Newcastle International Airport

Background

Newcastle International Airport serves over 5.2 million passengers each year, with its website playing a critical role in driving revenue through a number of channels for different audiences.

The airport had invested heavily in upgrading to the latest Umbraco LTS at the time, however the Marketing & Comms and Ecommerce Product teams felt that while the upgrade had significantly improved the back-end, there were still areas for improvement with the front-end functionality.

Their key focus was to create a distinct space for the corporate elements of the site, originally buried and scattered across the previous navigation. They also wanted a space for key organisation info and directives, such as their masterplan and sustainability initiatives. The existing pages covering this content were in much need of a facelift.

The team at NIA felt that the existing front-end functionality limited the performance of their ecommerce products, such as lounge, fast track and parking. They were looking to find ways to drive further revenue and improve product performance.

Solution

We started with a back-to-basics collaborative discovery workshop to surface ideas, challenges, and opportunities, and align on the objectives. Through this we were able to highlight the key priorities from the airport team alongside insights from our Shout-led UX review, ensuring a solution balanced business goals with the latest in UX best practice.

With this strong foundation in place, we delivered a series of high-impact improvements.

We transformed the home page by:

• Upgrading to the latest version (13 at the time) of Umbraco to unlock modern editing capabilities and composable layouts.

• Rebuilding it using the Block Grid Editor, enabling flexible, drag-and-drop page construction.

• Creating reusable Element Types (Hero, Quick Booking Module, Offers, Cards, Notifications, Banner sections).

• Implementing structured Document Types with compositions to standardise fields (CTAs, media, themes, tracking IDs).

This allowed marketing teams to rapidly iterate on the homepage without development support.

We optimised user journeys through:

• Reworked Information Architecture within the Umbraco content tree to prioritise high-value tasks (parking, fast track, lounge, flights).

• Integrated with the FIDS platform (Flight Information Display System) to power the Arrivals and Departures module, consuming live flight data feeds and rendering them within the Umbraco application to present real-time flight status, destinations and schedule updates.

• Dedicated journey landing pages built using reusable Block Grid components to guide users clearly into booking flows.

• Standardised navigation using Umbraco-managed menu structures (including mega menu configurations).

• Shared Document Type compositions to ensure consistency across revenue-generating pages.

• Integrated the Parkspace platform (parking, booking and reservation) via its SOAP endpoints, using server-side controllers and services within the Umbraco solution to maintain seamless UX continuity between CMS content and transactional systems.

This reduced friction and improved clarity across key conversion journeys.

The Eat, Shop & Drink pages were enhanced using reusable components through:

• A scalable design system using Block Grid Editor as the core component framework.

• Modelling each UI pattern (Cards, Banners, Offers, Booking Modules, Notifications, Content Blocks) as structured Element Types.

• Applying a block-level configuration (styling variants, background themes, layout options) through Block Settings Models.

• Ensuring front-end consistency by mapping each block to dedicated partial views/components in the solution.

• Enabling true composability, new pages can be assembled from approved components without new template builds.

This created a future-proof, flexible CMS architecture.

The Passenger and Corporate platforms were also upgraded by:

• Implementing a multi-site structure within a single Umbraco instance, using separate root nodes for Passenger and Corporate platforms.

• Applying hostname bindings and routing configuration to create distinct user experiences under the same CMS.

• Building separate navigation structures, IA models and content hierarchies for each audience.

• Reusing core components while applying branding variations via block settings and theme configurations.

• Configuring Umbraco user groups and permissions to manage editorial access by platform.

This delivered clear audience separation while maintaining operational efficiency. Each platform can now scale independently while sharing the same component library and codebase, improving future extensibility without duplicating development effort.

We also upgraded payment options by:

• Integrating Apple Pay and Google Pay within the Umbraco web application via custom controllers/services.

• Connecting to external payment gateways (NMI) using secure API integrations managed within the .NET/Umbraco solution.

• Adding surface-level checkout messaging, trust signals and payment options managed via CMS-driven components.

• Building reusable “Payment Method” UI blocks to allow configuration per booking journey.

• Implementing callback/webhook handling to update booking states and confirmation pages within Umbraco.

This enhanced checkout convenience while maintaining a CMS-controlled experience layer.

Deployment and Environment Management

CI/CD pipelines were used throughout development to continuously deploy updates to the Dev environment, supporting iterative testing of CMS features, integrations and front-end components. Deployment slots were configured on the production Azure App Service hosting the Umbraco application, allowing the reskinned platform to run alongside the existing site. This enabled Newcastle International Airport to conduct UAT against a production-like environment, validating booking journeys, integrations and editorial workflows before approving a seamless slot swap at launch.

This deployment strategy ensured the underlying Umbraco content structure and editorial workflows remained stable while the new front-end experience was introduced safely.

Beyond the deployment, the platform was designed from the outset to support long-term growth and editorial confidence, with a multi-stream programme of work which spanned UX research and design, front-end and back-end development.

By constructing content using the Block Grid Editor, we allowed pages to be assembled from reusable components rather than fixed templates, meaning that new content types, landing pages and user journeys can be created quickly without significant development effort.

The multi-site architecture, separating Passenger and Corporate platforms within a single Umbraco instance, allows each area to scale independently while sharing the same component library and codebase, improving operational efficiency and future extensibility.

Clear editorial governance was implemented through structured content modelling and permissions management. Document Types and Element Types define consistent content structures, ensuring editors follow established patterns and preventing layout fragmentation. Reusable components enforce brand and UX consistency across both platforms.

Maintainability was prioritised through the composable component system, with each UI pattern developed as a configurable component mapped to front-end views. By reducing code duplication we allowed new pages or campaigns to be built from existing components. The shared design system and modular CMS structure ensure the platform can evolve efficiently as new services, journeys or content requirements emerge.

Impact

Since the overhaul, Newcastle International have seen a clear uplift across all the targeted areas of our work, including:

• + 11% increase in user engagement, with visitors interacting more deeply with refreshed content experiences. This improved engagement is translating into stronger conversion performance.

• + 42% increase in key event conversions for sign-ups, form completions and bookings.

• + 8.9% increase in transactions, highlighting the value of streamlined e-commerce journeys, enabling users to transact more quickly and easily.

Beyond the data, stakeholders at Newcastle Airport have welcomed the separation of Corporate and Customer journeys, which has streamlined the experience for both audiences.

Sustainability was not a primary objective of this project, however, once all of the upgrades were complete there was a positive impact on the platform’s overall environmental impact.

The upgrade to the latest version of Umbraco CMS improved performance and efficiency, reducing server processing requirements and extending the lifespan of the platform so it can evolve without frequent rebuilds. The introduction of a component-based architecture using the Block Grid Editor enabled reusable UI patterns such as cards, banners and booking modules, reducing duplicated code and development effort, making the platform easier to maintain over time. In addition, the reworked information architecture and streamlined user journeys help users complete key tasks more quickly, reducing unnecessary page loads and interactions.

The delivery of a fully responsive and accessible website also ensures the platform works effectively across devices and audiences, increasing its longevity and reducing the need for separate platforms or future redevelopment.