San Francisco is a ‘quiet airport.’ They limit announcements, background noise and marketing. It’s been that was since 2018, and during Covid they used some of the downtime to push the project forward. The airport targeted gate announcements, overlapping PA messages, and tenant music. Instead of blasting departure calls terminal-wide, messages are limited to each gate and their immediate surroundings. In 2020, they worked with airlines to centralize and reduce announcements, cutting 40% of the paging. They claim that just in the International Terminal they’ve eliminated over 90 minutes of unnecessary announcements a day. Now they’re working to reduce noise emanating from escalators and moving walkways. United Airlines at SFO Amsterdam Schiphol has had a similar “silent airport” initiative since at least 2011, with announcements mostly confined to essential information. Some terminals at Singapore Changi and Zurich have taken similar approaches. But they’re the first in the U.S.…