Air travel has become a lot more, shall we say, challenging over the years, what with increased flight delays, air traffic control issues and the sheer volume of travelers making their way through airports around the world. Add constantly evolving technology, innovations and travelers’ needs, and airport operations teams must stay on their toes to continually improve not only their customers’ experiences but also streamline internal efforts to be more efficient and effective.

In regard to the traveler experience, Tampa International Airport introduced its remote bag check within its rental car center in 2018. Doug Wycoff, director of Digital Technology and Innovation, TPA, said it was the first U.S.-based, multi-airline, self-service bag drop solution, designed to make the journey from rental car drop-off to gate lighter and easier and also accommodate future growth and expansion needs. Passengers dropping off rental cars at the rental car center simply drop their checked bags and print their boarding passes (if needed) before taking the SkyConnect monorail to the main terminal, bypassing traditional ticket counters and going directly through security and then to their gates.

Wycoff estimated 200,000 travelers used Tampa International’s remote bag check last year.

“Processing an average of nearly 1,000 bags per day, the remote bag check has nearly eliminated the need for passengers to visit the ticket counter, allowing them to proceed directly to their gates,” he said.

For those not utilizing the rental car center, Tampa International debuted another first in the United States in late 2021: Express Curbsides. The curbsides, designed for travelers who are not checking bags and who have electronic boarding passes, allow them to skip ticketing upon departure and baggage claim upon arrival, enabling them to meet their rides and quickly head off to their destinations. The second set of Express Curbsides opened last summer, and the airport estimates about 40 percent of its travelers take advantage of them.

Operational innovations abound within the airport terminals, too. For example, in an effort to speed up the security process, Charlotte Douglas International Airport began testing the efficiency of e-Gates in partnership with the Transportation Security Administration this summer.

The e-Gates offer a self-service option for travelers with TSA PreCheck or TSA PreCheck Touchless ID. Travelers insert their state-issued REAL IDs or passports into a slot or reader, a camera takes their photo to match to their document, and — voilà — the security gate opens. This innovation could make a big difference for the 35,000 passengers on average who pass through Charlotte Douglas’ three security checkpoints daily.

“CLT has invested in our security checkpoints, allowing us to test and try new things like e-Gates,” Greg Hawko, TSA Federal Security Director, CLT, said in a press release. “We hope it’s here forever because our team loves it, the passengers love it, and it gives us an opportunity to make the process more streamlined.”

The e-Gates are but one of the innovations the operations team at Charlotte Douglas implemented to ease the burden of travel for its passengers.

“Like many airports around the world, biometrics are transforming how travelers move through CLT,” said Martha Edge, director, Innovation & Experience, CLT. “Their use not only increases security but also improves efficiency in areas where bottlenecks commonly occur. At CLT, biometrics support Enhanced Passenger Processing for eligible international arrivals within the Federal Inspection
Station (FIS), helping streamline entry. Biometrics are also used for internationally departing flights, improving the outbound experience by speeding verification and reducing wait times.”

Additionally, Edge said the airport broadened its use of light detection and ranging (LiDAR) to reduce congestion.

“What began at the security checkpoints as a way to improve the customer experience and equip staff with realtime operational insights has expanded into a system that helps the airport better anticipate passenger flow,” she explained. “This provides teams with clear visibility into developing congestion and supports faster, more targeted staffing interventions. LiDAR at CLT now expands to the FIS and onto concourses B and C.”

Tampa International uses LiDAR to enhance its operations, too, for everything from indicating when restrooms need to be cleaned to identifying over-height vehicles driving onto the airport grounds, from early fire and smoke detection in its parking garages to security checkpoint wait times.

“Checkpoint A now provides accurate wait times across all travel levels, supported by a built-in self-auditing tool that validates both the published and actual wait times for every passenger,” said Wycoff. “This is critical for our passengers as well as for TSA staffing models, which rely on real-time, minute-by-minute data.” He added the airport plans to expand its LiDAR technology to its C, E and F security checkpoints.

The airport’s use of LiDAR for roadway management, including monitoring traffic flow, reporting accidents and vehicles stopped on the roadway, pedestrians in the roadway, and over-height vehicle detection, gained global attention. Tampa International was nominated as one of 16 global finalists for InnoLead’s 2026 Impact Awards. This annual program honors organizations delivering measurable innovation across major industries.

Airport operations innovations happen outside of the terminal, too. Charlotte Douglas is developing a fourth parallel runway, expected to open September 2027, in partnership with the University of North Carolina at Charlotte’s Air Institute.

Ashton Watson, director of engineering, CLT, said the project entails installing sensors in the runway, taxiway and concrete pavement to provide real-time, enhanced weather and pavement condition data to support operational decisions regarding inclement weather and deicing.

“Once installed, and the new runway is open to aircraft traffic, the system will provide extensive, long-term data to enhance understanding of pavement performance,” said Watson. “Ultimately, the information obtained by these sensor arrays will support a better understanding of pavement response to aircraft loads and environmental conditions and of pavement condition changes over time.”

According to Charlotte Douglas, the collected data will not only be used by the airport for its day-to-day operations but also by the Federal Aviation Administration to enhance future airfield pavement design and construction criteria for airports nationwide.

Even with all of these advancements, airport operations teams do not rest on their laurels.

“CLT is continually exploring practical ways to solve both the challenges we know about today and the ones we haven’t encountered yet,” said Edge. “Our approach to innovation is intentional. We focus on implementing processes and initiatives that meaningfully address real needs within our ecosystem. Whether it’s enhancing the passenger journey or improving staff operations, every innovation is evaluated through the lens of solving a problem and creating measurable value.”