MyAeroSatu Committee salute KLIA management & staff for helping passengers affected by the temporary closure of Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta Airport due to volcano ash from Mount Anak Krakatau. Rest areas have been designated at KLIA Terminal 1 and 2 for passengers waiting for flight updates. The volcano's ongoing activity has led authorities to keep safety zones in place. The KLIA management said in addition to providing suitable rest areas, it has offered food and light refreshment for affected passengers & buses to hotels, in coordination with the respective airlines. Anak Krakatau which is halfway between Java & Sumatra in Indonesia vast island chain, has been erupting since late on Friday 4th with volcanic ash detected at the airport in Jakarta.
Being a frequent passenger, I realized the modern airport is one of the greatest contradictions in travel. Never have passengers had so much technology at their disposal. We can order food, summon transport, translate languages, navigate unfamiliar cities and access almost limitless information within a few seconds. Yet the moment we step into an airport, the experience often feels rooted in another era. We queue to prove who we are, to check bags and for security. We queue for border control, at the departure gate and even on the air-bridge. Sometimes we queue simply because everyone else is queuing!
As a former airline HRD manager, I found airports are not simply transport facilities. They are environments where people experience excitement, anxiety, anticipation, frustration & relief, often within the space of a few hours. Designing around those human emotions may prove just as important as designing around operational metrics. I believe the airports that thrive over the next decade are unlikely to be those with the most impressive architecture or largest retail footprints. We need airports that understand something deceptively simple: passengers do not want more technology but humanity and hospitality.
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