Are Airport IT Teams Feeling the Heat of Summer Travel?

Why is airport Wi-Fi so painfully slow? It’s a familiar complaint and a constant source of frustration. Whether they’re scanning, swiping, streaming, or checking in, travelers count on digital services to work flawlessly from curb to gate. As the summer travel season kicks into high gear, how can airport IT teams keep critical infrastructure and services running smoothly?

Terminally Terrible Network Performance

Buckle up! Airports are expected to be even more crowded this year, with longer waits at security, coffee shops, and just about everywhere in between. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) expects global passenger traffic to reach 5.2 billion this year. That’s a 6.7 percent jump from 2024, and the first time travel will surpass prepandemic levels.

With all that travel, there’s a ton of pressure on airport chief information security officers (CISOs) and IT teams to keep digital services running smoothly. Even small disruptions can trigger a domino effect, causing delayed flights or lost luggage, or forcing airport staff to manage operations manually, as seen during the recent computer glitch at Geneva Airport. There are several possible points of failure, including:

• Check-in kiosks: If they’re not working smoothly, passengers are stuck in long lines, causing delays and frustration.
• Wi-Fi and mobile apps: With most travelers using multiple devices, connectivity issues can leave them scrambling for gate updates or unable to access mobile boarding passes, while Wi-Fi, kiosks, and backend systems struggle under heavy load.
• Baggage systems: Because radio frequency identification (RFID) and tracking apps operate over the network, if they malfunction, bags can be delayed, leading to higher costs for both airlines and passengers.
• Retail and dining: Slow payment systems cause long lines, lost sales, and delays for travelers with limited time trying to grab food or souvenirs.
• Security and customs: A small glitch with essential systems such as automated passport control, walk-through metal detectors, and even biometric screening can disrupt passenger experiences.

Because IT teams are often remote from problem areas, they need end-through-end observability at each essential network edge to continuously monitor network and application performance across the airport and effectively troubleshoot issues.

Driving Network Edge Performance Across Every Digital Zone

Today’s airport IT environment is a mesh of data flowing through interconnected systems and microenvironments, each with its own performance demands and dependencies. From parking garages and ticketing counters to air traffic control towers and international terminals, every zone functions as a digital edge, supported by a web of apps and third-party services that must perform flawlessly.

But that level of coordination creates complexity. When something goes wrong, it can take too long to pinpoint where the issue started, which systems are affected, and how far the impact has spread. By then, delays have mounted, customers are frustrated, and services have started to buckle.

Observability for system performance individually and across zones at the packet level allows IT teams to accurately identify root causes, respond quickly, and keep operations running smoothly.

Life in the “Fast LAN” 

As much as 90 percent of mean time to resolution (MTTR) is spent just understanding the problem. Reducing this diagnostic time, known as mean time to knowledge (MTTK), is essential to restoring airport services quickly and minimizing disruptions.

NETSCOUT nGenius Enterprise Performance Management solutions, including nGeniusONE, InfiniStreamNG, and Remote ISNG and nGenius Edge Sensor appliances, extend observability across airport environments to reduce MTTK and improve MTTR. Powered by deep packet inspection (DPI) at scale and NETSCOUT’s patented Adaptive Service Intelligence (ASI), these solutions generate NETSCOUT Smart Data that delivers real-time, high-fidelity insights to keep airport operations resilient.

Want a deeper understanding of troubleshooting airport network environments? Download our free airport observability infographic.