During his conversation with Sevda Fevzi, the president and CEO of Sevly, at the PTE World Conference today, Roel Huinink, president and CEO of JFKIAT, launched his organization’s North Star initiative – a guiding principle that is intended to define a clear vision.
He explained, “To align our North Star, we conducted extensive research, competitive analyses and collaborative workshops with our partners. T4’s North Star statement is translated into five key experience pillars: ‘employees’, to empower collaboration and promote a sense of community; ‘airline’, to continue fostering trusted airline partnerships to support their seamless operations at T4; ‘commercial’, where the airport plans to reimagine its spaces as dynamic, multifunctional environments through enriching commercial offerings; ‘passenger’ to deliver an efficient, personalized and unmistakably New York and Terminal 4 experience; and ‘ambiance’ to infuse the terminal with a sense of place by updating the look, feel and amenities to create a memorable atmosphere.
In an exclusive interview at the show, Huinink revealed to PT World, “We created a North Star vision for our terminal because I strongly believe in looking beyond the infrastructure.
“It’s about setting a new bar of how we want to interact with each other and how that reflects on the passenger. To do that, we had 50 workshops with airlines, business partners, concessionaires and employees to really get them on board and learn how they can contribute what passengers think is important.
“We did a lot of passenger research too, to discover what is the differentiator for T4 compared with the other airport terminals. This is because JFK is a competitive environment where airlines have a choice.
“That’s when we realized that everybody can invest in infrastructure and technology, and everybody does, including ourselves. However, in the end, how does that translate to the passenger? If we all come together and perform in the right way, then the passenger will have a great experience, and that sets us apart from others.
“We’re building experiences around the T4 state of mind, which is driven by pride, community and innovation. We’re also asking how we can involve all the stakeholders, empower the people to bring new ideas, get alignment on their expectations and their future needs, and then, in the end, take pride in what we do. If we combine those three things – pride community and innovation – we create the T4 state of mind and differentiate us from the ops.”
PTE World 2025 is taking place April 8, 9 & 10 at IFEMA in Madrid. Click here for more PTE World news and click the logo below to register for the conference and your FREE expo pass.
