Guest Experience Strategies for Today’s Airports

JFK. LGA. LAX. CLT. The busiest and largest airports in the country rely on ABM’s specialized aviation expertise  to elevate virtually every aspect of the traveler experience.

From strategic facility management to cleaning services, passenger services, and transportation, ABM helps airports  exceed their operational and business goals with an eye on helping travelers and keeping them safe on their journeys.

Traveler Satisfaction is a Top Priority

Airports worldwide are grappling with various pressures, including widespread staffing shortages, budget constraints,  and renovations—all while accommodating a growing number of daily passengers. Leading airports trust ABM to implement scalable solutions that put the unique needs of the airport and its travelers first. Because as we all know, traveler satisfaction is a crucial KPI.

Lessons from the Pulse of the Modern Airport

In working with airports and airlines in some of the busiest and most complex transportation hubs in the country,  ABM has developed decades of best practices by collaborating with aviation leaders to develop operational programs  that adapt to the higher goals of airports and higher expectations of travelers and airport employees.

Here’s what works to elevate airport operations, guest experiences, and traveler experience scores.

Best Practice: Work at the Pace and Pulse of Modern Travel

ABM understands that airports are in a constant state of evolution, adjusting to infrastructure updates, new amenities, increased passenger traffic, and the ever-rising expectations  of your travelers.

Strategic Approach

ABM works with airport leadership teams to strategically manage the totality of airport operations. Because we work with clients of all sizes and phases of development, our teams have experience across every aspect of airport operations—from modernization to continuous expansion and ongoing optimizations. We bring best practices, innovative solutions, and data-driven results.  Just ask our clients.

Customized Flexibility

Our services, technologies, and teams are designed to flex to the specialized needs and time priorities of airports and your travelers. This helps you gain operational efficiencies, maintain pristine health and safety standards, and achieve your traveler experience and revenue goals.

Facility Maintenance Services

With comprehensive airport facilities management programs and tech-enabled solutions,  ABM will protect your airport from interruptions, complaints, and escalating costs. Your team  of professional ABM facility managers is supported by experienced specialists and continually trained in facilities engineering and specialized customer service approaches.

Best Practice: Restrooms Rule in Satisfaction Scores

A strong, clean first impression is the goal for busy airports across millions of square feet of public space,  from entry doors to kiosks, security, restrooms, dining, retail, and gates. It takes a collaborative effort between  airport and ABM teams that starts before dawn and ends after midnight.

The Essential Role of Restrooms

Washroom and terminal cleanliness are the two most essential infrastructure factors that impact overall passenger satisfaction according to reports from Airports Council International. Restrooms are typically  a passenger’s first destination after they deplane.  ABM teams go beyond scheduled cleaning to use  data and technology to surge cleaning crews to specific gates and times to respond to a day’s passenger flows.

Attendants and Technologies:

ABM scheduling  and supporting technologies work in tandem to ensure restrooms are clean, functioning, and fully stocked  with paper and soap. Many leading airports have  a full-time attendant in most restrooms to keep everything clean, dry, and stocked. Attendants  are trained to anticipate customer needs whether pointing a guest to an available stall or helping  the elderly or those with mobility challenges.

Restroom Ratings and Immediate Response:  

Some restrooms let passengers rate their experience as “exceptional,” “average,” or “poor” by selecting  a happy, neutral, or sad face on a tablet as they exit. If they pick the sad face, they get a series of options to share feedback, from cleanliness to lack of supplies. Within minutes, an ABM supervisor gets a mobile  alert and can act to quickly correct the issue.

Airport Cleaning Services

Restrooms are part of ABM’s comprehensive portfolio of cleaning services that are customized to your needs and timelines. Managed by ABM’s experienced and engaged onsite leadership and supported by trained teams, we meticulously care for virtually every inch  of your space.

Best Practice: Use Data and Technology for Customers  and Operations

The next level for airports is integrating data sources, systems, Internet of Things devices,  and emerging technologies to gain new real-time insights to exceed traveler expectations  and maximize productivity and cost efficiency.

