Airport World, Issue 5, 2020

In the spotlight: Sustainability Airport report: San Antonio Special report: AMPAP review Plus: ACI news, People matters & WBP innovation

Sustainability: COVID-19 and beyond Volume 25 – Issue 5, 2020 www.aci.aero

OPINION ;OL THNHaPUL VM [OL (PYWVY[Z *V\UJPS 0U[LYUH[PVUHS

Airport World Editor Joe Bates +44 (0)1276 476582 joe@airport-world.com Design, Layout & Production Mark Draper +44 (0)208 707 2743 mark@airport-world.com Sales Directors Jonathan Lee +44 (0)208 707 2743 jonathan@airport-world.com Gary Allman +44 (0) 7854 239 426 gary@aviationmedia.aero Advertising Manager Andrew Hazell +44 (0)208 384 0206 andrewh@airport-world.com Subscriptions subscriptions@aviationmedia.aero Managing Director Jonathan Lee +44 (0)208 707 2743 jonathan@aviationmedia.aero

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Year of living dangerously Editor, Joe Bates, reflects on the significant economic, operational and environmental challenges facing airports in this ‘sustainability’ themed issue of Airport World.

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viation leaders speaking at the recent Global Sustainable Aviation Forum pulled absolutely no punches whatsoever in spelling out the threat to aviation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The latest figures released in the annual Oxford Economics compiled Aviation: Benefits Beyond Borders report, predicts that 46 million jobs worldwide could be lost by the end of 2020 as a result of the downturn in aviation, including 4.8 million in the industry itself, where airports account for 60% of the 11 million people directly employed in the sector.

Speaking during the virtual event hosted by the Air Transport Action Group (ATAG), Airport World director general, Luis Felipe de Oliveira, noted: “We face an unprecedented crisis. Airports represent around 6% of the jobs in the locations that they serve, and we expect to lose some five billion passengers and $104 billion in revenue this year.

“At this point it is worth remembering that pre-COVID, 70% of the world’s airports did not make any money.”

Sobering stuff indeed. ACI World’s economics director, Patrick Lucas, discusses the potential economic ramifications for airports in the ‘sustainability’ themed section of this issue.

The themed section also includes an article from ACI World’s senior director for sustainability, environmental protection and legal affairs, Juliana Scavuzzi, who reminds us why sustainability and environmental protection must remain a priority despite today’s challenges.

You can also read about how technology will help make ‘travel bubbles’ work and spearhead aviation’s recovery from COVID-19; catch-up with some of the latest pioneering ‘green’ initiatives; and find out how some of the world’s leading airport architects believe the pandemic will change the way we travel and shape the future design of terminal buildings.

Elsewhere in the issue, we turn the spotlight on San Antonio International Airport (SAT) and talk to airport director, Jesus Saenz, who explains why he believes that it is only a matter of time before growth is back on the agenda at the Texas gateway.

While AMPAP administrator, Pierre Coutu, reflects on the unmitigated success of ACI-ICAO’s Airport Management Professional Accreditation Programme (AMPAP).

We also, of course, hear more from Luis Felipe de Oliveira in his View from the Top column; and discover more about the association’s latest initiatives on the ACI news pages.

There is no denying that these are dark days for aviation, not helped by the ever increasing number of phone calls, texts and social media messages we are all getting from industry friends and colleagues telling us that they have been made redundant.

It is tough going at the moment, but we must try and remain positive, draw heart from aviation’s almost legendary powers of recovery and take onboard another key message to come out of the ATAG Forum – that aviation can come back better than before if we take this opportunity to enhance its operational efficiency and step up the commitment to protecting the environment.

“The recovery of the aviation industry will be a key driver of the global economic recovery.

To ensure that aviation can continue to provide the economic and social benefits, it is crucial that we pursue a green recovery and lay the foundation for a prosperous and sustainable industry for the long-term,” says de Oliveira.

“Airports are central to the interconnected and interdependent aviation ecosystem.

Airports and their partners in the aviation industry need the support of appropriate regulation and government policies to facilitate AW a green recovery and push for real change.”

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CONTENTS

ISSUE 5 Volume 25

In this issue 3 Opinion Editor, Joe Bates, reflects on the significant economic, operational and environmental challenges facing airports in this ‘sustainability’ themed issue of Airport World.

8 World in motion ACI World urges the world’s governments to back COVID-19 testing as an alternative to quarantine measures, writes external relations manager, Bojana Jeremic.

11 View from the top ACI World director general, Luis Felipe de Oliveira, reflects on planning for a sustainable recovery of the world’s airports.

12 On a mission Airport director, Jesus Saenz, tells Joe Bates why he believes that it is only a matter of time before growth is back on the agenda at San Antonio International Airport.

16 Tough times ACI World’s economics director, Patrick Lucas, considers the financial challenges facing airports and the policy levers needed to support aviation’s recovery amidst the pandemic.

19 Safe passage SITA’s vice president for border management, Jeremy Springall, explains how technology will play a key role in aviation’s recovery from COVID-19 by helping protect ‘travel bubbles’ from popping.

22 Learning from COVID-19 What lessons in responsiveness and resilience can airports, airlines and architects draw from the current crisis? Robert Chicas, HOK’s senior principal and director of aviation + transportation, investigates.

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CONTENTS

Director General Luise Felipe de Oliveira (Montréal, Canada) Chair Martin Eurnekián (Buenos Aires, Argentina) Vice Chair Aimen Al-Hosni (Muscat, Oman) Immediate Past Chair Fredrick J Piccolo (Sarasota, USA) Treasurer Emmanuel Menanteau (Osaka, Japan) ACI WORLD GOVERNING BOARD DIRECTORS Africa (3) Emanuel Chavez (Maputo, Mozambique) Zouhair El Aoufir (Rabat, Morocco) 1 Vacancy Asia-Pacific (9) Aimen Al-Hosni (Muscat, Oman) Kjeld Binger (Amman, Jordan) Geoff Culbert (Sydney, Australia) SGK Kishore (Hyderabad, India) Fred Lam (Hong Kong) Seow Hiang Lee (Singapore) Xue Song Liu, (Beijing, China) PS Nair (Delhi, India) 1 Vacancy

24 The new normal?

A handful of architects and consulting companies consider how COVID-19 will impact on the use and future design of airport terminals.

28 Never ending journey ACI World’s senior director for sustainability, environmental protection and legal affairs, Juliana Scavuzzi, explains why sustainability and environmental protection must remain a priority despite today’s challenges.

31 Building a green future Airport World shines the spotlight on a handful of pioneering sustainability initiatives in the UK, US and Germany.

35 Going digital Amadeus Airport IT’s senior vice president for strategy and marketing, Iyad Hindiyeh, explains why he believes we should be preparing for the ‘uberization’ of airport services.

38 Winning formula AMPAP administrator Pierre Coutu, reflects on the launch, history and success of ACI-ICAO’s flagship airport management training programme.

40 WBP news The latest news from ACI’s World Business Partners.

42 People matters Terri Morrissey and Richard Plenty share their thoughts on sustainability and how building a sustainable future for airports requires investment in people.

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Europe (7) Daniel Burkard (Moscow, Russia) David Ciceo (Cluj-Napoca, Romania) Elena Mayoral Corcuera (Madrid, Spain) Jost Lammers (Munich, Germany) Yiannis Paraschis (Athens, Greece) Stefan Schulte (Frankfurt, Germany) Nazareno Ventola (Bologna, Italy) Latin America & Caribbean (3) Ezequiel Barrenechea (Lima, Peru) Martin Eurnekián (Buenos Aires, Argentina) Andrew O’Brian (Quito, Ecuador) North America (6) Lew Bleiweis (Asheville, USA) Joyce Carter (Halifax, Canda) Deborah Flint (Toronto, Canada) Joseph Lopano (Tampa, USA) Candace McGraw (Cincinnati, USA) Sam Samaddar (Kelowna, Canada) Regional Advisers to the World Governing Board (10) Diego Arrosa (Montevideo, Uruguay) Chellie Cameron (Philadelphia, USA) Arnaud Feist (Brussels, Belgium) Pascal Komla (Lomé, Togo) Bashir Ahmad Abdul Majid (Delhi, India) Hector Navarrete Muñoz (Merida, Mexico) Augustin de Romanet (Paris, France) Brian Ryks (Minneapolis-St Paul, USA) 2 Vacancies WBP Advisory Board Thomas Duffy (ADB SAFEGATE) Tunde Oyekola (El-Mansur Atelier Group) Correct as of October 2020

ACI WORLDHEAD NEWS RUNNING

World in motion ACI World urges the world’s governments to back COVID-19 testing as an alternative to quarantine measures, writes external relations manager, Bojana Jeremic.

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he airport sector, as an integral part of the global aviation ecosystem, has been among the industries most heavily affected by the global pandemic.

Airports around the world are adjusting to the complexities of the ‘new normal’ and are quickly adapting to passengers’ changing needs and expectations. This effort is designed to help travellers and staff feel reassured that their health and safety remains the industry’s overriding priority.

ACI World’s most up-to-date estimates show the pandemic will result in a reduction of more than 5.6 billion passengers with a decline in total airport revenues on a global scale of more than $104.5 billion (figures in US Dollars) for 2020.

With many aircraft still grounded, coupled with ongoing inconsistent quarantine measures, the current projections on international market segments signal that passenger traffic volumes will likely only return to the levels recorded in 2019 by 2024.

The inconsistent and ever-changing border restrictions, along with confusion about quarantine and test requirements, continues to cause frustration for both businesses and travellers.

To this day, many international borders remain closed and international passengers are still subject to a mandatory 14-day quarantine, despite the widespread implementation of the International Civil Aviation Organization’s Take-off Guidance via the Council Aviation Recovery Taskforce (CART) document.

With quarantine requirements severely limiting the recovery of the aviation industry, urgent and appropriate government action is required to establish globally harmonised, risk-based, practical measures to foster a co-ordinated recovery whilst providing reassurance to travellers.

Governments must look for risk based approaches, leveraging multiple layers of protection to mitigate the risk of transmission, such as COVID-19 testing, travel bubbles or public health corridors as a means to restart air travel.

An effective COVID-19 test has the potential to be a useful risk equalisation measure where the rate of new infections in the origin country is significantly higher than in the destination country. If a test is required, it should be a recognised test such as a polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, test carried out in the 48 hours prior to travel.

A risk-based and proportionate approach to testing could help States to avoid taking a binary approach (open vs closed) to travel restrictions, including the need for quarantine, and balance the need for economic recovery.

As different methods of rapid testing become available, detection of pre-symptomatic and asymptomatic travellers will become more possible, particularly from locations perceived to be at a higher risk.

Although more work still needs to be done on the various different types of tests, how they are used, as well as their overall effectiveness, ACI strongly believes that a widespread adoption of COVID-19 tests prior to travelling will allow governments to reopen borders safely,

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reinstall global connectivity and passenger confidence, and kickstart the global recovery of the aviation industry.

To help airports in restoring public confidence in air travel, and to promote global implementation of best practice, ACI has launched the Airport Health Accreditation Programme (AHA).

