Landing the Perfect Ride: Innovation in Airport Ground Transportation

Summary

In recent years, startups have targeted some of the travel industry's last frontiers, including products such as in-destination activities and vacation rental, which lagged the rest of the travel marketplace in terms of automation and aggregation. Airport ground transportation, which has historically been highly fragmented and localized, is among the few remaining parts of the travel experience that is largely excluded from the broader travel-planning ecosystem. For leisure and unmanaged business travelers, researching and fully comparing options for the "last mile" of travel can be difficult or impossible. Even within managed travel programs, ground transportation is frequently an unmanaged and low-compliance element of T&E.

However, driven by a confluence of trends within and outside of the travel industry, airport ground transportation appears to be on the precipice of transformation. Technology and business model innovation is afoot, and competing approaches seek to drive efficiencies, improve the traveler experience and profit from the ground transportation opportunity. This article explores the trends, technologies and players that are changing the way air travelers get to and from their home or accommodations.