Airports Council International Europe

Airports Council International EUROPE (ACI EUROPE) is a European industry trade association which advances the collective interests of Europe's airports and promotes professional excellence in airport management and operations. The members are over 400 airport operators of all sizes in 46 European countries, over 90% of commercial air traffic in Europe. ACI EUROPE member airports welcomed over 1.5 billion passengers and handled 17 million metric tonnes of cargo and nearly 20 million aircraft movements each year since 1991. ACI EUROPE is a non-profit organisation. It is led by Director-General Olivier Jankovec and has a team of 17.5 full time staff. Its offices are in Square de Meeus, Brussels, Belgium. As one of the regional bodies within the global family that constitutes Airports Council International, ACI EUROPE is in regular contact with its sister organisations, including Airports Council International World (ACI World),ACI NORTH AMERICA, ACI ASIA-PACIFIC, ACI LATIN-AMERICA & CARIBBEAN and ACI AFRICA.

History

ACI EUROPE was formed in 1991, as part of a wider development which saw the creation of Airports Council International. European Airports had previously been represented by the Western European Airports Association (WEAA), which was integrated with two other international airport representative bodies – Airports Operators Council International (AOCI) & International Civil Airports Association (ICAA) into the Airports Association Coordinating Council (AACC) in 1970. WEAA disbanded fully in 1985, while AOCI and ICAA remained in existence within the AACC until the Constitution of the new ACI was approved in the autumn on 1990 and came fully into effect on January 1, 1991.

Policy Areas

Much of the ACI EUROPE membership is located within the European Union, which has a highly active regulatory environment concerning the aviation industry, relative to other regions of the globe. As a result many of ACI EUROPE’s policy concerns reflect those of the various decision making institutions of the European Union, alongside the concerns of the wider aviation industry.

Committees

Individual issues vary according to political and industry developments, however ACI EUROPE has six committees which address broad policy areas:

• Facilitation & Customer Services Committee – focused upon airports’ efforts to improve the passenger experience
• Aviation security Committee – focused upon all issues concerning aviation security
• Environmental Strategy Committee – focused upon environmental issues, in particular carbon emissions, noise control, local air quality and intermodality
• Technical and Operational Safety Committee – focused on issues such as safety, airport capacity, [Single European Sky], airside operations, and slot regulation
• Economics Committee – focused on issues such as airport charges, key performance indicators, and competition issues
• Policy Committee – focused upon broader strategic issues affecting airports, encompassing some of the issues addressed in other committees.

In addition ACI EUROPE has two fora – The Commercial Forum and the Regional Airports’ Forum. These fora address commercial concerns and the interests of smaller regional airports respectively.

Policy Outlook

ACI EUROPE launched its Policy Outlook publication at the European Parliament on 24 February 2010. An Outlook for Europe’s Airports: Facing the Challenges of the 21st Century outlines ACI EUROPE’s view of the European aviation industry and articulates what it considers to be four major challenges that Europe's airports are facing at present and in the coming decades. ACI EUROPE’s Policy Outlook is based on the premise that the business environment facing airports has changed significantly in recent times. ACI EUROPE believes that airports are now much more exposed to increased economic competition than 15 or 20 years ago. As a result airports are increasingly diversified and complex businesses, which must compete amongst themselves to gain new business from airlines. As a result of this competition aeronautical charges do not cover the costs of providing the corresponding aeronautical services, and airports must used revenues generated from other activities such as retailing or car parking to subsidise their operations. A move away from public ownership increasingly requires airports to be fully self-financing, inclusive of the significant capital costs inherent to the airport business. ACI EUROPE also emphasises the increased economic importance of airports. Airports drive economic growth in a number of ways. Airports enable the diversification of local economies. Airport Cities develop around large hub airports, which are comparable to the metropolitan areas the airports serve. Smaller airports specialise into ‘micro economies’ in areas such as cargo, business aviation or low cost point-to-point services, which attract additional economic activity to serve the core business. Within this context ACI EUROPE’s Policy Outlook articulates what it sees as the four major challenges facing European airports.

The Capacity Challenge

The Policy Outlook document quotes the EUROCONTROL prediction that demand for air services in Europe will increase by between 1.7 and 2.9 times 2007 levels by 2030.This prediction is compared against the estimate that current and planned airport expansion will deliver an increase in capacity of 41% by 2030. The document estimates that the shortfall in capacity will impact between 11% to 25% of demand for air services, or 160m to 490 million passengers. The Policy Outlook also states that expanding airport capacity is necessary to drive airline competition. Airport efforts to expand capacity are hampered by difficulties involved in obtaining permission to both build and finance new projects. In particular economic regulation is held up as a significant barrier, as it holds airport charges at unrealistically low levels, preventing the financing of necessary infrastructural projects. The publication also suggests that the European Union should make airport capacity a priority of its transport policy, similar to the priority it gives to Single European Sky and SESAR. A three-point strategy is promoted:

1. Consistent monitoring of airport capacity at EU level
2. EU ‘best practice’ guidelines on land-use planning around airports
3. Empowering airports in relation to airport charges and slot allocation

