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PS CEO Amina Belouizdad Porter on Private Terminals and the Value of Restraint
PS runs private airport terminals that let commercial flyers bypass the public concourse, a model built on a 90-minute window and roughly a decade of regulatory groundwork. Chief executive Amina Belouizdad Porter says protecting guests' attention is more valuable than monetizing it.
PS, which began life in 2017 as The Private Suite at Los Angeles International Airport, gives travelers on commercial flights a route around the public terminal. Departing guests clear a dedicated TSA checkpoint, while arriving international passengers complete customs clearance on site.
The company expanded to Atlanta in 2023 and doubled its footprint this summer with the addition of Dallas-Fort Worth and Miami.
Amina Belouizdad Porter, PS's chief executive, came to the company from private equity and, before that, hotel development. Colleagues describe her as combining an investor's discipline with an operator's affection for the business.
Much of the service rests on recall. Staff at the Los Angeles terminal routinely greet returning guests with the drink or item they ordered on their previous visit, a level of memory that the company's leadership treats as a core part of the offering.
PS frames its proposition around restraint: the guest's attention is treated as something to protect rather than something to sell. For hotels, lounges and members' clubs pursuing the same affluent customer, the company's argument is that guarding a guest's time and focus can be worth more than extracting revenue from it.