There is something reassuring about a survey which doesn’t produce a dramatic headline.
The Civil Aviation Authority’s latest passenger survey shows that satisfaction with UK airports remains high, even as passenger numbers continue to grow. Across the eight airports surveyed, 225 million passengers travelled during 2025, up 2% on the previous year, while the average passenger rating edged upwards from 8.36 to 8.39 out of ten.
At Heathrow, the score was higher still at 8.53, the third highest among the airports surveyed, despite Heathrow handling by far the largest number of passengers. The survey also reminds us just how distinctive Heathrow’s passengers are: half are foreign residents and more than a quarter are connecting through the airport.
There is encouraging news beyond the terminal too. Across the airports surveyed, 38% of passengers now use public transport to reach the airport, compared with 33% in 2019. At Heathrow the figure is 42%.
For the Heathrow Passenger Forum, these are welcome findings. But high levels of satisfaction should never become a reason for complacency. The challenge is not simply to maintain today’s passenger experience, but to improve it as aviation grows and passenger expectations continue to change.
That makes another announcement this week particularly interesting.
Border Force has begun rolling out new contactless technology at airport eGates. Initially being introduced at East Midlands Airport for British citizens, the system allows passengers to approach an eGate and have their identity verified using facial comparison technology, without having to place their passport on the reader. Testing suggests it could make the process up to 25% faster. Heathrow is among the airports where the technology will subsequently be introduced.
It is a relatively small change to the passenger journey, but potentially an important one.
Airports are complicated ecosystems involving airlines, airport operators, Border Force, security, baggage systems, public transport providers and many others. Passengers, however, experience them as one journey. A delay or frustration at any point affects their perception of the whole.
Technology therefore matters most when passengers barely notice it.
The best innovation isn’t necessarily the most spectacular. It is technology that removes a queue, shortens a process, provides better information, makes an airport more accessible or simply takes one small piece of friction out of someone’s journey.
At Heathrow, where passenger numbers are expected to continue growing, those incremental improvements become increasingly important. Technology can help increase capacity and resilience without simply requiring more physical infrastructure or more people at every stage of the journey.
But there is an important qualification. Technology must work for passengers, rather than passengers having to work around technology. It must be reliable, intuitive and inclusive, with human assistance readily available when it is needed.
The CAA’s latest survey tells us that passengers continue to think highly of their airport experience. That is good news. The challenge now is to use technology intelligently so that tomorrow’s passenger notices the improvement, without necessarily noticing the technology.
Mark A Izatt
7th October 2026