Top Workforce Challenges Facing Airports and How Leaders Can Get Ahead of Them

As travel demand grows and workforce expectations shift, airports are facing mounting talent pressures, exacerbated by the constant staff retention challenge faced by the industry worldwide.

Leaders must navigate shortages in technical skills, rising turnover, evolving employee expectations, and an aging workforce all the while keeping their operations safe, secure, efficient, and passenger-friendly. 

In this article, we outline the top talent challenges airports are likely to encounter in 2026 and the steps HR and operations leaders can take to stay ahead.

Shortage of Skilled Candidates

Airports continue to struggle with talent shortage, especially in specialized technical and safety-sensitive roles.

ACI’s 2025 Aviation Talent Study reported that more than 70 percent of airports face critical shortages in roles such as maintenance technicians, airfield operations staff, and aviation security specialists. These shortages pose important risk to airports as they can strain operations, slow down projects, and increase workload for existing teams.

How Leaders Can Get Ahead:

• Build partnerships with aviation schools, technical institutes, and local colleges to strengthen the talent pipeline.
• Offer apprenticeships, self-paced training, and on-the-job training programs that allow candidates to gain required skills while contributing to operations.
• Review compensation structures to ensure wages and benefits reflect market conditions for high-demand roles.
• Make the organization more attractive by outlining career pathways that promote long-term development and internal mobility.

High Turnover in Frontline and Customer-Facing Roles

It's not a secret, airports struggle to retain their staff and turnover remains elevated in frontline positions, especially those involving irregular hours or physically demanding tasks. 

Airports also face added risks when turnover disrupts safety-critical processes or creates inconsistent passenger experiences.

How Leaders Can Get Ahead:

• Improve working conditions by ensuring proper equipment and fair scheduling practices
• Strengthen onboarding programs to support employees during their first 90 days, a period when turnover risk is highest
• Define best-practice job descriptions to ensure expectations are clear and shared by managers and employees.
• Create clear career pathways that show employees how they can advance into supervisory or cross-functional roles

Shifting Workforce Expectations

Today's workforce is no longer satisfied with just "having a job" and they are now prioritizing career growth, learning opportunities, and meaningful work. LinkedIn’s 2025 Workforce Confidence Survey found that career development was one of the top three drivers of employee retention proving that employees want transparency about role expectations and greater involvement in shaping their development.

How Leaders Can Get Ahead:

• Introduce capability frameworks that clarify skills and expectations for each role.
• Provide regular coaching and feedback to help employees understand their strengths and development areas.
• Communicate available learning and mobility opportunities across departments.

Aging Workforce and Retirement Risk

Many airports have a long-tenured workforce, especially in technical and maintenance roles. IATA’s 2025 Workforce Outlook estimated that retirements in key aviation roles will increase steadily through 2028, raising concerns about knowledge loss and succession gaps.

How Leaders Can Get Ahead:

• Identify high-risk roles and begin succession planning early.
• Use mentoring and job-shadowing programs to transfer knowledge between experienced staff and new talent.
• Document essential procedures, best practices, and informal knowledge in digital systems to preserve institutional memory.

Capability Gaps Due to New Technologies

Gartner’s 2025 Digital Operations Report noted that digital proficiency among frontline teams is now one of the strongest predictors of operational performance.

As airports continue to implement new digital systems, automated processes, and data-driven tools to improve efficiency, they need to have supporting plans to increase digital readiness in order to avoid creating capability gaps that could affect the safety and efficiency of their operations.

How Leaders Can Get Ahead:

• Provide digital readiness training and short refreshers as systems are introduced or updated.
• Offer micro-learning modules that support adoption of new tools.
• Involve frontline staff early in the rollout of new systems to increase engagement and reduce resistance to change.

The talent challenges airports face in 2026 are significant, but they are manageable with proactive planning. Leaders who invest in capability clarity, internal development, digital readiness and strong succession planning will continue to build more resilient operations while protecting performance, improving retention, and preparing their workforce for the demands of the future.