Airports and air transport

I like airports. There is a cliché that I love so much: airports are the first welcome and the last farewell of a place (or a country). I still remember the last time I almost cried because the pilot announced, ‘welcome home’ when the plane landed on my home soil. It is meaningful and shows the connections between airports, air transport and people - visitors or local people.

Air transport is essential for international, inter-state, and inter-city movements of passengers and cargo. It largely encourages geographical and occupational mobility of people, facilitates trades between cities/countries, and improve the economy (logistics, tourism…).

As the global aviation industry is developing continuously, the International Civil Aviation Organisation (2018) foresees a continuous increase in global total passenger and cargo traffic.

I believe many of us think that the revenue of an airport mainly comes from aeronautic activities (such as airlines). While it is true (55.5% of global revenue is from aeronautical in 2014), 40.4% of it is non-aeronautical (mainly retails and car parking) and 4.1% is non-operating (Airports Council International, 2015).

They have a 2019 edition of the report but I am not paying AUD 600 for it and a summary says the non-aeronautical revenue remains to have a steady proportion; in 2018, it is 39.9% (Airport Council International, 2019). Despite a slight decrease in the ratio in five years, the non-aeronautical activities within the airports will remain important to earning revenue.

There could have been a much longer discussion of how both aeronautical and non-aeronautical activities are related to each other. To put it short, imagine you travel from Sydney to Hong Kong. You drive to the airport and park your car there - non-aeronautical. Then, you have lunch at the airport - non-aeronautical. You fly to Brisbane - aeronautical. After that, you stay in the Airport Hotel and get souvenirs in the airport - non-aeronautical.

It seems that I have talked about how airports and air transport can be beneficial to people and the economy. Maybe I should also talk about the environment. When it comes to planes, environmental impacts are usually associated with air and noise pollution, waste from manufacturing and operation, and climate change and fuel usage. It is interesting to see how the International Civil Aviation Organisation (2019) is planning to tackle the environmental impacts of the aviation industry and prepare for a long-term sustainable future under the threat of climate change. Multiple case studies within the report are really interesting, such as Gatwick's Circular System for Becoming a Zero Waste Airport.

When I was studying Airport Planning, Operations and Management at Griffith University, I learnt that safety was always the priority in aviation. While we take care of the safety aspect of the industry and maximise the benefits to society and the economy, are we doing enough to handle the environmental issues associated with airport operations and developments?

References

Airport Council International. (2015). 2015 ACI Airport Economics Report: A Comprehensive View of the Industry’s 2014 Financial Performance (Preview Edition). Retrieved from https://aci.aero/Media/40668803-c552-4df1-a6aa-896de03ce933/mZG4Hg/Publications/Preview%20Editions%20and%20TOC/2015%20ACI%20Airport%20Economics%20Report_Preview_FINAL_WEB.pdf

Airport Council International. (2019). Airport Economics at a Glance. Retrieved from https://store.aci.aero/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/2459_KPI_Update_Card_Infographic_Final_2019_WEB.pdf

International Civil Aviation Organisation. (2018). ICAO Long-Term Traffic Forecasts: Passenger and Cargo. Retrieved from https://www.icao.int/sustainability/Documents/LTF_Charts-Results_2018edition.pdf

International Civil Aviation Organisation. (2019). 2019 Environmental Report - Aviation and Environment: Destination Green: The Next Chapter. Retrieved from https://www.icao.int/environmental-protection/Documents/ICAO-ENV-Report2019-F1-WEB%20%281%29.pdf