Passenger-centric digital airports and multimodality take centre stage in Athens workshop

From 24-25 February 2026, 80 experts from across aviation, transport, research and policy gathered in Athens to discuss how to make multimodal travel more seamless, resilient and passenger-focused.

Co-organised by SESAR JU projects Engage 2, with FASTNet, JARVIS and SESAR JU member, Athens International Airport (which hosted the event celebrating its 25th anniversary), the workshop illustrates the importance of moving from a system-driven operations to end-to-end passenger-centric journeys. Today's fragmented landscape across air, rail and other modes limits visibility, predictability and coordination, leading to missed connections, longer waiting times and increased passenger stress.

The event featured a strong presence of SESAR Joint Undertaking projects working on multimodality and passenger experience, including ASTAIR, HERON, JARVIS, MAIA, FASTNet, MultiModX, ORCI, PEACOCK, PRIAM, SIGN-AIR and TravelWise highlighting the breadth of ongoing innovation and the value of collaboration across the portfolio.

During the first day of the event, which was dedicated to a deep dive into the Engage 2 Thematic Challenge #2: Passenger-centric digital airport, discussions pointed to a clear shift from system-driven operations to end-to-end passenger-centric journeys. Today's fragmented landscape across air, rail and other modes limits visibility, predictability and coordination, leading to missed connections, longer waiting times and increased passenger stress.

Participants agreed that integrated data sharing, common standards and clearer governance are essential to enable real-time, door-to-door journey management. Single ticketing and multimodal platforms supported by AI-driven tools such as digital "travel companions" were identified as key enablers to improve predictability, provide alternatives during disruption and simplify the passenger experience.

At the same time, deploying these solutions requires addressing data privacy, liability and trust, alongside ensuring transparency and human oversight in increasingly automated environments. For operators, the transition also brings new complexity, requiring stronger data capabilities, new skills and closer cross-sector collaboration.

Across both passenger and operator perspectives, predictability emerged as the defining factor: reliable, real-time information can significantly improve the journey experience even in disrupted conditions.

Ultimately, the workshop concluded that seamless multimodal travel is not just a technological challenge, but a systemic transformation requiring coordinated action on governance, data, skills and business models to build a more connected and passenger-centric mobility system.

Many of the discussion points particularly on passenger-centric multimodality are already being addressed by the SESAR Joint Undertaking and its portfolio of projects, and are further explored in the recent CORDIS publication Smart airports and innovative multimodal solutions.

The second day of the workshop shifted from strategic dialogue to practical, hands-on experience, offering participants a closer look at emerging multimodal solutions. This session featured a live demonstration of the FASTNet project, where attendees witnessed the validation results and operational concepts (Solutions 0346 & 0347) designed to harmonize airport and network management. The event reached its conclusion with an exclusive visit to the Athens International Airport facilities. The tour provided a tangible, real-world backdrop to the previous day's discussions on multimodal integration, while also serving as a celebration of the Greek airport's 25 years of operational excellence in the European aviation landscape.

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FASTNet and JARVIS

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