The programme recognises airports that are committed to providing high standards of health and hygiene that accord with globally recognised standards, and prioritising the health and welfare of travellers, staff, and the public.

The health accreditation procedures are in accordance with ICAO Council Aviation Restart Task Force recommendations and in alignment with the joint European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) Aviation Health Safety Protocol and as well as ACI Europe’s Guidelines for a Healthy Passenger Experience at Airports.

Governments and industry regulators will need to ensure that any new processes that they require airports to introduce are reviewed in line with changing data and medical evidence and ensure that they remain aligned with those deployed through other modes of transport and the wider society.

The world is changing fast and, while the pandemic’s impact on the industry has been far greater than what we have previously experienced, recovery will once again require heightened levels of collaboration and partnership among industry stakeholders.

Airports can, and will be, one of the main drivers of aviation’s recovery. However, they cannot do this alone. The industry is stronger together and by coming together it will lay the foundations of recovery to ensure that aviation can deliver the economic and social benefits to the local, national, and global communities that it serves.

ACI WORLD NEWS Hygiene category added to ASQ programme ACI World is to introduce a new ‘hygiene’ award category to its Airport Service Quality (ASQ) awards this year to reflect the changing landscape in customer experience introduced in response to COVID-19.

As airports begin to restart operations, understanding the changing needs and expectations of passengers will be crucial in reassuring them that their health and safety remain the top priority.

The pandemic’s effects vary significantly between regions, therefore ACI has adapted its global ASQ programme for the collection and measurement of data this year, which informs the awards to be presented in 2021.

As a result, ACI has temporarily removed the ‘Most Improved’, ‘Best Airport Customer Service’, ‘Best Airport Environment and Ambiance’, ‘Best Airport Infrastructure and Facilitation’, and the ‘Arrivals Award’ categories from this year’s awards, although ‘The Best Airports by Region and Size’ will remain.

The new Hygiene Award category will be based on the score of three new safety and hygiene questions that will be added to the tablet version of the ASQ Departure Survey in the fourth quarter of this year.

“As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, travellers are demanding new services and procedures based on their specific needs, requirements, and concerns and airports are seeking to adapt their infrastructure, adopt new technology, and streamline their processes to best match what customers want,” says ACI World director general, Luis Felipe de Oliveira.

“The new ASQ Awards will recognise those airports that best listen to their customers and respond in a way that meets today’s changing expectations to provide a hygienic and safe airport environment.”

This year’s awards are being delivered in partnership with global travel technology company, Amadeus.

“This is just the beginning of an enduring and fruitful partnership between ACI and Amadeus in support of airports and the wider aviation ecosystem and illustrates our intention to work together with the industry to deliver the sustainable social and economic development to the communities we serve,” notes de Oliveira.

“Partnerships like this are important to move the industry forward during the recovery process and beyond.”

ACI offices ACI World Luis Felipe de Oliveira Director General PO Box 302 800 Rue du Square Victoria Montreal, Quebec H4Z 1G8 Canada Tel: +1 514 373 1200 Fax: +1 514 373 1201 aci@aci.aero www.aci.aero

ACI Africa Ali Tounsi Secretary General Casablanca, Morocco Tel: +212 660 156 916 atounsi@aci-africa.aero www.aci-africa.aero ACI Europe Olivier Jankovec Director General Brussels, Belgium Tel: +32 (2) 552 0978 Fax: +32 (2) 502 5637 danielle.michel@aci-europe.org www.aci-europe.org

ACI Asia-Pacific Stefano Baronci Director General Hong Kong SAR, China Tel: +852 2180 9449 Fax: +852 2180 9462 info@aci-asiapac.aero www.aci-asiapac.aero

ACI Latin America & Caribbean Rafael Echevarne Director General Panama City, Panama Tel: +507 830 5657/58 jmartinez@aci-lac.aero www.aci-lac.aero ACI North America Kevin Burke President & CEO Washington DC, USA Tel: +1 202 293 8500 Fax: +1 202 331 1362 postmaster@aci-na.org www.aci-na.org

As of January 2020, ACI serves 668 members, operating 1,979 airports in 176 countries. ACI is a non-profit organisation whose prime purpose is to advance the interests of airports and to promote professional excellence in airport management and operations. According to ACI’s 2019 Annual World Airport Traffic Report, in 2018 airports worldwide welcomed 8.8 billion arriving and departing passengers and handled 122.7 million metric tonnes of cargo and 99.9 million aircraft movements.

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ACI VIEWPOINT

View from the top ACI World director general, Luis Felipe de Oliveira, reflects on planning for a sustainable recovery of the world’s airports.

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he airport sector, as an integral part of the global aviation ecosystem, has been among the industries most heavily affected by the global pandemic.

The world is changing fast and, and while COVID-19’s impact on the industry has been far greater than what we have previously experienced.

According to the recently released Air Transport Action Group report, Aviation: Benefits Beyond Borders, air transport supports 87.7 million jobs and $3.5 trillion in global economic activity. In fact, 60% of direct aviation jobs are at airports.

As a result of the pandemic, however, it is predicted aviationsupported jobs could fall by 46 million to 41.7 million (-52.5%) and direct aviation jobs (at airlines, airports, manufacturers and air traffic management) could fall by 4.8 million, which is a 43% reduction compared with pre-COVID situation.

Recovery will once again require heightened levels of collaboration and partnership among industry stakeholders.

Airports will play a very important role on the economic recovery of the industry and sustainability is more important than ever. The current crisis has made it clear how vulnerable the aviation industry can be to external shocks, and without a doubt the long-term survival of the aviation sector will also heavily depend on the ability to reset to a more sustainable model that meets the demands of the climate emergency.

While we work toward a return to normal operations, it is important to note that “the normal” before the pandemic had its challenges that have not gone away.

While scrutiny of our efforts in this area is expected and welcomed, it is important that the considerable and measurable efforts of the aviation industry in making flying more efficient and more sustainable are recognised.

The industry as a whole is committed to developing further solutions towards decarbonisation of the sector while continuing to bring valuable connectivity to people, business and communities we serve.

Whilst acknowledging the difficult times ahead, it is crucial for the aviation sector to take a holistic approach to long-term planning, not to look for short-term fixes that increase the risks to the environment.

Creating a sustainable system that strikes a balance among the three pillars of sustainability – social, economic and environmental – should be the priority.

Over the last forty years, the aviation industry has invested billions of dollars in research and development which has resulted in measures and practices that have made significant progress in reducing its environmental impact. Collaboration across the whole industry to reduce emissions follows a four-pillar strategy of: new technology

(including sustainable aviation fuels), efficient operations, improved infrastructure, and market-based measures.

ACI is taking a leadership role through the Airport Carbon Accreditation (ACA) programme’s growth year after year. The programme, which celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2019, boasts 311 participating airports and continues to gain adherence because it recognises that airports can address their CO2 emissions in a variety of ways.

ACI World has also established a Task Force to work on a long-term carbon goal for airport operators, including considerations of net zero carbon airports by 2050, while ACI Europe has unveiled a comprehensive Sustainability Strategy which commits the European airport industry to reach net-zero carbon emissions generated by the airport operator by 2050.

However, it is for each airport, nation, and region to commit to a strategy that considers local conditions. ACI World aims to support the global membership by identifying potential pathways to more ambitious targets.

The recovery from COVID-19 offers us an opportunity to build back better – making the industry more resilient than ever. The pandemic has shown how important timely actions are to address a looming crisis and delaying actions may lead to irreversible loss and economic cost. Climate change remains the greatest challenge facing the world.

Delaying our efforts to reduce emissions today means more ambitious target and actions will be required in future.

The benefits that the aviation industry delivers should be seen in parallel with its ongoing pursuit of sustainable development, which necessarily includes environmental responsibility.

The future of aviation depends on our dedication to the cause of sustainability and ACI will continue to work with the global aviation sector and stakeholders so that we can be a strong part of the solution. AW

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AIRPORT REPORT: SAN ANTONIO

The many faces of San Antonio. Military City USA, a place of innovation for technologies like the Xenex LightStrike (centre), and home to one of the US’s most colourful Fiestas.

On a mission

Airport director, Jesus Saenz, tells Joe Bates why he believes that it is only a matter of time before growth is back on the agenda at San Antonio International Airport.

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ith such a strong military presence all around it, it should come as no surprise to learn that San Antonio International Airport (SAT) is determined to play a key role in Texas’ fight back against COVD-19.

The airport – whose neighbours include four military bases housing 80,000 active-duty personnel – was quick to respond to the pandemic, forming its own Covid-19 Task Force and introducing a number of measures to help safeguard the health and wellbeing of passengers and staff.

These have included enforcing social distancing measures, implementing new disinfection protocols, requiring all visitors to wear face masks, introducing over 200 hand sanitiser stations across the airport campus and, most recently, becoming the first airport in the world to purchase and deploy the Xenex LightStrike robot to help it combat the deadly virus.

From the get-go SAT realised that reassuring the travelling public and airport staff about its efforts to combat COVID-19, subsequently restoring confidence in aviation, would be key to its recovery.

As a result its response to the pandemic has also included improving its communication – and specifically the relaying of important information and messages – with different airport stakeholders, and launching a number of consumer confidence videos to reassure passengers that SAT is safe to use.

“The resumption of services is critical. However, how we manage through this storm is equally important,” says airport director, Jesus Saenz.

“My old adage is if you fail to plan, you plan to fail, so that is why we developed and established our Covid-19 Task Force, which coupled with

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a very strategic airport playbook with a plethora of activities and guiding principles are designed to win back passenger confidence and faith in all that we are doing here.”

Saenz is particularly proud of SAT’s deployment of the locally made Xenex LightStrike robot, which uses ultraviolet (UV) room disinfection technology to eliminate SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

Operated by the airport’s terminal services staff, it can be used anywhere in the airport – to include jet bridges, gate areas, ticketing counters, baggage claim, concessions, elevators and restrooms – where there are high-touch surfaces or high volumes of traffic.

Impact of COVID-19 on traffic Like most airports, SAT’s worst days during the pandemic were in March, April and May when its enplanement numbers fell from last year’s average of 15,000 passengers per day to just a few hundred.

However, the enplanement figure rose to between 4,000 and 5,000 passengers a day in July and August, and Saenz believes that the recovery of the last few months is reflective of the immediate steps the airport took to ensure the overall health and wellbeing of passengers and staff.

He is also quick to note that the city administration’s decision to replicate many of the COVID-19 practices implemented at SAT across the entire county and region have been a major success and benefitted the whole community, keeping infection levels down and people safe.

As a result, Saenz reveals that he continues to go into work as he feels perfectly safe at San Antonio International Airport and “wants to lead by example”.

AIRPORT REPORT: SAN ANTONIO

“I have no doubts that our efforts to combat COVID-19 and keep everybody safe have been reflected by the little bit of a favourable rebound that we are experiencing,” says Saenz.

“Are we back to pre-COVD numbers? Absolutely not, but we are 30% to 35% back to where we were previously and I’m optimistic that we’ll have the opportunity to grow back more traffic before the end of the year.”

The appeal of SAT Texan and industry veteran Saenz joined SAT from Houston Airport System in February 2020, feeling that after 24 years with the airport operator the time was right to leave his role as its chief operating officer for the challenge of running his own airport system.

