Asking passengers to download an app is asking them to do something most won't do

The one-time-use problem

Airport navigation is, for most passengers, a one-time-use service per journey. A passenger visiting an airport they have never been to before needs navigation for approximately 20–40 minutes. Downloading, installing, and onboarding to an app for a single 30-minute use case is a value exchange that most passengers decline — not because the app is bad, but because the cost of acquiring it exceeds the perceived benefit at the moment of need.

This is not speculation. SITA's 2025 Air Transport IT Insights report found that despite airlines investing heavily in mobile apps for years, airline app usage stands at just 23% — and airline apps have a vastly larger installed base and stronger motivation to download (boarding passes, check-in) than any airport-specific navigation app.

Onboarding friction at the worst possible moment

Airport navigation is needed at a specific moment: when a passenger has just arrived at the terminal and needs to find their gate. This is also the moment of highest time pressure. Research from UserGuiding's analysis of over 100 onboarding studies found that 72% of users abandon an onboarding flow that requires too many steps, with the threshold typically at three screens.

A native app installation flow — visit the App Store or Play Store, download, wait for installation, open, grant permissions, optionally create an account — involves substantially more than three steps. For a passenger who needs directions in the next 10 minutes, this flow will be abandoned.

The same research found that interactive product tours increase feature adoption by 42%, and personalised onboarding increases retention by up to 50%. These findings apply to products where the user has already committed to an install. At the point of airport arrival, that commitment has not been made.

What passengers say they want

The demand is not absent — it is misdirected by the delivery model. Airport Dimensions' AX25 study of more than 10,000 passengers across 16 countries found that 56% want a single airport app for wayfinding, services, and purchases. IATA's Global Passenger Survey 2024 found that 78% want a unified smartphone tool combining navigation, digital wallet, loyalty, and travel ID.

Passengers want the service. They do not want the install. This is a delivery problem, not a demand problem.

The browser as the delivery mechanism

Progressive Web Applications — services delivered through the browser with no install step — have matured substantially. The PWA market was valued at $3.53 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach $21.44 billion by 2033 (Straits Research). Studies comparing PWA and native app performance find that PWAs load 40% faster and show comparable or better retention in use cases where the service is consumed episodically rather than daily.

Travel and navigation are identified by multiple research sources as ideal PWA use cases: the service is needed contextually (at the airport), not habitually; the session is bounded (one journey); and cross-platform consistency matters (passengers use both iOS and Android).

The delivery model is a URL. A passenger receives a link — in a booking confirmation, from a QR code at the terminal entrance, or from their airline — opens it in their existing browser, and navigation begins. No account. No installation. No permission grant beyond location access for the navigation session itself.

Mobile is primary — but apps are not

SITA's 2025 data shows that 71% of passengers book travel via mobile or app, and airline app usage has grown 7% over five years. Mobile is clearly the right channel. But the same data shows that even with years of investment and a strong existing relationship, airline app adoption sits at 23%.

An airport navigation app — with no pre-existing passenger relationship and a narrower use case — would face the same adoption ceiling at a fraction of the marketing budget. The research consistently points in one direction: browser-native delivery removes the single largest barrier to adoption without sacrificing any of the functionality that passengers actually use.