, we know it’s going to be a longer haul.

Above: GSP’s new cargo facility came on stream in late 2019, just in time for a more than doubling of cargo volume after the pandemic hit in 2020.

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FEDS COME THROUGH

HEADLINE

$20B In Federal Assistance Points U.S. Aviation Toward Quicker Recovery BY ANDREW TELLIJOHN

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The aviation industry got some financial breathing room in early March with the passage of a measure that allocates $8 billion for airports, of which $800 million will funnel directly to concessionaires. This most recent win, part of the government’s $1.9 trillion stimulus package, brought the total direct assistance to U.S. airports to $20 million since the COVID-19 pandemic began. For airports and concessionaires, the U.S. government’s response is unprecedented across the globe, says Stephen Van Beek, director and head of North American aviation for Steer. For context, he adds, airports in the United Kingdom have received less than $1 billion in support. “The industry has to understand it has been given tens of billions of relief aid,” he says. “That’s something that is important to acknowledge. It will help kick start the American aviation recovery and may even provide the U.S. industry with a little bit of an international advantage.”

Right: The $20 billion received by airports puts it at a potential economic advantage during recovery from Covid-19 against airports from Canada or overseas that have received little to no bailout funding, says Stephen Van Beek, director and head of North American Aviation for Steer.

Bring On The Recovery Of the $8 billion in the latest recovery bill, $800 million was earmarked for concessions. Separately, the bill also provided Airport Improvement Plan grant funds and money to continue covering workforce retention. The aviation outlays were applauded loudly by airport and operator organizations, who expressed appreciation for Congress’ understanding the difficulties of the last year. “We should all be celebrating” because the measure will allow airports to continue to give operators relief on minimum annual guarantees and overall rent payments, said Rob Wigington, executive director of the Airport Restaurant & Retail Association, on a mid-March call. Kevin Burke, president and CEO of Airports Council International – North America (ACI-NA), echoed the sentiment, praising airports for remaining committed to the health and safety of passengers and airport workers for deploying enhanced cleaning measures to keep airports safe. “The pandemic is projected to cost U.S. airports more than $40 billion by March 2022, a number that will grow if the pandemic drags on,” he says. With the relief funds in place, airports can move forward with relative certainty that they can negotiate with partners, pay debt service and keep employees. Airports might also be willing to move forward sooner with capital projects that have been put off, Van Beek says. “They’ll have more cash and financial reserves, so they won’t feel like they have to keep all their powder dry,” he says. “This money has given airports a little more freedom to be a little bit more aggressive commercially.”

Above: Marc Scribner, senior transportation policy analyst at the Reason Foundation, suggests President Biden’s pro-regulation and green agendas might create challenges at creating a bipartisan approach to infrastructure spending.

Marc Scribner, senior transportation policy analyst with the Reason Foundation, agrees on all counts. “With this latest law, airports ended up probably as good as they could have expected, especially when you look at the international comparisons,” he says. “U.S. airports have been treated to some much more generous bailouts than their peers.”

What’s Next? While U.S. airports may be in better shape financially right now than their global counterparts, this likely isn’t the last of the industry’s efforts to improve its financial standing in 2021. Airports still have considerable infrastructure work on the backburner. Revenues from the Passenger Facility Charge user fee down are significantly due to passenger traffic hovering below 50 percent of 2019 numbers, and with the Airport and Airway Trust Fund is depleted, Van Beek, Scribner and Joel Bacon, executive vice president of government and public affairs for the American Association

A X N E W S M A RC H /A P RIL 2 0 2 1

AIRPORTS HAVE RECEIVED MORE THAN $20 BILLION IN RELIEF FROM THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT ACROSS THREE RELIEF BILLS PASSED BY CONGRESS AND SIGNED INTO LAW. AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN – MARCH 2021 TOTAL BILL: $1.9 trillion AIRPORTS: $8 billion CONCESSIONS: $800 million (from the airport’s $8 billion) CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE AND RELIEF SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS ACT (CRRSAA) – SEPTEMBER 2020 TOTAL BILL: $900 billion AIRPORTS: $2 billion CONCESSIONS: $200 million (from the airport’s $2 billion) CORONAVIRUS AID, RELIEF, AND ECONOMIC SECURITY ACT (CARES) – MARCH 2020 TOTAL BILL: $1.9 trillion AIRPORTS: $10 billion CONCESSIONS: $0

Above: Airports will stay active on Capitol Hill as discussion starts on an infrastructure package that could help with a backlog of capital projects, says Joel Bacon, executive vice president for government and public affairs at AAAE.

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of Airport Executives (AAAE), all suspect they’ll be getting right back to work on Capitol Hill as Congress and Biden begin talks on a significant infrastructure bill. Biden, the House and Senate have yet to release plans and priorities for such a bill. And, while there was broad support for an infrastructure bill during presidential campaigns in 2020, Republicans and Democrats had significantly differing ideas on the appropriate approach. There are even differing opinions as to whether it should be a bailout or a bill that looks to have a longterm stimulative effect. “They like the word infrastructure,” Scribner says. “Beyond that the agreement is not very strong.” Then, Bacon adds, there is the question of whether Senate leadership will opt to work toward a bipartisan agreement and use the traditional Senate rules that require 60 votes for passage, or if they will use the same reconciliation process that got the latest relief package passed, which requires just 51 votes. The continuing partisan rancor was evident, he says, in the need to use reconciliation to pass the relief bill. “Democrats would say they are hoping they can do it in a bipartisan way and not have to resort to the reconciliation process,” Bacon says. “Whether we get there remains to be seen.”

