In March 2024, Tim Walder (BAG Deputy Chair), Sarah Tan (DBT Airport Sector) and DBT US-based colleagues, conducted a scoping visit in the USA. They met with senior stakeholders from 7 airports (Orlando, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Atlanta, LAX, San Francisco and Seattle-Tacoma) as well as Delta Airlines, to understand their needs and ambitions, and identify opportunities for UK industry to partner and support. Please find the Scoping Visit Report to download here.
Plenty of opportunities were identified – all airports, along with Delta, have substantial expansion programmes, and there are common themes around Aging Assets, Resilience, Human Resource shortages, and the need for innovation through technological and digital solutions. US stakeholders are interested in learning from UK experiences and working with UK plc. The report prepared by Tim Walder with support from DBT, includes detailed meeting notes covering challenges and supply chain opportunities for each stakeholder.
DBT and BAG are continuing to engage directly with US stakeholders to connect them with UK expertise. If companies are interested in following up on any of the needs/opportunities mentioned in the report, please get in touch with Hannah Sallabanks.
US stakeholders are also interested in the specific capabilities below – if your organisation can offer this, please get in touch with Hannah Sallabanks and send a short blurb of your company’s capabilities:
- Digital twin technologies & use cases
- Autonomous vehicles (e.g. GSE, cleaning)
- CCTV system upgrading
- Innovative technologies to support optimisation and passenger experience
