The official publication of ACI Asia-Pacific www.aci-asiapac.aero
Gulf airports: Innovate and grow In the spotlight: Gulf airport development
Issue 4, 2015
Featured airport: Delhi’s Indira Gandhi
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Special report: Airport IT trends in China Plus: Regional news, Air Astana and World Business Partners
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ASIA-PACIFIC AIRPORTS MAGAZINE
CONTENTS
Asia-Pacific Airports Issue 4, 2015
6 View from the top
18 Bold ambitions
Regional director, Patti Chau, reflects on a landmark year for ACI Asia- Pacific and looks forward to further success in 2016.
8 News A snapshot of some of the biggest current stories from the region.
12 ACI Asia-Pacific news Vivian Fung reports on the latest news and events from across the Asia-Pacific region.
14 Good times
I Prabhakara Rao, CEO of Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport, talks to Joe Bates about the impact of Terminal 3, customer service and the importance of being environmentally friendly.
Joe Bates reports on the continued growth and development of Dubai’s airport system, which includes plans to make Al Maktoum International– Dubai World Central (DWC) one of the most high-tech gateways on the planet.
24 The heat is on
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Asia-Pacific Airports takes a closer look at how some of the Gulf region’s other airports are faring in terms of traffic growth and infrastructure development.
26 The X factor What does Abu Dhabi International Airport’s new Midfield Terminal Building have in store for passengers? Joe Bates investigates.
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CONTENTS 30 The big IT spend
36 Design & build
Spotlight on ADPI’s projects in China and South Korea.
Joe Bates discovers that China’s airports continue to invest in new service and capacity enhancing technology.
34 High-flyer
38 World Business Partners All the latest news from the region’s WBPs.
Air Astana’s president and CEO, Peter Foster, reveals the secrets of his airline’s success and reflects on 10 years in the hot seat.
Asia-Pacific Airports (APA) www.aci-apa.com Editor Joe Bates joe@aci-apa.com +44 (0)1276 476582 Design, Layout & Production Mark Draper mark@aci-apa.com +44 (0)7495 611207
APA Issue 4, 2015
Published by Aviation Media Ltd PO BOX 448, Feltham, TW13 9EA, UK Managing Director Jonathan Lee jonathan@aci-apa.com +44 (0)208 707 2743 Advertising Manager Ellis Owen ellis@aci-apa.com +44 (0)208 274 1540
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Asia-Pacific Airports (APA) is published four times a year for the members of ACI Asia-Pacific. The opinions and views expressed in APA are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect an ACI policy or position. The content of this publication is copyright of Aviation Media Ltd and should not be copied or stored without the express permission of the publisher.
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VIEWPOINT
VIEW FROM THE TOP
Regional director, Patti Chau, reflects on a landmark year for ACI Asia-Pacific and looks forward to further success in 2016.
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s we move towards the holiday season and the end of 2015, I am pleased to look back at some of the many accomplishments and achievements of the Regional Office during a milestone year. This year has been particularly meaningful for us as we celebrated the tenth anniversary of the creation of ACI Asia-Pacific following the unification of ACI’s former Asia and Pacific regions. I do hope you enjoyed reading about the region reaching the historic landmark in September’s special anniversary edition of the magazine. I wish to extend my sincerest thanks and appreciation to our members and colleagues for their support throughout this special year and look forward to continuing our partnership with our stakeholders in 2016 and, of course, all the years ahead.
GROWING RELATIONSHIPS
I believe 2015 has been a great year of success for ACI Asia-Pacific in terms of continuing to strengthen our relationships with key industry APA Issue 4, 2015
stakeholders. We have also made significant progress in embracing ACI’s programmes and managed to reach out and promote our services to a growing number of members. Indeed, I made a number of trips to support both our region and ACI World events in the second half of 2015. In September, for example, I had the privilege to attend the World Annual General Assembly (WAGA) held in Panama City and it was pleasing to see such a strong representation of Asia-Pacific members at the event. A vast geographical distance separates ACI’s Asia-Pacific and Latin America-Caribbean regions, of course, but as the old Chinese saying goes, ‘Good friends, even distance apart, are as close as neighbours!’ As always the event provided a great platform for bonding between the two regions and I look forward to next year’s WAGA in Montréal and the opportunity to get to know our North American colleagues and others from across the globe a little better!
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In October we organised the ACI Asia-Pacific HR Best Practice Seminar in Tokyo, Japan, in collaboration with our host, Narita International Airport Corporation. You can read more about this event on the ACI Asia-Pacific News pages, but I am delighted to say that over 80 aviation HR professionals from across the globe took part in it and discussed the theme of ‘Delivering Sustainable Airports through Creative HR’. While in Japan we also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the China Civil Airports Association (CCAA), which aims to drive the exchange of knowledge and expertise between the two organisations in the areas of training; environment; safety; and economic data exchange. ACI will provide training courses to CCAA members, for example, while it will promote the Airport Carbon Accreditation programme and raise environmental awareness and initiatives among its members. It will also promote our Airport Excellence (APEX) in Safety programme to enhance safety standards in China while both associations have agreed to share economic reports and other statistical data in a bid to improve the exchange of economic data. We believe the agreement will allow both associations to pursue our mutual goals of achieving airport excellence for our members in the region. I therefore look forward to sharing some examples about the success of the new partnership with you in the near future.
ICAO 52nd DGCA CONFERENCE
ACI Asia-Pacific is determined to establish itself as a key industry partner to ICAO and as such we actively participate at ICAO meetings. One such meeting was the 52nd Conference of Directors General of Civil Aviation, Asia and Pacific Regions, held in Manila, Philippines, in late October. The theme of the conference was ‘Evolving the New Generation Aviation Professional towards a Harmonized, Safe, Secure and Green Asia Pacific Sky’, and ACI Asia-Pacific submitted four papers on a handful of topics.
As its name suggests, the paper Implementation, awareness and responsiveness of ICAO’s policies on charges is designed to raise State awareness of ICAO’s policies on charges. We also submitted a paper on Taxation on International Civil Aviation and recommended that member States update those in charge of taxation on the details and reasons behind ICAO’s Policies on Taxation. In addition we provided updates on ACI’s Airport Carbon Accreditation programme, which we promoted at the last DGCA, and invited ICAO members to include it in their State Action Plans. We also took the opportunity to update ICAO on the recent significant progress of Smart Security, a joint initiative by ACI and IATA designed to make the security screening process at airports more passenger friendly, sustainable and efficient. After explaining the benefits to all we invited States to support the programme and recommend that their airports participate in a free-of-charge ‘Smart Security Opportunity Assessment’ to gauge the effectiveness of their current security process.
THE FINAL COUNTDOWN
In December we will co-host Airport Exchange in Istanbul with ACI Europe and also partner with ICAO in organising a conference on ‘Airport Economic Oversight & Regulation’ in New Delhi. The Delhi event is organised in support of our member airports and will hopefully lead to an open dialogue with the government and other industry stakeholders that will help improve the regulatory environment in India. I strongly encourage our members to take part in this event. Looking further ahead, I would like to invite you to mark your diaries to join us in Australia’s Gold Coast in April 2016 for the 11th ACI Asia-Pacific Regional Assembly, Conference and Exhibition. The event takes place at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre on April 18-20 and promises to be one of our biggest and best yet, so I very much hope you will be able to join us. And finally, as this is our last issue of 2015, I would like to be one of the first to wish you a very happy new year. May it bring you even APA greater heights of success and prosperity! www.aci-apa.com
VIEWPOINT
PEOPLE AND PLACES
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NEWS
ALL CHANGE IN JAPAN Sendai in northern Japan and Osaka’s Kansai and Itami airports are all set to have new operators within the next few months as part of the government’s plans to reduce spending on key infrastructure to help reduce the national debt. A private consortium spearheaded by rail operator, Tokyu, is set to rubber stamp a 30-year concession to manage Sendai by the end of 2015. While an ORIX-Vinci Airports spearheaded consortium has been selected as the preferred ‘negotiations rights holder’ for Osaka’s gateways and is expected to take over the running of the city’s Kansai and Itami airports for 44 years from April 1, 2016. If the $18 billion deal goes ahead ORIX Corporation and Vinci Airports will each have a 40% stake in a new, yet-to-be established concessionaire company with the remaining 20% of the shares owned by local firms. Orix Corporation is one of Japan’s most acquisitive financial firms, while the deal will cement Vinci Airport’s status as one of the world’s leading airport operators.
