Simulation-based service walkthrough (SBSW) to assess airport environment performance

Purpose The increasing number of older passengers is resulted in a growing significance of international senior tourism industry. In today's competitive airport environments, improving the airport service performance (ASP) for older passengers is crucial to take an important place in the market. ASP design has been in the focal point of many researchers and airport stakeholders. However, the service performance evaluation regarding airport architectural design and use of older passengers have been mostly underrated. Design/methodology/approach The study focused on ASP evaluation of architectural building elements. The proposed simulation-based service walkthrough (SBSW) was applied in a case airport building in Istanbul. Experts performed landside passenger activities to evaluate its ASP with a given walkthrough instruction. An empathic tool, GERonTologic age simulation (GERT) suit, was used to experience the physical limitations of older passengers during the experiment. Findings Results showed that SBSW positively influenced experts' evaluation of ASP, where higher service problems were obtained. The GERT suit created a significant difference, where lower ASP scores and higher perceived empathy were observed within the group with the GERT suit. The study concluded that the proposed ASP criteria and SBSW could provide a useful research framework during service design of age-friendly airports. Originality/value The study addressed a novel area of enquiry by proposing a new set of ASP criteria for older passengers considering the airport architectural design and evaluating these criteria through a new empathic approach “SBSW”.