2025: A year of growth, innovation, and momentum

2025 was a landmark year for CAVU. We expanded our global footprint with nine new lounges, advanced our technology platforms, and deepened partnerships across the travel ecosystem. Most importantly, we stayed focused on what matters most: creating better travel experiences for passengers and helping our partners unlock more revenue. 

Join us as we look back at a year shaped by growth, innovation, and the results that made 2025 a standout year for CAVU and our clients.

Expanding experiences worldwide 

This year, CAVU expanded its footprint with nine new lounge openings across three continents, including our first-ever locations in the Southern Hemisphere with new lounges in Brisbane and Cairns, Australia.

We also opened new lounges in Bristol and Edinburgh in the UK, and Kansas City, Portland, San Juan, Tulsa, and Northwest Arkansas in the US. These openings contributed to a 30% increase in guest volume compared to 2024, while our average guest satisfaction increased from 4.5 to 4.6 out of five, across nearly 19,000 reviews. 

“Expanding to nine new locations while improving our guest satisfaction score to 4.6 shows that we’re not just growing, we’re elevating the standard of service guests experience at every touchpoint,” says Craig Pring, VP Growth – Experiences at CAVU. “The real impact is in those thousands of positive reviews and the guests who are choosing to start their journeys with us because they know they’ll receive an exceptional experience.” 

Welcoming more passengers while maintaining outstanding service takes care, coordination, and a team united around delivering exceptional experiences. The feedback shows our efforts are working.

aether marks its first anniversary 

In November, we celebrated the first anniversary of aether, our private terminal at Manchester Airport. Since opening, aether has redefined what airport travel can be, from private check-in and security to fine dining and luxurious chauffeured transfers directly to the gate. 

Each week, hundreds of guests experience aether’s seamless journey, but it’s the personal stories that truly capture its impact. 

“Several guests have told us that aether has given them the confidence to travel again, to visit family and friends, because they feel more comfortable using aether than navigating a large, busy terminal, while one guest told us that for the first time in years, they felt calm and confident flying,” says Heidi Stancliffe, Head of Product Strategy. “These stories show the real value of what we’ve created; we’re not just offering a premium service; we’re removing barriers and making travel accessible to people who might otherwise stay home.” 

In its first year, aether has welcomed travellers from around the world, partnered with a growing number of airlines, and set a new standard for privacy, comfort, and ease from door to gate. 

Propel powers millions of journeys 

Behind every seamless booking is technology working quietly in the background. This year, our Propel distribution API powered over 70 million monthly product searches, delivering reliable, scalable solutions for clients worldwide. 

Richard Maunder, Head of Product at CAVU, reflected on the milestone year for our eCommerce platform: 

In 2025, Propel has significantly grown the number of customer sessions it is powering. The Propel Distribution API is now supporting over 70 million searches a month, up from 5 million at the start of the year, with an average response time of 0.9 seconds, down from over 2 seconds in January. 

“Increasing search volumes by 1,300% while reducing response times by 50% is an incredible accomplishment made possible by the hard work and expertise of CAVU’s performance testing, architecture, and product development teams.

Propel’s client base grew significantly during 2025, with Midlands Airport Parking Ltd, Brisbane Airport, and Sunshine Coast Airport among the 25 new clients we’ve onboarded across three continents. 

We also launched over 25 new product features designed to make life easier for both clients and passengers. From enabling real-time parking availability updates to helping airlines integrate lounge bookings at the point of sale, each feature solves a specific challenge. 

“Seeing Propel adapt to different markets and client needs shows us we’re solving real problems for our partners,” says Joel Godfrey, Digital Product Director at CAVU. “The impact goes beyond the technology itself; we’re helping airports generate meaningful revenue, giving travellers more control over their journey, and creating those seamless experiences that make travel less stressful and more enjoyable.” 

But these numbers only tell part of the story. The real measure is in how these tools help airports increase revenue, give travellers more choice, and make the booking process smoother from start to finish. 

That choice comes from the diverse inventory powering our platform.

The growth of the Global Travel Marketplace 

The Global Travel Marketplace, our growing inventory of travel products and services, sits at the heart of our offering, and this year it went from strength to strength. 

