THE FUTURE OF AIR TRANSPORT WILL BE PLAYED OUT AT AIRPORTS

September 17, 2023

Air transport is faced with a scissors effect. On the one hand the growth in the number of passengers is not in doubt and on the other hand the ecological pressure prevents the development of operations. It is likely that operators will find solutions to the necessary decarbonization with the placing on the market of less and less polluting devices, while waiting for a new generation of aircraft powered in a revolutionary way with hydrogen or even electric motors. Research is ongoing and funding will be found to support the transition. Basically, everyone has confidence in the future, just look at the number of considerable orders that manufacturers currently have in their accounts: more than 8,000 for Airbus and more than 5,000 for Boeing while waiting for the American manufacturer to catch up with the European.

But this optimistic vision will come up against an unavoidable bottleneck, and that is airports. Admittedly, the Middle East and Asia have equipped themselves with facilities capable of absorbing growth with airports capable of handling more than a hundred million passengers such as the Al Maktoum Dubai World Centre, the Beijin Daxing, the Bangkok Suvarnabhumi or Changi Airport in Singapore, not to mention the airports of Japan or India which are equipped at a forced march. Only this is not the case for European airports. These were designed even before the fashion of "hubs", Roissy CDG in the 1960s, Heathrow in London opened in 1946, Frankfurt in 1936 and Amsterdam Schipol in ... 1916. Of course, all have evolved a lot but they are now facing very great challenges, and first of all space. Unlike platforms on other continents, they do not have significant footprints. Roissy CDG, the largest in Europe, has only 32 km2 compared to 100 km2 of Denver, 76 km2 of Istanbul or 47 km2 of Beijing Daxing. In other words, each extension of airports to follow traffic will inevitably meet with opposition from very close residents.

Thus, we are beginning to see restrictions on movement, 15% requested in Amsterdam, but also in London and even in Paris where residents are demanding night closure. In other words, it is no longer a question of building new terminals, let alone creating new airports from scratch, as was envisaged until recently. It will then be necessary to manage to pass the traffic with the current facilities even if they are modernized. And that's not the only challenge, far from it.

If air transport is attacked, with any success, by environmentalists, its growth, in which everyone believes, will depend on the reception it reserves for its customers. And in Europe but also in most countries in the world with some exceptions in the Asian continent, passengers are rather badly treated and flying has become painful when it should be a party. The main obstacle remains access to airports and crossing terminals. However, managers must accept some criticism if they want to improve the situation. In recent years they have prioritized the profitability of their airports to the detriment of the comfort of their customers. As a result, commercial areas have grown considerably to the detriment of spaces reserved for safety filters. While security is expensive, customers pay taxes that should more than offset the costs.

And then the passengers suffer other frustrations that become just as unbearable. Baggage handling is still too inefficient, it is common to wait for deliveries more than an hour after passengers disembark. Some airports and not least do not have waiting lounges, even paying, in all their terminals. This is particularly the case in Paris. Access to car parks lacks practical signage and one wonders why signage is not standardized in all terminals.

In short, there is still a lot to do for the comfort of customers. But that's not all, it will also be necessary to organize carbon neutrality with the electric towing of aircraft and new equipment to store hydrogen if this mode of supply is finally chosen or the reinforcement of the available electrical power if we move even partially towards this mode of propulsion.

Airports must be careful not to discourage passengers whose patience can only be admired in the face of the obstacles they have to overcome before arriving at their aircraft and exiting the destination airports. Some managers are well aware of these challenges, I know some. It would be good if, regardless of the size of the platforms, air transport users were treated as customers free to take other modes of transport and not as captive users.