He says that SAT’s traffic growth, fuelled by the region’s growing reputation as both a leisure destination and innovation centre, particularly in the fields of biotechnology, robotics and cybersecurity, meant that the opportunity to come to San Antonio was simply one he couldn’t turn down.

“The chance to help shape the future of the fastest growing airport in Texas based on traffic growth of the last few years is an incredible honour and one I wholeheartedly embrace, even if 2020 hasn’t quite turned out to be the year that we all expected,” says Saenz.

“Everything that the cities of Houston, Dallas and now Austin have grown to, San Antonio has the potential to emulate. San Antonio is already the seventh largest city in the United States and its wide appeal means that it will continue to expand and develop as a city and region.”

Saenz adds that he was also personally attracted to San Antonio by the culture, beauty and diversity of the city, its rich Texas history and the warm and welcoming nature of its people.

He also believes that the local community, which includes some 50,000 ex-military personnel who have retired in the area, are generally supportive of SAT as they appreciate the benefits that it brings.

SAT’s role in Texas’ airport system Coming from Houston, Saenz is well aware that George Bush Intercontinental (IAH) is a much bigger airport than SAT in terms of passenger numbers, as is Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW).

SAT also currently trails Dallas Love Field (DAL), Austin-Bergstrom (AUS) and Houston Hobby (HOU) in terms of passenger throughput, but that doesn’t mean that it is small as it handled 10.4 million passengers in 2019 to maintain its ranking as the state’s sixth busiest gateway.

Saenz says that SAT has traditionally served as a domestic O&D gateway for San Antonio and the South Central Region of Texas with a route network covering most major US cities and a handful of international destinations in Mexico.

However, based on the growth of the last few years and the fact that 10% of SAT’s passengers are either from or destined for international destinations via other US hubs, Saenz believes that the airport has the potential to become much more than an O&D gateway for domestic traffic.

“After DFW, Houston-George Bush Intercontinental and Dallas Love Field, San Antonio has the potential to be the next big thing,” enthuses Saenz.

“The major US airlines all serve this airport and their reach extends to well over 40 destinations in the US, and a couple internationally, but I think the growth of the city, the beautiful surrounding area and a developing and diversifying economy make San Antonio an attractive destination to many and means that there is much more to come.

“We definitely have the potential for more international routes, particularly a non-stop service to western Europe, and this is something we will continue to work on when the time is right post-COVID.” He also cites Mexico, Central America, Latin America and the Caribbean as offering the strongest potential for international route development in the future.

Based on the San Antonio Convention and Visitors Bureau’s figures indicating that San Antonio gets an estimated 32 million visitors a year, attracting people to the city and region doesn’t appear to be a problem.

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AIRPORT REPORT: SAN ANTONIO

Indeed, a record 1.8 million people visited The Alamo and San Antonio Missions National Historical Park last year, which together were designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2015.

While other popular attractions include San Antonio’s downtown River Walk, the Tower of Americas, SeaWorld, Six Flags Fiesta Texas and Morgan’s Wonderland amusement parks and the surrounding Texas Hill Country which draws millions of hikers, bikers and holidaymakers each year.

All add up to making San Antonio the leading tourist destination in Texas and one of the US’s top leisure destinations after Los Angeles, Orlando and New York.

The most popular routes served from SAT today are Las Vegas, Denver, Los Angeles, Dallas and Atlanta while the Mexican cities of Mexico City, Monterrey and Guadalajara (all served daily) and Cancun (seasonal) make up its international route network.

The top five airlines at SAT based on last year’s figures are Southwest (38%), American (23%), United (15%), Delta (13%) and Frontier (5%), with Southwest accounting for close to four million passengers and American around 2.3 million.

Saenz notes that with the exception of 10 destinations that are no longer served non-stop from SAT, the airport has maintained most of its route network in 2020, although with reduced frequencies due to the drop in demand.

Key economic generator Located around nine miles or a 10 minute drive from San Antonio’s Central Business District, there is no doubting that SAT is a driving force for the city and region’s economy.

SAT’s last Economic Impact Report in 2018 revealed that it generated $5.2 billion a year in revenue for San Antonio and directly supported 6,500 jobs – including around 500 that work for San Antonio Aviation Department – and a further 36,000 indirectly across the city and region.

Although those impressive figures will inevitably be down in 2020 due to the impact of the pandemic, Saenz is 100% certain that the downturn is only temporary and that growth and economic development will be on the trajectory again in the future.

He says: “Nobody can predict how long the current situation will last, but one thing is for sure, today’s unprecedented traffic declines

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across the world are only temporary and the good times will return again in the future, whether that is in 2021, 2022 or three or four years from now, because a fully functioning SAT is vital to the economic success of San Antonio.”

Reassuringly for airport employees and locals, he notes that the airport has a plan for each scenario and that these plans will at some point involve an upgrade to SAT’s existing facilities which pre-COVID were beginning to struggle to cope with peak time demand.

Future development Saenz tells Airport World that infrastructure development was very much top of mind when he joined SAT in February, with the airport close to finalising a new strategic development plan for the next 20 years that was expected to outline proposals for new passenger facilities, roadways and airfield enhancements.

It is still under consideration, although COVID-19 has persuaded Saenz and his team to push back making any decisions on the next phase of SAT’s development until the summer of 2021 as it is felt that they might have a clearer picture of where the market is heading a year from now.

Although he won’t be drawn on specifics, the future of SAT’s Terminal A will certainly be under the microscope as the compact, 17-gate facility is now 38 years old and has struggled to keep up with demand.

He comments: “We have some big decisions to make and our actions will decide the fate of the airport for the next twenty to thirty years, so we will take a little more time and make sure that we make the right decisions for San Antonio International Airport.

“All I can tell you for now is that we will look at each of our facilities to see if they match current and future demand. Prior to my arrival, the airport identified the requirement for a number of new airside and landside facilities to allow it to continue to grow.

These exciting plans helped attract me here in the first place and are still very much on the agenda.”

Sounds like growth and good times lie ahead for SAT and San Antonio, it is just a question of when rather than if as it would take a fool to bet against Military City USA not beating COVID-19.

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SPECIAL REPORT: SUSTAINABILITY

Tough times ACI World’s economics director, Patrick Lucas, considers the financial challenges facing airports and the policy levers needed to support aviation’s recovery amidst the pandemic.

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irports are an integral part of the aviation ecosystem, but they currently face a crisis that they are not financially set-up to experience: a sudden and prolonged collapse in traffic levels.

During business as usual times (or pre-COVID-19), the multiplier effect and positive externalities that airports generate in terms of employment and contribution to local economies is significant.

Commerce, tourism, and an intricate supply chain of large, medium and small businesses thrive and depend on passenger and cargo traffic within the aviation ecosystem and beyond.

The travel restrictions introduced as a result of the pandemic and ongoing quarantine measures — instead of harmonised screening and testing of passengers as a viable alternative — have also meant that the economic multiplier is now in reverse resulting in severe income deterioration and devastating job loss.

As engines of socio-economic growth, airports are indispensable to the markets and communities they serve in support of a global recovery.

That is, capital investments are lumpy over the short-term whereas cash flows and an expected return on invested capital are only perceived over the longer term.

As traffic levels increase over time, average total fixed costs potentially decrease to some minimum efficient scale. Thus, economies of scale are achieved with traffic expansion, which also has an impact on charges for users of infrastructure. The opposite is also true when you have traffic declines. This is the bare bones economics of airports.

Put differently, certain levels of traffic in tandem with the associated necessary unit revenues — aircraft and passenger related charges and revenues from commercial activities — are fundamental in the recovery of costs and to generate a return on invested capital commensurate to this risk.

The high fixed costs, the estimated decline of 60% in global traffic and resultant drastic shortfall in revenues of $104 billion (figures in US Dollars) epitomises the inherent risks that airports face amidst the pandemic.

Bare bones economics

Policy levers to support the recovery

Airports are also capital-intensive investments. Irrespective of airport ownership model, the large capital outlay and the complexities involved in planning, getting approvals, and constructing new infrastructure means that there is level of risk associated with the long-time horizon of these investments.

Airports are an integral to national and global economies. They are essential for trade, business, tourism, and economic growth.

The Policy Brief: Path to the airport industry recovery—Restoring a sustainable economic equilibrium puts forward policy and assistance proposals that governments can adopt to both

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Impact of COVID-19

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56.7%

Drop in airport revenues predicted for 2020, reaching a year-on-year peak of 90% globally in the second quarter of 2020 (the hardest hit region is Europe losing close to $37 billion in revenue).

accelerate the global industry restart and ensure a sustained long-term recovery. Several policy recommendations are summarised below.

– Pursuing measures to stimulate air transport demand • Alleviate travel restrictions — Because of aviation’s direct, indirect, induced and catalytic impact on tourism and employment, governments are urged to alleviate travel restrictions as soon as recommended by national and international health authorities.

• Remove taxes on air transport – The return of passengers should be incentivised and stimulated via the removal of passenger-based taxes on air transport.

• Boosting consumer confidence – Ensuring a healthy passenger experience that boosts consumer confidence and minimises the risk of disease transmission is fundamental to the recovery of air transport.

– Supporting the financial viability of the industry • Ensuring liquidity in the aviation ecosystem – governments are urged to help airports mitigate defaults on outstanding debt and potential losses to creditors due to the lockdown.

• Concession fee waivers and extensions to concession contracts – Airport rents and concession fees applicable to airport operators should be waived in the form of a one-time measure for a defined period of time, without the requirement for airports to pay back the waived amounts later.

Similarly, extending the duration of the existing concession contracts for private airport operators to ensure that the remaining time is commensurate with the airports’ ability to recover the costs of capital investments represents another important relief measure.

• Relaxing restrictions on commerce – Regulators should pursue temporary relaxation of limits and allowances for selected duty-free products, to stimulate sales and, consequently, help airports

generate revenues from their concessionaires. Duty-free shopping upon arrival should also be enabled where not available together with the appropriate tax legislation and reform.

• Rising costs for users of infrastructure – Financing costs continue to rise in the airport industry due to exogenous shock brought on by the pandemic. Regulators are invited to consider that the rise in the cost of capital will impact users and end-users of infrastructure.

• Market-based solutions to benefit the travelling public – governments are urged to reconsider their models of economic regulation and move towards fostering pricing strategies and commercial agreements as part of the airport-airline relationship which best serve the needs of the travelling public.

Aviation and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Supporting aviation also means supporting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Established in 2015, the SDGs call on the international community to pledge a plan of action based on 17 global targets that aim to ensure prosperity, peace and eradicate poverty by 2030.

Aviation indeed plays a role in 15 of the 17 UN SDGs. Airports, more specifically, have been major supporters of Goals 8, 9, 10 and 13 concerning work and economic growth, infrastructure and building sustainable cities and communities.

With the industry grounded and airports bereft of activity at the moment, there is a risk that the contribution to achieving these goals will be set back.

The recovery of air transport is indispensable to the recovery of the global economy, to the reconnecting of the world and the return of many jobs lost because of the crisis.