Biden Preferences Hampering Infrastructure Push? Differing priorities of Democrats and Republicans leave Scribner skeptical that there is an agreement to be reached. For one, Biden has been pushing for “green” programs. “Republicans are not as interested in that kind of approach,” he says. Finally, Scribner says, the Biden administration has shown signs of being in favor of significant government oversight. “They like the idea of government dictating the terms of business transactions,” Scribner says. “It’s generally true that this is a pro-technocratic administration. Their knee-jerk is ‘we can order third parties to do the things we think they should do’.” With Biden’s emphasis on raising the profile of climate issues, permitting processes, for example, could become a heavily debated part of the infrastructure discussion, Scribner suggests. “You could see quite a few flash points on environmental review and things like that,” he says. Nonetheless, Van Beek suggests that there will be a push for infrastructure funding, and that airports should have projects that will be ready to go by this summer, in the event such funding does become available. In the meantime, Van Beek says he is celebrating the industry’s success on getting this latest relief package done and hoping that it leads now toward looking to the medium- and long-term mechanisms for funding the industry. Perhaps, he says, a trade could be worked out involving airlines receiving some tax relief in exchange for airports getting more control over the spending of PFC revenues. But that, he acknowledges, is a way off. “This is really momentous and the industry should both be grateful but also recognize that it played a large role in sensitizing Congress to the effects of the pandemic on aviation and the industry and the people who work in it,” he says. “I think it’s a real success story. I hope we can pivot from that to getting a new policy and regulatory regime in place.”

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Data Trades Help Inform COVID Concessions Decisions BY ANDREW TELLIJOHN

Above: With food and retail sales down at airport restaurant and retail locations across the U.S., some airports, airlines and operators are sharing more data to support staffing and re-opening schedules.

In 2019, when airports were setting traffic records and nobody had heard of COVID-19, operations staff at HMSHost Corp. restaurants could go to a flight display monitor at any given time, figure out when the next bank of flights was coming in and from where, and staff restaurants accordingly to meet demand. There was some data available in advance from airports and airlines but often the company had to go hunting for it, says Anthony Alessi, vice president of business development. Now, with the effects of the global pandemic very real and traffic still off those 2019 levels by half or more, Alessi says many airports, airlines, operators and, in some instances the Transportation Security Administration, are being much more deliberate about dispersing such information and using it to guide when concessions re-open and how those that are open are staffed. “After Covid, people have recognized the need for data, especially in our business where data drives the way we can operate and sustain our business from a profitability standpoint and an employment standpoint,” he says. “Airline enplanement forecasts, not just global but also terminal-by-terminal and airline-by-airline, are helpful so the company can plan ahead.” Among them, Alessi says, Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) is holding monthly concessions webinars and dispersing daily or weekly email notices on everything from traffic trends to dining laws. Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC) is having bi-weekly scenario meetings. He ticks off a list of nearly a dozen airports sharing more than has been shared in the past and expresses hope that this era of cooperation grows and continues beyond the worst of the pandemic. “The goal for all of us has been to serve the traveling public,” Alessi says. “The more we work together, share information, right-size contracts, we will all deliver the best passenger experience. Information is key for everybody.”

Above: Anthony Alessi, vice president of business development, HMSHost Corp.

Increasing Data Share Frequency Some of the industry’s largest airports have increased their data sharing efforts during the pandemic in an effort to collaborate on better decision making. Their reasonings are, mostly, similar.

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Andy Gobeil, a spokesman for the city of Atlanta, says Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) staff have always shared passenger forecasts that facilitate concessionaire, customer service and staffing plans. “During the pandemic, we have increased the frequency of those forecasts to better produce staffing suggestions,” he says. “In years past, ATL would provide quarterly updates; currently we produce such updates on a weekly basis.” At Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX), city staff members are working with airlines to provide more information on flight schedules and bookings so operators can better plan for their needs. “With the Covid-19 pandemic creating less consistency in flight operations, this information assists the airport and our concessions partners in planning,” says Public Information Officer Krishna Patel. The information is disseminated at monthly meetings with airlines and concessionaires and also through PHX’s application management system. The schedules have helped concessionaires adjust hours of operations, accommodate flight and passenger activity and determine how many outlets should be open and where. Are these efforts going to stick once the pandemic is in the rear-view mirror? “Most likely, yes,” Patel says. “This has helped all stakeholders operate more effectively.”

Not Just Concessions At PHX, the airport is also sharing its Covid-19 health measures data as part of a global industry collaborative effort via the ACI Health Measures portal and Check & Fly app. “Both of these outlets allow passengers to know what to expect pertaining to Covid19 at PHX, i.e., are masks available at PHX? Does the airport have a requirement for social distancing?” she says. San Francisco International Airport’s (SFO) Chief Information Officer Ian Law says his airport also shares data with operators for efficient concessions operations. Changes to flight operations and other information are available to operators real-time via a portal, he says. But he says the pandemic has sped up the adoption of technology to share data

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Right: Flight schedules and booking information at PHX are available for sharing via monthly meetings and an application management system in order to assist concessions partners with planning.

on health-related travel restrictions, as well. On one hand, that’s important for travelers. The airport has information about, for example, quarantine requirements that passengers need as they are planning trips. “If you’re a passenger traveling from Paris to San Francisco… you probably want to know what you need. ...If there is a 10-day quarantine in San Francisco, that’s really going to affect travel plans,” Law says. “I think the people who have the best handle on that information are the airports.” SFO has worked with Airports Council International on developing information standards to allow the industry to more easily share information among stakeholders. When it comes to health information, Law says, this data sharing can provide information for travelers, such as whether the Paris-to-San Francisco passenger will need a Covid-19 test result in order to enter the city and, if so, where one might be available at the airport. Globally, Law adds, it helps the airport and airline communities figure out how to deal with travel from countries where new strains of the disease evolve. “That’s what everyone is calling for, this global aviation system,” he says. “This need for this global-but-local information exchanging is really important so that we can now integrate this whole world of health into travel, which hasn’t really been there before.”

