Nearly 800 aviation leaders are gathering in Istanbul to rethink how airports serve passengers as global travel grows and expectations around accessibility, technology and wellbeing change.
The eighth ACI World Airport Experience Summit is taking place at iGA Istanbul Airport from 31 August to 4 September, bringing together airport executives, customer experience specialists, technology experts and travel professionals from around the world.
At the centre of this year’s summit is a fundamental question for the aviation industry: what should the airport of the future actually feel like for the people travelling through it?
The conversation comes as global passenger traffic is forecast to nearly double over the next two decades, placing pressure on airports to expand infrastructure while simultaneously improving the experience inside increasingly busy terminals.
ACI World Director General Justin Erbacci said infrastructure investment alone will not be enough.
“As global passenger traffic is forecast to nearly double over the next two decades, building and investing in new infrastructure remains essential. However, our future also relies on infusing those spaces with genuine hospitality,” Erbacci said.
“As an industry, we are increasingly designing around human needs and wellbeing, moving beyond simply processing people to truly understanding them.”
More than 60 speakers are examining issues ranging from traveller stress and accessibility to improved wayfinding, employee experience, local culture and the role technology can play in making airports easier to navigate.
The focus represents a broader shift in how airports are thinking about innovation.
Technology and operational efficiency remain important, but the discussions in Istanbul are also examining how airport design and services affect people emotionally and practically throughout their journeys.
Cirque du Soleil Chief of Staff and Strategy Florent Bayle-Labouré is among the speakers, bringing a perspective from outside traditional aviation on how organisations can design emotional experiences at scale. Cirque du Soleil is also contributing to workshops examining the passenger journey.
Accessibility is another significant part of the programme, alongside strategies for reducing traveller stress and creating clearer journeys through airports.
The people working inside airports are also part of the discussion. A dedicated Talent & Growth Seminar is examining workforce development and how airports can build resilient, high-performing teams as passenger expectations evolve.
For host iGA Istanbul Airport, understanding how passengers experience an airport has become part of how the organisation approaches its operations.
“Understanding how passengers travel, interact and feel throughout their journey guides how we design, operate and continuously evolve our services to meet the needs of travellers from around the world,” iGA Istanbul Airport CEO Selahattin Bilgen said.
“By bringing together industry leaders from across the aviation sector, this Summit provides a unique platform to share insights, inspire innovation, and shape the future of airport experience.”
The summit will also recognise more than 100 airports through ACI World’s Airport Service Quality Customer Experience Awards and Customer Experience Accreditation programme.
This year’s ceremony coincides with the 20th anniversary of the Airport Service Quality programme, which has become a global benchmark for measuring passenger satisfaction at airports.
ACI currently represents 811 members operating more than 2,200 airports in over 160 countries.
With significantly more people expected to fly in the decades ahead, the industry’s challenge is no longer simply how to move greater numbers of passengers through airports.
The discussions in Istanbul suggest the next phase will increasingly be about how airports combine infrastructure, technology and efficiency with something less easily measured: how people experience the journey.