THAT WINNING FEELING Dubai International Airport (DXB) has won the World Routes Marketing Award 2015 for gateways handling more than 50 million passengers per annum. The world’s busiest international airport picked up the award at the World Route Development Forum in Durban. “We believe that the best way to serve our airlines is to offer our passengers the best experience possible by continually enhancing the quality of our products and services,” said Anita Mehra, vice president of communications & business development at Dubai Airports. “Our win here is a reaffirmation of that belief, and a result of our close relationship with the 100 plus airlines at DXB.” Created in 1997 to recognise excellence in airport marketing, the annual Routes awards provide airlines with the chance to choose which airport they think provides the best overall marketing services.
TRAFFIC TRENDS The latest traffic figures show that the summer holiday season in the northern hemisphere led to strong passenger growth in ACI’s Asia-Pacific and Middle East regions, which recorded August upturns of 8.3% and 15% respectively. The majority of Asia-Pacific Airports reported “positive passenger growth” in both domestic and international travel in August, according to ACI data. Among the largest gateways in the region, Shanghai Pudong (PVG), Bangkok Suvarnabhumi (BKK) and New Delhi–Indira Gandhi (DEL) generated the highest growth rates for the month at +20.9%, +16.0% and +15.3% respectively. In the Middle East, the three largest hubs continued to generate solid growth for the month: Doha (DOH) +22% and Abu Dhabi (AUH) +17.4% and Dubai (DXB) +9.5%. Air freight remained flat, however, ACI attributing the performance to a slowdown in freight volumes across Asian export markets and oil producing economies.
APA Issue 4, 2015
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BREAKING THE MOULD Brisbane Airport’s new-look International Terminal has been officially opened by Australia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development, Warren Truss. Julieanne Alroe, Brisbane Airport Corporation’s CEO and managing director said the completion of the A$45 million revamp marked a significant milestone in the terminal’s 20 year history as it put the gateway on the map as one of the most beautiful in the world, while establishing a global benchmark for design. “This project has been a labour of love for everyone who has worked on it over the last few years, helping to create a truly unique gateway to Queensland,” she enthused. With the goal of breaking the usual ‘airport mould’ and creating a distinct space that differentiated Brisbane Airport from all others, the redevelopment has already been recognised with the Qld Property Council Award for Excellence in Design. Elements of the redevelopment included a new themed Departures lounge, incorporating a sense of place that is uniquely Brisbane; new walk through duty free stores for both Departures and Arrivals; and new speciality retail and food and beverage outlets offering the best of local produce and products.
PIATCO’s long running battle for compensation from the Philippine government over its decision to rip up its operating contract for Manila-Ninoy Aquino International Airport’s Terminal 3 continues to have more twists and turns than a soap opera. The 11-year old dispute appeared over in early September when the country’s Supreme Court awarded the Fraport-led consortium $510 million in compensation. The amount takes into account a previous advance payment of about $59 million made by the Philippine government to PIATCO (including interest as of December 31, 2014) in connection with the Terminal 3 project at the Manila gateway. However, the government is now appealing to the Supreme Court to lower the compensation package to just over $100 million, arguing that the higher amount is unfair because it includes interest on the original debt. Fraport has refused to comment on the latest developments, although it anticipated the appeal when awarded the $510 million in compensation. Fraport had a 30% stake in PIATCO, which had a 25 year operating contract for the terminal under the terms of a Build Operate Transfer (BOT) agreement with the Philippine government. The terminal today handles around 13 million passengers yearly and, according to Fraport, “generates corresponding revenues”.
UNDER THE HAMMER What does a sleep apnoea machine, microwave, baby strollers, a Chinese tea set, sewing machine, vintage telephone and an assortment of musical instruments all have in common? Well, they were among the more than 5,000 unclaimed items that were up for sale at Sydney Airport in November as part of in its annual Lost Property Auction for charity.
“With 39 million passengers travelling through Sydney Airport each year, unfortunately thousands of items are left behind at the airport,” said Sydney Airport’s managing director and CEO, Kerrie Mather. “While every effort is made to reunite travellers with their items, those that remain unclaimed go towards our annual Lost Property Auction for charity. “We raised a record $154,000 for charity in 2014 and we’re hoping for another great year of fundraising.” www.aci-apa.com
NEWS
COMPENSATION BATTLE CONTINUES
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NEWS
BED AND BOARD
THE BEAGLE HAS LANDED! Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport (TTIA) has come up with a truly unique and environmentally friendly way of ridding the airport site of red fire ants – using beagles and potato chips! Quite simply the airport uses beagles to patrol the airport site and sniff out the ants and then uses potato chips to entice them out of their nests and capture them. And it has proven so successful that TTIA has successfully eliminated the ants from 98% of its huge 616-hectare site with only one small area by the perimeter fence occasionally attracting them. Believe it or not the technique is the brainchild of experts from some of Taiwan’s highest academic institutions although the concept of using ‘odour detection dogs’ to wipe out fire ants was pioneered by Australia’s Biosecurity Queensland Control Centre.
Rising passenger numbers through Christchurch Airport and strong tourism growth forecasts has prompted the airport to consider building a second hotel on its campus to complement the newly upgraded Sudima Hotel. Chief commercial officer – property and commercial, Blair Forgie, says a feasibility study will consider developing a quality airport hotel near the terminal, in response to record growth in international airline seats, increasing passenger numbers and New Zealand’s very strong tourism growth outlook. “Developing a second hotel at the airport is one way we can set our airport, our city and the South Island up for successfully getting its share of the tourism growth,” he explains. Forgie says the proposed hotel is likely to be 200 to 300 rooms and will be built in two stages, with the first targeted to open in 2017/18. “Before the quakes, Christchurch had around 4,000 hotel rooms and the airport welcomed around six million passengers a year,” he adds. “Today, the city has 2,202 hotel rooms and the airport is on track to welcome around 6.3 million passengers this year, with more growth to come.”
EVERYBODY NEEDS GOOD NEIGHBOURS Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport is to introduce a new aircraft noise monitoring system in a bid to be a better neighbour. The Chinese gateway says that it is adopting Brüel & Kjær’s Airport Noise and Operations Management System (ANOMS) as a key component of its expansion plans. China’s second-busiest airport and a major international hub between Asia and Europe also claims that the new technology will ensure its compliance with regulatory requirements. The rapidly growing airport handles more than 395,000 aircraft movements and 54 million passengers annually. “ANOMS will play an integral role in providing data insights that help the airport build community trust in order to achieve its business goals today – and in the future,” says Brüel & Kjær’s airports product manager, Matthew Barry. “Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport is a great example of how leading airports are going beyond measuring their noise impact.” As part of its scalable ANOMS system, the airport will deploy 22 noise monitoring terminals, weather integration and air traffic control recording solutions between now and the middle of next year. APA Issue 4, 2015
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ACI ASIA-PACIFC NEWS
Regional update Vivian Fung reports on the latest news and events from across the Asia-Pacific region.
