You're an airport manager. How do you keep your local community happy?

To keep a positive image of your airport it is important to communicate frequently to the outside and your surroundings. It can at the same time be used as a marketing tool to promote your airport facility and destinations that can be reached with the airlines present at your airport.

As an Airport Manager I prioritize open communication channels with the local community to address concern and ensure their voices are heard. Additionally implementing sustainable practices and minimizing noise pollution are key strategies to maintain positive relationships with our neighbours.

You should try to reduce them as much as possible, by adopting best practices and technologies, such as noise abatement procedures, quieter aircraft, cleaner fuels, and emission reduction measures. You should also monitor and report on your noise and pollution levels, and comply with the relevant regulations and standards.

The topic is very challenging because noise and pollution are yes dependant on the airport operations but they are also strongly tied with the history of the airport and the surrounding city. There are airports that are now inglobed inside the urban fabric so residents are close, sometimes too close to the airport itself and suffer these externalities for sure more than necessary. In primis it is important to have an airport located outside the urban boundaries and that it have enough free space around it to garantee a buffer zone. Further to this, some operational choices can be made in terms of operating hours, planes that can access the airport and design choices to ensure noise and pollution are minimised for the communities affected.

An airport is an ecosystem in itself both internally and externally. Local communities can suffer or thrive because of its presence so its critical to have continous dialogue, equilibrated synergies and wellbeing alignment. The airport will create jobs directly and indirectly, generate strong traffic flow and potentially support the livelihoods of thousands of families in the neighbouring districts. The Airport developper needs to look in to their needs and plan for that development as an integral part of the airport enablement. The same way you need roads to access the terminal you will need schools for the children of the employees of the airport.

The community where you work or do business in cannot be underestimated or underrated so supporting local development would bring a win win for all stakeholders. Also getting suggestions, feedback from the community would be able to solve any challenges and bind the relationship within everyone.

As a child, I remember my father driving me to Lisbon Airport to watch landing and departing airplanes. There was a terrace open for public access with a broad view on the runway where enthusiasts could go to watch the miracle of flight and dream. For me the main take away is that airports should be an open space for families and communities. This is particularly true in some airports that act as a transport node with an important retail space too. They become spaces where not to run away from but rather where dwelling is encouraged. This concept can and should be extented also to the local communities nearby and why not create positive extenalities like beautiful gardens, practical transport exchange node, and gathering locations.

A key part of airport management is community engagement. A tried and tested theory that I learnt about in one of my airport management courses is that when the community is engaged they feel like they are part of of the business and they support it 100 percent. Their way of supporting it mostly will come in form of protecting the infrastructure in different ways. They will alert you if they notice something they feel may affect you as an airport.

Menzies Aviation Perth welcomed back their long term customer Thai Airways for scheduled flights from BKK since the Covid pandemic began in 2020.

Involving all the stakeholders is very important and that as well reduces time in service delivery. when the team members are all aware, they will be expectant and ready. There are situations where teams have bits and bits of information that will keep them completely helpless in some situations.

Despite your best efforts, you may still face some complaints and issues from your community. You should not ignore or dismiss them, but rather address them promptly and professionally. You should have a clear and effective system for receiving, processing, and responding to complaints and issues, as well as for resolving disputes and conflicts. You should also follow up

Clear and concise communication to the team of the broader vision. Team Involvement in decision making helps. Agree on professional expectations and celebrating success with the entire team in achieving desired objective.

As an airport manager I would do the following 1. Communication: Maintain open & transparent communication with the community to address concerns 2. Noise Mitigation: Implement noise reduction measures, such as flight path adjustments, operational restrictions, to minimize the impact of aircraft noise on residents. 3. Environmental Stewardship: Implement sustainable practices to minimize environmental impact around the airport. 4. Economic Benefits: Showcase the economic benefits of the airport to the community, including job creation, business opportunities, and tourism revenue, to demonstrate its value to the local economy. 5. Social Responsibility: Support community initiatives and charitable activities through csr.