{"id":184294,"date":"2026-05-05T12:57:25","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T12:57:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/184294\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T12:57:25","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T12:57:25","slug":"philadelphia-airport-upgrades-ahead-of-2026-major-events-nbc10-philadelphia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/184294\/","title":{"rendered":"Philadelphia airport upgrades ahead of 2026 major events \u2013 NBC10 Philadelphia"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Philadelphia is already welcoming visitors for what officials call <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcphiladelphia.com\/tag\/america-250\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">a historic stretch of major events<\/a> \u2014 from March Madness games and the PGA Championship to the FIFA World Cup, Wawa Welcome America, the nation\u2019s birthday celebrations and the MLB All-Star Game.<\/p>\n<p>With travelers arriving by car, train and plane, those flying into Philadelphia International Airport will soon notice major upgrades years in the making.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe wanted to make a great first impression of the city, and the airport is the front door to that,\u201d said Api Appulingam, the airport\u2019s chief development officer.<\/p>\n<p>Appulingam said the airport has completed about 50 projects totaling roughly $500 million, with work beginning several years ago to ensure PHL is ready for 2026.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey add up quickly,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>The improvements span nearly every part of the passenger experience.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;With our new bathrooms, we built lactation suites,&#8221; Appulingam said. <\/p>\n<p>The airport also added step stools for children.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve installed step stools where little kids can get up and wash their hands,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Officials say passenger feedback helped shape other changes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have two hooks in the bathroom because we got a lot of feedback from female passengers that said where do I put my purse and where do I put my jacket?\u201d Appulingam said.<\/p>\n<p>Beyond restrooms, modernization efforts include upgrades to seating areas and transportation access.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe hold room seats have been upgraded with charging infrastructure,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>As travelers head to public transit, they\u2019ll also notice improvements.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs they\u2019re walking their way to SEPTA platforms, the platforms have been modernized,\u201d Appulingam said.<\/p>\n<p>Technology upgrades are also part of the overhaul.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have new flight info display systems,\u201d she said. \u201cWe have digital signage now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The airport is also highlighting local culture through art installations.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur art curator has made sure she reaches out to the communities and bring Philly flavor into our artwork,\u201d Appulingam said.<\/p>\n<p>And officials say the work won\u2019t stop once the crowds arrive.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re going to continue this momentum after 2026 and keep doing those improvements and the modernization the airport deserves,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>This story was originally reported for broadcast by NBC Philadelphia. AI tools helped convert the story to a digital article, and an NBC Philadelphia journalist edited the article for publication.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Philadelphia is already welcoming visitors for what officials call a historic stretch of major events \u2014 from March&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":184295,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[4000,69,71,1013,70],"class_list":["post-184294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-america-250","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-international-airport","tag-philadelphia-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=184294"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184294\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/184295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=184294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=184294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=184294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}