In the hot seat

Robert O’Meara, Communications Manager at the European airport trade association ACI EUROPE, answers our questions.

“Aviation is a prominent and emotive sector that is also a bellweather for national and international economic growth”
-Robert O'Meara

ACI EUROPE, which is based in Brussels, Belgium, represents the interests of over 400 airports in 46 countries. ACI is the only worldwide professional association of airport operators and the European division accounts for over 90 percent of commercial air traffic in the region. What’s more it boasts some impressive figures, having in 2007, for which the latest figures are available, member airports welcoming 1.47 billion passengers and handling 17.4 million metric tonnes of cargo and 20.8 million aircraft movements.

In addition, ACI EUROPE also promotes the exchange of industry know-how through internal committee structures and an extensive schedule of conferences and exhibitions. Through the organisation’s efforts to actively seek out the views of airport members, ACI Europe generates comprehensive common policies that serve as a reference to the entire aviation industry. “What we do is work on a day-to-day basis with the institutions of the European Union, the European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC) and the European Agency for the Safety of Air Navigation (EUROCONTROL),” explains Robert O’Meara, Communications Manager at ACI EUROPE.

What impact is the current downturn having on airports across Europe?
Robert O’Meara. This is the biggest crisis we’ve seen for a very long time. This is bigger than the effects of 9/11, it’s bigger than SARS and it’s bigger than any recent crisis we have experienced.  In fact, the fall in traffic over the course of this year will probably add up to something the equivalent of 10 times what happened after 9/11, which is just huge. We have just released our traffic report for May, which has seen something of a relapse. April was an improvement (still negative at minus 4.8 percent), primarily because Easter fell during that month, but for May, air passenger traffic is back down to minus 9.1 percent.

Through this recession there are three things that that all airports are having to deal with. Obviously we are finding that less passengers on flights and less flights overall equates to less aeronautical revenue; but, as well as that, less passengers going through the terminal means less commercial revenue as well. Then, to make matters worse, the price of capital investment for infrastructure has shot through the roof.

Of course, capital intensive businesses are suffering in general, but airports are struggling in particular. At the same time, you then have very keen awareness of the climate change issue that is choosing very visible targets, such as the aviation industry. 

And as airport operators are faced with both catering for increased demand for air travel as well as minimising environmental impact, how is it possible to balance these seemingly competing priorities?
RO’M. No question, aviation is a prominent and emotive sector that is also a bellweather for national and international economic growth. Such prominence naturally carries responsibilities, in particular in relation to the environment. Believe it or not, the aviation sector as a whole is working together to achieve environmental wins. A lot of work is being undertaken at the moment by aircraft manufacturers, airlines and air traffic controllers in terms of looking at composite construction, biofuels and operational efficiencies. As the face of aviation on the ground, airports are doing everything possible to make sure that when the aeroplane is on the ground, it’s working as efficiently as possible.

As far back as the 1970s, European airports sought to address their impact on the environment. Proactive environmental management has not only become standard practice but a must for any airport, encompassing issues such as noise, biodiversity, air and water quality. While the focus has mainly been on local environmental impact, an increasing number of airports are now looking at addressing their impact on climate change. Several individual airports operators have already developed plans to reduce their carbon emissions, with AVINOR in Norway and LFV Swedish airports having already achieved carbon neutrality for airport operations under their direct control.

In June 2008 the General Assembly of ACI EUROPE adopted a landmark resolution on climate change, whereby European airports committed to reduce their carbon emissions, with the ultimate goal of becoming carbon neutral. The resolution also committed ACI EUROPE to develop, within a year, a Europe-wide accreditation programme providing airports with the tool to work on their commitment to reduce CO2 from their operations.

At this year’s General Assembly in Manchester last month, we formally launched Airport Carbon Accreditation, thereby delivering on our promise – crisis or no crisis. The programme provides a common framework of standardised rules and requirements for measuring and reducing carbon emissions from airport operations. Until now, no such framework - adapted to the unique complexity of the airport site - existed. How can you hope to reduce something, if you cannot measure it properly, right?