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CI Asia-Pacific has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the China Civil Airports Association (CCAA) to strengthen co-operation between the two associations. Regional director, Patti Chau, and CCAA’s deputy secretary general, Li Xiaomei (both pictured right) completed the formalities at the recent HR Best Practice Seminar in Tokyo. The MoU aims to drive the exchange of knowledge and expertise by introducing and promoting ACI programmes to members of CCAA. The two associations agreed to enhance collaboration in the following areas: • Training – ACI will provide training courses to members of CCAA • Airport Carbon Accreditation Programme – CCAA will promote the programme to raise environmental awareness and initiatives • APEX in Safety Programme – CCAA will promote the programme to enhance safety standards • Economic Data Exchange – Both associations will exchange economic reports and other statistical data
Chau said: “The MoU will further strengthen the already strong ties between our relationships with CCAA and will serve as a stepping-stone to further promote ACI programmes to the airports in China.” While Li Xiaomei noted: “Our members will benefit from this platform through the exchange of knowledge and expertise and creating new opportunities. We believe that working together with our international industry peers will help bring the Chinese airport industry to a new height.”
HR BEST PRACTICE SEMINAR – TOKYO
Over 80 aviation professionals gathered in Tokyo in early October for the first ACI Asia-Pacific HR Best Practice Seminar to be organised in Japan. ‘Delivering Sustainable Airports through Creative HR’ was the theme of the event, which was hosted by Narita International Airport Corporation, and covered issues such as employee productivity and capability building, corporate social responsibility and HR policy to address the challenge of managing the new generation. Kenichi Fukaya, senior executive advisor at Narita International Airport Corporation, ACI Asia-Pacific’s Patti Chau and Craig Shaw, chair ACI Asia-Pacific’s HR Committee, APA Issue 4, 2015
warmly welcomed the delegates to the historic event. In her opening remarks, Chau noted: “ACI is taking a leading role in developing a new generation of airport leaders in all functional areas of the airport business through our Global Training and Airport Management Professional Accreditation Programme (AMPAP) initiatives.” Event highlights included a workshop on ‘Delivering sustainable airports through creative HR’ moderated by PwC consultants and a paper by Edward Clayton on how airport infrastructure in Asia has to cope with a surge in demand, helped delegates get a better understanding of some of the current airport business development trends.
2015
December 2-4 December 8-10 ACI-ICAO Conference Airport Exchange on Investing in Airports Istanbul, Turkey – Economic Oversight & Regulation Delhi, India
2016
March 7-9 Airport Economics & Finance Conference & Exhibition London, UK
2016
April 18-20 ACI Asia-Pacific Regional Assembly, Conference & Exhibition Gold Coast, Australia
ACI ASIA-PACIFIC BOARD
PRESIDENT
Dennis Chant* (Queensland Airports Limited, Australia)
FIRST VICE PRESIDENT
Seow Hiang Lee* (Changi Airport Group Pte Ltd, Singapore)
SECOND VICE PRESIDENTS
Kerrie Mather* (Sydney Airport Corporation Limited, Australia) PS Nair* (Delhi International Airport Limited, India)
SECRETARY-TREASURER Emmanuel Menanteau* (Cambodia Airports, Cambodia)
IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT
Tan Sri Bashir Ahmad Abdul Majid** (Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad, Malaysia)
REGIONAL BOARD DIRECTORS
Sulaiman Zainul Abidin (Pioneer Aerodrome Service Co Ltd, Myanmar) Youssef Al-Abdan (General Authority Of Civil Aviation, Saudi Arabia) HE Ali Salim Al Midfa (Sharjah Airport Authority, UAE) Keiichi Ando (New Kansai International Airport Co Ltd, Japan) Kjeld Binger* (Airport International Group, Jordan)
David Fei (Taoyuan International Airport Corporation, Taiwan)
Sasisubha Sukontasap (Airports of Thailand, Thailand)
Kenichi Fukaya* (Narita International Airport Corporation, Japan)
Mark Young (Adelaide Airport Limited, Australia)
Seok Ki Kim (Korean Airports Corporation, Korea)
Waleed Youssef (Tibah Airports Operation Co Ltd, Saudi Arabia)
Derun Li (Shanghai Airport Authority, China) Xue Song Liu** (Beijing Capital International Airport Co Ltd, China) Pedro Roy Martinez (AB Won Pat International Airport Authority, Guam) ACK Nair (Cochin International Airport Limited, India) Ravindra Kumar Srivastava (Airports Authority of India, India)
REGIONAL BOARD DIRECTOR (WBP) Vacant
SPECIAL ADVISORS
Datuk Badlisham Bin Ghazali (Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad, Malaysia) Fred Lam (Airport Authority Hong Kong, Hong Kong) Wan-su Park (Incheon International Airport Corporation, Korea)
* WGB member **Regional Advisor on WGB
The ACI Asia-Pacific region represents 99 members operating 573 airports in 47 countries and territories. www.aci-apa.com
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EVENTS 2015
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AIRPORT REPORT: DELHI
Good times
I Prabhakara Rao, CEO of Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport, talks to Joe Bates about the impact of Terminal 3, customer service and the importance of being environmentally friendly.
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n many ways Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport hasn’t looked back since the 2010 opening of its awardwinning Terminal 3. Indeed, the airport has enjoyed the most successful period in its history since the terminal opened its doors five years ago, with traffic figures, customer satisfaction levels and commercial revenues at an all-time. It also continues to set the pace as one of Asia’s ‘greenest’ gateways, achieving Optimisation Level in ACI’s Airport Carbon Accreditation programme, and add to its collection of industry accolades – most recently winning the Golden Peacock National Quality Award for its efforts in “building a culture of total quality” across the entire airport. Commenting on the Golden Peacock award, I Prabhakara Rao, CEO of operator Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), simply notes: “We are focused on making excellence the way of life in everything that we do.” His statement reflects the confidence and new found ambitions of the airport since
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Terminal 3 opened and, overnight, changed people’s opinions of the gateway with its bright, new customer friendly facilities and impressive, sense of place design and artworks.
TRAFFIC TRENDS
A total of 39.7 million passengers (+8.4%) passed through Delhi–Indira Gandhi in 2014 to cement its place as India’s busiest airport and the 12th busiest gateway in ACI’s Asia-Pacific region. And the picture gets even better based on DIAL’s financial year-end figures since T3 opened, Rao pointing out that the airport handled around 41 million during its FY2015 (ending March 2015). The FY2015 figure represents a huge rise on the 26.1 million passengers that used the airport in its 2010 financial year. The increase equates to a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.4% and an additional 5.2 million international passengers since 2010. Transfer traffic has also soared by a CAGR of 38% during this time, as the airport’s
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that include the rapid growth of low-cost carriers; foreign direct investment in domestic airlines; and India’s increasing focus on regional connectivity. “Recent policy proposals by the Indian government as well as an increasing focus on quality, cost effectiveness and passenger convenience will enable India to achieve its vision of becoming the third largest aviation market in the world by 2020,” predicts Rao. The top five domestic carriers at DEL today are Indigo, Air India, Jet Airways, SpiceJet and GoAir with Mumbai (BOM), Bengaluru (BLR), Chennai (MAA), Hyderabad (HYD) and Kolkata (CCU) being the most popular destinations. Internationally the top five routes served out of Delhi-Indira Gandhi are Dubai (DXB); Kathmandu (KTM), London (LHR), Bangkok (BKK) and Singapore (SIN) with Emirates, Singapore Airlines, Thai Airways, Lufthansa and Etihad being the biggest foreign carriers at the airport in terms of passenger numbers.