In March, we integrated Parkos, a leading European parking platform. The acquisition brought hundreds of parking locations across Europe into our network, giving travellers more choice and better access to off-airport parking options. 

“The Parkos acquisition has been transformational for both our customers and our business,” says Richard Hill, VP Growth & Partnerships at CAVU. “By bringing together our complementary strengths, our technology platform and their extensive European parking network, we’ve been able to deliver significantly more choice and value to travellers. The millions of bookings processed since integration prove that when you focus on solving real customer needs, growth follows naturally.” 

Since integration, the combined platform has processed millions of parking bookings, demonstrating how strategic partnerships can create immediate value for customers. 

We also partnered with DataLex in June to integrate our ancillary offerings directly into their airline booking network, extending our reach to airlines and passengers worldwide. This collaboration enables seamless connectivity with carriers and their customers, strengthening both the reach and impact of our services. 

As our technology and partnerships evolved, so did our role in shaping broader industry conversations. 

Shaping the industry with shared expertise 

Beyond building products, we’re committed to sharing what we’ve learned with the wider industry. 

This year, we published our first thought leadership guide, Why Your Pricing Strategy is Costing You Revenue (And What to Do About It), helping airports rethink how they price parking and ancillary services to unlock additional revenue. We also hosted two webinars: Reimagining Airport Value: The Future of Revenue Beyond the Runway and Actionable Tips for Maximising Revenue in an Evolving Market. 

These thought leadership initiatives position us not just as a service provider, but as a partner invested in the success of the entire travel ecosystem. 

Of course, some of the most valuable exchanges happened not through webinars or publications, but through face-to-face conversations. 

An exciting year for in-person events 

While digital tools power much of what we do, some of our most valuable insights came from in-person conversations this year. 

We attended 18 major industry events across three continents, from Dublin’s Future Travel Experience conference to FTE Asia in Singapore and ACI-NA’s Annual General Assembly in Toronto. Each event provided us with the opportunity to showcase our solutions, learn from our peers, and strengthen relationships with partners and clients. 

“Attending and exhibiting at these events has been pivotal in shaping our business development and strategy,” said Nolan Hough, Chief Growth Officer at CAVU. “They allow us to connect directly with our clients and partners, showcase our solutions, and understand the evolving needs of the industry first-hand.” 

One of the year’s highlights was our Customer Advisory Board (CAB) session in London, where airport leaders gathered to discuss shared challenges and opportunities. 

“Spending time with our clients face-to-face, working through their challenges and priorities, ensures we’re building solutions that create genuine value,” reflects Joel Godfrey, Digital Product Director. “The CAB shapes how we think about impact; it’s not just about what features we can build but about understanding the business outcomes our clients need and the passenger experiences they want to deliver. That perspective makes us better partners and drives us to create more meaningful solutions.” 

With events already on our 2026 calendar, we look forward to sharing more insights and expanding our industry network. 

While we were connecting with the industry globally, our teams were also making an impact closer to home. 

This year, team members dedicated over 1,665 hours to volunteering initiatives, from food bank support in Manchester to environmental cleanups in Brisbane and community programmes across our US locations. 

“Our volunteering hours reflect the values of our people and our commitment to making a meaningful impact where we operate,” says Nolan Hough. “It’s inspiring to see the team come together to give back.” 

Looking ahead to 2026 

As 2025 ends, we’re excited for the next chapter of growth, including expanding our lounge portfolio, deepening our technology capabilities, and exploring new markets. 

This year proved that growth and care can coexist. We expanded our reach while improving the travel experience and creating new opportunities for our partners. We scaled our technology while keeping individual passenger needs at the centre and pursued ambitious goals while staying grounded in the communities we serve. 

2025 was a year of progress for CAVU, but also one defined by human stories. From helping guests find the confidence to fly again through aether to unlocking new possibilities through partnerships with Datalex and Parkos, the impact of our work has been felt in meaningful ways. 

2026 is about building on this momentum, not just growing bigger, but getting better at what matters most: making every journey smoother, every experience more memorable, and every passenger feel valued.