The Leading Airport Magazine

Olivier Jankovec, Director General, ACI EUROPE; Prof. Callum Thomas, Chair of Sustainable Aviation, Manchester Metropolitan University; Lars Rekke, Director General, The LFV Group, Swedish Airports and Air Navigation; Julia Haake, Head of Corporate Partnerships, World Wildlife Fund; Michel Wachenheim, Cabinet Director of Dominique Bussereau, French State Secretary for Transport; Daniel Calleja, Director Air Transport, European Commission; and Dr Yiannis Paraschis, ACI EUROPE President and CEO, Athens International Airport.

Significantly, following a unanimous adoption by its general assembly, ACI EUROPE announced a landmark environmental resolution, under which Europe’s airports have committed to reduce carbon emissions with the ultimate goal of becoming carbon neutral – a further indication of how they wish to play their part in lowering aviation’s impact on climate change.

The IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) has calculated that aviation’s total CO2 emissions account for 2% of global emissions’ impact on climate change. Of that figure, airports’ own operations only account for up to 5%, but European airports are keen to tackle their greenhouse gas emissions – several individual airports operators having already committed to becoming carbon neutral in the past few years with some having already achieved this.

The resolution builds upon the industry declaration at the ATAG Aviation & Environment Summit last April, which committed all aviation stakeholders (airports, airlines, aircraft manufacturers and engine manufacturers) to working towards carbon neutral growth. Furthermore, in November 2007, an ACI WORLD resolution calling for a series of environmental commitments for the world’s airports was also adopted.

The ACI EUROPE Best Airport Awards winners 2008.

From Individual to Collective Action

Europe’s airports have been mindful of their environmental responsibilities for many years; activities such as noise mitigation, monitoring of air quality, innovative water management and biodiversity strategies are common practice. While such programmes have largely been individually driven and locally-focused, ACI EUROPE recognises that they need to be complemented by collective action. “The decades-old approach of airports focusing exclusively on local environmental initiatives is over and the genuine desire among European airports to collectively advance on this issue should not be regarded lightly, especially in view of current economic conditions. For airports, committing to carbon reduction with the ultimate goal of becoming carbon neutral is about looking to the future, setting a vision and continuing to earn their licence to grow,” said Dr Yiannis Paraschis, CEO, Athens International Airport and ACI EUROPE President.

There are also plans to establish, within a year, a European-wide airport carbon accreditation scheme guiding airports towards achieving this commitment. ACI EUROPE Director General Olivier Jankovec added: “ACI EUROPE is looking at this issue in a very concrete way. This means that in addition to the industry commitment towards carbon neutrality, we are actually going to provide our members within the next 12 months with a tool to make it happen. This is going to be a huge collective effort considering the extreme diversity among European airports, but we are building on existing far-reaching initiatives already underway at many airports.”

Daniel Calleja, Director Air Transport, European Commission, recognised the vital role that aviation plays in terms of social and economic development.

The European Commission has a three-pillar strategy to address the environment issue. Firstly, technology – a lot of effort will be put into the ‘Clean Sky’ initiative over the next seven years. The €1.6 billion Joint Technology Initiative (JTI) aims to reduce the environmental impact of air transport. Funding comes via a public-private partnership (PPP), under which the EU is contributing €800 million from its Seventh Research Framework Programme (FP7) – an amount that will be matched by industry. Secondly, ATM – Calleja emphasised the need for the Single European Sky. “European aviation is paying, very dearly, the cost of fragmentation. At the moment, Intra-country flights are 15% less efficient than domestic flights, due to fragmentation of air space. The average flight is 50km longer than it should be because of fragmentation of airspace,” he said.

Thirdly, market based measures, notably the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS). “We need aviation to continue to grow to allow economic development, but it needs to do so in a sustainable way with respect for the environment,” said Calleja. “It is important to develop international cooperation. Aviation is global – it’s not just a European issue.”

Airport Capacity – Key to Efficiency

The capacity crunch that Europe’s airports face over the next 20 years was a prominent area of discussion. Under the proposed second legislative package for the Single European Sky, capacity in the sky will be doubled by 2020. However, Paraschis emphasised the contemporaneous need for airport capacity development to ensure the overall efficiency of the aviation network.