More Data? Or More Demand? Whether more data is being dispersed at St. Louis Lambert International Airport (STL) is a bit up in the air, but it’s being dispersed differently and may be in more demand than ever before, says Roger Lotz, the airport’s spokesman. Data, including Transportation Security Administration daily counts, is being disseminated in weekly and daily emails as well as on regular Zoom calls with tenants by Rob Salarano, manager of the airport’s properties division. They also discuss funding bills going through Congress and, at the beginning of the week, discuss how the weekend has gone, Lotz says. “It can be a little bit of anything,” he says. “It can be information that the airport gets with the bills that are trying to go through Congress. What are we hearing? What are they hearing?” The partners use the meetings to discuss staffing and operational needs. For example, during the holidays, the airport’s proximity to Fort Leonard Wood training base means that during the holidays, a significant number of military personnel will move through the airport. They used these calls to figure out traffic patterns and ensure sufficient concessions were available. “It made it so much easier to deal with,” Lotz says.

That said, sharing data has always taken place. The methods have changed, with in-person meetings no longer an option right now. “It’s always been a key component of trying to be as open as possible with the information flow,” he says. “The time period has put more of an importance on it.” It might be more a case where the information has always been out there but because airports aren’t overflowing with passengers, it’s more in demand. “I can’t say we are doing more or is it just being more appreciated that we are doing it,” he says.

Varying Approaches Roddy McOwan, chief development officer at Marshall Retail Group, indicates that most airports are trying to work as partners with concessionaires, but adds that in many cases the information being disseminated still isn’t very detailed. McOwan credits SFO, which held calls with all operators, then by retail or food segment, during which they shared passenger trend information, projections and performance information on individual stores. “The proactive actions they took allowed for all the operators and concessionaires, whether they were ACDBEs or primes, to have good open dialogue about whether it was worth it to open another store in the concourse,” he says. “Would it just be robbing Peter to pay Paul or was there, in fact, an opportunity to add further revenue? For the most part, that has actually worked quite well.” Others still don’t share much, if any, data or they pass along global percentages without any specific detail on where in the airport passengers are enplaning or deplaning – data that isn’t terribly helpful in making decisions. McOwan says he understands why airlines don’t share as much information as operators would love to have. But he says more detailed information provided in a more timely manner would help ensure proper staffing and assist in providing better experiences for passengers. Demographic data would allow operators to tailor offerings toward those getting on or off planes. And he’d like to see airports break down their data more specifically in terms of individual store performance. “All of that would help tremendously,” he says. “I don’t think it harms anybody from

a sales perspective. You’re not disclosing other facets of your business. If it benefits the community as a whole, particularly in times of hardship like this, more power to it.”

Another Data Source Regardless of the long-term standing of these new data sharing strategies, one industry insider has embarked on an effort to do his own data distilling. Robb Brown, principal at The Denver Retail Group, says he also has seen increased and more timely sharing of data in the past year. Airlines, airports and operators recognize the joint roles they each play in their abilities to survive through COVID-19 and they are doing what they can to help themselves and their partners. But Brown admits to feeling some skepticism on whether the cooperation will continue as traffic returns when the pandemic ends. He thinks he can help the players continue to capitalize on data. Brown co-founded another business, DRGMetrix, with Rob McDaniel, several years ago. DRGMetrix owns Dynamica Traveler Analytics, which compiles and analyzes standard industry data to provide a 365-day forecast of when travelers are going to be in airports and where. The data is readily available if one searches for it. His model is designed to help airports forecast so they can plan, whether during good times or bad. But it would be particularly useful during a down time when many operations remain closed. “If you open all the concessions, every single one of them needs to do a ton of business to justify the inventory, staffing and cost of running that business,” he says,

Above: Dynamica Traveler Analytics, owned by DRGMetrix, compiles and analyzes standard industry data in order to provide airports and operators with detailed 365-day forecasts from which they can plan, says co-founder Robb Brown.

adding that Dynamica allows airports to target their openings to where the traffic will be. “You can now be more granular with regard to your concession operation management, which helps concessionaires when they come back online,” Brown says, noting the data can indicate which areas of a given terminal will be busy or slow. “You can be super pinpointed on who is opening and when.” So, even if the current data sharing trend slows down or stops, Dynamica may be able to step up to provide similar insights. The benefits, he says, are obvious. “It’s imperative that people need to be in lockstep if they are going to encourage passengers to get on places and fly with any regularity,” he says.

Right: STL officials aren’t sure they’re sharing more data. It’s always been available. But there is definitely more demand for it now, given the times.

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Below: Hudson is introducing a new automated retail concept, which cohesively brings together a carefully-curated selection of leading brands.

ON THE VEND With COVID Making Passengers Leery, Vending Machines Offer Safer Way To Shop BY SHAFER ROSS Vending made a lot of sense for airports pre-pandemic, adding more options and 24/7 availability in terminals where mainline concessions were often congested or, in the late night or early morning, closed. The landscape has changed significantly since then, but vending’s value remains strong. Convenience, safety, cost and availability are key factors driving airports to pursue vending options. It didn’t take long after the Covid-19 virus started ravaging the globe for travelers and retail operators alike to realize that the touchless, seamless experience offered by vending machines is appealing to customers in a touchconscious world.

