PTE World 2026 brought more than 11,000 aviation professionals together at ExCeL London, and the ambition on display was unmistakable. From sustainability-led terminal design to biometric processing and autonomous ground systems, the exhibition floor reflected an industry investing heavily in its future.
With ACI World forecasting global passenger traffic to reach 10.2 billion this year and long-term projections pointing to a doubling of traffic by the mid-2040s, that investment makes sense. Airports are preparing for a significant step change in scale, complexity, and passenger expectation.
What stood out, though, was how little of the formal program addressed the workforce that will need to deliver on all of it.
The gap between infrastructure and capability
Airports are pouring resources into infrastructure and technology yet, in conversations throughout the event, airport leaders kept coming back to the same concern: finding, training, and retaining the people who will actually operate these new systems and environments.
The numbers tell a similar story. PwC projects a gap of 3.5 million workers across the aerospace and defense sector by 2026. Boeing’s latest industry outlook estimates U.S. commercial carriers alone will need 674,000 new pilots by 2043. And the recent TSA staffing disruptions at major U.S. airports (where security lines exceeded three hours and hundreds of officers resigned during the March 2026 government shutdown) offered a very real reminder of what happens when the people side of the equation isn’t addressed.
These aren’t isolated data points. They reflect a structural challenge across the industry, and airports that don’t plan for workforce capability now risk falling behind.
Training is evolving and it needs to
One of the more encouraging themes at PTE World came through in conversations about how training is shifting. Airport and ground handling leaders described a clear move away from traditional classroom-only models toward more flexible, online, and role-aligned approaches.
The reasons are straightforward. Classroom training pulls operational staff off the floor, creates scheduling bottlenecks, and doesn’t always reflect how today’s workforce prefers to learn. For airports managing high turnover and continuous onboarding, that model is increasingly difficult to scale.
When training is targeted to actual skill gaps and delivered in a way that fits around operational demands, people get what they need faster and retain it longer. That’s better for individuals, better for compliance outcomes, and significantly better for operations as a whole.
What this means for airports
New terminals need trained operators. Sustainability goals need capable teams. Passenger experience targets depend on confident, well-prepared frontline staff. Every major investment discussed at PTE World ultimately relies on people who have the right skills at the right time.
Airports that treat training as a strategic function and not just a compliance checkbox will be the ones that actually deliver on the ambitions being showcased at events like PTE World.
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