Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) has partnered with consultancy Designit to launch a proprietary digital airport worker experience solution called Altitude, aimed at providing better tools, services and information.
Altitude, led from conception to delivery by Designit, acts as an information portal for accessing the necessary tools that the 40,000 Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) staff rely on daily – such as problem reporting, discounted food ordering, FAQs, getting to LAX commute options and service directories.
Designit’s brief was to navigate LAX’s network of airport staff and modernize the airport worker experience by building a digital platform for all staff to use, be they directly hired by LAWA or through one of LAX’s suppliers or partners. This included workers such as airline crews and safety and other personnel who work for a variety of companies, across different shift patterns and for different periods of time, yet all call LAX their workplace.
The Designit team, led by Madeline Kossakowski, took a holistic approach to the design in trying to enhance the airport worker experience, interviewing a cross-section of workers, conducting observational research, and recording behavior as the staff about their daily airport tasks to better understand the needs of LAX’s workforce.
Altitude is the result of more than 26 weeks of research, design, development, testing, branding exercises and iterating based on feedback. It has been rolled out to all LAX airport workers through an airport-wide awareness campaign. Altitude is now live and available for all employees at LAX.
Ian Law, chief digital transformation officer at LAWA, said, “Altitude not only elevates communication and connection across the airport, but it also empowers our 40,000+ airport workers with its remarkable features. With this app, our dedicated workers can swiftly identify and resolve maintenance issues, supporting the seamless operation of our facilities. Additionally, Altitude provides information on worker commutes, streamlining their journey to and from work, and it opens doors to exclusive worker-only discounts at many airport concessions. Altitude is the beginning of a journey that intends to truly revolutionize the way airport workers work and experience our LAX community.”
Laura Breines, head of Designit Americas, added, “A large part of this project was creating an LAX community across the direct LAWA staff, airline teams and all the support staff who are employed by external suppliers to keep the airport operational. The branding of Altitude was specifically designed to be a recognizable symbol that unites airport workers. The experience of Altitude itself is not just a toolbox with features strung together, but rather a concierge type service, making day-to-day tasks easier. We’re excited to continue to build upon the foundation of Altitude in our next phase of work with LAWA, making Altitude an indispensable tool to airport workers that truly makes their experience working at LAX better.”
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