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Luke Saunders, founder and CEO of Farmer’s Fridge, an automated refrigerator that vends fresh, health-conscious food in seconds, says his motivation was to provide healthy alternatives available at any time of day. “I started Farmer’s Fridge when I was a traveling salesman,” says Saunders, who opened the first airport location at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport (ORD). “One of my biggest challenges was just getting fresh, healthy food on the go, and being able to not have a day planned out perfectly but know that I could get something healthy to eat.” But the pandemic brought forth another benefit: a minimal-touch experience. Even a concept as low-touch as Farmer’s Fridge, which at most requires a customer to select their preferred menu item from a touch screen on the machine, sought ways to give customers access to the fridge’s fresh offerings with as little friction as possible. “One thing that we were able to launch during the last twelve months was touchless pickup,” says Saunders. “So, you can place your whole order through your app, and then type a number into your app and the food vends, so you never actually touch the fridge and the whole process takes about five seconds.” It seems a simple change, but these kinds of accessibility measures can mean the difference between touch-shy customers deciding to make a purchase and not. “As passenger habits changed due to Covid-19, we saw incredible innovation in this category and increased competition, as well,” says Brett Kelly, acting CEO for Fraport USA, which manages concessions programs in U.S. airports, including retail and vending. He believes that even as travel demand begins to return and travelers feel safer to branch out from the gate, many might still prefer to shop more independently. “We are looking at everything to accommodate those travelers who may want a different experience in an airport – those who may be inclined to make a purchase but only under certain conditions.”

And in fact, companies are eyeing up vending possibilities for the future, also apparently sensing the turning of the tide for those customers who are less inclined to seek out human connections in their purchasing experiences. “A new automated retail concept from Hudson cohesively brings together a carefully-curated selection of leading brands in a format that feels like a destination – long gone are the days of standalone, randomly placed vending machines,” says Brian Quinn, executive vice president and chief operating officer for airport retailer and operator Hudson. “We’re essentially creating a mini shopping mall within the confines of the airport space, which is completely customizable in size, scope and location for each airport.” Hudson’s foray into automated retail and vending is a recent one, but it’s one the company is embracing as both an extra line of sales in the midst of the pandemic’s grip on the industry and an extra level of service as the dearth in air travel demand begins to ebb.

Above: Farmer’s Fridge is an automated refrigerator that vends fresh, health-conscious food in seconds that was inspired by a lack of options outside normal hours.

Brett Kelly, acting CEO for Fraport USA, which manages concessions programs in U.S. airports.

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Brian Quinn, executive vice president and chief operating officer for airport retailer and operator Hudson.

“In the summer of 2020, we successfully rolled out PPE machines to 27 airports across North America in response to the high demand for PPE driven by Covid-19,” Quinn says. Those who were still traveling appreciated the opportunity to grab lastminute or back-up supplies. “Automated retail was always a part of the airport landscape, but the changes in behavior as a result of the pandemic forced a shift in perception around automated retail towards a need, not a want, and we have seen a corresponding rise in interest from airports as a result,” says Quinn. “Concessionaires need to provide travelers with an alternative shopping experience to traditional in-store retailing to not only continue to drive sales, but to provide an extra layer of safety and convenience during their journey.” Susan Stiene, president and CEO of Optimas Management Group, previously spent over 25 years heading the concessions program at Vancouver International Airport (YVR). She feels that travelers will feel more inclined to keep distant while moving through the airport, even as they look to return to a sense of normalcy: “As time goes on and the vaccines become more prevalent… it will ease off people’s discomfort with being close to somebody,” she says. “As that starts to happen, I think that people will go back to a lot of what they were doing previously, which was purchasing in stores.

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“However, I do think there is an option for the vending. People are going to avoid crowds,” Stiene continues. “If there’s 10 people in the store and there’s a vending machine that’s selling the same offer that the passenger wants, I could see that they would pick up and go to the vending machine rather than going into that store with 10 people. In the past, before Covid, they would have gone in with 10 people, but it’s not like that now.”

Low Cost Option Convenience and safety aren’t the only motivation. Cost is also a factor, perhaps more so during this time of strained operator budgets. “For vending, because the investment is so relatively low compared to other buildouts that you have to manage in an airport space, it does kind of make it a low-barrier-to-entry opportunity in an airport program,” says Fraport’s Kelly. “It’s the low-cost of the investment – relatively speaking – and the labor costs get much more efficient. You’re just talking about someone to manage and stock the machine and then whatever back-of-house you need to run the business, as opposed to double-coverage in a retail space.” Fraport USA’s Launch Pad program, which initially existed to place local business owners in kiosk spaces, has now branched out to include the option for vending based retail. Diva By Cindy is a line of hair products that began selling at a kiosk in Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall

Airport (BWI) as part of the Launch Pad program that now also has an automated vending machine selling its natural haircare line on Concourse D. “We’ve come a long way from candy bars and bottles of soda,” Kelly says. “And that innovation allows you to really activate spaces that could be very well-positioned for passenger traffic without the square footage that you’d need for a full-blown store.” Jasmin Smith is the CEO and creative director of Baby Vend, a machine that offers products for babies, toddlers and young children on the move, can attest to the relative ease of operating a vending option rather than an inline store. “The start-up costs are lower, the flexibility is greater,” Smith says. “I have way less overhead for staffing. We can go and restock a machine whenever we want, and it gave us more flexibility to help people and serve people but not have as many expenses and bills.” The Baby Vend machines, currently installed at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport (ANC), offer the types of goods that all parents can sympathize with needing but are not often found in any airport space, such as diapers, wipes, onesies, bottles, sippy cups, activity kits with crayons and colored pencils, and snacks. Since the onset of the pandemic, the flexibility of the space has allowed Baby Vend to expand its offering to include health and wellness products, as well. “Now that we’re in Covid-world, the benefit is that people don’t want to touch each other,” says Smith. “And there’s technology that we can put in our machine that makes our products safe and kills germs. So now that we’re moving into this socially-distanced world, people like the machine because… you can get what you need contactless.”

Quality Options Susan Stiene, president and CEO of Optimas Management Group.

The convenience and safety of an automated experience doesn’t have to come at the cost of the quality, quantity or even scope of products available in a traditional store or restaurant.

Left: Jasmin Smith is the CEO and creative director of Baby Vend, a machine that offers products for babies, toddlers and young children on the move.

