The verdict in three sentences
A regional airport website is first an operational information tool: reliable flight times, access, parking, and it must hold up when everyone checks it at once. For 600,000 passengers a year, the 2026 budget sits between 40,000 and 95,000 EUR excl. VAT (about 43,000 to 103,000 USD), with an AODB or FIDS connector (6,000 to 15,000 EUR) and online parking booking (8,000 to 20,000 EUR) that funds part of the project. During a strike, snow event or outage, traffic jumps 10x: CDN, aggressive caching and a static crisis page are not optional.
The four uses that drive airport website traffic
Nearly 70% of visits concern today's arrivals and departures. Next come access and parking, destinations and airlines, then practical information (baggage, reduced mobility, security). Corporate pages (concessions, tenders, route development) weigh little in traffic but a lot in stakes for the operator.
| Use | Estimated share of traffic | Technical requirement |
|---|---|---|
| Today's arrivals and departures | 60 to 70% | 60 s refresh, 30 to 60 s CDN cache |
| Access, parking, transport | 12 to 18% | online booking and payment |
| Destinations and airlines | 8 to 12% | SEO pages per destination |
| Practical info, reduced mobility, security | 5 to 8% | WCAG / RGAA compliance, easy-read if possible |
| Trade area, tenders, press | 2 to 4% | downloadable documents, archiving |
| Spike during disruption | 10x within 1 h | static crisis page, controlled banner |
Detailed 2026 budget
An airport operator, often a public-private company, a public entity or a private concession, goes through a procurement process. The ranges below fit an airport of 300,000 to 1,000,000 passengers.
| Item | 2026 range (EUR excl. VAT) | Timeline |
|---|---|---|
| Scoping, UX, wireframes, user testing | 6,000 to 14,000 | 4 to 6 weeks |
| Design and build, headless CMS | 12,000 to 26,000 | 6 to 8 weeks |
| AODB or FIDS connector (real-time flights) | 6,000 to 15,000 | 3 to 5 weeks |
| Online parking booking and payment | 8,000 to 20,000 | 4 to 6 weeks |
| Accessibility audit and fixes | 4,000 to 9,000 | 2 to 3 weeks |
| CDN infrastructure, crisis page, load tests | 3,000 to 7,000 | 2 weeks |
| FR/EN multilingual (plus one seasonal language) | 1,000 to 4,000 | 1 to 2 weeks |
| Total project | 40,000 to 95,000 | 5 to 8 months |
Annual running costs (CDN hosting, maintenance, support, licences) are 8,000 to 18,000 EUR excl. VAT. A connector supplied by the AODB vendor may add an interface licence of 1,500 to 4,000 EUR a year.
Surviving spikes: the architecture that holds
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The flight board must never query the AODB on every visit. A middleware service pulls the feed every 30 to 60 seconds, publishes it as JSON on the CDN, and pages read it from there. In a crisis, the operations team switches on a banner and a static page from the back office (situation, affected flights, useful numbers), served without any database. A load test at 10 times the usual peak is part of acceptance.
Mini case study
Nathalie, director of a regional airport with 600,000 passengers, runs 1,200 parking spaces. Today 8% of spaces are booked online through a third-party tool that takes a 15% commission. With built-in booking and early-bird rates, she targets 25% online bookings. On parking revenue of 2,400,000 EUR a year, the online share rises from 192,000 EUR to 600,000 EUR. The commission avoided (15% of 600,000 EUR) is 90,000 EUR a year, which covers a 15,000 EUR parking module and a large part of a 70,000 EUR website in year one.
FAQ
Do we need direct access to the AODB? No, and it is not recommended. We consume a read-only feed (API, XML or a file pushed by the FIDS), cached. The connector costs 6,000 to 15,000 EUR excl. VAT depending on the quality of the available feed.
Are airport websites subject to accessibility law? If the operator is a public body or runs a public service delegation, yes, with an accessibility statement. In any case, serving passengers with reduced mobility justifies level AA, for 4,000 to 9,000 EUR excl. VAT of audit and fixes.
How long does a full project take? Plan 5 to 8 months, including 1 to 2 months of procurement. The flight connector and parking are the critical path and should start at scoping.
Can we sell more than parking? Yes: lounge, fast track, left luggage or car rental through affiliation. Each module adds 3,000 to 8,000 EUR excl. VAT and usually earns 5 to 12% commission.
What happens if the flight feed goes down? The website shows the last time-stamped update with a message to check with the airline, and the team gets an alert after 5 minutes without data.
Let's scope your project. Send us your passenger volume, AODB or FIDS and parking offer: we will price the connector, booking and spike-proof architecture with an indicative budget and a schedule that fits your procurement. Detailed quote within 48 h. WhatsApp +221 77 596 93 33.
Mohamed Bah
Fondateur, Kolonell
Passionate about digital and entrepreneurship in Africa, Mohamed has been helping Sénégalese businesses with their digital transformation since 2020. Founder of Kolonell, he believes every SME deserves a professional and accessible online présence.
