Airports are vital sources of income to a country and city. Airports are often understood
from a management perspective, rather than a passenger perspective. As passengers are a
vital customer of airports, a passenger perspective can provide a novel approach in
understanding and improving the airport experience. This paper focuses on the study of
passenger experiences at airports. This research is built on recent investigations of
passenger discretionary activities in airports by the authors, which have provided a new
perspective on understanding the airport experience.
The research reported in this paper involves field studies at three Australian airports.
Seventy one people who had impending travel were recruited to take part in the field study.
Data collection methods included video-recorded observation and post-travel interviews.
Observations were coded and a list of activities performed was developed. These activities
were then classified into an activity taxonomy, depending on the activity location and
context.
The study demonstrates that there is a wide range of activities performed by passengers as
they navigate through the airport. The emerging activity taxonomy consists of eight
categories. They include: (i) processing (ii) preparatory (iii ) consumptive (iv) social (v)
entertainment (vi) passive (vii) queuing and (viii) moving.
The research provides a novel perspective to understand the experience of passenger at
international airports. It has been applied in airports to improve passenger processing and
reduce waiting times. The significance of the taxonomy lies in its potential application to
airport terminal design and how it can be utilised to understand and improve the passenger
experience.
DRS 2012 Bangkok