“Smart Clean” Tech

Working with airport facility teams, ABM is helping pilot solutions across the IoT maintenance ecosystem with our “Smart Clean” package, which provides detailed information about restrooms and cleaning staff, including passenger throughput, cleaning time stamps, staff activity, and the alert log.

IoT Innovation

Many top-tier companies are offering solutions featuring IoT equipped flush and urinal valves, faucet alerts for leaks and clogs, and water usage monitoring. Vacancy indicator lights on bathroom stalls help queues move quickly while tracking usage and peak times.

Data Integration

ABM is working with some of the country’s busiest airports to correlate ACI survey results with data from passenger experience survey systems and other customer feedback sources to introduce new solutions.  We have outfitted multiple smart restrooms to guide travelers to open stalls and alert teams if supplies  are running low.

Dashboard Control

Management and maintenance of all smart features are centralized into one dashboard. For the first time, cross-platform data collection can be used for integrated predictive analytics. Issues are solved before they become problems. Labor is managed with ultra-efficiency. Through pilots and smart tech, ABM is tracking multiple data points to determine the macro effects of cleaning investments over time.

Best Practice: Train Teams to be Ambassadors

ABM emphasizes the human element of air travel. Our aviation clients want our teams  to be friendly, helpful extensions of their teams.

Compassionate Passenger Services

Whether travelers need a little extra help or expect VIP amenities, ABM helps you make their journey simpler and more comfortable. Our award-winning team understands the power of the right assistance at the right time. We respond compassionately to more than five million wheelchair requests annually.

Customer-first Ambassadors and Concierges

Our ambassador and concierge service is benchmarked against the finest hotels in the world. Every day,  we attend to countless queued passengers and bags with absolute care. With ticket counter and gate support, our exceptional service will be your competitive advantage. AirCare from the HEART Because ABM teams work across airports at all hours, they are trained to be aware of their surroundings  and people who may need special assistance or show signs of medical issues. Our proprietary AirCare  from the HEART training course educates and celebrates the best levels of customer service. It emphasizes the importance of making an emotional connection with the traveler. More than 3,300 customer-facing  team members have completed AirCare from the HEART which is part of new hire training for all aviation team members.

Dynamic Retail Services to Maximize Revenue

Retail is another high expectation area for travelers. Modern retail services are proven to engage  new and repeat customers, maximize passenger spend in the terminal, and produce more  non-aeronautical revenue. As a market leader in airport retail management, ABM travel retail  programs, customer service, experiential campaigns, and logistics solutions help airports  develop retail experiences that appeal to travelers, maximizing loyalty and spending.

Best Practice: Discover New Efficiencies and Revenue

In-depth knowledge of each airport’s strategic and operational goals enables our teams  to recommend and proactively respond to new opportunities and challenges, from generating  new savings to scaling up to add services and team members.

The Power of Integration

Airports can reduce operating expenses by using a single provider to ensure all parts of your airport work together to serve travelers. ABM has the scalability and flexibility to customize a service package that delivers economies of scale and improves efficiency and performance across your operations.

Trained, Badged, and Ready

With ABM, you gain an unrivaled set of solutions and expertise designed specifically for aviation.  Our facility managers are supported by experienced specialists and continually trained in facilities engineering and customer service approaches according to TSA and Homeland Security Guidelines.  Our number one priority is safety in and around your airport.

Innovative Energy Efficiency

As one of the largest public users of energy in the country, utilities are commonly an airport’s second largest operating cost. ABM helps reduce and manage energy use and reduce operating expenses through innovative energy-saving resources like high voltage testing and high-efficiency lighting, renewable energy solutions, and converting undervalued assets such as rooftops and parking lots into extra revenue.

Sustainable Solutions

ABM helps airports manage their environmental impact even as they serve more flights and passengers.  We provide everything for ecologically responsible business practices, from environmentally friendly  cleaning and airport maintenance services to energy efficiency improvements and sustainable facilities.