Airports are an integral part of the aviation ecosystem, and therefore require a timely and appropriate policy support that will facilitate the recovery of the entire industry.

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Safe passage SITA’s vice president for border management, Jeremy Springall, explains how technology will play a key role in aviation’s recovery from COVID-19 by helping protect ‘travel bubbles’ from popping.

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n 2020, new vocabulary has seeped into the global consciousness.

From ‘new normal’ to the more practical, yet equally disliked, ‘social distancing’, the additions to this year’s dictionary paint a bleak, dystopian picture.

But in recent months, fresh terms are being met with interest from wanderlust-stricken travellers and cautious optimism from governments and businesses hoping to rebound from the economic damage of COVID-19.

‘Travel bubbles’, ‘travel corridors’ and ‘air bridges’ are terms to describe formal agreements between governments allowing travellers to bypass strict quarantine measures based on the countries they travel between.

It’s a simple but elegant idea to help combat the likelihood of COVID-19 resurgence, in particular second waves sparked by passengers arriving from high-risk regions.

In light of this, the air travel industry must focus on transforming the passenger experience to increase traveller safety while balancing economic pressures from slow customer demand.

And the technology to achieve this is already available. For example, solutions that allow passengers to use their mobile device as a remote control for touchpoints such as self-bag drop and check-in kiosks, removing the need to touch any airport equipment.

A good illustration of this is at San Francisco International Airport, where SITA Flex enables a full mobile and touchless passenger journey.

This means travellers can print bag tags from their mobile phone on self-service bag points.

SITA and Beijing Capital International Airport (BCIA) also recently unveiled a new extensive biometric deployment of SITA Smart Path, featuring a completely contactless experience for passengers travelling through the airport.

As promising as this sounds, the practicality of protecting these bubbles is fraught with technical, operational, and governmental challenges.

Safer and restricted zones Borders across the world are once again being opened for tourists, and the list of countries that are getting back into the travel pool is growing each week. The latest additions to this group include South Africa, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Kosovo.

With that said, not all the countries on the list have been removed from other regions’ red lists – South Africa being one example.

As countries begin to ease air travel restrictions, they will be very mindful of preventing a resurgence of cases. Governments will therefore want to take a controlled manner to open up their borders and might take different approaches based on the risk profile for each travel corridor destination.

Where the virus risk is low, we’re beginning to see specific regions wishing to allow movement within safer zones first, for example the trans-Tasman bubble between Australia and New Zealand which is being discussed.

This will enable open travel between countries within the zone, although might still be subject to additional health checks and close monitoring to avoid the risk of outbreaks.

There are also countries deemed higher risk, where travel corridors might be restricted to certain categories of traveller or under strict conditions. For example, the Singapore-China ‘fast lane’ corridor. These restricted travel corridors will allow some movement for critical travel, including sponsored business travel.

Both models require an information-driven approach based on real-time data and they need to be responsive to handle rapidly changing situations.

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Layered approach Many governments take a layered approach to border management, starting well in advance of travel. If they can identify high risk passengers and limit their travel, this will support airports and airlines relaxing some of the measures for lower risk passengers at the airport.

There are four primary steps in this layered approach. The first is the visa or travel authorisation process, where passengers apply for entry into a country. We can see that this requirement might increase due to the pandemic and that health information, or a health declaration, will be incorporated into these checks up to the point of departure.

Travellers will be asked to confirm where they will be staying during the visit, and their travel within country might be restricted to minimise any risk of movement into higher risk areas. This also supports the passenger by providing clarity and enabling them to plan their travel.

The second step is about collecting Advance Passenger Information (API) and travel booking data, or PNR data as it’s called, from the airlines before travel. This enables the government to do additional risk assessments, including whether the passengers are travelling from high risk areas.

We don’t see that health information will be incorporated into this data in the short-term, but this might be something that happens in the future. This will require governments to come together with the airlines to define standards in this area.

Risk assessment The third, and maybe most critical step, is at the point of check-in, where the government can pre-clear a passenger to fly in real-time. Governments who have an Advance Passenger Processing, or interactive API solution in place can deny boarding of a passenger who is deemed high risk, or for example, has not completed the mandatory health declarations.

We’ve been supporting governments around the world in adapting their Advance Passenger Processing pre-clearance checks in response to COVID-19. For instance, during the early part of the pandemic we enabled governments to stop passengers from high risk countries check-in to their flights, limiting the spread of the virus.

The final step is on arrival at the destination airport and at the border control point itself. In the airport terminal we should expect to see special lanes and social distancing management to ensure travellers from different corridors, or risk levels, avoid coming into contact with each other.

Low risk passengers should be able to travel through the airport and across the border in a seamless, low-touch way using

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biometrics and mobile technologies, without the need for excessive queuing at immigration, which by itself can add to the risk.

Travellers using restricted corridors might be asked to undertake additional screening or testing on arrival.

Post-travel, governments can also use the information collected to provide passenger outreach support by identifying passengers who might have come into contact with someone with the virus during their journey.

For example, they will have data on where people were sitting on the aircraft, as well as their contact information to trace them and request them to isolate or go for testing, if they were sitting near someone who subsequently was identified as having the virus.

The risk status of the travel corridor can also be re-assessed in real-time using this data, enabling countries to react quickly if an outbreak occurs.

Trust and collaboration Collaboration between governments, airports and airlines will be vital for travel corridors to work effectively. They will be placing trust in each other to ensure risks are managed effectively, and real-time data is required to respond to issues with speed.

Standards are also important to ensure all stakeholders are working in the same way and data privacy is protected – we’re handling sensitive information, including potentially data about people’s health, and therefore we need to ensure all data sharing has a legitimate use and data is only retained for as long as necessary.

Building a more sustainable industry During this time of recovery for the aviation sector, there is also an opportunity to place greater emphasis on achieving a higher degree of sustainability. The sector must collectively shift towards sustainable, long-term, future-proof solutions that offer longevity and cost efficiency benefits.

For many airports, these are just bolt-on solutions to existing technologies and platforms. Introducing resilient, agile systems that increase efficiencies and can respond to unpredictable fluxes in passenger numbers, will become the determining factor for a sustainable future.

While travelling in 2020 and beyond will be a different experience for all, there is some hope that the new environment can steer us all towards a future where air travel is safe and seamless.

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Images courtesy of the City of Chicago/City of Chicago Photography Services (above) and Southwest Airlines (right).

Learning from COVID-19 What lessons in responsiveness and resilience can airports, airlines and architects draw from the current crisis? Robert Chicas, HOK’s senior principal and director of aviation + transportation, investigates.

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t’s impossible to overstate the impact COVID-19 has had on the aviation industry. At the time of writing, the virus has resulted in the cancellation of 7.5 million flights and revenue losses of more than $400 billion.

Yet 2020 has also been an amazing story of resilience and recovery as new industry protocols – enhanced cleaning and sanitation, wellness monitoring, better safety messaging and robust infection control measures – have provided for modest, but steady, increases in passenger traffic from the steep drop-offs of February and March.

Like everyone in aviation, we as airport planners and designers eagerly anticipate the arrival of a vaccine. Then – and only then – will confidence begin to be restored and passenger levels gradually return to their pre-COVID levels.

Yet, in many ways, we’re also thinking beyond this pandemic with our eyes on the next health crisis. What lessons in resilience can we apply from COVID-19 that might begin to help protect the aviation industry against an experience like 2020 again?

That’s the question HOK’s Aviation + Transportation team recently presented to airport operators, airlines and our own architects to both learn from the present and prepare for the future.

Safety first The Chicago Department of Aviation (CDA) offers an example of what we have heard across the industry. “CDA has always made passenger safety a top priority, and we remain steadfast in that goal during the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Jamie Rhee, CDA Commissioner.

“The pandemic has given us the opportunity to examine and enhance the way we monitor our operational protocols, provide security and support to the travelling public.

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“In addition to installing supplemental hand sanitising stations and social distancing signage (including informational decals on the floors and walls), CDA has been in constant communication with the Centers for Disease Control and Chicago Department of Public Health to stay up to date on all recommended safety guidelines.”

The CDA has also added no-touch fixtures and smart technology in their terminals for both the safety of travellers and to improve facility maintenance.

In Canada, leadership at Toronto Pearson International Airport established a 5-point Healthy Airport initiative. “It encompasses everything from making passenger and employee health our top priority to working diligently with government and industry partners and communicating transparently,” noted Deborah Flint, CEO of the Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA).

“The goal is to ensure our approach is innovative, aligned with industry standards and utilising the latest processes and technologies.”

The GTAA has a strong relationship with Toronto Airport Workers Council (TAWC), which represents unionised workers at Toronto Pearson who work for the 400 employers across the airport.

Airport leadership collaborated in a joint initiative to consider best workplace practices for airports around the globe. As part of this work, the GTAA issued the first demographic survey of airport workers in North America.

“This special relationship has enabled us to mobilise to address worker needs and keep the people of Pearson at the centre of our work,” said Flint.

Airports were of course not alone in their need to respond immediately to an unprecedented crisis. Steve Sisneros, managing

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director of airport affairs for Southwest Airlines, discussed the way his airline and their airport partners supported one another in the early days of the crisis.

And to communicate the most current information in a rapidly changing environment, Southwest opted for human connection over email.

“We set up nearly 60 conference calls over three weeks with the leaders of our top airports,” said Sisneros. “It was exhausting, but necessary.”

They addressed crucial issues of health and safety, the booking environment, the airport’s budget challenges and, critically, the airline’s need to preserve liquidity. This led to an unprecedented discussion about rent deferrals or other lease amendments.

“The airports stepped up,” observed Sisneros. “We are in this together. We have not necessarily agreed on everything, but we found ourselves in a situation no one could have contemplated or planned for and they have been great in communicating and working with us.”

The relationships Southwest has cultivated with airport directors over the years was integral to the success of those challenging conversations.

“If you’ve never spoken to an airport director or you didn’t have that relationship, and all of a sudden you’re cold calling and asking for help, that’s a harder conversation to have,” admitted Sisneros. “This took those pre-existing relationships to the next step. I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished.”

Future Impact While COVID-19 could soon be neutralised, if not eradicated with the development of a vaccine, it’s impact on aviation will last well into the future.

At Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, plans are already underway to incorporate lessons from the pandemic into the airport infrastructure, said the CDA’s Rhee.

Those strategies include: facility redesign strategies that can provide sufficient space for passengers to practice social distancing, leveraging best practices and emerging technology from healthcare industries, and undertaking HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) improvements that will help create a safer indoor environment.

Other airports see the coronavirus pandemic as an opportunity to adjust part of their core business.

“I have no doubt about the long-term return of passenger travel, but the years in-between require a radical adaptation of our approach to operations, commercial relationships and digitalisation,” said the GTAA’s Flint.

“For example, we have placed more importance on cargo and reworked our facilities and operations to ensure we meet and stimulate demand. Whether it is highly perishable goods, time-critical medical supplies or repair components that keep industrial production in high gear, Toronto Pearson has proven to be a critical link for air cargo in these changing times.”

All our experts agree that COVID-19 pushed the industry to adopt technology more quickly than it would have otherwise. Southwest’s Sisneros, for example, believes that all the new touchless technology within aviation is here to stay – from the mobile boarding pass and self-service kiosks to apps for ordering food and cash-free payment systems.

