ACI EUROPE Activities

Editorial: Learning to live with Growth 2.0

At many airports across Europe, the peak summer months have not lived up to expectations. Subdued passenger traffic and continued negatives for freight traffic reflect the bite of fiscal austerity as well as weakened consumer and business confidence. The winter season ahead of us looks set to be difficult, with renewed fears of capacity cuts by airlines. For many of them, oil price levels and weak demand mean that flying less is likely to make economic sense. This means both increasing seasonality and decreasing revenues for airports – with the challenge of service quality requiring that most of our facilities (and the underlying costs) be scaled for the peaks. By Olivier Jankovec, Director General, ACI EUROPE.

Editorial: Better, Fitter & More Performant

With uncertainty being the new constant, becoming the leanest is the mantra for any business across Europe. Airports are no exception – and while air traffic showed remarkable resilience last year, it is now being hit by a Eurozone crisis that leaves very few activities untouched. By Olivier Jankovec, Director General, ACI EUROPE.

Editorial: 2012 – The Moment of Truth

To some extent, last year has proven to be a surprisingly good year for European aviation. Despite dark clouds gathering over the economy, passenger traffic has shown a remarkable resilience throughout 2011, growing in excess of 7%. Of course, a closer look ultimately reveals a much contrasted picture between national markets, well beyond the usual divide between a mature Western Europe and an ‘emerging’ Eastern Europe. But the underlying trend is that passenger traffic has systematically outperformed GDP – even in a country like Greece, where it kept growing by nearly 2% in the face of an economy shrinking by 6.6%. By Olivier Jankovec, Director General, ACI EUROPE.

Editorial: Double Dip, Back Down to Hard Ground

There’s an old saying that good news doesn’t sell newspapers. With the ongoing saga of the Eurozone sovereign debt crisis, I’m sure I’m not the only one who would gladly buy a newspaper pushing an overdue wave of good news. As it stands, the headlines look set to be gloomy for some time. The impact of the sovereign debt crisis on aviation is already significant. Freight traffic stopped growing before the summer and has since gone into negative figures. Weakening business confidence has led companies to stop replenishing stocks. With industrial output in Europe now at a standstill – or even decreasing, the awful truth is evident: recession is at our doorstep. By Olivier Jankovec, Director General, ACI EUROPE.

Editorial: Every flight begins at the airport

Welcome to the new look ‘Airport Business’. I hope you like the updated design and the new features we have introduced. You may also recognise that this editorial’s headline is our new motto, launched with our brand new ACI EUROPE website recently. By Olivier Jankovec, Director General, ACI EUROPE.