The Environmental Challenge

The Policy Outlook states that European airports understand the significance of climate change, and have committed to becoming carbon neutral. Airports also make efforts to tackle more traditional environmental issues such as noise, and local air and water quality, while simultaneously retaining a responsibility to facilitate growth in the industry. The Policy Outlook states that European airports are lacking a clear policy direction at EU level that defines where the priorities lie between different environmental impacts. EU policy must also unambiguously reconcile aviation growth with ambitious environmental goals. ‘Market-based’ incentives must be used. The document states that any EU policy should be based on the below three measures:

1. Investment in new technology, with more research funding at both a European and national level
2. Efficient infrastructures and operations, particularly in the areas of air traffic movements and airport capacity, to ensure that airlines are flying the shortest possible routes.
3. Meaningful economic instruments – green taxes are blunt instruments which do not deliver significant environmental benefits. They should be replaced with emissions trading schemes and local environmental charges.

The Connectivity Challenge

The Policy Outlook states that the aviation industry remains constrained by antiquated rules restricting market access and airline investment. The document supports the liberalisation of the European aviation market, and notes that the number of air routes has increased by 170% since the creation of the single aviation market in 1993. This has facilitated the integration of new accession states into the EU. However remaining government-to-government restrictions on air routes, capacity, pricing and airline ownership and control need to be lifted beyond the EU. In particular regional airports and the communities they support would benefit greatly from the resulting increased opportunities for global connectivity. As well as additional routes, freer competition would allow the more efficient use of scarce slots and reduce dependency upon single carriers. Therefore restrictive bilateral air service agreements and inadequate slot allocation policies should be abolished. ACI EUROPE supports the European Commission’s efforts to fully liberalise international air services agreements at an EU level and in its Policy Outlook suggests that priority should be given to:

1. Full liberalisation with the United States of America and [Canada]
2. Achieving a pan-European and pan-Mediterranean aviation area comprising all EU neighbouring countries by 2013.
3. Initiating negotiations with the EU’s main trading partners – Brazil, Russia, India, China and Japan - at the earliest opportunity

ACI EUROPE states that European airports are willing to participate directly in international aviation negotiations.

The Security Challenge

The Policy Outlook states that the current system of aviation security is insufficient. It is not harmonised and so has led to increased disruption and discomfort for passengers. It is largely ‘reactive’. The cost of aviation security has increased as requirements become more complex. 35% of airport operating costs and 40% of airport personnel are security-related. In addition European airports are paying for costs which are in fact a government duty, unlike in other areas of the world. The Policy Outlook states that improvements to the security system must be affordable and efficient. A number of proposals are made:

1. ‘One stop’ security space should be built on a global a basis as is possible. Europe’s aviation security regulators need to work towards a mutual recognition of security standards with countries outside of Europe.
2. There should be a renewed focus on better intelligence and passenger profiling, including the prompt exchange of vital information between national security bodies and airports.
3. Research into detection technology is required, including the development of more automated technologies and improved procedures to make all screening faster, more thorough and less intrusive. An appropriate proportion of the €2 billion allocated by the European Commission towards transport security research should be channelled towards aviation security.
4. For additional new security measures, it should be clear how these measures will be both implemented and funded, and what phase-out strategy is in place once the new measures are no longer required.

Initiatives

In addition to the actions of its committees, ACI EUROPE is involved in several specific initiatives which seek to further its policy interests.

Airport Carbon Accreditation

Airport Carbon Accreditation is the European carbon standard for airports.

Airport Collaborative Decision Making

Airport Collaborative Decision Making(A-CDM) is a joint venture between ACI EUROPE, EUROCONTROL and the Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation which aims to improve the operational efficiency of all airport operators.

Single European Sky

ACI EUROPE is fully supportive of the Single European Sky project, and participates fully as the representative of European airports.

Publications

Airport Business

Communiqué AIRPORT BUSINESS magazine is ACI EUROPE’s quarterly magazine, containing policy and commercial news regarding airports primarily based in Europe.

Traffic Report

Traffic reports are published on a monthly basis, outlining the performance of the European aviation industry, from an aggregate level and to an individual airport level.

Special Editions

ACI EUROPE also produces special editions of Airport Business for major airports in Europe. Special editions typically provide an overview of specific airports, consisting of interviews with senior members of staff on relevant topics.

Membership & Governance

Membership Types

There are four different types of memberships available.

• Regular Members: airports in geographical Europe with regular or permanent commercial air traffic (affiliated regular membership of ACI EUROPE is open to airports which are already regular members of another region of ACI).
• World Business Partners: commercial enterprises seeking airport-related business.
• National Airport Associations: trade associations for airport operators, operating at national level in European countries
• Educational Establishments: third level institutions with a relevant specialism in aviation and air transport-related studies.

Presently ACI EUROPE has:

• 187 regular members operating 427 airports
• 1 affiliated regular member
• 6 national airport associations
• 14 educational establishments
• 152 World Business Partners
• 4 affiliated World Business Partners

External links

• ACI EUROPE website