Wellness screening technology has advanced dramatically over the past decade in response to SARS and other respiratory illnesses.

Touchless technology, which has been around for years but has been slow to get implemented, has now received a big push from this pandemic.

Just last year, many of our aviation clients were unsure of incorporating biometric monitoring into a project. Now that technology is pretty much a given.

Wellness screening will likely become a permanent form of safety and security checks going forward. Though unlike TSA infrastructure, which is typically comprised of fixed elements located midway through the passenger’s journey to the gate, this new security perimeter must be at the first point of contact with passengers, and be designed with flexibility and reconfiguration in mind.

This presents a unique set of challenges for airports and architects as the wellness screening cannot create new choke points. At the same time, the screening needs to be highly visible and efficient, but impossible to ignore or bypass.

Increasingly, passengers want visual proof airports and airlines are taking all measures possible to keep them safe. This trend will undoubtedly come into greater focus on the heels of COVID-19.

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The new normal?

A handful of architects and consulting companies consider how COVID-19 will impact on the use and future design of airport terminals.

Architect: Ricondo Risk, resilience and flexibility Airport operators are looking to the industry for guidance on how future best practices will evolve to promote increased passenger safety, maintain operational efficiency and capacity, and accommodate regional, national, and international health and safety protocols, writes Ricondo vice president, Chad Townsend.

The long-term airport planning and design (P&D) strategy resulting from COVID-19 should focus on risk, resilience and flexibility.

The obvious impact to airport facilities results from social distancing guidelines requiring two to three times the upper range of industryaccepted level of service (LOS) recommendations.

The accepted criteria for passenger LOS that determine a facility programme have evolved alongside the aviation industry’s innovations and security protocols to promote a balance among the passenger experience, operational efficiency, and fiscal realities of an ultracompetitive commercial environment.

Given the existing constraints at most airports and the financial effects of COVID-19 on the global aviation industry, proposing significant increases to the size of typical airport facilities to accommodate temporary guidelines associated with this specific pandemic is not a feasible solution.

Further, dramatically altering current P&D metrics should not be the long-range strategy. Instead, the focus should be on

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preparing our facilities and operating protocols to be as resilient as is financially feasible.

Early P&D processes should include identifying potential threats, including health, weather, geologic, and security, and gauge the probability of occurrence while developing project criteria that prioritise resilience and flexibility to accommodate common challenges.

The subsequent evaluation of alternative solutions should place equal emphasis on spatial and functional flexibility, operational resiliency, and fiscally responsible accommodation of risk scenarios, as is currently placed on initial construction cost.

The strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis has been a tool for evaluating concept solutions for decades.

In the context of the P&D process resulting from COVID-19, the SWOT analysis should consider the following: lessons learned from the pandemic, which will evolve our priorities when evaluating capital improvements and operational enhancements; the benefit-cost of risk preparedness and resiliency versus minimum standards; and the common solutions regarding operational needs and responses for the multitude of events that could affect an airport’s ability to stay operable and efficient under periodic, and not just generational irregular and challenging conditions.

With an evolution of early visioning, reprioritising evaluation criteria and a more robust benefit cost strategy that includes downside scenarios, airport operators can proactively identify risks and develop solutions to ensure airports remain resilient and flexible.

SPECIAL REPORT: SUSTAINABILITY Architect: Landrum & Brown Working for the return of global travel Mitigating health threats is the top priority of every nation right now. All nations must improve their abilities to detect and identify health threats and no port of entry should be immune from scrutiny, writes Landrum & Brown’s vice president for terminal planning, Joe Barden.

The aviation industry has the obligation to quickly develop comprehensive health screening solutions that re-enable global passenger traffic and slow the spread pandemics.

These solutions require a series of uniform procedures for passengers and airports to assure their health and safety. Solutions will instil confidence that international travel is safe for everyone.

There are two actions that governments and airports must take to restore international travel: Countries must establish testing protocols and health screening prior to travel; and airports must reconfigure their international facilities to accommodate testing protocols and health screening procedures.

For governments, this means protocols at the arrival airport for passengers arriving from countries that are unable to provide testing services is an option. Testing upon arrival is a second-best solution

because it requires quarantines until test results return. As a direct consequence of the pandemic, many airports have introduced temperature checks for all arriving and departing passengers using thermal imaging; areas to scan mobile devices for ‘clearance’ based upon pre-travel testing; and spaces for secondary health screening for passengers, who may require an immediate test or further inquiry of additional information needed for contact tracing.

These changes may have tremendous impacts on the physical spaces. Few airports in the US and EU are prepared to implement changes within their existing infrastructure.

Airports need to prepare for changes by securing funding and by working with airport operators, airlines and government stakeholders to agree upon configurations of space and procedures.

Our national governments, airlines and airports must work together to meet these challenges to re-enable the international travel that drives our local economies. For international traffic to return global benchmarks, acceptance of innovative and robust health screening protocols and procedures is inevitable.

Airports will require additional space in their facilities to conduct mandated health screenings prior to circulation through traditional immigration and customs areas.

Architect: Corgan Bouncing back better The aviation industry has typically been very agile to respond to disruptions and I expect the same with the pandemic. Airports will adapt and come out in a better position to cater to the needs of the travelling public, writes Corgan’s studio design director, Scott Gerenc.

Indeed, we are already starting to define solutions beneficial as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic and it is beholden upon us to ensure that they are not reaction-based or knee jerk reactions, but ones that align with the aspirations of the modern traveller.

In our search for long-term design solutions that put people first, Corgan has focused on the areas of social distancing, touchless processing and wellness.

The concept of social distancing is less about six foot spacing and plexiglass barriers and more about the understanding the implication of a redefinition of personal space. For example, as passengers return to travel, where will they prefer to dwell and how can we encourage better use of the area available today to minimise passenger density in any one area?

Touchless processing is the aspiration of eliminating physical touchpoints and creating a touchless experience. Biometrics, automation and blockchain are all foundational to achieving a touchless processing experience.

While the promise of these technologies has always been around for quite some time, the pandemic may serve as the catalyst for the integration into our terminal environments.

Finally, wellness is focusing on creating a built environment that not only ensures the health and safety of passengers and employees. Aside from the physical modifications to the built environment, we really need to tap into travellers’ psychological comfort.

For the majority, travel by air is a choice, not a necessity, and we will have to go above and beyond people’s expectations to gain passengers’ trust, so they feel safe to fly again.

The key is to learn everything we can, not only about the lasting impacts of COVID-19, but how we can best prepare for a range of potential health threats, create a response framework to these threats, and then apply those strategies across the planning, design and construction spectrums.

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Architect: Gensler Cutting queues and improving passenger flows across the airport campus The COVID-19 pandemic is unique in many ways, but it has created a significant shift in the airline industry, with impacts not seen since the 9/11 terrorist attacks. In a post-pandemic world, airports must recognise that the threat of less visible contagions, such as COVID-19, requires a measured, proactive response, writes Gensler’s aviation leader, Tim Hudson.

While architects have an opportunity to leverage design to help airports secure their facilities and diminish the opportunity for the spread of diseases, these terminal facility changes also have an added benefit of improving the overall passenger experience.

At Gensler, we have considered a variety of design solutions that will address safety concerns and reshape how passengers use airport facilities in the future.

Limit queuing and congregation spaces Queuing and congregation spaces can be minimised by allowing passengers to check-in, tag and drop their luggage off, creating an organic flow with no queuing. We implemented this solution at the JetBlue Terminal at JFK Airport in New York by converting the traditional ticketing environment to a self-tag and self-drop operation.

Rethink seating in boarding areas Airports should identify new seating configurations that allow for greater social distancing and new amenities, such as standing rails with chargers. Beam seating can be replaced with easily adjusted or removable seats to create space between passengers.

Pre-map the passenger experience Using smartphone technology, passengers can pre-map their airport journey before it begins – from parking to check-in to entering through

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the security checkpoint at an assigned timeslot. This process allows airports to predict and manage passenger loads, while offering travellers a speedy journey through the terminal.

Accelerate biometric screening Before the pandemic, some airports had already begun implementing biometric passenger processing systems. In the US, they include the Delta Air Lines terminal at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Airport.

COVID-19 has created a sense of urgency to accelerate deployment of biometric technologies, upgrading every airport sooner than anticipated.

Conduct screenings at airport entrances In the long-term, airports should consider dispersing medical and security screening systems inside extended vestibules at terminal entrances. While there are potential operational challenges, these systems would allow medical and security screenings to take place ahead of entering the facility, reducing the opportunity for the spread of diseases among passengers in the airport.

Decentralise passenger processing Airports are process driven facilities, and by default, where these processes overlap, passengers gather. Leveraging solutions to de-densify passenger processing, such as moving security screening to the exterior of the building or deploying passive continual screening processes, will serve as a valuable long-term health and wellness strategy.

The COVID-19 pandemic is redefining how we travel and how we will experience airports in the future. As designers, we have the unique opportunity to apply our knowledge and lessons learned, collaborating with our industry partners to create a safe and secure air travel experience.

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Never ending journey

ACI World’s senior director for sustainability, environmental protection and legal affairs, Juliana Scavuzzi, explains why sustainability and environmental protection must remain a priority despite today’s challenges.

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he aviation sector is currently facing two major challenges: to navigate and survive the unprecedented impact of COVID-19 in the short-term; and, to keep its long-term commitments regarding climate change.

There is no doubt that the pressure from governments and society on the sector to decarbonise remains, and will only intensify, when higher traffic levels resume.

To avoid being locked-in to alternatives which could delay decarbonisation, and potentially make it less attractive for investment, we, the entire aviation industry, need to keep sustainability and environmental issues high on our list of priorities.

Climate change, sustainability and investment A recent survey of investors and financing stakeholders – carried out by ACI and international consultancy ICF – showed that, prior to COVID-19, 70% of those surveyed already required sustainability related criteria to inform their decisions; and, that 50% believed that COVID-19 had escalated climate change as a risk to investment in general.

Failure to address such risk in a timely manner, and to account for the costs and benefits to decarbonise, could compromise aviation recovery.

Resilience in the post-COVID era should be pursued holistically through a comprehensive systemic risk analysis of operations,

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infrastructure, people, supply chains, sustainable business models and cost to decarbonise.

In fact, COVID has proven that our survival depends not only on the resilience of our infrastructure and operations, but also of our passengers, staff, supply chains, other aviation and non-aviation stakeholders, the local and global economy, climate, health systems, among others. In short, airports are central to the global system.

It is not an easy task to address short, mid and long-term risks at a time when airports and other aviation stakeholders are struggling to keep the business alive and operating, despite the lack of customers, cash flow, and adequate financial support from governments.

Regardless, the aviation industry has reacted quickly to implement health and safety measures in co-operation with governments to give passengers, staff and authorities the confidence that it is safe to fly, with the precautionary measures in place.

Towards a consistent approach to sustainability We are still, unfortunately, far from the consistent approach among different countries to make this international sector viable to fully return and bring the benefits to society and the global economy that we so much need during a recession.

