Why Phone Charging Deserves a Spot on Every Airport Exec’s Radar

Over the last 18 months, I’ve had the chance to work closely with some of the world’s leading airports, including Heathrow, on something that—at first glance—might not seem like a big deal.

Phone charging.

Stay with me.

In an age where smartphones double as boarding passes, wallets, translators, hotel keys and more, staying charged isn’t a luxury—it’s essential. Yet most charging in airports today is still an afterthought: broken AC sockets, tangled cables, slow speeds, and patchy availability.

When I speak to airport leaders, I often hear: “I’ve never really thought about it like that.”

And honestly, that’s not surprising. Airports are some of the most complex operational environments on earth, with hundreds of critical priorities pulling focus every day. But what I’ve learned—what I’ve seen firsthand—is that charging has the power to quietly elevate (or erode) the entire passenger journey. And when done well, it also improves operations, opens up commercial opportunities, and even enhances safety.

That’s what ChargeBox set out to prove at Heathrow with the FASTpodium project.

In partnership with Heathrow’s fantastic teams, we created a modular, SMART charging podium that wraps around legacy poles, preserving existing infrastructure while upgrading them into modern, high-capacity digital assets.

Each podium delivers 12 direct-to-device USB Power Delivery experiences (including laptop charging), Qi2 wireless charging, and 4 USB ports—all in a clean, intuitive, and highly durable format.

But what really sets it apart?

• Resilience: They’re built to withstand extreme usage, weather events, and peak surges—staying live during major disruptions like fog, storm outages, and even a substation fire.
• Remote Management: Every unit is monitored 24/7, self-reporting faults and usage data in real-time, allowing proactive maintenance instead of costly reactive inspections.
• Ease of Service: Low-skilled on-site teams can handle simple fixes like cable swaps in seconds, minimising downtime and expense.
• Smarter Planning: We collect granular data on usage, dwell time, charging experience preferences, and fault trends—turning charging into a data-rich service that informs future airport design and investment.
• Cost Efficiency: We’re already replacing costly, labour-intensive manual inspection regimes. And by removing traditional AC sockets, we’re eliminating a major source of failure, misuse, and sometimes, danger.

The results? Just six FASTpodiums are projected to support over half a million charges per year. Reliability? Nearly 100%. And before the trial even concluded, Heathrow committed to expanding the rollout to other Terminals, bringing the total to 40 upgraded poles.

For me, the most exciting moment is always when the penny drops—when senior stakeholders realise that this isn’t just about charging phones. It’s about building high-impact infrastructure that’s easy to live with, scales well, and adds real value.

Because charging is no longer a ‘nice to have.’ It’s now a core part of the airport experience—and done right, it can be a strategic advantage.

So, if you’re rethinking your airport’s next evolution, let’s talk. We’re just getting started.

Justin Stark

Sales and Marketing Director, ChargeBox Ltd