CUSTOMER SERVICE
Without doubt facilities such as 500 retail and F&B outlets; a 97-room transit hotel; 168 check-in desks and 12 CUSS kiosks; 97 moving walkways; 78 passenger boarding bridges – the most in a single terminal in India – and 95 immigration counters for arriving and departing passengers has made T3 popular with passengers and DIAL’s airline customers.
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AIRPORT REPORT: DELHI
route network has grown from 102 direct destinations to 120 today comprising 57 domestic and 63 international destinations served by nine Indian and 51 foreign carriers. New minimum connection times of just 45 minutes for domestic flights; 75 minutes for domestic to international; and 60 minutes for international to international services have certainly helped Delhi-Indira Gandhi develop as a hub, says Rao. These compare to 90 minutes for domestic-domestic; 180 minutes for domestic-international; and 90 minutes for international-international before T3 opened. “We have actively worked with partners such as Air India, Indigo and more recently Vistara Airlines to improve our minimum connect times and develop Delhi as a hub,” admits Rao. And the healthy rise in throughput has continued in FY2016, with passenger numbers jumping 15.5% to 26.8 million between April and October 2015 compared to the same period a year ago. Rao says: “The growth has primarily been on account of the booming domestic market, and we expect this trend to continue in the remaining part of the year. “The Indian aviation market is currently growing by around 10% to 12% per annum and this is expected to continue into the future, largely driven by India’s fast expanding middle classes and their desire to travel.” DIAL attributes the recent upturn in domestic traffic down to a number of factors
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AIRPORT REPORT: DELHI However, Rao is quick to point out that the facilities have been complemented by a new customer service philosophy that has led to DEL enjoying significant success in ACI’s annual Airport Service Quality (ASQ) passenger satisfaction survey over the last few years. In fact DEL actually won the ASQ award for the world’s best airport in the 25-40mppa category in 2014, which really is a massive achievement for an airport that was ranked 101st out of 125 airports participating in the programme in 2007. Before it won, India’s capital city gateway had been runner-up in the 25-40mppa ASQ category for the previous three years, meaning that it has jumped from nowhere to being one of the world’s favourite airports since Terminal 3 opened. “At Indira Gandhi International Airport, every employee believes in the core Indian value of ‘Atithi Devo Bhava’, which means that a guest is like a God and should be treated like one,” says Rao, who reveals that this philosophy is taught to all airport staff through training sessions conducted by DIAL. “The 2014 ASQ award represents GMR’s commitment to providing passengers with APA Issue 4, 2015
the best customer experience, and is a clear example of how the DNA of service centricity has been absorbed into Indira Gandhi International Airport’s culture.”
GREEN INITIATIVES
DEL’s numerous environmental achievements include becoming the first airport in the world to gain ISO Energy Management System (ISO 50001:2011) Certification and first in India to implement AirportCollaborative Decision Making (A-CDM) aimed at improving air traffic flow, capacity management and emission reductions. The airport is also the first in India to have commissioned an airside located 2.14 MW solar PV plant, while Terminal 3 is the first airport building in the world to have achieved LEED Gold Certification for New Construction. Rao enthuses: “Environmental and sustainability management are an integral part of our operating and business strategies. We continuously work towards developing and maintaining environmentally friendly and efficient infrastructure through the adoption of global industry best practices.” Sounds like Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport is in safe hands under APA the management of DIAL.
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SPECIAL REPORT: GULF AIRPORTS
Bold ambitions
Joe Bates reports on the continued growth and development of Dubai’s airport system, which includes plans to make Al Maktoum International–Dubai World Central (DWC) one of the most high-tech gateways on the planet.
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he region’s newest gateway, Al Maktoum International–Dubai World Central (DWC) continues to grow and evolve, in late October welcoming the launch of services by flydubai. The airline will operate services to a number of destinations from DWC, but will continue to call Dubai International Airport (DXB) its main home for now. Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports, calls the launch of flydubai services from DWC “a strong endorsement of the growth strategy planned for the two-airport city and a major milestone in the brief, but promising history of the airport.” He adds: “We are very pleased with this development as it will benefit both the airline and the airport while offering more choice and convenience to our customers, particularly the residents living in the south of Dubai and upcoming communities around DWC.” Since launching its operations in 2009, flydubai has created a network of more than 95 destinations in 45 countries, with 17 new routes announced in 2015. APA Issue 4, 2015
EXISTING DWC FACILITIES
First opened for cargo in 2010 and passengers in 2013, the existing passenger terminal at DWC is serviced by one A380 capable runway, 64 remote aircraft stands and has capacity for up to seven million passengers per year. Dubai Airports is quick to note that DWC offers full retail as well as F&B facilities and services, so passengers handled at Dubai’s second gateway aren’t missing out by not being welcomed at DXB. The addition of flydubai services means that DWC is currently served by five passenger airlines and 30 cargo airlines that between them serve more than 40 destinations. DWC’s passenger terminal is due to undergo a major expansion that will see its capacity increase to 26 million to accommodate future passenger growth. The expanded facility is expected to open in 2018 and is a precursor to the $32 billion expansion to create the world’s biggest airport with an annual capacity exceeding 200 million passengers.
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SPECIAL REPORT: GULF AIRPORTS
THE FUTURE
However, in spite of the huge planned future capacity for DWC, Griffiths insists that it won’t be one giant hub with an ultimate capacity of an astonishing 240 million passengers per annum but 12 medium size airports or hubs each capable of accommodating 20mppa. He claims that this is the case as each of the 12-nodes being developed on the vast 140-square kilometre airport site will act as identical, self-contained, independent facilities effectively creating 12 different airports. Speaking at the Air Transport IT Summit in Brussels earlier this year, Griffiths said the 12-airports-in-one concept would make DWC one of the most “customer centric” airports on the planet where nobody would have to walk more than 400-metres to their connecting flight. “In my view the industry is heading in the wrong direction by building ever bigger airports because bigger is not necessarily better,” he noted. “It inevitably means longer walking distances, less intimate experiences and greater difficulties in customers making connections. And let’s face
it, there’s hardly any statistic that’s more important at a connecting hub than the ability for passengers to conveniently and easily connect between flights. “We will be creating something that is manageable, navigable and easy to use at Dubai World Central and it is all being enabled by technology.” With a huge eight kilometre distance between the nearest and farthest hubs, Griffiths says the onus will be on Dubai Airports and the airlines to ensure that inbound passengers enjoy swift and hassle free journeys through DWC by assessing operations on a daily basis and directing flights to the best connecting nodes for the bulk of its passengers. Theoretically this would mean connecting as many passengers as possible through the same node. Griffiths promises that under the new model being developed at DWC, long queues should be a thing of the past in Dubai. “They say that there are only two places in the world that you have to queue, one is at the airport www.aci-apa.com
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SPECIAL REPORT: GULF AIRPORTS and the other is at the Post Office. My personal ambition is to able to go and hand the monopoly on queuing to the Post Office,” he jokes.
