All about choice

Errol McGlothan, president of EMEA & APAC at Airport Dimensions, explains how personalisation and premiumisation are reshaping the airport experience.

For a long time, the airport lounge was seen as the ultimate ‘nice to have’ – a quiet sanctuary tucked away behind a frosted glass door for a small number of frequent flyers. However, if you walk through a major terminal today, you will see a very different story unfolding.

At Airport Dimensions, we are seeing a fundamental shift in how people travel. The demand for high-end, customised environments is no longer a niche request; it is actively reshaping the entire aviation landscape.

Today’s traveller has moved beyond standardised journeys and now expect to shape their own time at the airport, choosing experiences that reflect their needs in the moment. Premiumisation is no longer just a luxury; it is fast becoming an expectation.

This shift is driven by a significant change in passenger expectations across the globe. Data from our latest research, the AX26 report, shows that while the appetite for better services is a unifying factor, what people want depends heavily on who they are with and where they are travelling.

In the EMEA region, the willingness to invest out-of-pocket for a better experience is incredibly high. For example, 83% of respondents told us they would consider purchasing standard lounge access, while 77% are even looking for top-tier premium lounge options. Moreover, global travellers are interested in smaller, premium upgrades like high-end coffee shop concepts as they look for ways to make the airport journey feel like a highlight of their trip rather than a hurdle to be cleared.

This shift is not only being driven by travellers, who have learnt, both in their airport journeys and wider lives, to expect tailored services and products to suit their needs. It is also being accelerated as airports look for new ways to engage passengers and drive commercial growth.

As non-aeronautical revenue becomes increasingly critical, there is a growing focus on how to better connect with passengers and unlock value across the journey within pre-existing terminal space, negating the need for costly new infrastructure.

At the same time, airlines and banks are becoming more sophisticated in how they segment and reward their customers, raising expectations for more tailored, relevant experiences.

Together, this is moving the industry away from a one-size-fits-all model towards a more segmented, experience-led approach, where different traveller types, occasions and needs are actively designed for, not averaged out.

Whether it is a premium passenger in the Middle East or a leisure traveller in Europe, the expectation is consistent: greater choice, more relevance, and a sense of control over how time is spent at the airport.

The most effective airport environments are built around choice, offering a range of experiences that respond to different traveller segments, whether that be the economy traveller looking to escape the hustle and bustle of the concourse or a business traveller searching for privacy to conduct some last-minute work calls before they jump on their flight.

Within our own portfolio, this approach comes to life through a range of distinct formats. For travellers seeking privacy and a more refined, service-led experience, Clubrooms provide a quieter, more elevated environment. Our No1 Lounges offer a flagship experience that balances comfort, quality and style, while more informal, social concepts such as My Lounge appeal to those travelling in groups or with family.

Alongside this, we also work with airport partners to create bespoke spaces that reflect local identity and brand alignment within the airport.

Our offer has evolved over time, to move away from purely functional spaces, towards enhanced service models and improved food and beverages which reflect both local and international traveller tastes.

We are creating spaces for travellers which are more intuitive and more considered, which ultimately better align to their wider needs.

This reflects a broader shift in how airport experiences are being designed, with a more deliberate focus on hospitality and how people want to spend their time.

To truly understand why this segmentation matters, you need to look at how differently people spend their time and money.

We see a significant “spending culture” gap across different regions. In the Middle East, for instance, the airport is a hub of retail and atmosphere, with over 60% of travellers identifying shopping as a primary behaviour. In contrast, a traveller in Germany might be much more focused on utility and basic needs, where 40% of expenditure is directed strictly toward essentials.

Furthermore, the rise of the Affluent Leisure Traveller (ALT) has changed the game. While this group represents just 26% of travellers, they account for a staggering 57% of total airport spend. Globally, this group spends roughly four times more than other passengers, and they are looking for premium spaces that cater to their specific lifestyle.

This reinforces the need for a more tailored approach, rather than applying a single strategy across markets. Since 75% of these high value ALT’s use the airport lounge, this forms a critical part of their experience of the airport and offers us an opportunity to tailor how these customers engage with the airport to maximise both their individual experience, and their spend, as we see a direct correlation between satisfaction and spend.

As the airport experience becomes more personalised, digital is playing an increasingly important role in how passengers discover, access and engage with services. It has the potential to connect fragmented touchpoints, enable more seamless journeys, and surface more relevant offers at the right moment.

In Saudi Arabia and the UAE, digital platforms are a huge motivator for spending and engagement, with roughly a quarter of respondents saying online services motivate them to spend more.

However, in European markets like the UK or Germany, travellers have been slower to adopt and engage with digital tools, with as few as 13% of German flyers believing these tools encourage them to spend.

There is a massive opportunity for European airports to make up this ground. However, what matters is how intelligently digital platforms are used rather than just their presence.

The future of travel will be defined by how well digital and physical experiences are connected, and how effectively they are used to respond to individual passenger needs.