How The Indianapolis International Airport Won The J.D. Power And Associates Award For Best Medium Airport in North America Four Times In a Row: An Oral History
Every year, the J.D. Power and Associates North America Airport Satisfaction Study identifies the best Mega, Large, and Medium airports. This is the story of how the Indianapolis International Airport has been named the top Medium airport an unprecedented four times in a row.
Bill Stinson, Planning and Development, Indianapolis Airport: On our way to becoming North America’s most satisfying Medium airport, we’ve become known for one thing: big, sexy airport projects.
Mario Rodriguez, CEO, Indianapolis Airport: It was clearly the right call to invest so much money in an enormous 3D sign that says “INDY,” and it was an even better call to put that sign at the entrance of the airport, where everybody has to walk around it. Detractors have called it a “fire hazard”—whatever that means. We call it a success.
Bill Stinson, P&D: As soon as those enormous letters dropped into place, I realized we had been seeing in black and white and Mario was seeing in color.
J.D. Power’s Associate: As J.D. Power’s Associate, I had been to all of the airports. And before Indianapolis, none of them had a massive sign inside the airport to remind travelers what city they’re in. It felt like the other airports were playing checkers and Indianapolis was playing a game where you reimagine airport signage.
Bill Stinson, P&D: A lesser airport CEO would have focused on vanity projects after that, like adding more of those carts that escort people faking injuries or improving security, but not Mario.
Mario Rodriguez, CEO: I’m really passionate about food courts. There’s something about having all those options in one place, like an airport for food. I wanted to do something unprecedented.
Bill Stinson, P&D: That’s how the Indianapolis Airport ended up with nine different restaurants that serve hamburgers.
Mario Rodriguez, CEO: I love hamburgers.
J.D. Power’s Associate: Nobody thought nine hamburger restaurants was possible for a Medium. We’ve just never seen that kind of burger-to-passengers ratio. Southwest Florida International Airport, for example, maxed out at seven burger restaurants and is now overrun with cantinas and locations of Great American Bagel. It’s a shame but it goes to show how special it is for the Indianapolis Airport to have that kind of beef density.
Bill Stinson, P&D: J.D. Power practically threw the Best Medium Airport recognition at us for enhancing traveler access to red meat. It was our first Power in years. But then the unthinkable happened…
Mario Rodriguez, CEO: We lost our direct flight to Paris. Everyone knew us for that flight. I’d be in New York or London and I’d hear strangers say, ‘Hey, I don’t know you but you can fly from Indianapolis directly to Paris,’ that kind of thing. There was only one thing we could do.
Bill Stinson, P&D: We bought a bunch of real-life race cars and parked them inside the airport.
J.D. Power’s Associate: You have to remember that back then, people thought airports were all about airplanes. The Indianapolis Airport made everyone realize that air travel is really about seeing and taking pictures of race cars parked inside an airport.
Bill Stinson, P&D: “The Year of the Race Car,” is what Time magazine almost called that year.
Mario Rodriguez, CEO: It’s hard to top hearsay about influencing Time magazine editorial decisions but that’s exactly what we did when we came up with our next idea, which helped us win our third straight Power.
J.D. Power’s Associate: [Laughing] I remember when the Indianapolis Airport introduced ‘The World’s Best Shrimp Cocktail.’ It was one of those inventions that makes you wonder how people lived without it before. I legitimately am now unwilling to travel without access to shrimp.
Bill Stinson, P&D: It was clear that people love eating all-you-can-eat quantities of moderately priced airport shellfish in landlocked areas. But where do you go after airport seafood? Nobody knew. Well, almost nobody…
Mario Rodriguez, CEO: I was all-you-can-eating shrimp cocktail in Terminal A one day, thinking: what’s even more inspired than serving big shrimp with a cocktail sauce mixing station? Obviously, valet parking—which only costs $27 a day at the Indianapolis Airport.
And that’s how we earned our fourth consecutive Power.
J.D. Power’s Associate: What do I think makes this airport special? Look, the Indianapolis International has a higher Google Review rating than Nobu in Manhattan. And last time I checked, they both have shrimp and valet parking but you can’t fly to more than 40 destinations in the United States, Canada, and Mexico from Nobu.
Also, like I said before: historic beef density.
Mario Rodriguez, CEO: We hosted a wedding. Like, two people paid real money to get married inside this airport. It was in the actual newspaper. I just need people to know that happened. At the Indianapolis International Airport.