SPECIAL REPORT: SUSTAINABILITY Governments must help the industry to survive, so we can focus on the necessary green recovery, increasing resilience and addressing climate change, which will require time, co-ordinated action and investment.

Sustainable recovery plans with a clear path to decarbonisation should be prioritised as they would be the only way to avoid the most catastrophic impacts of climate change, which could be much worse over the longer-term than the current pandemic.

In fact, climate change has already had an impact on the planet, from fires in the US, Brazil and Australia to the increased risk of spreading zoonotic diseases which could lead to future pandemics.

Almost 70% of the airport operators who responded to the ACI survey on Resilience and Adaptation to Climate Change in 2019 reported that they have already been affected by adverse weather patterns and conditions.

The current impact is not only related to physical infrastructure.

Governments and investors are increasing their pressure on organisations to report their climate-related risks.

The Canadian government, for instance, has recently required organisations to report their climate-related risks as a criteria for receive financing support to mitigate COVID-19 economic impacts while New Zealand announced that climate risk reporting would be mandatory for banks, asset managers and insurers.

A green recovery It is often overlooked that prioritising a green recovery will bring opportunities to the sector and those investing in it.

For example, a recently published report from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) evaluates a scenario for 2050 which aims at significantly scaling up renewables in line with the IPCC’s 1.5oC objective. This so-called Transforming Energy Scenario (TES) – which is in line with the 1.5oC objective – would “effectively pay for itself, with every dollar spent bringing returns between three and eight dollars”.

Furthermore it would increase jobs in renewables to 42 million globally, four times more than today, with an extra generation of seven million indirect jobs.

The TES scenario would also result in a payback of between $50 trillion and $142 trillion in reduced environmental and health externalities. Developing business cases which identify payback periods can help obtaining funds to invest in decarbonisation projects.

Quick wins for airports might be in improving energy efficiency, which also could reduce operational costs. Airport operators depend on the availability of renewable energy to decarbonise, since their main source of emissions are related to the consumption of energy for cooling and heating of buildings.

Regarding aviation emissions (from aircraft), scaling up Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) is the necessary next step. The good news is that it can be done, although it will undoubtedly be challenging. Airports have a crucial and central role to play as they can be facilitators of the commercial deployment of SAF. Nine airports already support the provision of SAF onsite on a regular basis.

Setting a net zero goal There is no single solution, however, which could completely meet the challenge of transitioning aviation to net zero carbon emissions in the long-term.

This will require several solutions, including the development of new technologies, carbon capture, and potentially new sources

of energy to power ground infrastructure and equipment, and even aircraft.

New technologies, such as electric and hydrogen-powered aircraft have recently emerged as potential alternatives to decarbonise the sector and some stakeholders have already committed to them.

These technologies require investment in research and development of new aircraft and engines which should necessarily include solutions to avoid unnecessary and costly changes to existing airport infrastructure, if they are to prosper and be replicated at the global level.

Airports have a major role to play in enabling (or not) these solutions. This infrastructure challenge must be addressed, with wide consultation, at early stages of such projects.

There is potential too for the transition of ground equipment and vehicles to alternative renewable sources to pave the way for airports in the future to be able to provide, for example, hydrogen for aircraft. Being the interface between different modes of transportation and services, airports may attract new types of investment and partners.

Aviation stakeholders need to identify opportunities and risks of potential decarbonisation pathways, positioning themselves strategically to be able to contribute, address, and benefit from them.

Early movers who include climate change at the centre of their strategies and recovery plans – and which necessarily include their partners – will be able to identify these opportunities and risks first.

Sectors and stakeholders leading the change will also be at the forefront of receiving support to implement them.

Now is the time to come together on sustainability It has never been more important to align economic policies and strategies with environmental agendas.

The social element of sustainability should be at the core of this discussion: defining how this can be achieved while promoting sustainable and fair employment, contributing to societal values and quality of life, and encouraging people’s minds, efforts, and passion in developing long-term sustainable solutions.

This can only be done jointly, encouraging support for initiatives that have a greater impact – on more than one stakeholder and or sector.

The importance of collaboration cannot be underestimated because climate change is a challenge we cannot face in isolation. We will need all sectors, actors and governments to come together as each has an essential role to play.

Governments should strongly incentivise these necessary exchanges both at the domestic and international levels. Different regions and sectors will face specific challenges, drivers and opportunities. The airport community needs to identify them and support all regions to achieve similar results through their own possible pathways.

Addressing climate change is a global challenge. Co-ordinated action is essential to avoid duplicating initiatives, especially at a time when resources are scarce, and to ensure that short-term remedies do not become locked in where longer-term solutions are needed.

Addressing the major challenge to decarbonise aviation and build resilience to the unavoidable impacts of climate change will demand we learn to better collaborate and grasp opportunities to develop the enabling business models.

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Building a green future Airport World shines the spotlight on a handful of pioneering sustainability initiatives in the UK, US and Germany.

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n the UK, AGS Airports is trialling the use of oxo-biodegradable 100ml security bags at Aberdeen, Glasgow and Southampton airports and believes the move could remove more than two million single-use plastic bags annually across the group.

The technology involved ensures the product will begin to degrade over a selected period of time – between 17 and 24 months of a bag’s lifespan – down to a natural bio-mass rather than the more damaging micro-plastics associated with single-use alternatives.

Introduced in partnership with Enviro-Point, a subsidiary of airport service company Luggage-Point – the new more environmentally friendly bags can be reused and recycled prior to the beginning of the degrading period.

Mark Johnston, chief operating officer at AGS Airports, says: “Finding a suitable alternative that met both our security and operational requirements while retaining the necessary resilience the bags require was a challenge, so we’re really pleased to be able to trial a product that can not only be re-used and recycled, but also provides our passengers with the assurance that they are also supporting our efforts to support the environment.”

The group is one of over 200 airports across Europe to have signed ACI Europe’s NetZero 2050 pledge; a commitment to achieving net zero for the carbon under our their respective control by 2050.

Port Authority’s Clean Construction Program In the US, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) has announced the implementation of a Clean Construction Program, which it claims is one of the most ambitious programmes of its kind among US

transportation agencies as it is designed to reduce carbon emissions throughout the design and construction processes.

According to the Port Authority, the new programme will ensure that a minimum of 75% of concrete, asphalt, and steel construction waste will be diverted from landfills.

It also incorporates LEED and Envision-equivalent standards for environmentally-friendly infrastructure design, advancing the Port Authority’s commitment to reducing emissions and leading the transportation sector towards a low-carbon and more sustainable future.

Indeed, according to PANYNJ, the Clean Construction Program builds on the agency’s guidelines for sustainable design for buildings and infrastructure, will reduce “embodied carbon” (the carbon emissions generated from the manufacturing and transportation of construction materials and on-site construction activity), promote the circular economy (reusing materials to increase their lifespans), and reduce air pollution from construction across all facilities through six specific initiatives.

The requirements outlined in the Clean Construction Program will apply to all new projects, and many are already being embedded into ongoing work, including the LaGuardia Airport and Newark Airport Terminal One redevelopments.

At LaGuardia Airport, nearly 22,000 tons of concrete was recycled from the demolition of the original Terminal B parking structure and approximately 2,475 tons of this recycled concrete were reused on the adjacent job site.

Truck travel during demolition of the old airport has been reduced by 250,000 miles, the equivalent of 10 trips around the world, due to the creation of a concrete recycling facility on site.

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SPECIAL REPORT: SUSTAINABILITY

As part of the ongoing construction for the Terminal One Redevelopment Program at Newark Liberty International Airport, over 30,820 tons of asphalt, 101,511 tons of concrete and 61,597 tons of soil have already been recycled for the construction of the new Terminal One, Bridge N60 Frontage Road Bridge and Pedestrian Bridge, connecting pedestrians to the new terminal’s departures level.

“We are leading the way toward a more sustainable future because now more than ever we must all be committed to protecting our environment,” says Port Authority chairman, Kevin O’Toole.

Driving innovation in Munich In Germany, Munich Airport has introduced a CO2 neutral passenger bus (pictured above) with an innovative drive concept as it strives to reduce its carbon emissions and become an ACI NetZero gateway by 2050.

The bus has been fitted with a generator-electric drive, developed

by Rohrbach-based start-up CM Fluids, that has allowed it to be converted so that it can be fuelled with renewable bio-methane.

According to the airport, the bus’s ‘CMF Drive’, a patented concept of CM Fluids, “combines the advantages of a combustion engine with the benefits of an electric drive” by allowing it to be fuelled with liquid bio-methane, which powers an engine.

The resultant energy is temporarily stored in a small buffer battery that supplies electricity to the bus’s electric drive axle.

Passenger buses with long operating times or frequent stops and starts particularly showcase the advantages of the CMF Drive system, the airport explains, as the braking energy can be recuperated and also temporarily stored in the buffer battery.

In contrast with conventional electric buses, which have a much more limited range, a full tank lasts for up to 800 kilometres.

And refuelling is quick and easy, too, says the airport, as it takes just five minutes to fill the vehicle’s 500 litre tank.

Most importantly, with 90% fewer particulates than EURO VI diesel engines and more than 60% fewer nitrogen oxides, the concept ensures vastly improved air quality at the airport.

Munich Airport CEO, Jost Lammers, enthuses: “We have set the ambitious target of consistently cutting CO2 emissions at our airport, and bringing them down to zero in the long-term.”

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The bus is part of Munich Airport’s existing vehicle fleet, and with others likely to be converted in the future if the current trial proves a success, the airport is also aware that it could save a fortune on not being required to purchase any new buses in order to meet its climate change targets.

Nothing goes to waste?

In a UK first, Heathrow is trialling new technology that could turn unrecyclable passenger waste into airport furniture, uniforms and alternative fuels.

A new recycling unit that could process up to 5,000 tonnes of non-recyclable plastic once scaled up, is being tested by the airport and could allow Heathrow to recycle 100% of its on-airport plastic waste.

University College London (UCL) and Sheffield-based company, Catal, used funding from Heathrow’s Innovation Prize to set-up a research and development (R&D) unit with the aim of making the technology commercially viable by 2025.

The airport is initially trialling turning unrecyclable plastic passenger waste – including food packaging and plastic film – into airport furniture, uniforms and lower-emission jet fuel by 2025.

Currently at Heathrow, close to 50% of airport and aircraft cabin waste is recycled. This is comparable with most local authorities despite the strict regulations in place for cabin waste from international flights, which mean most of that waste must be sent for incineration or landfilled.

According to UCL’s Dr Massimiliano Materazzi, who told Airport World that the project is progressing well, the plant has the potential to save up to 5,000 tonnes of waste from incineration by turning it into its original oil state for recycling every year.

If successful, it will enable Heathrow to recycle all plastic waste from the airport where regulations permit. Once the waste is refined using this new technology, the resulting oil will be collected and processed in a separate facility which makes use of renewable hydrogen to upgrade the oil into new generation, low-carbon products such as furniture and uniforms.

It is estimated that between five and eight kilogrammes of plastics oil will be produced for every 10kg of waste handled each hour.

Researchers say it’s also possible that this oil can be transformed into Jet A1-type sustainable fuel and will investigate further during the trial.