CUSTOMER SERVICE AND IT INNOVATION
Griffiths believes that airports have to learn to treat every customer as an individual and every individual differently as nobody is the same and all travellers have different needs, and he says that IT will prove key in helping airports achieve greater personalisation. “We live in an increasingly connected world where almost everyone has a smartphone. Whether passengers are departing, arriving or in transit, we’ve got to find a way of using the fact that people are used to having technology in the palm of their hand,” he comments. “In the future airports will not be developed around infrastructure containing all the intelligence and technology needed to serve the customer as that is far too expensive and it’s not the way the world is progressing. “Let me put this in perspective. The Apollo computer weighed 70lbs and cost $1 million in today’s prices. It had a 4K memory and had a seven segment digital display. What’s actually in our pockets today has 32 million times more memory, is 1,300 times faster, is 0.4% of the weight and is 0.04% of the cost. APA Issue 4, 2015
SIEMENS WINS NEW O&M CONTRACT AT DUBAI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
Dubai Airports has contracted Siemens Postal, Parcel & Airport Logistics to provide operation and maintenance (O&M) services for its baggage and material handling systems at Dubai International Airport. The contract includes Terminal 1, T2 and T3 as well as a recently established material handling system in the vicinity of the Dubai Flower Centre. “We are proud of the new order and the trust our customer places in us. Siemens and Dubai Airports count on a long business relationship as Siemens constructed and expanded the baggage and cargo handling systems across the entire airport,” says Michael Reichle, CEO of Siemens Postal, Parcel & Airport Logistics. “Our focus on customer service and operational excellence played a crucial role in choosing a professional long-term service partner for our baggage and material handling systems,” remarks Chris Garton, executive vice president of operations at Dubai Airports. “We trust this partnership with Siemens will continue to make a major contribution to our strategic goals.”
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QUICK AND EASY TRAVEL
Griffiths insists that the move to further embrace new technology should be driven by the fact that it’s what passengers want – a quick and easy journey instead of having to queue at check-in desks and in security lines. He says: “Passengers want airports and air travel to be far more customer centric with fewer obstacles and no more forms to fill in on arriving at or departing a country, and this is possible with new technology. If you can double the process flow through an airport you can double its capacity, and that is far, far cheaper than doubling the size of the terminal building.”
DUBAI SUCCESS STORY
He freely admits that Dubai’s new philosophy has, in part, been driven by the incredible success of the Emirate. “Most airport bosses up till now have been infrastructure managers – they built stuff. They’ve spent vast amounts of money building newer and bigger facilities to cope with growth and Dubai has been no exception,” he says. “We have spent around $7.8 billion in the last five years creating major facilities to cope with the extraordinary growth that has been happening, but this cannot continue on the current site at Dubai International as we are fast running out of land.”
BEACONS AND THE INTERNET OF THINGS
Dubai Airports’ willingness to be at the forefront of pioneering new technology should mean that it comes as no surprise to learn that DXB is trialling beacon technology or that Griffiths is a fan of the Internet of Things (IoT). According to SITA’s 2015 Airline IT Trends Survey, the vast majority of airlines (86%) expect that the IoT will deliver clear benefits in the next three years and already more than one third (37%) have allocated a budget to it.
SITA explains the Internet of Things as being when physical objects are connected to the internet, enabling tracking, data collection, analysis and control. As part of this revolution, it says, more things in the airport are being connected up including buildings, equipment, bags, trolleys and tugs – basically all the ‘things’ that could emit a status. One of the first manifestations of the IoT in the air transport industry is the use of beacons and this is where airports have a key role to play with some pioneers, such as Miami, already installing thousands of beacons across their site. Griffiths says: “The ability to track and trace and optimise operations has huge benefits for the industry. It will make airports, airlines and passengers happy.” He also notes that the IoT will improve an airport’s on time performance, transform airport design and increase the capacity of existing facilities.
BRIGHT FUTURE
To those that say Dubai’s phenomenal growth rate of recent years cannot continue indefinitely – DXB is now the world’s busiest international airport and is projected to handle close to 79 million passengers this year – Griffiths invites you to think again. His confidence about the future being almost entirely based on the fact that Dubai is superbly placed to serve the growing and increasingly more affluent populations of China, India and other emerging Asian nations. “If you just look at Asia’s emerging economies, over the next 15 years you are going to see an extra 1.8 billion people a year travelling from this region alone. It gives me enormous satisfaction to know that Dubai is right in the centre of this growth area,” enthuses Griffiths. It sounds like we’ve only scratched the surface then in terms of Dubai’s potential. I expect that this thought alone is enough to give a few European and North American airport bosses sleepless nights.
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“So if we are handing that amount of technology out to people on a global scale, what on earth can we do to leverage that power to make their travel experience better?”
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The heat is on
Asia-Pacific Airports takes a closer look at how some of the Gulf region’s other airports are faring in terms of traffic growth and infrastructure development.
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hen we wrote about the massive amount of investment taking place in the Gulf region in 2010, we said that it was one of the hottest places on earth for airport development, and five years on nothing has changed. At the time, an estimated $86 billion was being spent on or had been allocated for airport projects in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, with the most high profile projects being the creation of Doha’s Hamad International Airport and Dubai’s second gateway and the construction of Abu Dhabi’s new Midfield Terminal Building (MTB). Other big planned developments at the time included the first phase construction of the New King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah; the upgrade of Kuwait International Airport; multi-million dollar enhancement of Bahrain International Airport; and the expansion of Muscat International Airport. APA Issue 4, 2015
Five years on then and it’s probably time for an update as well as learning a little more about Sharjah International Airport’s plans to upgrade its facilities. Doha’s new $15.5 billion Hamad International Airport opened in April 2014, of course, and boasts an iconic 600,000sqm terminal building with an initial capacity of 30mppa. Its host of facilities include 138 check-in counters, 16 lounges, a five-star transit hotel, a luxury spa, squash courts, a four-storey catering facility and a mosque able to accommodate up to 500 worshippers. Hamad also has 25,000 square metres of commercial offerings provided by Qatar Duty Free and its partners, housing more than 70 retail outlets and more than 30 F&B units. Traffic is also on the rise, reaching 26.3 million (+13%) in 2014, which Hamad’s chief operating officer, Badr Al-Meer largely attributes to the move to the new airport and its “world-class” facilties.
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for at least the next three years, Bahrain Airport has taken the huge decision to invest $1 billion on upgrading its facilities to ensure that it is more than capable of meeting future demand. The key project on the agenda is a new terminal which will raise the airport’s capacity to 14mppa, although it will initially be equipped to accommodate up to 12mppa when opens in late 2018. According to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the design of Kuwait International Airport’s new terminal will be “rooted in a sense of place, responsive to the climate of one of the hottest inhabited environments on earth and inspired by local forms and materials”. The ever-ambitious DGCA is targeting LEED Gold certification for the terminal, which will have an initial capacity of 13mppa but be capable of being expanded in the future to handle up to 50mppa. The complex will have a trefoil design and feature three 1.2 kilometre-long concourses that will initially be equipped with between 30 and 51 contact stands. GACA states on its website that the aim of the project is to significantly increase the capacity of the airport and establish a new regional air hub in the Gulf. It says: “The project’s strategic aims will be matched by a state-of-the-art terminal building, which will provide the highest levels of comfort for passengers and will set a new environmental benchmark for airport buildings.” In the UAE, Sharjah International Airport is working on a master plan that will equip it to handle traffic demand for the next 20 years and beyond. A total of 9.5 million passengers passed through the airport in 2014, and it predicts that this will rise to more than 15 million passengers over the next 10 years, so new capacity enhancing facilities are very much a priority. Asia-Pacific Airports will bring you more details about the goals of the master plan and ambitions of Sharjah Airport APA next year. www.aci-apa.com
SPECIAL REPORT: GULF AIRPORTS
The first phase construction of Jeddah’s New King Abdulaziz International Airport is 80% complete and the gateway will open for commercial operations in mid-2017, according to Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA). The first phase of the three-stage development will raise the airport’s capacity from 17mppa to 30mppa and allow all airlines to be handled under the same roof for the first time. Upon opening, the airport’s 720,000sqm terminal will have 46 gates and facilities that will introduce new levels of comfort and convenience for passengers, says GACA. They include five lounges for first and business class passengers; nearly 28,000sqm of retail/F&B space; and a mosque capable of holding 3,000 worshippers. A 120-room, four-star hotel for transit passengers; new ground transportation centre and railway station; and short and long-term car parking facilities for 23,600 vehicles are also part of the first phase development programme. Second and third phase expansion projects, driven by demand, are designed to raise the new airport’s capacity to 55mppa and eventually 80mppa. Muscat International Airport in Oman is undergoing a major expansion programme that includes the addition of a new airfield, 12mppa capacity passenger terminal, office buildings, four-star hotel and parking garages. Samer Al Nabhani, general manager for commercial development at Oman Airports Management Company (OAMC), tells Asia-Pacific Airports magazine that he is expecting the new capacity enhancing 345,000sqm terminal to elevate service standards to another level. He says: “The new airport is set to open in the next few years, will be able to handle up to 48 million passengers [at full build out] and offer a huge range of services in a modern, state of the art facility. “It will open doors for more business opportunities, provide additional capacity for our passengers and act as a catalyst for route development.” With forecasts predicting that passenger numbers will rise by around 10% per annum
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The X factor What does Abu Dhabi International Airport’s new Midfield Terminal Building have in store for passengers? Joe Bates investigates.
