Saddled with more electronic tools for productivity and leisure — laptops, cell phones, BlackBerrys and iPods — road warriors are clamoring for ways to recharge their electronic gadgets at airports.

Airports are starting to pay attention. They're installing more power outlets, building workstations with outlet strips and contracting with vendors for recharging stations. Sometimes for free and sometimes for a fee, travelers are finding more places to charge up.

Nick Bova, a sales executive in Dublin, Ohio, says the lack of outlets is one of his "biggest complaints about airports."

Business travelers often carry several items that need frequent charging. Few laptops last more than two hours unplugged when playing a DVD. Travelers who forget to charge their phones or BlackBerrys at the hotel face the prospect of a day without e-mail and of depending on pay phones.

"It's a new era, and everybody is looking for electrical outlets," says Ashraf Demian, chief electrical engineer of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International airport. He says most airports, including Atlanta, are adding outlets as they renovate. In renovating Terminal D last autumn, it installed one set of outlets every 20 to 25 feet in the gate areas. As a result, Concourse D has about double the number in other Atlanta concourses.

Some airports are devising ways to offer free power beyond wall sockets. New York's John F. Kennedy Airport recently hired advertising firm JCDecaux to install Power Poles. Financed by advertising displays, the 8-foot-tall poles offer free charges.

Dallas/Fort Worth has eight Samsung Mobile Travel Centers, where travelers can use the outlets for free. St. Paul-based Smarte Carte now has its Rapid Charger at 18 U.S. airports. For $3, customers can charge for 30 minutes, enough to replenish about half of battery capacity, says spokeswoman Tamara Phippen.