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SPECIAL REPORT: SUSTAINABILITY

Going digital Amadeus Airport IT’s senior vice president for strategy and marketing, Iyad Hindiyeh, explains why he believes we should be preparing for the ‘uberization’ of airport services.

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ver the past decade the way we communicate, shop, get around and are entertained has arguably been transformed by a handful companies such as Uber, Amazon, Facebook and Netflix.

Whilst there are distinctions in their business models, there are similarities in their model of success, which has seen each company deliver extremely convenient consumer services using a common cloud-based platform.

If you want to access a Netflix movie, log in to Facebook or do some shopping on Amazon, you can access those services quickly and simply from any device, from anywhere.

What each of these platforms has successfully achieved is the separation of their applications (media distribution, social networking, e-commerce etc) from the underlying hardware and networks used to access those services.

These services are so scalable and attractive that a handful of ‘big tech’ companies now represent close to 50% of the total value of the S&P 500. A historically high level of concentration that holds lessons for every industry, including aviation.

Redefining airports services While aviation is a complex business that moves passengers and planes, there’s no reason we can’t have a piece of the ‘always on, always available’ digital services action while at the airport.

When you think about some of the stressful aspects of passenger services that are handled on the airport side, such as check-in and bag-drop, they are really just a series of interactions with the passenger.

Are these passengers permitted to fly? Would they like any additional services? Do they have luggage? This type of interaction shouldn’t be tied to a specific piece of hardware or a specific area of a terminal any more than accessing a film from Netflix or logging on to Facebook.

Passenger services should be decoupled from on-site servers at the airport and built into a platform in the cloud so they can be delivered and consumed by travellers where and when they’re needed.

Increasingly this is now becoming the case as a greater number of airports embrace the cloud model.

When constraints are removed, people begin to innovate At those airports that have freed themselves from the constraints of on-site infrastructures and complex network connectivities, the conversation is shifting. When local IT teams no longer worry about monitoring and maintaining everyday applications, they have more time to rethink what passenger services should look like.

This is something that every airport is now concerned with as our industry responds to the challenges of COVID-19.

We’re increasingly hearing our customers talk in terms of the ‘Uberization’ of airport services. Do you remember when you had to make specific arrangements to organise a taxi?

Typically, it required a phone call the day before to ensure they’d collect you the next morning, it was unclear if the driver was actually on the way and time was spent fumbling around to make sure you had enough cash for the trip.

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SPECIAL REPORT: SUSTAINABILITY

Uber solved all of these problems by connecting drivers with riders through an ‘always-on-platform’ that included reviews as a trust mechanism, one-click payments and location-based information.

The same is beginning to happen for passenger services at airports.

Now that applications for check-in and bag-drop are in the cloud, there are a number of providers emerging that offer on-demand services to the traveller.

Initial examples have included cruise terminals, train stations and hotels; but these are intermediate steps. The end-game is the widespread availability of an app that allows the traveller to request check-in and bag pick-up from wherever they happen to be.

Your mobile airport arrives, checks you in and collects your bags that follow a chain-of-custody process before being injected into the bag flow at the terminal.

Passengers could also use the app to consume airport information like queueing times and to pre-book VIP services like lounge access or even to shop for duty free products.

This type of innovation is convenient but, importantly, it also removes processes at the airport which reduce congestion and contributes to a safer, more socially distanced experience.

Making it easier for airports to connect to airlines As more airports decide to embrace the cloud model, we’re seeing the emergence of a common platform for airports that’s native to the cloud.

This makes it much easier for airports to easily connect to their airline partners in the cloud, without the need for bespoke Application Programming Interfaces (API) integration.

This cloud connection provides greater agility. For instance, if an airline decides to begin a new route from an airport, the timeline and IT requirements can be greatly reduced.

On the operational side, with a common cloud hosted platform it becomes possible to provide a shared situational awareness – not just within a single airport but across multiple airports, or even the entire air transport network.

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Imagine the efficiency gains our industry could achieve with more accurate information on flight arrivals, turnaround times and delays.

Now consider how valuable that information would be during periods of significant disruption.

This is the benefit that a common cloud hosted platform can bring for airports and their partners, from airlines to ground handlers.

Should airports ask airlines to become tech companies?

The short answer is ‘probably not’. Of course, we believe in the transformative power of technology and both airlines and airports will increasingly apply technology in new and imaginative ways to serve passengers and improve operations.

However, some IT providers propose an airport should establish and maintain API connections to each individual airline they partner with, which will be costly and complex.

It will also require airports to effectively ask their airline customers to become tech companies, which is a prospect we don’t view as being realistic.

APIs are a modern method for connecting applications together to enable the exchange of data over the web. They are a great innovation and Amadeus makes a number of APIs available to our customers, but APIs aren’t suitable for every situation.

The industry is only now beginning to free itself from common use models that were wedded to fixed network connections between each airline and each airport in favour of a single secure internet connection to a cloud-based platform.

At Amadeus it has been our mission to support the industry in transitioning away from old network costs and constraints.

Looking to the future, we firmly believe that the most efficient way to deliver services such as check-in and baggage handling at airports would be to achieve ‘uberization’ and take today’s applications into the cloud with a simplified and secure internet connection to an IT partner that can bring airlines and airports together.

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Winning formula AMPAP administrator Pierre Coutu, reflects on the launch, history and success of ACI-ICAO’s flagship airport management training programme.

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he Airport Management Professional Accreditation Programme (AMPAP) is a joint ACI-ICAO initiative that offers a unique executive development curriculum to airport management professionals and stakeholders.

The programme covers all the functional areas of the airport business, promotes adherence to uniform industry standards and best-recommended practices, and engenders a broad cross-cultural learning environment.

Graduates receive the joint ACI-ICAO award of the International Airport Professional (IAP) or AMPAP Associate diploma and designation.

We recently passed the 13th anniversary of our 2007 pilot course at ICAO Headquarters, and I fondly remember those first 18 eager individuals who arrived from seven different countries spread across four continents.

That first group had already accurately signified a cross-section of the growing AMPAP community that is located today in 115 countries worldwide.

AMPAP courses focus on best practices in airport management along with ICAO standards and recommended practices, and policy guidance.

Experienced, multi-disciplinary subject-matter experts with extensive international expertise, including AMPAP graduates, have conducted the gateway/entry mandatory courses in a classroom/face-to-face format over five days in about 60 cities worldwide to date, multiple times in the some of these cities.

The three other mandatory courses in the AMPAP curriculum have always been delivered in an interactive, combined virtual classroom and online format since 2007, requiring no travel displacements.

International interactive online learning component Close to one hundred resource-persons have contributed to the development, updates, and delivery of AMPAP since our inception and we all feel privileged to have had an opportunity to contribute to this venture.

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Those of us involved know it is comparable to a team sport in terms of how important it is to maintain our momentum and stay focused.

By these very tenets, in response to the challenges that arose from the COVID-19 spread, we instituted extraordinary measures that would allow eligible applicants who wanted to begin their own AMPAP journey to gain entry via any one of the online mandatory courses, when normally, new enrollees must start with the ‘gateway’ course that is delivered face-to-face only.

Since we launched the programme, the strength, quality and interactive design of the AMPAP online delivery platform has been tailored to the learning requirements of management-level personnel and it is this robust online feature we have employed that we are fervently counting on to continue today.

This agile response would effectively allow airport executives to stay safe while pursuing their competency building aspirations during these unprecedented, challenging times.

Exceptional quality professionals breaking down functional professional silos Over time, and from interfacing first-hand with the professionals who engage in AMPAP, one common element that continues to stand out among them is their exceptional quality.

Consequentially, by allowing the programme to build on these foundational management personnel and augment the skillsets of the more experienced, their professional enhancement makes for better quality decision-making and actions that put them ahead of the game and stand them out among peers, locally, regionally and globally. They work to provide improved added value together.

The AMPAP experience has revealed that functional silos, such as the departmentalisation of airport managerial structures into

HUMAN RESOURCES

semi-hermetic safety, security, operations, commercial and financial management units, form a serious impediment to the development of the ‘systemic’ competency of airport professionals, namely that we are an integral part of the air transportation system. This is a critical factor for airport enterprises to consider.

Clearly best practices cannot be disseminated effectively and solely through the transfer of knowledge. Experienced executives learn best through “discovery learning”, more specifically, “problem-based learning”, which accounts for more than half of the AMPAP curriculum.

Throughout we challenge participants with real-life problems that airport enterprises either encounter or anticipate; they are coached into confronting these issues while working in multidisciplinary and multi-national teams. This would bring out divergent opinions that arise from a variety of functional and cultural perspectives juxtaposed with the added pressure of cooperating across time zones.

Indeed, it is a fastidious, yet decidedly enriching part of the programme. This sharpens effective leadership thinking and behaviour and with proper strategic guidance, these are the people who could contribute to the hard climb out of their airport’s postCOVID-19 recovery process.

Consolidating the airport management profession The four strategic objectives for AMPAP that continue still stand: increase expertise; establish uniform standards; share expertise; and promote professional excellence.

Although the success of the Programme may be due primarily to the sharing of best practices, on another level, we have been inspired by the importance airport executives attribute to consolidating this complex, multi-dimensional airport management profession.

AMPAP is not just another vehicle for its participants to receive a nice‑to‑have diploma. Rather, they are enablers with a curiosity

and enthusiasm for aviation who stand behind the best practices, procedures, applications and infrastructure that foster significant and innovative contributions within their airport enterprise, ultimately optimising and improving their organisational performance.

Africa has provided 13% of all AMPAP participants to date; Asia-Pacific 32%; Europe 12%; Latin America-Caribbean 9%; Middle East 15%; and North America 19%.

One emerging industry best practice relates to the development of a Competency Building Master Plan (CBMP) that is specific to each enterprise and constitutes an evolution of a ‘traditional’ comprehensive training plan.

A distinguishing feature of the CBMP relates training directly to performance as the return on investment (ROI), which leading airports espouse. Any airport can conduct a gap analysis from two types of criteria: the first would be to determine the specific strategic, tactical objectives of the enterprise and the second would, more importantly, involve benchmarking various elements against relevant industry standards and best practices.

The constant evolution of our industry’s best practices also necessitates regular and timely updates by teams of subject matter experts to the AMPAP material, particularly pertaining to business management, the strategic use of new technologies, operations performance optimisation, infrastructure planning, and commercial development.

The overall emphasis of the programme lies essentially in competency building that targets skills development within the airport leadership context such as foresight, decision-making, and ability to negotiate with stakeholders, which go hand in hand with knowledge acquisition.

Confronting the challenges AMPAP has proven its value to hundreds of participants while weathering the global economic recession in the late 2000s and we humbly believe it will do so again now, and in the postCOVID-19 period.

Plans have been disrupted for everyone. In the unprecedented times that have been forced upon us, the AMPAP team has found continuity in remaining focused on the positive and by continuing to be productive with what we can still do.

For us, this has meant occupying our time by maintaining the scheduled online AMPAP mandatory courses. What better way and use of their time for airport executives, our current and future aviation leaders, to proactively continue to build on their own competencies, through AMPAP. We would like to believe that in some ways AMPAP triggered the beginning of a new generation of airport executives. In fact, numerous graduates refer to their journey through the programme courses as enabling and game-changing.