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here is a saying that the best things in life are worth waiting for, and in the case of Abu Dhabi International Airport’s new Midfield Terminal Building (MTB) this is certainly true, as it will transform the Etihad hub into one of the most impressive, exciting and customer friendly gateways in the world. That maybe a bold statement, but there is no denying that when the eagerly awaited $3 billion MTB opens in late 2017, the airport will be unrecognisable from the one we know today and boast state-of-the-art facilities, IT systems and some of the most innovative retail/F&B concepts on the planet. In short, the 700,000sqm MTB will not only look spectacular but it will also boost Abu Dhabi International Airport’s capacity to over 45 million passengers a year. The terminal itself will be capable of accommodating 30mppa and contain over 28,000sqm of retail and F&B space; 156 check-in desks and 48 self service kiosks; 30,000sqm of lounges; its own three-star hotel; and 65 contact stands including eight capable of handling the A380. APA Issue 4, 2015
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND TRAFFIC GROWTH
And they will be required as the airport is one of the fastest growing hubs in the world, currently handling around 20mppa and more than 50 airlines that between them operate services to 103 destinations in 56 countries. Set to become the new home of Etihad Airways and its partners, the MTB gets its name from the fact that it will be located between the airport’s two runways allowing for the shortest possible journey from runway to parking stand. According to Abu Dhabi Airports, architects Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates (KPF) and project partners Ove Arup, NACO and BNP Associates have designed the MTB with sustainability in mind. Indeed, its form, shape, materials used and sophisticated energy and water monitoring systems are expected to ensure a 3 Pearl Design Rating from the Estidama Pearl Building Rating System (PBRS). “The MTB is being designed to minimise its impact on the environment and reduce energy consumption by making use of design elements such as high-performance and
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angled glass facades to avoid heat from entering the building, and making air conditioning more efficient while providing day lighting for interior spaces,” says the airport’s chief operations officer, Ahmad Al Haddabi. “Solid cladding has also been integrated into the design, further reducing the impact of the sun. The terminal building will house systems to limit the waste of potable water, divert construction waste from landfills and use recycled and local materials wherever possible. “A sophisticated building management system and an advanced energy measurement and targeting system will also be in place to allow the energy performance of the building to be recorded and monitored.”
THE VISION
His Excellency, Ali Majed Al Mansoori, chairman of Abu Dhabi Airports, says that the MTB is the “cornerstone of a broader plan to transform Abu Dhabi International Airport and accomplish our aim of becoming a global transportation hub”. He remarks: “As it continues to take shape, with evidence of progress visible on a daily basis, the achievement of that objective draws ever closer.
“More and more people are choosing Abu Dhabi as their preferred location for business, holidays and transit and we are determined to ensure that their experience when they arrive and depart more than meets the standards the modern traveller has come to expect.”
IT INNOVATION AND SECURITY
The MTB will be one-and-a-half times the size of Heathrow’s Terminal 5 and count SITA as its technology partner. As a result SITA will provide the MTB with advanced technology throughout the complex ranging from baggage tracking and handling to flight display systems. And earlier this year the gateway signed a $125 million contract with Smiths Detection to equip the MTB with a range of systems designed to counter the threat posed by Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Explosives (CBRE) weapons. Certainly the MTB’s hold baggage systems include the next generation of high-speed explosive detection systems deploying a combination of X-ray technologies to produce high-resolution images of baggage contents. For carry-on baggage screening, ATIX (Advanced Threat Inspection X-Ray) systems
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will be deployed, supported by trace detection sensors, bottle liquid scanners and radiation detectors.
CONCESSIONS OFFERING
Abu Dhabi Airports wants the MTB’s concessions offerings to set a high bar and it reflected this desire in the tender process by only inviting bids from retail and F&B operators that would “push the boundaries in terms of what passengers might expect” from a world-class facility. The winners of the various tenders are due to be announced any day now, and are expected to include a lot of interactive and innovative outlets that showcase the world’s top brands. UK based company, The Design Solution, won the contract for the design and layout of the MTB’s commercial facilities.
THE BIG BUILD
Construction of the MTB began in 2013 and although there is still a lot more to be done, Abu Dhabi Airports reports that work is progressing well and on target for completion in early 2017 ahead of the scheduled opening later that year. Talking about the mammoth project earlier this year, chief programs officer, Sulaiman Al Siksek, noted: “Although we’ve reached many milestones on this project, the hard work on creating this iconic terminal building continues. APA Issue 4, 2015
“We have an army of 20,000 workers on this 3.5million square metre site, supported by a fleet of the latest construction equipment, including 24 tower and mobile cranes. The steelwork for the four piers is complete and good progress is already underway for the enclosure structure, including the glass curtain walling and roofing for the four piers.” Once the building envelope and glazing for all four piers is finished later this year, the focus will then transition towards work on the inside of the building: fit-out, systems integration and all infrastructure such as the IT and baggage handling system (BHS). Crisplant, part of the Beumer Group, has been awarded the contract to design, manufacture and install the BHS, which with the capacity to handle over 19,000 bags per hour through its ten reclaim carousels and 27km of conveyors, will be one of the most advanced ever made.
ICONIC BUILDING
Al Mansoori says: “The Midfield Terminal Building is fast becoming an iconic part of Abu Dhabi’s skyline, clearly visible from more than 1.5 kilometres away. “The project is an enormous undertaking that will go a long way towards allowing Abu Dhabi to handle the massive growth in passenger numbers that is expected in APA the coming years.”
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IT TRENDS
The big IT spend
Joe Bates discovers that China’s airports continue to invest in new service and capacity enhancing technology.
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hina’s progress towards an airport experience for passengers that rivals other major airports around the world is starting to take shape on the back of increasing investment in technology, according to the latest Airport IT Trends Survey. For although data from this year’s survey indicates that IT spending as a percentage of revenues has slipped to 4.6% from 5.3% in 2012, in absolute dollar terms, IT spending at China’s leading airports exceeded $500m in 2014. Survey co-sponsors SITA and ACI say the total represents an increase of 7.4% since 2012. In 2014, 76% of Chinese respondents said they received a budget increase, compared to 64% globally. As a result, Chinese airport chief information officers are doing better than their global counterparts. An equal percentage reported an increase for this year, compared to 74% globally, and while there is not such widespread optimism for an increase in 2016, no Chinese CIO is expecting a budget cut, compared to 6% of CIOs at airports globally.