ABM Impact: JFK Terminal 4 Sustainability

Terminal 4 at John F. Kennedy International Airport was the first air terminal in the U.S. to be awarded Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum certification by the U.S. Green Building Council for the category of existing buildings: operations and maintenance.

As their trusted cleaning services provider since 2010, ABM designed and launched a GreenCare program to provide a measurable and efficient healthy green building for millions of passengers.

• 54% of total waste recycled
• 30% increase in overall performance

Best Practice: Elevate Parking and Transportation Experiences

The traveler experience starts well before they enter your airport terminals. ABM helps some of the busiest airports in the country streamline parking operations, flex to peak times, optimize revenue, and generate  new revenue.

ABM Vantage™

Our Integrated Mobility Solution unifies disconnected parking subsystem data to create an effortless driver experience that boosts revenue, drives operational efficiencies, and uses data to identify trends, patterns, and new opportunities.

Parking Services to Elevate Traveler Experience

ABM has 50+ years of specialized parking expertise and the scale to maintain efficient, safe facilities calibrated  to the peaks and pace of your airport. We provide comprehensive, strategic solutions from parking and valet  to PCI-compliant revenue management, dynamic pricing, mobile apps, and touchless technologies.

Success at Scale

ABM serves airports around the country, many with complex parking and transportation needs. We have experience  with LAX, JFK, LGA, ICT, and EWR optimizing operations, customer service, and revenue. Airports that entrust ABM  for parking management typically gain a greater yield in revenue.

EV Charging for the New Generation of Drivers

As electric vehicle (EV) use continues to expand, airports with EV charging stations provide an amenity that is both growing in popularity and capable of generating added revenue of up to $25 a day per charging port. A leading installer of EV charging stations, ABM has the capabilities to bring this sustainability practice to your airport.

Safe, Seamless Transportation Services

A leader in transportation solutions, ABM operates more than 800 shuttles for airlines and airports. With full-scale transportation management, right-sized shuttle and transportation programs, alternative fuel solutions, and courteous, trained drivers, we ensure your passengers, crews, and employees are treated with first-class service at the highest  level of safety.

ABM Impact: JFK | LGA | EWR

300% faster checkouts: ABM has helped the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey improve parking check-out efficiency 300% during peak times at JFK, LGA, and EWR airports. Customer transaction time  is as little as three seconds.

Ongoing Innovation: ABM developed  and managed a parking reservation system that grew until Port Authority took over operations and expanded it to enable customers to save by booking dynamically priced spots in advance. Digital analytics enable the Port Authority to gauge yield management and implement dynamic  pricing to optimize revenue and profit.

In our decades of experience collaborating with aviation leaders, we have learned that change  is a constant—in passenger traffic, expansion, new concourses, new amenities, new technology,  and ever-rising traveler expectations.

These best practices continue to develop and are a product of that change and they will continue  to evolve, as will your airport.

Nonstop Innovation

No Airports are the Same

In working with so many airports, we recognize that while certain fundamentals are identical,  the critical details are unique.

Assess: ABM works to assess each airport’s needs, goals, and long-range plans. We help you think for today and plan for what’s next. Learnings from Industry Leaders

Customize: We customize our specialized services and teams for your specific needs and priorities. We look for areas to make immediate impact  and recommend solutions to close any gaps.

Measure: Data and metrics are part of ABM’s culture. We quantify that our services are working toward defined goals which help you make strides in improving traveler satisfaction scores.

Learnings from Industry Leaders

Modern sports stadiums, innovative retail complexes, the country’s top universities, complex product distribution centers, and some of the most innovative data centers in the country rely on ABM for cleaning services and facility management. This depth and scale enables us to bring new thinking, technology, solutions, and revenue opportunities to your airport.

Your Partner in Passenger Satisfaction

From strategic facility management to cleaning and maintenance, passenger services, parking, and transportation, ABM helps airports and airlines exceed  their operational and business goals with an eye on elevating virtually every  aspect of the guest experience.

Learn more at ABM.com/aviation or call (866) 624-1520.