That viewpoint was echoed by David McMillan, Director General, EUROCONTROL. He said: “Last year in Europe, there were 10 million flights. On peak days there were 33,000 flights. It is a big, complex network. By 2020, there could be 50,000 flights per day. Airport capacity is the biggest constraint to growth.”

Alongside the need to develop additional capacity on the ground, initiatives to promote better use of existing capacity, such as Collaborative Decision Making (CDM), are also vital, particularly in terms of ensuring everyone knows the capacity available and how to make it work efficiently.

The creation of the EU Observatory on Airport Capacity is of particular importance – its first meeting is scheduled to take place in November. There has, previously, been no monitoring of airport capacity in the European aviation network. The industry also awaits with interest the findings of the updated EUROCONTROL/ECAC ‘Challenges of Growth’ report.

What travellers want

The Conference addressed the question: How can airports further their place in the hearts of travellers? Alan Lamond, aviation director, Pascall + Watson architects, outlined a customer benchmarking study that the company undertook for Dublin Airport Authority. The purpose of the study was to identify what is important to passengers. “We have a concept that the passenger journey be straightforward; in reality it’s anything but – there’s huge complexity. The conclusion of the study was that keeping things simple is all important,” said Lamond.

Travellers want a simple, intuitive passenger process and a spacious building with lots of natural daylight. A hassle-free journey is a priority. Kerrie Mather, CEO, Macquarie Airports, highlighted what she felt should be in the hearts of most travellers: “Airports that allow passengers to travel where they want to go, a smooth journey and good old fashioned retail therapy. Happy passengers are more likely to spend money in shops and restaurants.”

One of the challenges Macquarie Airports needed to address at Copenhagen Airport was queuing at check-in and security; moreover, the commercial revenues were disappointing. It has now created a world class, walk-through duty free store at the airport.

At Sydney Airport, customer research showed that travellers wanted a brighter ambience, a wider food and beverage choice and well-known brands. “We expanded and opened up the terminal, and tripled the number of catering outlets. We have also just started a AUD$500 million (€285m) expansion of the international terminal, with an emphasis on the passenger mindset as they travel through the terminal,” said Mather.

Modernising airport-airline relationships

The relationship between airports and airlines was widely discussed, with an emphasis on the need for close cooperation between airports and airlines and a partnership approach on issues such as security, the environment and capacity. The cooperative approach of the event’s host, Aéroports de Paris and its home-based carrier Air France demonstrates an excellent example of this. They now have a mutual understanding of each other’s business models, which are radically different.

As a result, the relationship between Aéroports de Paris and Air France has evolved beyond day-to-day operational issues to long-term strategic issues. The two groups have agreed to a truly cooperative approach called ‘Réussir ensemble’ (Succeed together), aimed at reinforcing the ties between the two companies and partnership working patterns. Substantial progress has already been made. Aéroports de Paris and Air France signed, for example, an agreement on the future Satellite 4 at Paris-CDG in March 2008.

“We thought that we have a common destiny – our shareholders saw that also,” said François Rubichon, Deputy CEO, Aéroports de Paris. “There were factors that allowed us to work together, such as recognition of our business models. The idea to merge them into one another is a bad idea – they are different. Our relationship has really progressed, strategically speaking.”

Christian Gautier, airport development and information management, Vice President, Air France KLM, added: “We have a strategy of profitable growth. The dimension of operational efficiency is very important. We should innovate and find new ways of working. As an example, we worked on the management of passenger flows in real time. Aéroports de Paris sits with Air France to look at flows and optimise them.”

This example of the successful partnership approach that can beengendered between airports and airlines provided a positive conclusion to the 18th ACI EUROPE Annual Assembly, Congress and Exhibition. It was followed with a presentation by Geoff Muirhead, Chief Executive of Manchester Airports Group, in which he outlined what we have to look forward to at the 19th ACI EUROPE Annual Assembly, Congress and Exhibition, which will take place on 15-17 June 2009, in Manchester, UK.