Airports Council International (ACI) is calling for an increase in capacity and investment in airports in Asia-Pacific to enhance the socioeconomic benefits aviation provides the region.
Angela Gittens, ACI director general, said increased capacity can be achieved through improved coordination among industry stakeholders to enhance efficiency, protect existing infrastructure, and build needed infrastructure facilities.
Gittens underlined the importance of safeguarding the socioeconomic benefits that aviation provides the Asia-Pacific Region, home to some of the fastest growing economies and aviation markets.
“We need to ensure that aviation continues to generate socio-economic benefits to communities and countries, many of which are small island developing states (SIDS) challenged by small population, limited human capital, confined land area and higher debt levels.”
Under the umbrella of efficiency, Gittens said airport stakeholders have to increase their harmonized efforts when it comes to seamless connectivity.
In this regard, the New Experience Travel Technologies (NEXTT) can help, she said. ACI and the International Air Transport Association have been developing NEXTT, “which pulls together the work that is being done in our security, airport operations, passenger and cargo facilitation teams, on biometrics, autonomous vehicles and digital transformation.”
The NEXTT vision looks at the complete ground journey for all the elements that currently move through the airport—the passenger, baggage, cargo and the aircraft. It seeks to ensure that stakeholders have a common direction, and that all projects benefit to maximize interoperability with others.
To protect infrastructure, Gittens urged airports to be both prepared to deal with the effects of climate change on their operations while also actively working to address, reduce and mitigate the impact of airport operations on the environment.
“We know that the Asia-Pacific region is no stranger to the effects of climate change. This is a global challenge requiring a global response and ACI is taking a leadership role through the Airport Carbon Accreditation (ACA) Programme.”
As of August 2019, ACA boasts 282 participating airports, reaching 43.4% of global traffic and 53 carbon-neutral airports. Although the program started in Europe which has the largest number of airports, the Asia-Pacific Region now has 54 accredited airports, representing 41.2% of passenger traffic, with six that are carbon neutral.
Gittens continued that such initiative is not enough, however. “Our European airport community has formally committed to become net zero for carbon emissions under its control by 2050. ACI will ask the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to develop more ambitious CO2 reduction goals to meet the objectives of the Paris Agreement.”
On building new infrastructure, Gittens said there is a capital gap for constructing new infrastructure, and proposed possible solutions to financing such large-scale projects.
“Airports’ capital needs are high: based on a sample of 50 major economies, we’re looking at required five-year investments of US$433 billion versus US$355 billion in planned airport investment, a shortfall of US$78 billion.”
ACI said it does not advocate any specific ownership structure but has seen that “private capital has been shown to be a successful means of funding infrastructure development in the face of the growing demand for air service, the value of that air service for a community’s or country’s economic vitality, and the competing needs for government funds where financial resources are lacking.”
“And, economic regulation, if needed, should be proportionate to the objectives set by the government owner, including the incentives to facilitate commercial agreements between airports and their customers.”
Gittens also highlighted the importance of investing in workforce capacity. “The projected expansion of the aviation sector in the region requires giving attention to the recruitment and training of the necessary talent that will run this engine.”
Photo: Banbam1029