Andy Lin, founder and CEO of Yo-Kai Express, a fully-automated concept that vends and cooks to order a variety of ramen and other noodle dishes, says he can even bring world-renowned dishes to his machines with little sacrificed in the way of taste and quality. “[Let’s say] everybody wants to visit a famous ramen shop in Tokyo, but [they can’t],” Lin posits. “Fortunately, we will work with those ramen shops to replicate their recipes so we can produce their products and then sell in our machine. Which means that Tokyo restaurant doesn’t need to open a physical location in the U.S. …They can expand their footprint to engage with more customers.” With a concept like Yo-Kai, a brand could conceivably get their products in front of more eyes in more places without the investment that such reach would usually require. “We don’t think that we will be the replacement of the [traditional] restaurant,” Lin says. “The restaurants provide a service, and that service is something that vending systems cannot replace. …So, I think the restaurant will still be there, but our service is to fill the gap.” Lin says that offering fresh, hot food that is available anytime, in minutes, all in an 18-square-foot footprint, makes Yo-Kai a viable option for many for whom a sit-down experience just won’t work. “We have a large percentage [of sales to] airport staff, because very early morning and very late night, there’s nothing open,” says Lin. “We are not in competition [with

restaurants]. We just help the airport or traveler or staff to get better service.” Similarly, Saunders sees Farmer’s Fridge as a complement to existing airport offerings. “We backed into the idea for the vending machine,” he admits. “If you want to sell food 24 hours a day, that solves the problem of getting in late and not having anything to eat because nothing’s open. If you want to sell food in places where restaurants can’t really get to, you need to have a totally different operating model, and if you want to be able to manage the inventory and merchandise things cost-effectively, that basically describes a vending machine.” Broadening the assortment is also a plus for airports, especially at a time when not all concessions are open. Baby Vend, for example, answers a unique need during Covid times but also allows airports to offer an array of products not typically found in traditional airport retail stores. Appealing to the needs of underprepared parents hit close to home for Smith. “As a parent, I just know the stress of traveling with children and understanding that when you’re at the airport… you literally can’t leave to go get the supplies that you need,” Smith says. Aside from simple forgetfulness, flight delays, cancellations or other last-minute emergencies can all present a sudden need for additional items. “So, it’s 50 percent convenience, but 50 percent [knowing] families travel all the time and if we don’t pack it, we don’t have it, because in most cases the airport doesn’t have it.”

Above: Yo-Kai Expres serves up a variety of cooked-to-order noodle dishes in an 18-squarefoot space.

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Opposite page, Above: Digital ad space in the airport has been a valuable way to get out important messaging about new health and safety guidelines as the pandemic drags on. (Lamar Airport Advertising’s placements at McCarran International Airport shown.)

It’s no secret that every area of the air travel industry has taken a hit as the pandemic drags on. The latest news for the advertising sector was the announcement in January that CNN would be shutting down its CNN Airport out-of-home TV network, which airs content in 58 U.S. airports, as of March 31. “The steep decline in airport traffic because of COVID-19, coupled with all the new ways that people are consuming content on their personal devices, has lessened the need for the CNN Airport Network,” said Jeffrey Zucker, CNN president, in a memo announcing the news. That so large a company can’t justify keeping its 30-year-old airport operation afloat during these tumultuous times is certainly bleak – but it’s not all doom and gloom. “We don’t feel that the loss of CNN will have an impact on either our business or on airport advertising at large,” says Shauna Forsythe, director of business development for Lamar Airport Advertising Company. “We know there are multiple companies looking at replacing CNN, and each have their own business model. It remains to be seen who might fill that space and, in fact, which airports will want that space filled.”

Leslie Bensen, CEO of Departure Media Airport Advertising, is similarly not worried. “In fact, it will create an opportunity for us and provide less competition in the airport space,” she says. Lynnwood Bibbens, CEO of ReachTV, also sees this shakeup as a good opportunity for other companies to fill a need. “As the world has become polarizing, this exit will allow airports to focus on uplifting programming with both a national and hyper local focus,” he says. Indeed, key players in the space aren’t viewing CNN’s exit as an omen of more closures to come due to a lack of passenger traffic – as Bibbens rightly points out, it’s not as if no one is flying right now. “Though traffic is down from non-pandemic times, we’re still seeing millions of active, engaged travelers in our airports each week,” he says. “The traveler is an important target for every brand, so whether it’s one person or 30 million people, the airport audience is always someone brands want to reach.” And prospects only seem to be improving. “With the roll out of vaccines likely to positively impact passenger volume, we’re having more and more increasingly encouraging conversations with advertisers about how they can participate in airport marketing,” Bensen says. “The travel and

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tourism industry changes daily. According to WordStream, in 2021 so far the demand for ‘cheap flights right now’ has grown by 90 percent and interest in ‘cheap flights due to the coronavirus’ has increased by 2,540 percent. These positive changes are sure to attract new advertising customers targeting leisure travelers.”

Silver Linings While the pandemic has had an undeniable impact on how many travelers – or captive audience members – are in the airport at a given time, many airport advertising companies note certain bright sides that have emerged during this time. For Lamar Airport Advertising, its existing streamlined management style meant the company wasn’t as hard hit financially as it could have been. “Our business model

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of ‘centralized control and decentralized management’ supports corporate operations in our headquarter office but allows a local team of sales and support staff that are in tune with the specific challenges or economic improvements within a specific market,” Forsythe explains. “The local aspect has been a huge advantage for us – we were front-line to witness and adjust to changing situations on a market-by-market basis.” Plus, Forsythe adds, airports have been working with businesses to offer some relief. “Minimum-annual-guarantee abatement was key and we’re grateful to the airports that could offer that temporary condition. Some airports offered extended terms, which helped offset the loss in revenues where capital improvements had already been made. And a few airports reduced the percentage payments due for a limited period.”

