March 28, 2024

At Airports, a World of Services for Business Fliers and Workers

Jim Rosenberg, the head of online and social media for the World Bank, can vouch that some airports offer a lot more than places to eat and newsstands filled with gossipy magazines.

On a flight from Washington to Tbilisi, Georgia, Mr. Rosenberg realized during a stop in Munich that he “didn’t have this asthma medicine I take every day,” he said. But, luckily, the airport had a pharmacy. “I knew the generic name to tell them what I needed,” he said. “They told me I had to go to the clinic for a prescription. It was just down the hall.”

Mr. Rosenberg said he was surprised at how easy it was. “The most this all cost me was mainly time and money from being disorganized.”

Even the most efficient business travelers may find themselves forgetting something or running out of time to take care of a personal errand before a flight. Airports, particularly those in Europe and Asia, are responding by offering an increasing array of services like hair salons, medical clinics and dry cleaners.

Rainer Perry, the United States representative for Düsseldorf International Airport, said that “the city is known for trade shows and conventions, so we get a lot of business travelers.” The airport’s advantage, Mr. Perry said, is its small size, with all services “in one terminal building, so no long distances.” He said the services included meeting rooms, pharmacies, a hairdresser, a post office and an airport dentist, open even on Sundays and holidays, allowing travelers to schedule visits or have emergency dental work between connections.

Wilko W. Geesink, a pharmacist, is the managing director of Apotheek Schiphol Plaza, the pharmacy inside Arrivals Hall 3 in Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport, which opened in 2009. Mr. Geesink said his clients included “locals, people working at Schiphol Airport or living nearby, commuters, travelers, hospitals from abroad, oil platforms, you name it.”

Many business travelers are repeat clients who send “prescriptions by e-mail in advance, together with their travel schedule,” he said. “When they pass by, everything is ready to be picked up and paid for.”

Jonathan Massey, a principal with the airport design firm Corgan Associates, says several factors have led to the expansion of airport services. “Functionality was once the leading decision point in design,” he said in an e-mail, “but now the traveler’s ease and experience are among an airport’s key priorities.”

He added that passengers had more time than in the past as “some people try to get to the airport earlier to reduce the stress of the check-in and security procedure, resulting in more time at the gate.” The expanded services also help airport management “to increase revenue generation,” he said.

Foreign airports have led the way in services, Mr. Massey said, starting with duty-free shopping. “Flying between countries in Europe could be compared to flying between the states in the United States,” he said, resulting in a much higher percentage of Europeans traveling internationally and supporting a greater range of services.

“Asian airports,” he added, “have been innovative in providing amenities that cater to long-haul passengers with very long layovers.” He cited services as diverse as short-stay hotels, movie theaters and pay-per-use airline lounges.

“The majority of traffic through airports is your typical personal or business traveler,” he said, but “airport workers and airline employees also make use of terminals.”

That is the case with the SFO Medical Clinic at San Francisco International Airport, which opened in 1972 and is one of only a handful of airport medical clinics in the United States. “We do see a lot of travelers in between flights and employees who work at the airport who walk in when they don’t feel well,” said Neil Sol, the clinic’s director.

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/26/business/airport-services-go-beyond-newsstands-and-ready-made-sandwiches.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

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