No Pass During Construction: Why Airports Must Rethink Customer Experience in the Era of Capital Programs

Throughout the US, airports are entering one of the most consequential decades of infrastructure development in the history of modern aviation. According to Airports Council International–North America (ACI‑NA), US airports are facing more than $151 billion in necessary infrastructure projects between 2023 and 2027. That spans terminal expansions, modernization programs, airfield upgrades, and passenger facility improvements.

Starting now, and over the next ten years, most American airports are either in the construction phase of a capital project, about to begin construction, or concluding a major capital project. For passengers, this means their experience will be marked by years of disrupted journeys. For airport leaders, the new age of building is an opportunity to pressure test their customer experience commitments.

When I attended the 2026 ACI Annual Conference and Exhibition in Philadelphia earlier this month, one theme repeated in conversations, panels, and hallway discussions. Many airports still treat construction as a time during which they get a “pass” on customer experience.

This mindset is dangerous. It contradicts the principles of customer centricity. And it defies customer experience promises around airport modernization.

Please understand, the danger is not theoretical. To relegate any time, let alone the high stakes (and lengthy) period of operations during construction, as a time to operate without care for customer experience, threatens airport reputations now. And it compromises the future that airports are trying to build for. Importantly, it also risks airport ASQ ratings.

As practitioners working inside capital programs and customer experience functions every day, our team sees the consequences of failing to mind the experience gap firsthand. It is time to define what customer experience means during construction. And who is responsible for delivering it consistently, with quality, care, and clear goals.

Hidden Interdependency: Capital Programs and ASQ Performance

A key insight that emerged from the ACI conference, as well as within our work at high-volume US airports, is that capital programs and ASQ scores are more interconnected than most airports realize.

Let’s take a minute to look at this in context. ACI’s Airport Service Quality (ASQ) program is the world’s leading airport passenger satisfaction benchmark. Used by nearly 400 airports around the world, the ASQ program measures what passengers actually experience. This matters. ASQ is about what airport passengers actually see, hear, and feel. It does not measure what airports intend their passengers to experience. ASQ Level 4, the highest maturity level in ACI’s Customer Experience Accreditation program (and the gold standard every major-player airport wants to achieve), requires airports to demonstrate integrated governance, cross‑functional collaboration, and continuous improvement across the entire passenger journey.

ASQ does not adjust for construction disruption periods. No metric allows airports to take a pass on customer experience during construction.

Capital Programs Create the Conditions ASQ Measures

Capital programs, including design‑build, modernization, and terminal redevelopment, are often managed in silos separate from customer experience. Yet, these programs directly shape areas that affect customer experience. And areas that require targeted customer experience expertise, especially during disruptions. That includes everything from design for wayfinding during disruptions, to queuing changes, amenities closures or relocations, and operational protocols for service interruption.

During construction, airports face the twin challenge of passenger confusion and front-line employees in a state of operational stress. In this heightened complex environment, the need for strategically designed, consistently implemented, recognizably human-centric customer experience is at its peak. It is not the time to put on the breaks. It is the time to rev the CX engine.

When an airport fails to embed customer experience in capital planning, they unintentionally sabotage their own ASQ performance. And when CX leaders treat construction as cause to pause experience improvements, they compound the problem.

The attitude of “I’m not doing anything during construction. People are already angry, so I’m just letting them be angry,” is more common than the industry admits. Let’s change that attitude. Now.

No Experience Pass During Construction

Airports cannot wait five, seven, or ten years to “resume” customer experience once the new terminal opens. By then, the damage is done. Reputations eroded. ASQ scores decreased. Employee morale and skillsets depleted. And passenger expectations sunk.

But there is another way to approach construction phases in airport environments. A way that benefits airports and, ultimately, their customers. Rather than treating construction as a CX pause and enduring multi-year declines in satisfaction and trust, airports can approach construction as a customer experience redesign opportunity. An opportunity that, when undertaken strategically, positions airports to improve ASQ performance during disruption. Doing so requires leadership to guide with a customer-first mindset.

It is fairly easy to deliver great customer experience in a brand‑new terminal. The hard work, indeed, the work that defines customer experience maturity, is the ability (and the readiness) to deliver great customer experience during disruption.

Why Embed CX in Capital Programs?

Delivering the customer experience passengers deserve in a disruption environment requires putting the mature CX mindset into action. This comes in the form of designing for disrupted journeys in a way that responds to passenger personas and the jobs they need to accomplish at the airport. It calls for proactive, clear communication.