Below: Although some drop-off in advertising clients due to the pandemic was inevitable, many companies have maintained their placements in airports and instead focused on shifting their messaging to reflect the current state of the world (Departure Media’s placements in Augusta Regional Airport shown).

Right: By scanning a QR code on ReachTV’s screens, travelers can shop, place food orders and access an entire programmed channel all from their mobile devices.

ReachTV’s Bibbens is pleased that the pandemic has opened up the opportunity to have frank, supportive conversations with airports directly. “This is the time for us to really understand and evaluate what they need and what they want, and as a television network, deliver them the most robust experience possible,” he says. “When travel halted early last year, we used that time to develop our platform tools and capabilities and update our brand, screen registration processes, measurement, and compliance systems to ease the stress and workload of our partners’ and our own operations teams.” Departure Media’s Bensen also appreciates that the pandemic has allowed more time for internal collaboration and ongoing communication with the company’s advertisers and airport partners. “Additionally, as a result of the pandemic, advertisers have been reworking and evolving their airport campaigns and messaging, so this too has kept us busy,” she notes. “Top brands are holding their advertising placements and supporting our airports because they recognize the unique benefits of airport advertising and the elite audience it reaches.” But while many businesses have kept their placements and simply shifted their messaging, others inevitably cut their budgets and pulled out of markets entirely. But this still doesn’t worry Bensen. “Advertising is always evolving – when the

economy is disrupted, many new companies and markets emerge and compensate for those that have cut their advertising budgets,” she says. “We’re targeting those industries – including real estate, mortgage lenders, closing attorneys, online schools, financial advisors and air purification and industrial cleaning, to name a few – and they’ve been very receptive.” Forsythe, too, isn’t worried about losing advertising partners in the long-term. “Our industry has done a good job of educating brands and media buyers of the value of being seen by an airport traveler – they typically have more discretionary income, a higher education level and household income, and trend toward being decision makers,” she explains. “The issue hasn’t been whether advertising in airports is a good allocation of budget, it’s simply been a matter of how many people were traveling and viewing the ad. Our recovery is in line with the steady, albeit gradual, increase in passenger counts.”

Digitizing The Future As airport advertising slowly but surely recovers along with the entire air travel industry, tech improvements continue to emerge and change the game. For ReachTV, the biggest focus is on allowing travelers to interact with their screens using their smartphones – they simply scan a QR code on a ReachTV screen, which allows them to shop,

place food orders and access an entire programmed channel. “The travel journey has also become a mobile journey – we see travelers apt and ready to use their mobile devices to interact with their physical environments, and the screens across our network have become new grounds for exploration,” Bibbens says. “Using mobile device IDs, location data, and point-of-sale data, we’re able to drive programming based on who is sitting in front of our screens and how they behave.” Indeed, travelers today expect to be able to do everything from check-in for their flights to order and pay for items to board their planes all by the wave of their phones. “‘Touchless’ is a new mantra for us, much as it is for all industries,” Lamar’s Forsythe says. “Downloadable content and personal device interfaces will continue to grow. Additionally, programmatic buying deployed in the out-of-home space is adapting to airports’ stricter ad guidelines and becoming a valuable resource. Finally, advances in geo-fencing and geo-coded data will afford advertisers even more tools to fine-tune media buys and budgets.” Clear Channel Airports has been laserfocused on data-driven advancements, rolling out its Clear Channel Outdoor (CCO) RADAR solution, which leverages anonymous, aggregated mobile location data to help advertisers understand consumer mobility, behavior and campaign outcomes, to select airport advertisers in late 2019.

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Above: In late 2019, Clear Channel Airports launched the country’s first all-digital advertising network at Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport (shown), which included the installation of 82 digital screens and the launch of the company’s Clear Channel Outdoor (CCO) RADAR solution.

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Additionally, the company has been working on digital media program makeovers at numerous airports and travel authorities, including Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport (SJC), Baltimore/ Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI), and most recently, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ), which includes John F. Kennedy International (JFK), LaGuardia (LGA), Newark Liberty International (EWR), and New York Stewart International (SWF) airports. These makeovers mean moving away from static ad images to entirely digital screens – at SJC, which was the first airport to undergo the change, 82 screens were installed, totaling over 5,000 square feet of digital signage. Additionally, Clear Channel introduced a new audience impressions methodology in late 2020 that provides advertisers with a more precise analysis of a consumer’s advertising journey as they move through an airport. “The new methodology marks a shift from measuring campaigns solely

by passenger count and toward a greater understanding of audience behavior and a consumer’s likelihood of consuming ad media in an airport,” says Morten Gotterup, president of Clear Channel Airports. “As travel continues to ramp up, we’ll be able to show our advertisers the true reach and effectiveness of their campaigns.” Enhanced data analytics and other tech advancements are proving to have a huge impact on airport advertising, and this will certainly develop into the future. “As technology continues to advance, we’re going to be interacting with travelers in a way that feels personal and unique to them,” Bibbens says, adding that the airport will become an increasingly desirable space for advertisers as travel picks back up. “Watching the speed in which airports have updated their technology with things like walk-through stores and hi-speed Wifi/5G, and the way they’ve made the travel journey a one-touch process using mobile devices, we see advertisers embracing the airport environment even more in the future.”

