Airports in the News – Autumn 2019


A snapshot of stories from around Europe

Athens-International-Airport

Athens International Airport

The European Commission (EC) has approved the co-funding of Athens International Airport S.A. for its evolution into a high-performing hub within the European Air Traffic Management Network. The EC will cover 50% of the total eligible investment cost amounting to €4.5 million. Athens is the first Greek airport to be selected by the European Union under the “Connecting Europe Facility – Transport Sector” programme, supporting the achievement of the Single European Sky. The aim of the grant is to enable Athens Airport to develop and implement new and advanced concepts for airport operations, airport resources management and information sharing in order to enhance its operational efficiency in the serving of the traffic and make optimum use of the available capacity on the ground and in the air. The programme will be implemented through six interrelated projects extending over a five-year period (2019-2023).

Cork-Airport

Cork Airport

Cork Airport unveils a new breakthrough cleaning technology that will prevent over 5,400 litres of chemicals from impacting the environment per year. Cork Airport’s cleaning partner NOONAN has installed the toxin-free organic cleaning solution Tersano Lotus Pro at the airport. Transforming ordinary tap water into a powerful cleaning agent, Cork Airport is the first airport in Ireland to introduce this solution. Cleaning chemical usage is projected to be reduced by over 80% at Cork Airport as a result. Tersano Lotus Pro, which can be produced on demand, has replaced a wide range of conventional cleaning chemicals at Cork Airport

Doncaster Sheffield Airport

Doncaster Sheffield Airport

Doncaster Sheffield Airport will slash its carbon emissions with a new solar farm, due to be operational in 2020. It will provide 1.7 MWp of zero carbon energy, saving 220 tonnes of carbon every year – the equivalent of boiling 2.2m kettles every year. The £2 million solar farm will generate 25% of the airport’s energy and drastically reduce its carbon footprint. The development is a key part of the airport’s 20-year Masterplan which will see passenger numbers soar to 1.45m this year and forecasted by the airport to double within the next 5 years, consistent with its market breaking growth over the past five years in excess of 75%.

Frankfurt-Airport

Frankfurt Airport

Fraport AG will begin using real-time predictive runway arrival times, so called ‘ELDTs’ (Estimated Landing Times) delivered via FlightAware’s Firehose feed as an additional data source in the further optimisation of airport operations at their home base of Frankfurt Airport. Frankfurt Airport has been operating the Airport Collaborative Decision Making (A-CDM) procedure since February 2011. Firehose will provide additional data sources leading to a further improved planning basis within the A-CDM framework. FlightAware’s ELDTs are optimised by machine-learning models, based on statistical analysis of flight tracks and timestamps of hundreds of thousands of flights and are capable of identifying the key influencing factors determining the prediction of flight events in real-time.

Split-Airport

Split Airport

Split Airport opened its new €60 million terminal, featuring muchexpanded commercial areas, notably for retail and dining. The terminal was inaugurated by Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and Minister for Sea, Transport and Infrastructure Oleg Butković, among other dignitaries. The airport’s duty free space has increased by around threefold compared to the previous facility, to around 1,030sqm. The retail business is run by Split Airport with Gebr Heinemann as exclusive supply partner for all but local products. The terminal has a footprint of around 50,000sqm, around three times the previous size. It features 30 check-in desks, seven semi-automated security lanes, a premium lounge and an automated baggage sorting area.

Moscow-Sheremetyevo-Airport

Moscow Sheremetyevo Airport

On 11 August 2019, Sheremetyevo International Airport celebrated its 60th anniversary. The first flight was served on this day in 1959: the TU-104 passenger airliner made the flight from Leningrad to Moscow and landed at the Sheremetyevo airfield. For more than six decades, Sheremetyevo has been meeting and seeing off leaders of states, polar heroes, Olympic athletes, famous cultural figures and world stars. Every day, the airport serves more than 150,000 passengers and provides more than 1,000 take-off and landing operations. For comparison, in 1960 Sheremetyevo Airport served 270,000 passengers, and according to forecasts for the jubilee 2019 year, the airport will set a new record and will receive more than 50 million passengers.

Prague-Airport

Prague Airport

A new digital signage system can be found at the entrance to pier B in Terminal 1 at Prague Airport. Including a total of eight screens, it responds in six selected languages depending on the specific locations from where passengers have come or to where they are going at any given moment. This means that during the day, active language versions change depending on the composition of the passenger flow. In addition to the standard Czech and English versions, the navigation also offers Arabic, Russian, Korean and Chinese, which are the main languages for passengers who may not be able to speak English well enough. The navigation system will be tested until the end of October. After that it will be decided whether or not to use the digital navigation system in other key locations.

Sofia-Airport

Sofia Airport

On 29 July 2019, a consortium comprising Munich Airport and Francebased investor Meridiam won the contract to manage Sofia International Airport in Bulgaria. The announcement was made by Bulgarian Transport Minister Rossen Zhelyazkov. The winning consortium will manage the operation of Sofia International Airport for 35 years. Munich Airport and Meridiam have agreed to offer a concession fee of 32% of total revenue or a minimum of €24.5m ($27.5m) per annum. The consortium will construct a third terminal within the next ten years and repair the two existing airport terminals.


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