PUTTING PASSENGERS FIRST
According to SITA, in this year’s survey there is a greater emphasis placed on improving the travelling experience for passengers at the airport than seen in previous surveys. APA Issue 4, 2015
In fact, 77% of Chinese airports rated passenger processing their number one priority this year, much higher than the 53% recorded in last year’s survey.
EXTENDING SELF-SERVICE
“There has been a big push by airports over the last few years to invest in self-service and today check-in kiosks are deployed at all major Chinese airports, above the global average of 91%,” says SITA. “The focus has now shifted to extending self-service to passengers with check-in luggage. Kiosks are the critical enabler and Chinese airports continue to upgrade kiosks to facilitate bag tag printing.” Currently, 45% of airports offer kiosks with bag tag printing, in line with the global average, and the survey predicts that this functionality will become more widely available over the next three years, reaching 77% of leading Chinese airports. Self-service bag-drop is still a relatively new concept in the Chinese market and although 45% of airports state they have already made some deployments of the assisted version, most are proof of concepts or trials. “Over the next three years, many of these will be turned into permanent deployments and respondents indicate 81% of airports will offer assisted bag-drop services to passengers by the end of 2018,” predicts SITA.
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IT TRENDS
“Chinese airports are extending self-service to the aircraft door by investing in automated boarding gates. In 2013, only 8% of leading airports had deployed self-service boarding, but that has risen to 23% in this year’s survey and if plans become reality, it will jump to 68% of airports by the end of 2018.”
EVALUATING NEW TECHNOLOGIES
According to the survey, sensor technologies, and in particular beacons, are getting serious attention at the global level as they are a key enabler for a wide range of new locationaware mobile services. Not surprisingly, given the high penetration of mobile devices among Chinese passengers, interest from airports for sensor technologies is also high with 33% taking a serious look with major projects planned and a further 52% are experimenting at the R&D level. However, Chinese airports are still making significant investments in mobile services. Flight status notifications have already been widely deployed by airports (77%) and they will become a near universal app feature by the end of 2018. Over the next three years, two-thirds of airports (67%) also want to introduce stress reducing features such as wayfinding and queue wait times, the survey reveals.
A SMARTER AIRPORT
SITA notes that previous surveys have shown that China’s airports have a strong focus on preparing operationally to handle the rapid growth in flights and make better use of the limited airspace. And it claims that many airports are making big strides in achieving this, with local collaborative decision-making (CDM) initiatives already in place at 62% of airports. “By the end of 2018 this will have been almost universally adopted (95%) by leading airports,” forecasts SITA. “Improving the allocation of resources by tracking vehicles and other mobile assets around the airport is also set to become standard operational practice over the next three years and 90% of leading airports will have introduced this by the end of 2018. “A key enabler for building smarter airports is collecting and using data to make better decisions. A majority of leading airports expect to put in place business intelligence initiatives over the next three years, particularly in areas such as passenger flow monitoring (82%) and airport operations (73%).”
LEVERAGING SOCIAL MEDIA
Despite the operational improvements, the survey notes that delays are still a common feature of air travel in China, so airports are www.aci-apa.com
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IT TRENDS exploiting the high level of social media and mobile usage to alleviate the frustration of passengers with better communication and self-help services. Currently 62% of leading airports provide notifications to passengers through social media when there is disruption with a further 33% planning to offer the service in the next three years. At that time, the survey says, 85% of airports will be providing mobile self-service options, such as flight re-booking.
TAPPING INTO THE CLOUD
With the dramatic increase in the use of IT, Chinese airports are starting to give serious attention to cloud services as an effective alternative to building out their own IT infrastructure, reveals the survey. Indeed, the latest feedback from Chinese airport CIOs indicates that 85% of the major gateways in mainland China expect to make either a major investment in cloud services or conduct trials and pilot studies over the next three years.
GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE
Global spending on IT climbed to a record $7.8 billion or 5.82% of airport revenues in 2014, according to the findings of Airport IT Trends Survey. The figure represents a sizeable 37% increase on airport’s IT spend in 2013 and despite investment at Europe’s airports APA Issue 4, 2015
lagging behind the rest of the world, overall investment in IT at gateways across the planet continues to rise and is set to hit $8.7 billion in 2015, predicts SITA. SITA attributes Europe’s decline in airport IT investment – its spend level is roughly half of what it is in the rest of the world – to the continent’s recovery from the economic recession, which it says is about two years behind the rest of the planet. Talking about this, SITA’s president for Europe, Dave Bakker, notes that it was important that Europe’s airports got back on track with their investment in IT as it would prove vital to helping the continent overcome the predicted capacity crunch ahead. Bakker says: “New Infrastructure, which represents a huge multi-year investment for airports, will not work alone. IT is a great enabler and investing in IT solutions will help airports cope with the predicted doubling of passenger traffic over the next 20 years.” The survey shows that by 2018, 80% of airports will use beacons to provide wayfinding services and 74% to provide notifications to passengers. By this time, more than half of the airports will have sensors in use at various points of the journey including check-in, bag drop, security, dwell time and boarding. “Airport operators are looking to develop ‘smart airports’ over the next three years,” APA comments SITA.
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AIRLINES
High-flyer Air Astana’s president and CEO, Peter Foster, reveals the secrets of his airline’s success and reflects on 10 years in the hot seat. WHAT IS THE SECRET FORMULA BEHIND AIR ASTANA’S PROFITABILITY?
We concentrate on three areas. The first is cost control, based on high fleet utilisation and low fixed cost, including some flexible labour contracts and long-term outsource contracts for heavy maintenance and aircraft spares, IT services and ticket distribution. Our operating cost is 6.2 US cents per available seat kilometre, one of the world’s lowest for a full service carrier. Furthermore, it has been on a constant downward trend since 2009. The second area of focus is investment in operational reliability and our ground and onboard product. We have been on the IATA Operational Safety Audit register since 2007. And we have held an EASA 145 licence since 2003. And third, we concentrate on location. We are the only airline operating extensively within, to and from the Central Asian and Caucasus region to offer this level of reliability and service standards. It has made us the region’s clear first choice carrier. We can leverage this into profitable yields even when core markets soften, as they are doing at present.
HOW WILL YOU DEVELOP YOUR NETWORK AND WHAT DESTINATIONS ARE YOU EAGER TO SERVE?
We recently launched flights to Paris, which increases our European network to five cities – London, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Istanbul and now Paris. We will shortly to start flying between Astana and Seoul in a codeshare with Asiana. We already operate with them from Almaty. APA Issue 4, 2015
We hope to start Tokyo in 2016, Singapore in 2018 and New York in 2019 – once we have delivery of the Boeing 787s on order. The priority is to build up frequencies to daily on all of the long-haul routes and continue to thicken the domestic and regional network, to create a true hub at Astana International Airport.
WILL THE B787 MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE TO YOUR OPERATIONS?
On existing routes we expect to see operational savings of around 15% compared with the B767. But the cabins will be similar to those of the B767, which were new last year and have been extremely well received. Most importantly though, it will allow us to develop our long-haul network.
CAN KAZAKHSTAN’S INFRASTRUCTURE COPE WITH YOUR AMBITIOUS PLANS?
There is no scope to develop the terminal at Almaty Airport so future plans centre on Astana. The airport will double in size in the run up to Expo 2017 and the new Airport Management Group is doing a good job of providing clear strategic focus. Conditions are challenging at some of the domestic airports, particularly the smaller ones. There needs to be a clear understanding that some of these are socially necessary and must be maintained to correct standards and supported with public money. Airlines cannot be expected to subsidise them through artificially high user charges as inevitably airlines will simply stop flying to them.
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AIRLINES
WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR BIGGEST ACHIEVEMENT IN YOUR 10 YEARS AT AIR ASTANA AND WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE THE AIRLINE ACHIEVE IN THE FUTURE?
