Air Traffic Management

Consistently, users of air travel services list punctuality as a high importance factor for their satisfaction. For passengers, one particular gripe they have when travelling by air is delays – being held on board an aircraft whilst still on the tarmac and being told that the captain is awaiting clearance from Air Traffic Control or that their departure (or arrival) slot was lost.

With aviation, there is inherent complexity within the operation; the simplest operation starts at one place and ends at another (often in another country), crossing boundaries and legal jurisdictions. Finding solutions therefore and indeed implementing those solutions, presents a raft of challenges.

The good news is that there are several work-streams that are currently being developed or are at various stages of implementation. Shared learning from more developed aviation regions is certainly one potentially positive opportunity – ultimately to the benefit of passengers, who can arrive at their destinations on time to start their business meetings or holidays.

However, the important question is what can be done, and how can improvements be introduced in order to streamline the various processes and complex parts of the overall operation  thereby delivering an improved service offering that is capable of sustainable growth? The answer lies with all aviation stakeholders; airports, aircraft operators and consumers all have a role to play – and the ultimate link that joins all these together is Air Traffic Management (ATM).

Within the current economic climate, aviation as a whole needs to carefully review what can be done to provide better standards of service to passengers on several levels, including punctuality. In fact, the recession and downturn in traffic could be viewed as an opportunity and potential catalyst to review current air traffic management methods and look for areas for improvement. Add to that the effects of aviation on Climate Change, and the significant improvements and efficiencies that an effective air traffic management can introduce by eliminating waste, encouraging fuel consumption efficiencies and improvement in punctuality performance, and the critical role that this link plays in the aviation chain of processes becomes apparent.

One of the leading authorities on streamlining air traffic processes is Eurocontrol. This is the European organization, set up to manage all aspects of safety of air navigation, which aims to provide a consistent high level of safety over Europe’s skies, while at the same time accommodating growing air traffic demands.

Single European Sky is a further initiative launched by the European Commission in 1999, aimed at reforming the architecture of European ATM. It leads the legislative approach to meet future capacity and safety needs at pan European, rather than local levels.

Their key objectives can be summarized thus:
1. To restructure European airspace as a function of air traffic flows
2. To create additional capacity
3. To increase the overall efficiency of the European air traffic management system.

It is clear – the Middle East is a fast growing aviation region. According to IATA, the Middle East has grown from 5% of international traffic to 10% in the past seven years. Naturally, with this level of growth have come certain challenges, as the skies over the Middle East become increasingly congested – challenges such as:

• A unified approach to policy creation
• Legal governance and mandate
• Air traffic infrastructure
• Military and civilian aviation and restricted air zones
• Control of airspace zones
• Change management
• Introducing new approaches and ATM systems

An important aspect that should be included in any review of the end to end ATM processes would be the impact of climate change on regions and operations in the sense that climate change is a fact, and the rising temperatures and melting ice caps will inevitably have a direct impact on aviation operations.

Now may be a good time to commission a study into what best practice can be gleaned from Eurocontrol and others and potentially follow a similar approach in managing the ever increasing demand for airspace in the Middle East.

The Impact Of The Airport City

Airports across the Gulf are currently in the process of adding airport infrastructure capacity aiming to handle 300 million more passengers by 2015, almost doubling their current airport capacities, e.g. Qatar’s Doha and the UAE which is growing airports’ capacities, in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Ras Al Khaimah and Sharjah. True that the current economic crisis has caused closer scrutiny of those projects, yet the underlying question that is the elephant in the room is; where will all this traffic come from?

Most airports around the world have at least one major airline and there is a correlation between the base carrier’s network and the airport’s passenger traffic, for example, Heathrow’s symbiotic reliance on British Airways, or Fraports’ lifelong partner: Lufthansa.

For emerging and growing ‘mega’ airports to fill the capacity that they are creating, they will need to grow at a much faster rate than the current predicted growth rates. Developing further direct traffic will be successful up to a point, which leaves transfers and aggressively seeking to develop new, yet untapped markets such as Asia, the Indian Sub-continent and China, where the real growth is expected; possibly exploring the use of low cost carriers models and low cost airport models.

Whilst the Gulf countries stand to benefit from the aggressive growth strategies of their home-based carriers, there may still be a risk for the region in terms of overcapacity creation. With all the growth projected or anticipated around the Middle East mega airports, then commercial development in the vicinity of those airports should be seen as a great opportunity, but airport cities don’t just happen. They are the result of careful thought and business planning, in addition to linking a transport hub to boost local/regional economy.

Airport City is a term that is used to describe the evolution of airports, from mere infrastructure and facility providers/operators to a hybrid and complex service provider that develops and caters to community needs for business, shopping and leisure, whilst contributing to the overall economic well-being of the airport. It also supports the local / regional economy, as well as supporting further job creation both directly and indirectly, more akin to a national business hub, as opposed to ‘solely a transport hub’.

The ethos behind airport cities is to develop plots and spaces based on specific investors/developers or end-users’ needs such as retail or exhibitions & conferences with an aim of attracting the right businesses that will add value to the community and the airport’s business model.

Airport cities are a natural evolution for airports, who continue to play a key role in the economic development of cities and countries, from simple infrastructure providers dependent on public finances to today’s diversified and complex businesses, increasingly privately owned and independent. This is achieved by seeking and exploiting existing business opportunities of non-aeronautical activities, therefore redesigning commercial space within the terminals, while actively pursuing the exploitation of its real estate assets. In turbulent times, with airlines decreasing capacity and cutting routes, this strategy can go a long way in cushioning airport operators from variations in aeronautical-related revenues, therefore offering a more sustainable approach to business that supports the community more effectively and for longer term.

There are existing major hubs like Amsterdam Schiphol, Frankfurt and Hong Kong, among others, who have been leading the way in developing airport cities and supplementing the aeronautical income with non-aeronautical revenues and development programs. It goes without saying that airports are already responsible for the creation of thousands and thousands of jobs around the world, both directly and indirectly. This can only improve significantly with the creation of strategic airport cities. E.g. Frances’ Charles de Gaulle Airport recruiting approximately 95,000 direct jobs and 260,000 indirectly.

Airports of the future can become more and more self-supporting, standalone communities in their own right, acting as social and economic catalysts for long-term business growth, by providing a business enabling platform and infrastructure that enables the right transport connectivity and freight flow. Thus can airports become even more critical assets for their countries’ and region’s economic well-being.