By By Ulla Koivukoski  

Date: 10 /2/2026 
In my previous blog, “Airport – A City That Thinks,” I focused on passenger experience: convenience, safety, and accuracy across the journey. As a frequent traveler, these are still the first things I consider when choosing a route especially when there are good alternatives. 

Some travelers choose airlines for miles, others for speed, and some even for food quality. Preferences differ, but one thing is constant: the passenger experience delivered by airlines is deeply dependent on how airports operate. 
When something goes wrong, passengers complain to airlines. Airlines, in turn, turn to airports. Airports then rely on their systems, partners, and processes. This chain reveals a simple truth: no single entity can deliver a competitive customer experience alone. 

From Managing Facilities to Orchestrating Ecosystems 
Airports are no longer just infrastructure providers. They function like cities coordinating people, vehicles, assets, data, and decisions in real time. The role of the airport operator is evolving from a landlord to an orchestrator of a complex ecosystem. 
Every minute saved at security or during aircraft turnaround improves airline profitability, reduces fuel use, and enhances passenger satisfaction. In a world where travelers and airlines have options, even small operational friction can shift loyalty elsewhere. 

Why Collaboration Is Now a Competitive Necessity 
Recent years have shown how unpredictable aviation has become pandemics, geopolitical disruptions, extreme weather, and airspace restrictions. In these moments, airlines depend on airports not just for capacity, but for agility, coordination, and accuracy. 
The airports that succeed are those that help airlines: 

• Maintain predictable operations, 
• Recover faster from disruption, 
• Protect passenger trust. 

Turning Feedback into Collaborative Innovation 
The traditional “chain of complaints” is often a symptom of siloed operations. Delays, congestion, and missed connections usually result from disconnected systems and fragmented decision-making. 

Leading airports are flipping this model—moving from reactive problem-solving to collaborative orchestration. This means: 

• Integrating airline, ground handling, and air traffic data, 
• Enabling shared situational awareness, 
• Aligning all partners around common operational goals. 

Orchestrating Data for a Frictionless Journey 
By connecting airside and landside operations through unified airport management and shared data flows, airports can enable real-time, automated decision-making. This allows operators to: 

• Reduce unnecessary buffers and guesswork, 
• Optimize resources without expanding infrastructure, 
• Respond faster to disruptions, 
• Lower environmental impact through smarter coordination. 

When systems work as one, every partner becomes more productive and the passenger experience becomes smoother and more predictable. 

The future of aviation belongs to airports that stop managing facilities and start orchestrating ecosystems. 
Airports that act as neutral coordinators connecting data, partners, and decisions create value for airlines, resilience for operations, and simplicity for passengers. 

In an increasingly unpredictable world, interaction, not isolation, is the real competitive advantage.