We have a very stable and strong management team and I am very proud of having brought them together, from Kazakhstan and all parts of the world, including those I inherited. I think that their integrity and ability and extreme attention to detail transmits itself right through the airline and the result is a corporate culture of achievement and confidence. The key will be to guard against arrogance and complacency, but I think we face enough challenges for that not to happen. If we can maintain the momentum and energy of the first 13 years for the next 12, it will have been a pretty good quarter of a century’s work.
IS TECHNOLOGY THE ONLY SOLUTION TO IMPROVING THE PASSENGER EXPERIENCE?
Technology plays a big part in service delivery, whether via remote booking and boarding services or through wider choices of entertainment and connectivity, more comfortable seats and so. But anyone with money can buy hardware. The real differentiator as ever will be the efficiency and hospitality of the people at the airports, on the phones and in the cabin. Staff have to want to do this, you can’t force people to be warm and friendly. Training and development has to be geared towards creating the right internal environment for that. Foster was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours list for his contribution APA to British Aviation in Kazakhstan. www.aci-apa.com
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CONSTRUCTION NEWS
DESIGN & BUILD
Spotlight on ADPI’s projects in China and South Korea.
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inning the contract to design the new 100mppa capacity Beijing Daxing International Airport appears to be just the start for ADP Ingénierie (ADPI) in China, which continues to expand its business interests across the country. Indeed, in addition to Bejing Daxing, ADPI – a wholly-owned subsidiary of Aéroports de Paris – is currently working at Chengdu Shuangliu, Hong Kong and Shanghai Pudong airports in China. “Asia-Pacific region and China are an important part of Aéroports de Paris Group’s international strategy,” admits ADP CEO, Olivier Berger. “The region’s middle class will quadruple over the next 20 years and China is set to become the world’s number one aviation market. However, to achieve this, it will need to expand its infrastructure massively to cope with the traffic forecast. APA Issue 4, 2015
KEY FACTS LOCATION: PROJECT: DELIVERY DATE: CONTRACTORS:
Chengdu, Hong Kong, Shanghai in China and Jeju in South Korea New airports, terminal expansion projects and formulating new master plans 2015-2020 Multiple
“Airport planning, design, management and consulting. There will be a lot of opportunities for our experts to help them meet the challenge.”
NEW CHENGDU AIRPORT
In conjunction with Chinese partners, ADPI has won the international competition for the master plan and design of the passenger terminal at Chengdu’s planned new $11 billion gateway. Located 51 kilometres south-east of the capital of Sichuan province, Chengdu Tianfu International Airport is expected to have a
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HONG KONG INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
In partnership with the local branch of global engineering specialists, Meinhardt, ADPI has won the tender to design an extension to the main terminal (Terminal 1) that will raise the airport’s capacity by up to 10mppa. This involves primarily expanding the terminal’s landside area in order to enhance the check-in and baggage-handling facilities, as well as passenger flows. ADPI is also working on an apron extension to provide parking space for 24 additional widebody aircraft.
SHANGHAI PUDONG
ADPI has been selected by the Chinese authorities and one of the main local design institutes to audit the future development projects at Shanghai Pudong International Airport. It claims that the contract illustrates the quality of the relationship between ADPI and Shanghai Pudong, which dates back to the 1990s when Aéroports de Paris carried out the preparation of the gateway’s master plan and studies for its first terminal. Shanghai Pudong exceeded the 50-million-passenger mark in 2014 and forecasts for traffic growth are expecting it to reach an annual throughput of 80 million passengers by 2020.
SOUTH KOREA
Lastly, ADPI has recently been selected to conduct upstream studies on two provincial airports in South Korea – Jeju and a planned new gateway in Youngham. At Jeju International Airport it has been commissioned to conduct a study that investigates the possibility of expanding the country’s third-largest airport, while in Youngnam it is currently working with the Korean Transport Institute (KOTI) on a feasibility study for a new airport in the south-east of the country. Berger is quick to point out that ADPI’s attraction to the Asia-Pacific region is not a recent phenomenon. “We have a long standing background in Asia, with significant references in the past, such as Shanghai Pudong’s first terminal, Kansai Airport in Osaka, Japan, and Jakarta Soekarno Hatta in Indonesia,” he says. “With the help of our Hong-Kong regional office and our subsidiary in Beijing, we recently won several major international design competitions in the region. We are also proud to be associated with the development of Hong-Kong International Airport, one of the best and most efficient airports in the world.” APA www.aci-apa.com
CONSTRUCTION NEWS
single terminal and three runways capable of handling 40 million passengers and 700,000 tonnes of cargo per annum when it opens in 2019. However, China’s desire to build a mega-hub means that the airport will ultimately boast six runways and the capacity to accommodate up to 90 million passengers and two million tonnes of cargo per annum. Such capacity would make the airport one of the largest gateways in mainland China and ensure that it will be one of only three cities in the country to have two major airports after Beijing and Shanghai. Chengdu’s existing Shuangliu Airport, built in 1938, is the fifth busiest airport in the country and serves as a hub for inland China destinations for carriers such as Air China, AirAsia X and Korean Air among others. New highways, subways and intercity railways will link the new airport to downtown Chengdu and other parts of the city. According to ADPI, it faced stiff opposition from a number of international design teams to win the design competition for Chengdu Tianfu International Airport. The design of the new airport (pictured on page 36) is expected to resemble a golden sunbird, which is Chengdu’s logo. ADPI says that it is currently working in co-operation with Chinese firm, CSWADI, on “optimising the architectural concept for the airport”.
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BEIJING ATOP-MEDIA ADVERTISING COMPANY LIMITED Location: Beijing, China Contacts: Zhihong Gong, president; Richard Lee, assistant Email: atop@atop-media.com; leemingcong@hotmail.com Website: www.atop-media.com Since the foundation of the company in 2008, Atop-media has focused on the exploration, operation and development of advertisement media resources in airports. With continuous integration of related resources, we have gradually formed BECA SPEARHEADS QUEENSTOWN UPGRADE our network of airport media and successfully provide nationwide Queenstown Airport has started work on a NZ$17 million promoting solutions for various series of major airfield infrastructure improvements designed to pave the way for evening flights in winter 2016 and improve VIP clients in different industries. We are the media agent at more the overall safety and efficiency of operations. than 30 airports across China. The airport’s main runway will be widened by 15 metres – from 30 metres to 45 metres – and resurfaced in accordance with PARSONS conditions set down by New Zealand’s Civil Aviation Authority Location: Washington DC, USA (CAA) and Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) when Contact: Thomas Hagg approving its evening flights safety case in May 2014. The installation of a comprehensive lighting package including Website: www.parsons.com Founded in 1944, Parsons runway, taxiway, apron and approach lights – another key condition of evening flight regulatory approval – is also underway. Corporation – an engineering, construction, technical and The technical design of the project will be led by professional services firm – is a leader engineering firm Beca and the implementation will be in diverse markets, focusing on managed by a construction team from Downer New Zealand. transportation, environmental/ Queenstown Airport’s acting chief executive, Mark Edghill, industrial, and defence/security. believes the work will help “future-proof” the airport. Our global reach has extended to “These upgrades will not only give us a more robust, durable runway in all weathers, they will lay the groundwork for us to host providing these services at more than 450 airports in 40 countries, with evening flights in and out of Queenstown next winter which we construction values in excess of believe will be a game-changer for the region,” he says. $175 billion. We plan, deliver and “Evening flights will spread the peak times more evenly, unlock more opportunities for passengers to access our region, sustain world-class airport infrastructure for a brighter, more provide locals with more travel options and create job efficient tomorrow. opportunities for our community.” APA Issue 4, 2015