Needless to say, these are challenging times for the air travel industry. But a number of airports around the world are taking advantage of this slow time to upgrade their technology infrastructure. They know air travel will bounce back strongly at some point, and they want to be ready for that.

Two decades ago, technology didn’t even exist to help airports manage key aspects of their operations, including ground transportation (taxis, limousines, and shuttle buses then; those plus Uber and Lyft drivers now) and airfield inspection.

Lynn Richardson was an experienced, forward-thinking airport executive who was frustrated by the lack of tools to manage these functions. So, he decided to do something about it.

Today, more than 110 airports rely on software from the company he started, GateKeeper Systems, to manage these critical functions. Having achieved this success, Lynn is now turning the controls over to his son.

Brian Richardson, who spent five years working at the Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP) airport and 15 years as a project manager for the company, is ready to pilot the organization through its next phase. [Read more…]