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Airport user experience unpacked: Conceptualizing its potential in the face of COVID-19

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  • Tuchen, Stefan
  • Arora, Mohit
  • Blessing, Lucienne

Abstract

Given the unprecedented challenges imposed on the aviation industry by the COVID-19 pandemic, this paper proposes a new perspective on airport user experience as a field of study to unlock its potential as a basis for strategic roadmapping. Through an integrative literature review, this study points out a dominant focus, in practice and research, on customer experience and service quality, as opposed to user experience, to help airports gain a competitive edge in an increasingly commoditized industry. The review highlights several issues with this understanding of experience, as users other than passengers, such as employees, working for the airport and its myriad stakeholders, as well as visitors, are largely omitted from study. Given the complexity of the system, operationally, passengers are generally reduced to smooth flows of a passive mass, which this study argues is both a missed opportunity and a vulnerability exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Major events apart from COVID-19 are used to show the negative effects this simplification of user experience has had. Based on solutions and models proposed in previous studies, a conceptual model has been developed to illustrate the postulated potential of a deeper and more holistic study of airport user experience to make airport systems generally more agile, flexible and future-proof. As such, the paper advocates to utilize the user experience as a basis for strategic planning to equip airports with the know-how to manage not just daily operations more effectively but also the aftermath of and recovery from major events like the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, with the user experience at the center of the strategic roadmap, airports can plan ahead to mitigate the impact of future scenarios. The importance of future research and the use of existing research are discussed.

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  • Tuchen, Stefan & Arora, Mohit & Blessing, Lucienne, 2020. "Airport user experience unpacked: Conceptualizing its potential in the face of COVID-19," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jaitra:v:89:y:2020:i:c:s0969699720305020
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jairtraman.2020.101919
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    12. Paola Di Mascio & Laura Moretti & Massimiliano Piacitelli, 2020. "Airport Landside Sustainable Capacity and Level of Service of Terminal Functional Subsystems," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(21), pages 1-19, October.
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    17. Laura DIACONU (MAXIM), 2021. "The behaviour of airlines’ passengers in the context of COVID-19 pandemic," CES Working Papers, Centre for European Studies, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, vol. 13(2), pages 230-242, July.
    18. Lamb, Tracy L. & Ruskin, Keith J. & Rice, Stephen & Khorassani, Leili & Winter, Scott R. & Truong, Dothang, 2021. "A qualitative analysis of social and emotional perspectives of airline passengers during the COVID-19 pandemic," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
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    22. Heesup Han & Wei Quan & Linda Heejung Lho & Jongsik Yu, 2020. "Eco-Design of Airport Buildings and Customer Responses and Behaviors: Uncovering the Role of Biospheric Value, Reputation, and Subjective Well-Being," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(23), pages 1-16, December.

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