It also means making real, albeit temporary changes to the physical space in order to create amenities that feel intentional, as opposed to improvised (or worse, neglected). Designing customer experience during disruption invites experts to envision new wayfinding solutions, forcing us to be even more clear and targeted, to provide continuous meaningful support for guided journeys.

Importantly, construction customer experience scenarios also prompt leadership to support frontline teams in new ways, empowering employees to manage customer needs, and deliver branded hospitality moments. Moments whose character and quality make it easier for passengers to endure the inconveniences disruption conditions pose, and to forgive airports rather than slam them with complaints when inevitable challenges arise.

With construction, we get the opportunity to pressure test the customer experience systems we build. Let’s embrace that opportunity and design for exceptional, supported experiences for employees and passengers even when – especially when – conditions are unpredictable and challenging.

A Case Study in CX Leadership During Capital Programs

The US airports who are doing it right are embracing the invitation to excel at passenger experience during their capital projects. They are engaging their leadership culture to treat customer experience as a strategic function.

During our recent work with airports that share this culture, we see that the unifying thread is that everyone cares about customer experience. From the Chief Customer Officer to operations leaders to capital program managers, CX is embedded in their values and built for execution. In these environments, where the customer experience responsibility is shared, the customer experience impact is felt. And it is validated by ASQ.

What does shared customer experience responsibility look like? In the capital projects scenario we are examining, it starts with brining customer experience experts into design-build meetings. It includes developing capital program governance and operational readiness planning to include customer experience as a core objective. As projects move through phases, reliable passenger experience hinges on operational readiness planning and O&M contract structures that incorporate customer experience. And finally, like ASQ recognizes, it requires a sustained commitment to continuous improvement through performance metrics and leadership development.

In fact, this brand of customer experience integration is precisely what ACI’s Customer Experience Accreditation Level 4 requires: cross‑functional alignment and CX embedded in strategic decision‑making. Airports that are authentically committed to customer experience use the ASQ score as a prompt, a framework that reinforces their lived commitment to experience excellence.

CX Commitment Benefits Airports and Careers

Let’s not forget that the ACI Conference is a gathering of professional aviators with a shared commitment to our unique, albeit complex industry. Aviators are visionaries. And some of the most passionate, adventurous, and naturally hospitable people I have ever had the privilege to work with.

In an environment built for adventure and connection, like the aviation industry, there is an obligation to seek professional development opportunities that cultivate the talents of our diverse industry, and keep the adventurous engaged and connected. What I realized patently at ACI in Philadelphia is that customer experience maturity is valuable for passengers and airports, of course. But it is also valuable for airport professionals.

ASQ accreditation and CX governance create clear career pathways and offer professional development opportunities. Higher industry recognition builds more competitive leadership pipelines and more respected customer experience teams. At the ACI Conference, it was striking to see how well respected CX‑mature airports are. And how quickly CX‑immature airports lose credibility. Professionals who lead customer experience in capital program environments develop capabilities the industry increasingly values. Think of cross-functional flexibility, design thinking, and operational problem solving. Crisis communication, stakeholder alignment and data-driven decision-making. All these skills are honed during capital programs at airports.

These are precisely the skills that define the next generation of airport leaders. So, not only is the construction environment offering the opportunity to design innovative customer experiences, it is emerging as an essential opportunity to elevate professionals across the aviation industry. To reclaim our roots of innovative exploration and creative contribution.

Airport Leaders: A Call to Action

As practitioners, we see the consequences of customer experience gaps daily. So here is our call to action:

1. Stop treating construction as a pause. Design for it as a journey.

2. Embed CX in capital programs from Day One. Empower customer experience leaders as decision makers.

3. Use ASQ accreditation as a governance framework. Approach Level 4 Certification as a model with real impact on design and operations.

4. Invest in customer experience professional development. Strengthen both individual airports and the aviation industry.

5. Co-create design. Co‑created future terminals with those who will operate them, applying an authentic understanding of customer and employee needs.

6. Lead with courage. The industry respects airports that take customer experience seriously, especially when that experience is tested during disruption.

Build the Future Airport Experience During Construction

How airports treat passengers will define US airport transformation over the next decade. Airports that plan for and protect customer experience during construction will emerge as industry leaders. Those that avoid such responsibility will fall behind.

There is no pass. There is only the work.

Are you ready?