b'PUBLISHERS COLUMN 7Settle in for More ChangesWe are into a new year, and the blueprint for our industry is far Airport improvement projects are continuing from boring. at breakneck speeds. Many of us are not only We think we are so smartthat we know what is happening, surviving, we are thriving.or is going to happen. A year ago, many said that once theSo, what is my message? pandemic has passed, things will get back to normal. Normal? There is no normal. And the sooner we For what? For whom? accept that, the easier it will be to deal with First, the pandemic has not gone away. We now have morethe future. Change, not normal, is the word to PAUL BOWERS, PUBLISHERvariants about how to handle the pandemic than COVID variants.remember. And positive change will drive our Secondly, the changes we have seen as a result of the pandemiccollective growth.have been mind-boggling. Were proud to witness and share the changes airports have The way we live and do business looks nothing like it did beforeinstituted. Look no further than this issues ramp story from SEA, the COVID-19. Changes to international travel, the preponderance ofvirtual queuing thats occurring at MCO and SEA, new restrooms at work from home, contactless/touchless systems, rising inflation,BWI and PHL, and baggage system improvements at FLL. Pay close worker/supply shortages, Turo and more have all blown up what weattention to what our Industry Insider columnist, Gal Le Bris from used to call normal.WSP USA, has to say about airports and electrification. This change Yet, despite all this disruption, theres light at the end of the tunnel.is coming. Its a matter of when, not if. Most people who want to work are working. Airports are filling withOur industry is far from boring. And I love it!more and more passengers. Some are even tracking ahead of theirCheers,all-time passenger records, and others are closing in on them fast. AirportImprovement.comJanuary | February 2022'