Digital signage plays a significant role in how audiences receive information. It can inform, engage, and persuade. That’s especially true at the airport. Digital signage in airports isn’t new, but it has evolved from being ill-designed lists of arrivals and departures. Now, LED displays are everywhere. Let’s look at how airports are using LED digital signage to improve the passenger experience:

Wayfinding

Getting lost in an airport is rather easy and usually increases in large airports. Many flyers won’t have intimate knowledge of that airport’s layout. So, they’ll need some help. Navigating with LEDs over paper has several advantages.

Not only can wayfinding help passengers get from gate to gate, it can also be changed at any time to correlate with any closings of areas or the need to re-route. This keeps passengers moving in the right direction.

Emergency Information

Should an event occur, weather-related or any other emergency situation, you need to disperse information quickly and accurately. Directing passengers to where they need to go with the help of LED displays. This can keep crowds calm while informing them of what to do next. Because your signs can be updated at any time and across all screens in a network, you have a flexible, adaptable channel.

Entertainment

LED digital signage also offers entertainment for passengers. It can include news headlines, sports scores, entertainment news, and more. You may see these live feeds in certain sections of the screen rather than the whole screen. Because digital signage design has become very adaptable, the top half of the LED display could be playing promotions, while real-time content flows at the bottom.

Advertising: Internal and External

One of the most often used capabilities of LED digital signage in airports is to advertise, which could include internal or external clients.

For internal advertising, groups of digital signage in the terminal may communicate what the dining options are throughout the airport as well as retailers. This can work on the passenger’s impulse purchasing decisions. In fact, according to Digital Signage Today, 42 percent of passengers were more likely to make an impulse purchase when businesses promoted duty-free items.

Externally, it makes sense to offer screen time to local businesses, especially restaurants, hotels, transportation, and attractions. This type of signage is most likely found in the path of arrivals and sits prominently at the baggage claim. Offering this ad space is the same thing airports have done for years with banners and static signage.

LED Digital Signage as Art

One emerging trend is the use of digital signage as art. These have been made even more alluring with LED video walls that can bend and wrap. Airports can deliver a more upscale experience. Plus, the “art” can change out regularly based on season or events. It could also be tied into advertisements with internal and local businesses.

Use Unique Screens for Unique Experiences

There is a lot of waiting at the airport with a large audience, which pays attention to LED screens now more than ever. Much of this is due to the new applications and dynamic content. To create these experiences, a new breed of display is necessary, which is exactly what PixelFLEX delivers. The FLEXUltra is a cutting-edge curve-able display that can fit any spot, and the FLEXMod can flex, bend and blend in with any space seamlessly.

Explore all the PixelFLEX solutions for airports by checking out products. Those in the industry can also see solutions at the ACI-NA (Airports Council International-North America) annual conference in Nashville this fall, where PixelFLEX will present its options for airport LED digital signage.

With different layouts in every city, airports can be stressful to navigate. This is especially true if you are on a layover and have to get to your next gate quickly. Searching for a sign listing gate information is often difficult, especially if there are none that are centrally located or eye-catching. With the introduction of LED video screen technology into airport designs, terminals across the world are gaining the ability to provide instant, attention grabbing information to the waiting passengers. In fact, a single LED display can provide passengers with dining and shopping information, gates and flight times, interactive experiences and art displays, all while bringing in ad revenue for the airport.

Those waiting for flights are known in the marketing industry as a captive audience. With little to do other than read or look at their phones, passengers’ eyes can easily be drawn to a well designed and deployed LED video display. Be it advertising promoting events and local business in the airport’s city, or even just giving information on the various bars and restaurant options available in the terminal. Traditional printed displays are becoming less effective in an age when everyone is staring at the screen on their personal device. Digital displays have become a necessity to promote and capture the attention of your consumer base.

The technology goes beyond merely displaying images and video, however. Modern displays actually give passengers an opportunity to interact. Particularly effective with wayfinding information, interactive displays vastly improve the overall customer experience. Passengers can plot their own route to their gate or even take a virtual tour of their terminal, learning about the various stores available to them along their route. This level of interaction turns waiting in the airport from a collective, depersonalized experience to one that is very individual focused, making the passenger feel as though their needs are of the utmost concern.

Perhaps the most surprising but most popular up and coming uses of LED digital signage is utilization for creative art experiences in the airport. Because the technology provides the ability to show vibrant, visually stunning content, airports have begun to implement it into their design in ways that are geared towards providing an aesthetically interesting experience to the passenger. In Denver, the airport train takes you through a tunnel decorated with LED lights and hundreds of small propellers. In Miami, international arrivals waiting in line are given a series of creative displays to engage them and make their waiting experience go by much quicker. While their ability to relay information is certainly ideal for the airports that use them, LED displays can also clearly be used for creative endeavors as well.

Whether it’s providing a more visually appealing space or giving passengers access to information quickly and easily, LED displays in airports are changing the way passengers wait for their flights. PixelFLEX® is an innovative American-based LED manufacturer that offers creative solutions, dependable products, and reliable service for their award-winning LED display technologies and solutions. Check out the PixelFLEX® Product Selection Tool to find the ideal LED display for getting people where they need to go in your airport.

LAX. ORD. DFW.

These codes represent some of the busiest airports in America, but they more so represent a massive opportunity. Commercial aviation has already started an industry-wide overhaul of static signage, but there are still key areas where the passenger experience could be improved through better digital signage.

Modern travelers consistently face three challenges that can diminish what would otherwise be a very pleasant experience: navigation, entertainment, and retail experiences. The words “You Are Here” hidden behind a cloudy pane of glass represent a very real failure of signage to help lead passengers to their destination. To make their time before or after a flight as pleasant as possible, travelers must be able to easily navigate engaging content and shopping experiences.

Finding your way around the airport consists of everything from signs on the highway that let drivers know which gate to enter, to touch kiosks that intelligently display terminal maps and public transit routes. Instead of scrambling to find static signs that may be hard to see, or in odd spots, airline travelers will easily be able to locate all important information.

One inherent benefit of this system is that it can be intelligently updated and linked. Traffic, curbside pickup, and even ticketing, can be made more efficient and flexible with bright digital signage. This allows airports to post gate announcements, creative welcomes, and advertisements.

Personalizing the experience of landing in Boston or Phoenix is a fun way to make a first impression. An LED wall, an image of  Boston’s Fenway Park, or a display of the Arizona desert helps immediately relax travelers, while also providing operators with an opportunity to present up-to-date information about exits and gates.

Architectural indoor entertainment LED displays are more than just eye catching. These features can entertain dozens of customers at a time, and may even prove to be navigational markers in themselves!

Los Angeles International Airport recently upgraded their Tom Bradley International terminal with a comprehensive multimedia overhaul. This project involved the creation of a multi-faceted modular storytelling experience that included welcome walls, a storyboard, destination board, and “time tower.” Time tower is a four-sided installation that is 72 feet tall and uses dynamic content software to project updates, alerts, and advertisements.

This approach is not only engaging, but it’s profitable. In addition to the cost of traveler inefficiency, digital signage maximizes the revenue of on-site retailers, concessions, or events. Some savvy airports are also integrating text message alerts and campaigns into their operations to capitalize on smart phones.

Great airport experiences are about making sure that customers are informed and engaged from the time they arrive until the time they depart. LED signs often last as long as a decade and have flexible programming options that can deliver on target content. If you are interested in learning more about how PixelFLEX can support your airport signage needs, visit us here.