Transforming airport landside operations and passenger experiences
Ed Krafcik – VP, Aviation
Over the past 25 years, there have been transformative investments made to improve and secure the passenger experience at airports globally. Imagine for a moment your last trip through the airport: Your experience is becoming more personalized, more automated and has less friction than it did in years past. Lines tend to move faster and new services using biometrics make getting through security and boarding flights much easier.
But what about outside the terminal and concourse? What about the arrival to the airport and the parking experience? For today’s airport executives, the focus on innovation and digitization is expanding outward.
As airports look for new ways to grow non-aeronautical revenue and further improve customer satisfaction, the landside experience — specifically parking — is rapidly emerging as the next frontier for innovation. The challenge is clear: How do you take a traditionally high-friction, analog environment and turn it into a seamless, digital, revenue-boosting asset?
Moving the needle on landside excellence
Managing and improving the modern airport requires a shift from static infrastructure to responsive environments. As airports increasingly move away from hardware-heavy legacy parking payment and access systems that require rip and replace efforts every 7-10 years, they’re beginning to favor flexible, ever-evolving AI-driven platforms to meet travelers where they are in their journey today and over the coming decades.
The country’s most innovative and forward-thinking airports are beginning to consider their parking product as a true platform. This foundational shift enables future personalization and value-add services like enabling passengers to remotely check their baggage before they park and valet experiences that greet travelers by name and predict their arrival home. It also opens a new advertising channel for concessionaires to engage passengers before they enter the terminal.
By removing the stop-and-go-and-stop-again hurdles of parking tickets and clunky kiosks, airports can enable seamless access for drive-up parkers, loyalty and rewards for frequent travelers and integrated reservations to provide peace of mind for passengers planning ahead. Modern airports can finally offer a truly frictionless home-to-gate journey that exponentially improves travel experiences.
Case study: San Antonio
There’s no better example of this shift than San Antonio International Airport (SAT). In a move that SAT’s Jennifer Mills Pysher, assistant director, commercial, described in Airport Improvement Magazine as putting the airport "light years ahead of everybody else," the Texas hub partnered with Metropolis in 2024 to replace its traditional ticket-based parking equipment with our vision-powered Recognition Platform.
As a result, SAT is projecting a $67 million increase in revenue over the next decade thanks to Metropolis-powered dynamic pricing and operations optimization.
By deploying our technology, SAT has fundamentally reimagined its parking operation — which accounts for 39% of its non-aeronautical revenue — to meet the demands of the modern traveler while securing and improving the airport’s financial future.
The results of recognition
The partnership at SAT serves as yet another proof of concept for the Recognition Economy in an aviation setting. The impact is measurable:
Significant year over year revenue growth
Metropolis’ platform powers YoY revenue growth of 22% versus SAT’s legacy ticket machines.
Operational efficiency
The transition required zero upfront capital expenditure, allowing SAT to modernize without risking cash flow or the burden of debt.
Elevated satisfaction + experience
Thanks to new features like valet parking and reservations, streamlined onboarding and discounts for Disabled Veteran Parkers and the increased efficiency of entering and exiting with Metropolis’ Computer Vision, SAT boasts a Net Promoter Score of 60. As Airport Director Jesus Saenz states, “this is unheard of in the industry.”
The future is responsive
The transformation at SAT is just the beginning. As we continue to partner with airports across the country, we’re proving that removing friction in parking and digitizing the home-to-gate journey unlocks value for travelers and airports alike.
Read the full feature on SAT and Metropolis in Airport Improvement Magazine here.
Connect with a member of our Aviation team here.