Airports are finding new ways to reduce travel stress, from eye-catching aesthetics to improved passenger flow. At Singapore’s Changi Airport, passengers get a close-up view of Jewel’s iconic Rain Vortex, the world’s tallest indoor waterfall.

As you enter the airport, you glance up at a large screen. Rather than displaying dozens of arrivals and departures, the monitor greets you by name and tells you where and how far to walk to catch your flight. At the exact same time, that screen is doing the same thing for scores of other travelers around you.

That’s the scene today in an area of the Detroit Metropolitan Airport, which offers a glimpse of what’s to come: a facial recognition-based system. The personalized displays are part of a new generation of technologies rapidly being deployed in airports around the world as cities make up for delayed investments and compete for travelers. The race is set to transform the air-travel experience, turning an often stressful endeavor into an oasis of convenience and even delight.

“There’s a large movement to make these airports a place people want to go,” says Darin Friedmann, Vice President and Head of Transportation Systems for Mitsubishi Heavy Industries America, a leader in automated people movers at airports. “Airports are spending money on art, architecture and technology to make passengers’ experience easy and enjoyable.”

Traffic at airports worldwide this year is likely to jump to 83% of pre-pandemic levels, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA). But airports are struggling to keep up, as evidenced by London Heathrow’s extraordinary request this summer for airlines to stop selling tickets for outbound travel from the airport.

“We’re seeing more airport renovation projects over the next year than we’ve ever seen.”

The surge looks likely to continue. The IATA projects traveler numbers will surpass 2019 totals by 11% in 2025. That means already overwhelmed airports need to prepare for a billion more travelers in three years than they have now.

The travel recovery and outlook have jump-started renovation and expansion plans that were mothballed in 2020. In the U.S., the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is helping fuel the trend with $25 billion in funding for airport improvements over five years. Even increased inflation is accelerating the investments. “There’s a concern that the longer you wait, the more expensive things will get,” says Friedmann. “We’re seeing more airport renovation projects over the next year than we’ve ever seen.”

The airport of the future will be striking, even beautiful. Increasingly, cities are focused on creating a favorable impression on people traveling through, the better to compete for business investment, workers and tourists. They’re building larger art budgets into their airport renovations, helped by programs like Percent for Art; witness New York’s LaGuardia Airport’s $8 billion upgrade replete with installations by some of New York City’s most celebrated artists, or the Houston Airport System, which houses one of Texas’ largest public art collections.

Meanwhile, airport architects are seeking new ways to connect passengers’ experience to the local environment and ethos. Many are inspired by Singapore’s Changi airport, a revolutionary airport design that features an indoor rainforest surrounding the world’s largest indoor waterfall. “Every airport wants the ‘wow’ factor – something people will remember after passing through,” says Friedmann. “And they want that experience to reflect the values of the airport or the city.”

“These trains provide travelers’ first and last impression of a city.”

Even elements traditionally considered utilitarian are being designed for beauty. Take the automated people movers (APMs) built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which move more than 100 million people worldwide each year. New generations of these driverless electric trains feature oversized windows on all sides (including the doors), HD video displays, distinctive color schemes and elegant designs.

“In the past, airports planning for people movers were focused just on getting people from here to there reliably,” says Friedmann. “Now they’re really taking the aesthetics seriously, too. After all, these trains provide travelers’ first and last impression of a city.”

The underlying purpose of an airport remains moving people from one place to another. But making the process less utilitarian can relieve the stress travelers feel about issues beyond their control, from weather-related delays to tight connections. New people movers aim to transform what is often a harried experience into an enjoyable one, in part by providing a calm and helpful sensory experience.

The automated trains are whisper-quiet and feature large digital displays and interactive touch panels that give key information about connections, ground transport, weather and local dining and entertainment options. These features are designed to reduce stress by anticipating travelers’ needs. “Each moment on the train is an opportunity to engage, to give people something,” says Friedmann.

From hushed travel to oversized windows to sleek design, automated people movers, like this one at Singapore’s Changi Airport, will help create a better sensory experience at airports.

Those improvements will be obvious to first-time riders. Travelers might not notice what doesn’t happen – breakdowns. Crystal Mover Services, the MHI subsidiary that services the trains, has a standard contract calling for 99.5% system availability. Advances in intelligent predictive maintenance will even further reduce downtime. Sensors will constantly measure vibration and temperature in key areas, onboard cameras will perform visual inspections of parts, and APMs’ undercarriage, power collectors and wheels will be evaluated automatically every time the train passes specific checkpoints.

“We won’t need to wait until something wears down or starts making noise to fix it,” says Friedmann. “And the next generation of technology will take things to a new level.”

Airports and APM designers are also thinking ahead, planning for those billion additional passengers by building flexibility into their transit systems to seamlessly add new vehicles as needed.

Detroit’s personalized monitors are just one of many innovations designed to lubricate the flow of travelers through key airport chokepoints. Already, biometrics can help speed passengers through security. Before long, automation and AI will route baggage more efficiently and reduce human error, while apps using geolocation will push out the information travelers need in real time: Exit the train at the next station; take the escalator to the next level; walk to the right for seven minutes to reach your gate.

In other words, today’s air travelers may be waiting in long lines and enduring routine hassles, but they have something to look forward to. The airport of the future, a destination offering less stress, moments of beauty and all-around smarter travel, is arriving now.