Changing Behavior with Content: How Communication Improves the Airport Passenger Experience

Modern travelers expect more: more engagement, more enjoyment, and more communication, and they expect it all to be seamlessly integrated into their journey. Delivering basic information using static signage isn’t enough. Airports need effective, adaptable content to help them engage, guide, and influence passengers in fast-paced, fast-changing environments.

At FTE Global 2024, leaders from across the aviation industry came together to explore how content-first strategy can enhance the airport passenger experience and change their behavior. Today, we’ll explore how airports can use this strategy to improve operations and build better journeys.

Synect’s rockstar panel on stage at FTE Global 2024. From left to right: Royce Holden, Yahav Ran, Mike Youngs, Faith Varwig, Rob Bischoff, and Austin Gould

Effective Communication Helps Passengers

Clear, consistent communication is essential to the passenger experience. It reduces confusion, eases stress, and helps travelers make confident decisions more quickly. However, delivering clarity requires a strategy.

Understanding each passenger’s journey to the airport is key for creating the content that will guide them, as Gensler did for part of their work on SFO's Principles of R.E.A.C.H.

Airport audiences are diverse, as are their needs. From seasoned business travelers to first-time flyers, every person in the airport has a unique experience with the environment. They’ll engage with the airport and the content they encounter in different ways and at different times, as Rob Bischoff, Global Head of DXD at Gensler, described during our panel:

Rob Bischoff, Gensler’s Global Head of Digital Experience Design, shared his expertise during Synect’s FTE Global panel.

“Screaming the same message to everyone at the same point of the journey... they're not really equipped to receive that. The traveling mom with two kids that are pulling at her at security versus the person who travels every week is really different. We have to understand the user and then deliver that information at different times.”

Static signage can’t meet those needs. It can only deliver one message in one language at a single moment in time. While this is helpful for unchanging areas of the airport, its impact decreases as airports grow busier and more complex. Communication must evolve. Responsive, dynamic content gives airports the tools they need to meet passengers where they are—literally and figuratively.

Dynamic Content Enhances the Airport Passenger Experience

Dynamic, real-time content brings flexibility, clarity, and relevance to every display. Integrated with live data and shaped by thoughtful content strategy, dynamic messaging can adapt to meet passengers’ needs in real time. This could mean:

• Displaying information at key decision points to reduce stress

• Shortening perceived wait times with live queue data

• Improving the flow of foot traffic by redirecting crowds based on congestion

Yahav Ran, CEO of Synect, shared how responsive content unlocks value across the board:

“If we communicate at the right time, at the right moment, at the right context, because context is really the key over here, we can drive positive outcomes... it can be meaningful connections, it can be enhancing the experience, it can be increased efficiency of operation, and it can also mean [growing] revenue.”

Addressing passengers' needs helps airports create content that influences passenger behavior and creates better experiences.

Giving passengers timely, relevant information makes them feel more in control of their journey—and more satisfied.

How Strategic Content Changes Passenger Behavior

Strategically placed displays with strategically timed content can help passengers access airport resources, improve the flow of foot traffic, and increase security throughput. When information is more accessible, passengers can act more quickly and confidently. In security checkpoints, that means lines move more quickly; after security, passengers can find their gates more easily and spend more time enjoying the airport’s concessions and amenities.

This example of our FIDS of the Future solution, created for ADPCS 2025, shows how dynamic content can prioritize high-impact information to help passengers access it more quickly.

More efficient communication means faster decisions. Faster decisions mean more efficient movement. It’s good for passengers—and great for airports.

Changing Behavior Changes Experiences

When content is designed with strategy and implemented with a purpose, it changes how passengers experience and enjoy the airport. Security goes from a tense, indeterminate wait to an opportunity for delight and engagement. Terminals go from incomprehensible mazes to streamlined walkways. When passengers know what to do, when to do it, and where to go, the entire airport experience becomes easier to navigate—and more enjoyable.

ABE's faster, friendlier checkpoint helps passengers prepare for screening by sharing key information long before passengers have to prepare for divestment.

Strategic engagement allows airports to meet passengers’ needs proactively. It helps passengers stay informed, find their way, and move with confidence. All these changes translate to a better overall experience, making it more likely that those same passengers will stop for a meal and some shopping while they wait for their flight to board.

The Role of Accessibility

Inclusive airport experiences start with accessible content. As Alison Weber, Synect’s Marketing Director, recently told Airports International:

Inclusive design means careful content creation—and careful measurements.

“ADA compliance and accessibility are fundamental. By dynamically updating wayfinding information based on real-time flight data or terminal conditions, we ensure that every passenger has access to timely and relevant information. This includes considerations for font size, screen placement, contrast for low-vision passengers and optimal viewing and interaction angles for individuals using mobility aids.”

Synect's accessible design process includes multilingual content, thoughtful visual design, and content that accommodates a wide range of abilities and reading levels. When airports embrace accessibility as a design standard, they improve the experience for everyone, regardless of language, age, or ability.

Content-First Strategy is the Key to Success

Our panelists made one thing clear during FTE Global: the screen isn't the strategy. The content it displays is.

Too often, airports invest in display hardware without a plan for how they’ll use it. A content-first strategy helps right-size their investment and unlock long-term value.

Instead of treating screens as a tech investment, airports must approach content as a key strategic asset. Responsive content, backed by smart strategy and solutions, helps airports:

• Reduce congestion

• Enhance throughput

• Improve safety and compliance

• Strengthen their brand identity

• Increase revenue through smarter messaging

Ready to build better communication? Synect is here to help. Speak with our team today to get started, and make sure you catch our latest innovations live on stage at FTE Global 2025.

Not quite ready? Complete the form to watch the full panel from FTE Global 2024 to hear how experts from across the industry are tackling these challenges—and where content strategy fits into the future of airport experience.