Airports and ageing passengers: A study of the UK

Globally, improved standards of living, nutrition and medical treatment are extending human life expectancy and enhancing quality of life with the result that an increasing number of ageing passengers are using airports. This ‘grey boom’ presents both challenges and opportunities for airports as older travellers exhibit distinct and different travel characteristics concerning their propensity to fly, their travel purpose, trip duration, destination, surface access preferences, dwell time, retail habits, familiarity with airport automation and self-service technologies, and use of terminal facilities such as airport information desks, adaptive and assistive technologies and special assistance support. The aim of this paper is to use publicly available data to undertake an exploratory investigation into the use of UK airports by older travellers and make recommendations for future policy and practice. Overall, the study finds that the impact of this observed demographic change varies by individual airport and thus future policy and management of an ageing passenger profile needs to reflect the operational challenges on a location-by-location basis.