Airport Business - 13

SEATING
without looking for any guidance from
the state or guidance from the airline or
other airports, we created our own plan
that we felt would incorporate some
of these best practices. That included
putting up acrylic shields at various
countertops, points where people
are interacting, like ticket counters,
our information kiosks, and in places
like concessions. Then also ordering
thousands of f loor decals and began
applying them in places where it made
sense," said Nipps.
The f loor decals are found
throughout the ticketing areas, outside
and inside of shuttles and in the lines
at the TSA checkpoints and stores,
helping guide people on where to stand
and keep socially distance.
Distance is the keyword when it
comes to TPA's seating as well, as the
airport has taken steps to ensure the
proper social distancing guidelines can
be followed by passengers even as they
take a load off.
"We've got every other seat spaced
out. We've got markers on the seats,
basically telling people not to sit in
those seats, so we can maintain the
six-foot distance. Obviously, families
that are traveling together, they can
sit together. So far, people are doing
a pretty good job of staying separated,"
Nipps explained.
Seating changes have been taken
under by the Orlando Melbourne
International Airport (MLB) too, but
where TPA marked their seating off,
MLB went a step farther.
"We have removed approximately
30 percent of our seating throughout
the airport to ensure our passengers are
able to comfortably be physically distant
from one another. Additionally, seating
in the passenger boarding areas no
longer have back-to-back seating and
all seats now face the same direction
towards windows, similar to a theater,"
said Rob Himler, MLB's manager of
marketing and communications.
Prior to the change, Himler
said there was an overabundance of
passenger seating throughout the
concourse.
"It was crowded and mostly situated
back-to-back and facing one another,"
he continued. "Being a less congested
airport allowed us to make these

A masked passenger at the Tampa International Airport.
TAMPA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

changes and have the ability to make
them permanent. We will continue as
long as it provides a safe environment
for travel. It has also given us the
opportunity to remove outdated seating
and make repairs."
Other initiatives MLB has enacted
include physical distancing visual
guides, terminal seating and queue
reconfiguration and an online resource
for travelers to use to prepare for their
next journey and learn all that MLB
has done.
To meet the challenges and address
the new normal of the COVID19 world, MLB has put together a
dedicated taskforce to tackle all that
the pandemic has and will bring, as well
as address the evolving public health
guidelines around it.
"The task force is made up of
several department directors and
managers to brainstorm, explore and
implement ways to make the journey
at our airport safer, better and more
convenient. We began with outlining
the overall strategy and implemented
what we could accomplish immediately
i nclud i n g en h a nced clea n i n g
procedures, communication and
staffing," Himler said.

Meeting the New
Normal
Prior to COVID-19's outbreak, Lynn
Gordon, vice president of business
development, Arconas, said airport
seating was already beginning to trend
in a new direction.
"In the past several years we have
seen an increased demand for a mixture
of seating, with more lounge pieces
accompanying traditional tandem
seating. There has also been a trend
toward creating separate seating zones,
such as family pods, business zones with
charging stations along with general
beam seating," Gordon said.
The trend was born out of airports
wanting to meet the diverse needs
of their guests and having a variety
of options to make everyone feel
comfortable. Gordon said this included
seating that allowed for more personal
space through the use of tables, tablet
arms, 'clusters', acoustic panels, planters
and other design features; all trends
continuing into the COVID-19 world
and beyond.
"Creating layouts that allow for
f lexibility and, where practical, more
personal space will continue be a trend,"
Gordon said.

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Airport Business

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