Think about the last time you were at an airport. The sights, smells, tastes and the feelings that you get in these tantalizing buildings. There seems to be something so intriguing, yet unexplainable about how we interact and consume our experiences at the airport.
After the COVID-19 pandemic that shuttered travelers and airports for almost three years, everyone is eager to hit the road this summer, and almost everyone’s journey will begin at an airport. Airport culture is upon us, but what does airport culture encompass?
(Pexels / Tanathip Rattanatum)
The majority of people that go to airports are there for its primary purpose: the “garage” of airplanes that can take you and fellow passengers to hundreds of destinations around the world. However, that is not the only thing that airports are being used for in 2023. Even if you do not have a flight, the airport is a free building that anyone can explore. This includes restaurants, shops and places to just sit and relax, all the way up until the security checkpoint.
So why all of a sudden has an “airport culture” began to develop among the newer generations, and what does this entail for travel goers moving forward? One component of this developing culture is the people you see at the airport. The large majority of people at airports are quite friendly and are open to chatting. The reason for people acting as such might be because almost everyone is doing one of two things: waiting for someone or waiting to go somewhere.
(Pexels / Oleksandr Pidvalnyi)
As someone who didn’t get to travel outside of the province in my childhood, airports in general were mysterious to me up until around two years ago when I started doing some solo trips. The four or five times that I have been to the airport in the past two years have all been a positive experience, and there’s just something exciting and mysterious about what I’ll see and do while I wait for my flight.
Airports also supply plenty of sensory experiences, whether it is watching the planes take off, observing people scrambling around to try and find their gate or just being in an atmosphere where everyone is in the travelling mindset.
(Pexels / Matthew Turner)
When it comes to trying to pinpoint why airport culture is upon us in the year 2023, the appeal that airports give us appears to be connected to long-standing human traditions. Important events are happening all around us at airports, anything from people going away to start a new life, returning home to their family or simply just beginning their mapped-out getaway.
The next time you are at an airport, soak up the experience. Airport culture is growing and will continue to evolve the more we utilize the hundreds of airports around the globe.