Beyond the Terminal: How Azira’s Airport Insights Turn Traveler Behavior Into Smarter Digital Advertising

Every family trip starts well before the plane ever leaves the ground. I’ve called the Bay Area home for decades, and someone who has spent years navigating our local airports with kids, backpacks, and an overstuffed suitcase or two, I’ve come to appreciate the small decisions that shape a travel day: how we get to the airport, how long we park, how early we arrive, and what we do once we pass through security.

When you zoom out, every traveler is moving through a full journey, starting at booking the trip, moving into preparing and shopping, arriving at their airport of choice and visiting the concessions, boarding their flight, and finally experiencing their destination.

For my family, that usually means driving, parking, and grabbing a shuttle before heading to our gate. Other travelers take rideshare, public transit, or get dropped off by friends and family. Some families take their time. Business travelers cut it close. Leisure travelers wander the retail corridors for a bite to eat or to purchase a book for their flight, while regular commuters move with practiced efficiency.

Individually, these details might seem mundane, but they reveal patterns that help airports understand changing traveler behavior. Those patterns matter.
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To understand those patterns, you need visibility into real-world behavior across the full traveler journey. When you can see how travelers arrive, which concessions they choose, and how movement continues beyond the airport, the full story becomes clear.  Those insights become the foundation for smarter, more effective digital advertising that meets travelers at the right moments and with the right message. 

Here’s a look at what Azira’s data revealed about real-world traveler behavior at San Jose Mineta (SJC) and Oakland (OAK) Airports over the past three months, and how marketers can turn these insights into action.

What are the demographics of SJC and OAK travelers? 

Azira’s data revealed that SJC attracts a highly educated, younger, and higher-income traveler base: 25% hold a bachelor’s degree, 15% are ages 25–34, and nearly half earn more than $100K annually. OAK shows a similarly strong educational profile (25% with bachelor’s degrees), a comparable share of 25–34-year-olds (14%), and equally strong representation among high-income travelers, with 45% earning over $100K.

Internationally, OAK’s strongest inbound/outbound travel markets include Mexico, South Korea, Canada, and China. SJC shows similar global reach, with notable traveler volume from South Korea, Mexico, Costa Rica, and Japan.

What routes are travelers taking to and from the airports?

Azira’s heat mapping shows OAK travelers arriving largely via I-880, with strong flows from I-580, CA-24, and CA-92, drawing from Oakland, Berkeley, Walnut Creek, Fremont, and Hayward. SJC travelers most often come in on US-101, I-880, and CA-87, reflecting its pull from San Jose, Santa Clara, Sunnyvale, Cupertino, and Mountain View.  With Azira, you can also analyze visitation patterns in specific zones like parking lots, and rideshare drop-off areas to gain insights into exactly how travelers are arriving or departing. 

What hours show the highest traveler activity?

Hourly Comparison of Airport Visitors

Azira’s data showed that traveler volumes at both airports rise through the morning and peak from late morning to early afternoon, with SJC staying slightly busier throughout the day. These mid-day peaks represent the best window for traveler attention and dwell time, prime moments for airport marketers to get in front of travelers with relevant digital messaging.

Every time I travel with my family, I’m reminded that airports are shaped by real people making real choices. And when you zoom out from those individual moments, the data tells the same story at scale. Airports sit at the center of a much larger traveler journey. That journey includes countless traveler types and motivations, which makes airports powerful touchpoints for marketers looking to understand who is moving through their terminals, strengthen demand for parking and concessions, grow loyalty, or reach travelers at key moments along their trip.

With Azira, airports can turn these insights into action, using real-world data to understand traveler patterns, build high-value audiences, activate campaigns across the channels that matter most, and measure which efforts drive visitation and revenue. By understanding travelers more deeply, airport marketers can create smarter digital advertising and deliver more relevant, lasting experiences across the entire traveler journey

Learn more about how Azira can benefit your airport, or contact us today.