STAYING CONNECTED

AX Virtual Summit Delivers Strategies For Recovery; 2021 AX Conference Dates Announced BY CAROL WARD The Airport Experience Virtual Summit held March 1 and 2 brought together more than 400 registered attendees to discuss the key challenges facing airports and concessionaires. The goal was to begin laying the groundwork for recovery and growth in a still-struggling sector. AXN subscribers can access all sessions on-demand, beginning late March, on the Airport Experience Hub at airportxhub. com. The AX Virtual Summit also served as the official launchpad for the Airport Experience Conference, to be held live August 15-18 in Dallas. The event will reunite the airport and concessions industries in person for the first time since March 2020, when the pandemic took hold just days after the close of the AX Conference in Denver. Programming information will be revealed in the coming months. Top: The Airport Director Outlook panel featured Chellie Cameron of PHL, Lancy Lyttle of SEA, Justin Erbacci of LAX, and Bryan Ryks of MSP., with AXN’s Carol Ward moderating. Right: The first Best Practices From the Experts session, hosted by Chris Gwilliam of Airport Dimensions and Jeff Livney of Servy.

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AIRPORT EXPERIENCE® VIRTUAL SUMMIT

Right: The Concessionaire Roundtable: Food and Beverage was a lively discussion among Carlos Bernal of Areas, Steve Johnson of HMSHost, Jamie Obletz of Delaware North and Michael Svagdis of SSP America. AXN’s Carol Ward moderated.

Right: The Concessionaire Roundtable: Retail, featured David Charles of Marshall Retail, Raymond Kayal Jr. of Newslink, Brian Quinn of Hudson and Gregg Paradies of Paradies Lagardère.AXN’s Andrew Tellijohn moderated.

Above: Audience polling produced mixed responses at the AX Virtual Summit.

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At the AX Virtual Summit, Day 1 kicked off with an Airport Director Outlook session designed to bring the unique challenges facing airports to the fore. Lance Lyttle, managing director of Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA), who had testified before the U.S. Senate earlier in the day, shared insights on the progress of the latest pandemic relief funding bill which, if passed in its current form, would provide $8 billion to airports. Lyttle was joined by Chellie Cameron, CEO of Philadelphia International A i r p or t (PHL); Ju sti n Erbacci, CEO, Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA); and Brian Ryks, executive director and CEO of the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC). The panelists discussed ideas about how their concessions programs, and the airport-

tenant relationship, will evolve in the future. The directors also addressed infrastructure plans, new technologies and efforts to enhance the passenger experience. Concessions goals and the future of airport-tenant relationships were also discussed in two panels convened on Day 2 of the Summit. Collectively featuring leaders of eight of North America’s largest concessions companies, the two panels – one focused on food and beverage and one focused on retail – delved into issues including ongoing rent and minimum annual guarantee challenges, supply and demand imbalances, and future RFP interest. The panelists also highlighted tech enhancements and their strategies for serving the post-pandemic traveler. The food and beverage concessions panel included Carlos Bernal, CEO of

AIRPORT EXPERIENCE® VIRTUAL SUMMIT

Left: In the Best Practices From the Experts session, part 2, Credit Suisse’s Leo Carrington shared data and insights

Middle: Lewis Allen of Portland Design shared global retail insights.

Bottom: Robert Firpo-Cappiello of Hospitality Technology Magazine spoke on broad-based hospitality technology trends.

Areas USA; Steve Johnson, president and CEO at HMSHost; Jamie Obletz, president, travel for Delaware North; and Michael Svagdis, CEO of SSP America. The retail concessions panel included David Charles, president and COO of Marshall Retail Group; Raymond Kayal, Jr., president and C E O, N e w s L i n k M a n a g e m e n t Group, LLC; Gregg Paradies, president and CEO, Paradies Lagardère; and Brian Quinn, executive vice president and COO, Hudson. The AX Virtual Summit also included two “Best Practices from the Experts” events. In the first, Chris Gwilliam, vice president of business development for Airport Dimensions and Jeff Livney, co-founder and chief experience officer of Servy shared how they see the evolution of technology throughout the travel experience and how the entire ecosystem can work together to strengthen confidence and bring travelers back. Livney and Gwilliam were joined by Blake Halseide of JetBlue Airways and Mike Salzman of URW. The second “Best Practices from the Experts” block included three Ted Talk-style presentations. Leo Carrington, travel and leisure research lead at Credit Suisse, shared insights on global airport concessions trends and assessed expected passenger demands in a post-pandemic environment. Lewis Allen, senior director, Portland Design Associates, tapped his global experience in travel retail to suggest ways to evolve the retail offering in airports. Robert FirpoCappiello, editor-in-chief of Hospitality Technology Magazine, shared data from two recent Hospitality Technology studies, spotlighting restaurant customer demand for contactless transactions, efficiency, and health and safety.

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RENDERING TO REALITY

CONCESSIONS KICKOFF MCI Solicitation Hits Street After Virtual Reality Meet-And-Greet BY ANDREW TELLIJOHN

Above: Kansas City International Airport released a concessions RFP early this year for 51 locations in the new terminal it’s building. Proposals will be due this summer.

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a nsa s Cit y I nter nat iona l Airport’s (MCI) march toward the completion of a new terminal took another step forward in January when the request for proposals that will govern its concessions program hit the street. Nothing during the COVID-19 era is completely normal and MCI officials created an RFP with some unique twists, both to create the best program possible for its customers and to minimize the pandemic’s impact on bidders’ ability to raise the capital necessary to build out the program, says David Long, deputy director of aviation overseeing properties and commercial development. In another unique twist, the RFP is business model agnostic, allowing

developers, prime concessionaires or a cluster of individual companies to band together to take their shot at convincing Kansas City officials that their ideas for filling the 51-location program are the best. “We’ve got an opportunity that comes around only every 50 years,” Long says. “You convince us, concessionaires, why your overall plan that also matches your overall business model, why that is the best format for us holistically.”