The programme is voluntary and it calls for real and meaningful effort. It has not been compromised by ‘lowest common denominator’ thinking, just to give broader and immediate access. Efforts to manage and reduce CO2 emissions are externally assessed and recognised through FOUR levels of accreditation: Mapping, Reduction, Optimisation and Neutrality.

Airport Carbon Accreditation does not focus exclusively on CO2 emissions that are within the exclusive control of airport operators. It also requires collaborative efforts with airlines, air traffic controllers, ground handlers and others on the airport site. Neither of the top two levels of accreditation can be achieved without producing evidence of such collaboration on the airport site.

The programme is administered by leading consultancy WSP Environment & Energy and overseen by an independent Advisory Board made up of representatives of ECAC, EUROCONTROL, the European Commission, UNEP (United Nations Environmental Programme) and WWF Europe. Indeed, beyond this, we have received the official endorsement of EUROCONTROL and ECAC.

In infrastructural terms, Airport Carbon Accreditation should do quite a bit to highlight European airports’ efforts to minimise their environmental impact, The energy efficiency of the airport terminal, the intermodal connections, green energy supply and various operational efficiencies – all these aspects add up. So, the fact that more than 30 airports - accounting for 26% of European air traffic - joined the programme at the launch ceremony says a lot about how the sector is responding to the environmental priority.

In what ways are European airport operators using technology to improve their operations? What do you consider to be the biggest recent advances?
RO’M. We are using technology to improve our operations, that’s true; for starters there are enormously elaborate robotic systems within baggage handling and also we have iris recognition software and hardware that is now being used more and more frequently for accessing airport sites, or, in some cases, for security and border control.

Electrical ground vehicles are also something that more and more airports are adopting, and that falls in line with their environmental strategies. There are a number of different options on the market that can achieve this sort of thing, too: from hydrogen, to LPG, to electrical cars, to hybrids, and all of those are already in place at different airports across Europe. In some countries, it’s even more advanced than elsewhere. In Stockholm’s airport, for example, a very high percentage of airport-based vehicles are electric, including taxis.

Airports are very much like mini-cities. Because you have all of these different companies and all these different emissions sources, whatever’s happening on the outside world is often mirrored in the micro-site that is the airport and that is very interesting.

And finally, what do you believe the key priorities for Europe’s airport operators over the coming years?
RO’M. Well, obviously in the immediacy, it’s survival: staying profitable and surviving. But, because of the economic climate this year there will be losses, and as, as we have already seen, a couple of airports have had to lay staff off. We’re quite literally operating in the shadow of our former industry and our priorities reflect this.

As I’ve already outlined, airports are regarding the environment and the issue of climate change as a key priority, in terms of operation, but also in terms of earning their license to grow.

That feeds into another key priority: Capacity. As EUROCONTROL recently reminded us with the third edition of its ‘Challenges’ report (Challenges of Growth (2008)), Europe is facing an airport capacity crunch that will see air traffic nearly double by 2030. At the moment, it looks like 19 airports will be seriously congested by then and that figure could rise substantially.

In addition, we are mindful of the issue of security. Before 9/11 security costs accounted for up to 8 percent of operating costs at European airports. They currently account for around 35% of operating costs – an incredible rise. In the US, security is paid by the state, but in Europe, airports have to pay for it. At the moment the European Commission has a deadline to find a proposal for the removal of the ban on liquids, aerosols and gels. That deadline is April 2010, which although ambitious, ACI EUROPE is working with the EC and with the security technology companies to try to achieve it. while also ensuring that the agreed technological solutions are feasible on a grander scale both operationally and financially, in terms of deployment.

Then you also have connectivity across the globe – which is evolving at incredible speed. Take Dubai for instance. Dubai already has a very good airport capable of taking about 70 million passengers a year. But, the new, seperate one, which is currently under construction, will be capable of taking somewhere in the region of 130 million passengers a year – making it by-far-and-away the biggest airport in the world. This is just one example of many and the concern is that because of the airport capacity crunch that Europe is facing and the absence of proper airport policies in a number of member states of the EU, Europe will, at least in terms of global connectivity, fall far behind.