We are tirelessly committed to doing better on other fronts as well: by working to increase gender participation of women beyond the current 25% intake; to make the programme more universally available to participants from least developed countries (LDCs); and for AMPAP to become an integral part of the competency building master plans in airport enterprises worldwide.

In 115 countries, hundreds of airport organisations have been paying attention.

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WBP NEWS

Time to Build?

Carrie Shaeffer, Swinerton’s vice president and national director of aviation considers the challenge of building up aviation’s built environment in North America.

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onsumer confidence is paramount to the long-term financial sustainability of airlines and airports. After all, there is no silver bullet when it comes to compelling leisure travellers to board flights with family or convince business passengers to swap out video meetings for air travel once again.

However, creative adaptations to the built environment are giving an edge to some in the aviation industry.

From signage and sounds, to the look and feel of airline holdrooms and premium lounges, new design-build strategies balance more restrictive budgets with priority construction projects.

Our strong recommendation to aviation clients: if you can fund it, build it now. Or, move forward as soon as you can. Why? There is a greater potential for cost savings due to minimal disruption with less airway traffic.

Quality design-build partners do more than just deliver the end-product. These essential resources help evaluate the means and methods to meet the needs.

Increasingly, these firms are also responsible for incorporating Infection Control Risk Assessment (ICRA) planning to ensure that site containment standards align as closely as possible to those of healthcare facilities.

By cross-teaming with its healthcare division, Swinerton’s aviation division is parlaying healthcare environment best practices to aviation environments.

An essential element of Southwest’s strategy involves partnering with companies involved in various projects across their network who are committed to excellence on site – as well as on the back end, where fiscal responsibility requires routine assessments on capital investments.

“Working with Swinerton on our Denver hangar project, we’ve been really pleased with their project management skills – including working hand-in-hand with us to optimise the project to conserve

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capital spending to help us get through the COVID-19 pandemic impact on our overall business,” said Dan Landson, communication lead at Southwest Airlines.

Southwest Airlines is working in concert with various medical experts to learn more about COVID-19, it’s spread, and how they can work to limit the spread of the virus.

“We want to make sure we’re doing what we can to keep our customers and employees safe and welcome travellers back with the hospitality they’ve come to know and love about Southwest,” continued Landson.

“As a result, we’ve implemented our Southwest Promise, a multi-layered approach to the wellbeing and comfort of our customers and employees.

“Some of the changes within this programme, include limiting contact between our employees and customers, installing Plexiglas shields at the ticket counter and gate podiums, increasing cleaning onboard the aircraft and in all our physical spaces, and requiring customers and employees to wear face masks.”

The COVID-19 pandemic is requiring the aviation industry to shift function and focus, and implement more innovative, forwardthinking solutions to not only maintain but also improve operations in order to keep both travellers and employees safe.

From enhanced personal protective equipment (PPE), deep cleaning services, air filtration and other protective measures – leveraging sophisticated analytics and design-build processes to ensure short and long-term fiscal health is paramount.

Swinerton has worked with most of the nation’s airlines and airports to design and execute critical construction needs – including several projects for Delta Air Lines at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport (ATL), the world’s busiest airport and global headquarters for the air carrier.

RUNNING WBP NEWS HEAD ADELTE

Face of the future?

The Green Gateway (above) – a reimagining of Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport as a zero-emission, multi-modal hub in 2100 – has won this year’s Fentress Global Challenge (FGC) design competition.

Launched by Fentress Architects in 2011, the annual global student design competition represents a key part of the firm’s commitment to advancing innovative design in public architecture and attracts students from around the world.

For their efforts the winning designers – Nikhil Bang and Kaushal Tatiya from the Southern California Institute of Architecture – also received a first-place prize valued at around $15,000 “A deep passion for design and a creative mindset are the cornerstone of any successful design competition submission,” enthuses Curtis Fentress, principal in charge of design at Fentress Architects.

According to their submission, the winning design transforms Delhi’s airport into a “forward-thinking, sustainable multi-modal hub that mitigates the environmental impacts of air travel while enhancing mobility across New Delhi”.

Embracing sustainable design strategies, the zero-emission concept features a decentralised system of one central terminal and six towers dispersed throughout the city. The towers provide a dual purpose, working as both air-purifying centres and stations for flying cars. This solution, say the designers, will significantly improve mobility across the city by replacing domestic flights as one of the major sources of pollution.

Central to everything

Courtesy of Bradford Airport Logistics, Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC) has opened a new $5.6 million Central Receiving and Distribution Center (CRDC) to improve the security screening – and enhance the health and safety – of all goods entering the airport.

The new 22,000sqft facility receives all goods delivered to the Utah gateway’s brand new passenger facilities, dubbed The New SLC, which officially opened for business on September 15.

Upon arrival at the new CRDC, staff will carry out regulatory inspections and X-ray screening before consolidating the goods for redistribution to the airport’s new state-of-the-art terminal and concourses for the end user – the passengers.

The inspected items include all the retail goods and food and drinks sold in Salt Lake City International Airport’s shops and F&B outlets.

“This facility will provide increased efficiency and safety, since third-party truck deliveries will no longer be made via the airfield,” says SLC’s executive director, Bill Wyatt.

“This reduced delivery truck traffic around aircraft and airport facilities is not only more secure but reduces emissions from weekly delivery trucks.”

“Celebrating our twentieth year in the business, Bradford has been the primary catalyst and developer of CRDC growth and innovation within the US and global aviation industry,” enthuses Benjamin Richter, CEO and founder of Bradford Airport Logistics. “We are proud to operate this showcase facility on behalf of SLC.”

Membership Region: Latin-America & Caribbean Type of business: Equipment W: www.adelte.com ADELTE Airport Technologies provides engineering know-how and results-driven solutions for the world’s leading international airports. From advanced boarding bridges and terminal solutions that deliver a better experience for passengers to innovative ground support equipment and aircraft recovery products to improve performance on the apron, ADELTE is focused on working closely with its partners to enhance airport operations worldwide.

UBM Live Routes Ltd Membership Region: Europe Type of business: Consulting & Management W: www.routesonline.com Air service development and services: consultancy, route delivery, events, online community, investments, non-aeronautical revenues, media.

The Route Development Group comprises: Routes, the company behind the award-winning World and Regional airline and airport networking forums; ASM, the global route development experts; and Routesonline, the online forum for the route development community.

Woolpert Membership Region: North America Type of business: Planning & Construction W: www.woolpert.com Woolpert’s comprehensive, in-house services helps its customers reach the full potential of their airport’s operation by providing complete planning, design, environmental, enterprise information management (EIM), surveying, and aerial mapping/remote sensing services for capital improvement programmes. The company’s aviation professionals support the sustainability of projects by utilising a wide range of project delivery methods, including traditional design-bid, programme management, design-build, and construction administration services.

It also works closely with the FAA and state departments of transportation in regards to project funding.

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HUMAN RESOURCES

PEOPLE

matters People sustainability Terri Morrissey and Richard Plenty share their thoughts on sustainability and how building a sustainable future for airports requires investment in people.

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ustainability has been defined by the Brundland Commission as the “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”.

In 2018, John Elkington – who first used the term, “The Triple Bottom Line”, to describe the sustainability pillars of profit, people and planet – penned an article in the Harvard Business Review suggesting that it was time to rethink the concept.

In the article, he claimed that there had been a distinct failure to really benchmark all three pillars. Elkington had, he explained, intended the Triple Bottom Line to be a call for radical system changes, and not just another accounting system for organisations to use when assessing their sustainability.

Twenty-five years on he believed the focus should be on technological breakthroughs, innovation and disruption in order to bring a ray of light to next generation solutions to global issues and challenges.

This systems view of sustainability was also taken by Fritjof Capra (2015).

He talked about the interconnectivity and interdependence of a number of disciplines, including biology, cognition, social and ecological sciences to bring together a holistic view of sustainability in a global world.

So, what can organisations do to maintain sustainability in this context?

And specifically, what can airports do?

Airports are, of course, trying to reduce carbon emissions through a combination of technological innovation and behaviour modification. But what can they do in relation to the people side of the equation?

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Sustainable organisations know that in order to survive into the future they need to value the contribution of their people, even in times of uncertainty and crisis.

How people are treated in those times becomes an important part of the future viability of the organisation, not to mention the reputational impact and the employer branding proposition.

Enlightened leaders know that building a sustainable future for their organisations requires an investment in people and in their development. Even in times of crisis, organisations cannot ignore the future and future requirements of the business.

What skills will be needed? Do we have those skills? How can we develop those skills? Can we upskill and retrain the existing workforce to be ready to take up tomorrow’s challenges? And will we have to recruit new talent? These are just some of the questions that need to be asked and answered.

There is a dilemma here. In order to survive it may be necessary to let people go to save on costs. But a fundamental question needs to be asked: What impact will this action have in the longer-term?

If sustainability is the goal, then maybe we need to ponder more on this question and reflect on the potential longer-term damage that may be done to the reputation and branding of the organisation as an employer of the future.

Airports are vital to economic life and in some cases a national asset. In these circumstances, perhaps governments should also consider what steps they could take to help airports preserve the employment of those involved.

Short-term actions can have longer and unintended consequences.

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Ryanair’s former director of route development, Kate Sherry, is the new aviation director at Edinburgh Airport and will oversee the airport’s recovery from the impact of the current pandemic, taking over the vital role of managing airline relationships and ensuring that Scotland’s largest airport retains and grows its connectivity in the coming years.

AA Ponomarenko was elected chairman of JSC Sheremetyevo International Airport (JSC SIA), the operator of Moscow Sheremetyevo, at a regular meeting of the company’s board of directors on September 30, 2020.

London Luton Airport (LLA) in the UK has announced the appointment of Jonathan Rayner as its new chief commercial officer. He joins from Edinburgh Airport and will be responsible for growing and developing the gateway’s commercial activity by working with airlines, retailers and other business partners.

Newcastle Airport in Australia has welcomed Robert Sharp, the former group executive of Virgin Australia Airlines as an independent member on the airport’s Audit, Risk and Compliance Committee (ARCC).

David Walters is the new finance director at Cardiff Airport. As part of the board he is expected to play a significant role at a strategic level in delivering and maintaining a successful and sustainable airport for Wales.

Minneapolis/St Paul International Airport (MSP) has a new police chief, appointing Matt Christenson from within after deciding that the 29-year airport veteran was the best person for the job. “Chief Christenson has tremendous knowledge of the entire policing operation at MSP, everything from anti-terrorism efforts to patrol, investigations, traffic control, community outreach and records administration,” said Mike Everson, director of public safety for the Metropolitan Airports Commission.

Fayetteville Regional Airport’s acting interim airport director, Toney Coleman, has taken up the top job at the North Carolina gateway on a full-time basis following a national search. Predecessor, Bradley White, retired in April.

About the authors Terri Morrissey and Dr Richard Plenty are directors of This Is…, authors of the book Uncertainty Rules? Making Uncertainty Work for You, and deliver ACI World’s Airport Human Resources training. You can contact them at info@thisis.eu

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