RFP Details The RFP does require that each proposal include a single lead bidder and that the mix chosen to fill the spaces meets the city’s 16 percent goal for Airport Concessions

RENDERING TO REALITY

Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (ACDBE) participation. As long as the goals are met, the lead bidder can keep all 51 locations or spread them amongst 50 partners. Crafted in tandem with ICF and Phillips West, the RFP does recommend certain concepts for each location. But it offers bidders the opportunity to propose different concepts in those spaces, if they can convince airport officials their idea is better. “What we’re telling the group is ‘this is what we think it needs to be, but if you think we’re wrong, tell us we’re wrong and tell us what you’re going to do to make it right,’” Long says. In a nod to the times, bids must include a concession for each of the 51 spaces. Long says if traffic levels remain off, not every space must open on day one, but the winning bid must include something else to fill the space besides a “coming soon” sign on opening day. What that might be, he adds, is up to the creativity of the bidders.

Virtual Meet-And-Greet As is customary with such solicitations, MCI hosted a number of networking events where potential partners could get to know each other. As is now typical with the world the way it is, the mid-January events were held virtually. More than 300 participants and 16 potential lead companies participated in the event, which was hosted at The Echo, a customizable virtual environment created jointly by Event Farm, developer of an experiential marketing platform and VirBELA, which curates a technology platform for creating cloud-based virtual environments. During the virtual reality networking meetings, each individual created an avatar that could talk to groups of people both in public and in private. Prime operators had booths people could visit. If someone’s avatar walked up to people already speaking in a public area, the new person could hear the conversation taking place. But groups could also go into designated areas for one-on-one conversations. Airport officials also made presentations each day for attendees about their vision for the program. “We looked at a couple different options for how to replace in-person,” said Justin Meyer, deputy director of aviation overseeing marketing and air service

Above, Right: The RFP governing Kansas City International Airport’s concessions program does not specify a business model, instead inviting all players to offer a proposal in an effort to create the strongest, most local feeling offering possible.

development, in an AXInsider podcast interview just before the events. “We’ve all been on a roulette tour of dozens of different face-to-face technology pieces, all of which do some things well and all of which leave you lacking in a few areas. We’re replicating as close to real-life as we can.” As it turned out, Long says, “It was pretty cool.”

Details Due By Thanksgiving The RFP officially was released days after the virtual events with the goal of completing the process before Thanksgiving. MCI officials split the proposal into two phases. The “technical proposal,” consisting of bidders’ ideas on what will fill each concept, will be due in early June. Financial data will not be due until about three weeks later.

“I wanted people to be excited about the program,” Long says. “I wanted people to be excited about what could be here. … Then let’s look at the financial side of things and does the financial side match the ‘wow’ factor.” In the end, there will be one contract awarded with all of the proposers’ names in a single document, which MCI officials thought might make it easier to get financiers to buy into the project. MCI officials hope the end result is a terminal with more amenities and a better sense of place than the three crowded terminals that have been in operation since the 1970s. Construction on the $1.5 billion project has been largely unaltered by COVID and remains on target for a mid-2023 opening. “We have an opportunity,” Long says, “that only comes around every 50 years.”

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BEFORE YOU TAKE OFF

I DREAM OF GITA

Some U.S. Airports Introduce Unique Touchless Delivery Option BY SHAFER ROSS

magine ordering some food at the airport. You decide to indulge and have it delivered to your gate, only to see your food heading down the terminal in the embrace of a robot. It’s not an episode of “The Jetsons”, it’s a real service now being offered at several U.S. airports called gita. The brainchild of a Boston-based tech company called Piaggio Fast Forward, gita is “a hands-free following robot that can carry 40 pounds… for up to four hours of active use on a single charge,” the company says. Gitas now reside at four U.S. airports: San Diego International (SAN), Philadelphia International (PHL), Minneapolis-Saint Paul International (MSP) and John F. Kennedy International’s (JFK) Terminal 4. Employed as companions for the delivery professionals of airport food delivery company AtYourGate, the gita robots have been turning heads from coast to coast. “Having seen this in action and been with the robot… the interest and the excitement is off the charts when anybody actually sees the robot in-person. It seems nearly impossible to walk past gita without stopping in your tracks

Top: After a live, in-airport demonstration of its abilities, the gita delivery bot and its creator, Piaggio Fast Forward, were drafted to pilot a food delivery program at PHL. Above: Customers who have ordered food and beverage products to be delivered to them can choose whether to interact with the human handler or keep their distance by collecting their items from gita themselves.

and saying, ‘what is that?’” says Chris Hartman, co-founder and CXO of AtYourGate. “This is a great opportunity to bring attention to those [airport delivery] programs, just because it’s such a surprise and delight to have that robot out in public. It’s been great as a tool to promote the availability of ordering and delivering inside of these airports.” Gita made quite a splash when it landed at PHL most recently, garnering national media attention. Though it seems like a futuristic advancement, gita’s process is really quite simple. Despite being a touch-free option, gita is not autonomous. A delivery specialist turns the machine on and receives the affirmative that the robot’s visual sensor is picking her up and that gita will follow her through the airport as they make deliveries together. Customers who’ve ordered food and beverage products to be delivered to them can choose whether to interact with the human handler or keep their distance by collecting their items from gita themselves. “We navigate it around our food courts and other areas around our terminals,” says Megan O’Connell, marketing and customer service manager for MarketPlace PHL, the subdivision of MarketPlace Development that manages PHL’s concessions program. “If some type of roadblock gets in front of it, human or otherwise, it stops and waits until it can find the person it’s supposed to be following.” With this new contactless option, travelers at these select airports not only have the option to order food items through their mobile phones and pick up or receive that order as a delivery, but now, they can even receive the order directly to their gates without the worry of getting too close to another person. “It’s nice that the option is there. Our current demographic of passengers is extremely different – and this is not unique to Philadelphia, this is every airport – it’s not frequent fliers right now,” PHL’s O’Connell says. “[We want them] to see that we are taking seriously their fears and concerns about being in the airport.”

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AXiNsider is an interview-style podcast featuring in-depth discussions with professionals, leaders and wave-makers in the airport and concessions industries.

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