Elevating airport bus transfers into a hospitality experience.
Dubai International Airport handles nearly 90 million passengers a year, with over 70% transferring between flights.
Thousands relied on buses to connect between concourses, but poor signage, inconsistent service, and basic facilities undermined Dubai’s reputation as the world’s leading transfer hub.
With rising transfer volumes and growing competition, missed connections and low satisfaction were a mounting risk.
We mapped the entire bus journey through ethnographic research — shadowing transfers, timing connections, and interviewing passengers and staff.
Together with Dubai Airports, dnata, Emirates, and flydubai, we created a Bus Product Standard covering 13 touchpoints across physical, human, and digital dimensions, embedding principles of hospitality, comfort, accessibility, and real-time information.
The work unlocked a multimillion-dollar upgrade programme, leading to new lounges, upgraded vehicles, on-demand shuttles, branded digital systems, and trained hospitality staff.
It gave Dubai Airports its first unified bus product, reducing transfer risks, improving efficiency, and elevating satisfaction — strengthening Dubai’s position as the world’s leading transfer hub.