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Issue 2 2011 / 11 April 2011 /
Since 1992, GATE has been the German umbrella association for quality airport suppliers, enhancing worldwide the image of competence and reliability for its corporate members, encouraging cooperation and supporting strategic alliances.
Since the wide body Aircraft came into service demanding new facilities on the ground, airport equipment companies have had a driving objective to create an identity and a strategic platform specifically for the airport industry, specifically to meet experts and executives operating airports who were looking for advanced technology to keep pace with passenger growth. (more…)
Issue 2 2011 / 11 April 2011 /
The coldest December in 100 years brought into sharp focus the impact that weather can have on the UK’s airports. Across Europe and North America heavy snowfalls and ice brought airports more used to severe winter weather to a standstill. But in a warming world, changing weather patterns are potentially a further complication for the world’s airports.
It is said that we have a fascination with the weather, from what is happening outside now to what conditions are likely to be weeks ahead. For airport and airline operators disruption due to weather, especially in winter, can put strain on schedules through misplaced aircraft, passengers and staff. (more…)
Issue 2 2011 / 11 April 2011 /
The flying public have experienced huge changes in the air travel experience over the course of the last two decades. Most of those changes have been beneficial and welcomed by passengers such as improved facilities and lower prices. Other changes have been less accommodating, such as the introduction of charges for checking in luggage.
The introduction of these charges has proved very lucrative for airlines, particularly low cost carriers. By unbundling the travelling experience and charging for each constituent part, low cost carriers can offer headline lowcost fares and supplement their revenues with the additional charges. (more…)
Issue 1 2011 / 26 January 2011 /
While airlines are struggling to minimize their loss, which according to IATA will continue in 2011, the biggest challenge for airports is to secure enough capacity in the years to come and at the same time to deliver cheap services to high safety standards.
Many airports are now on the same level as before the financial crisis, regarding number of passengers. Danish airports are again experiencing good growth rates. This year Copenhagen airport has had an increase in the number of passengers with an increase of 9%. Billund and Aalborg airports have both experienced a double-digit growth in 2010. (more…)
Issue 1 2011 / 26 January 2011 /
11 May 1996. After a delay caused by a mechanical problem Valujet flight 592, a Douglas DC-9-32 with 105 passengers and five crew onboard pushes back from the gate at Miami International Airport for departure to Atlanta.
Twenty minutes later, after taxiing to runway 9 Left, the aircraft is airborne but after only six minutes the flight crew receive indications of significant electrical malfunctions. Shortly after, screams from the cabin of “fire” are recorded on the cockpit voice recorder, with a flight attendant heard to say that the cabin was “completely on fire”. Three minutes after the first indication of a problem the aircraft crashes into the Everglades. There are no survivors. (more…)
Issue 1 2011 / 26 January 2011 /
Security has become an ever increasing feature of our daily lives and nowhere is this more readily apparent than in the airport. For the majority of passengers, the most overt indicator is the queue at the security checkpoint as more rigorous checks on passengers and their luggage cause bottlenecks.
While passenger and baggage screening understandably remains a high priority for airports, a more holistic approach is often being adopted, one which brings together the different security threats that are faced and deals with them through interoperable solutions using fully integrated systems. (more…)
Issue 1 2011 / 26 January 2011 /
National headlines for the aviation industry in December 2010 were mostly about snow, closed airports and angry passengers. But amidst the acres of newsprint on the weather and stranded travellers was a court ruling that could actually have much greater implications for the future of the industry and for air travel.
A French court ruled that Continental Airlines was responsible for the tragic Concorde crash in Paris in 2000 because of a FOD (Foreign Object Debris) incident in which a strip of metal on the runway caused fatal damage to the aircraft.
Continental will have to reimburse Air France the compensation it paid to victims’ families and faces the possibility of a major class action suit that could cost hundreds of millions. (more…)
Issue 1 2011 / 26 January 2011 /
The volcanic ash cloud over Europe was one of the biggest news stories of 2010. For the air traffic control industry, it also meant an unprecedented length of time under the media spotlight.
In airspace which normally sees 26,000 flights a day carrying 700,000 passengers, the first six days of the continuing eruption and the combination of unseasonal winds grounded all but a fraction of the scheduled commercial services, leaving tens of thousands of travellers stranded and airports stilled. (more…)
Airport news / 21 December 2010 /
BAA is calling on the UK government to cut aviation tax after the Irish finance minister announced a 70 percent reduction to air passenger duty (APD) in a bid to support tourism. (more…)
Issue 6 2010 / 13 December 2010 /
Air transport in Europe today is safe and relatively efficient, despite its high density and the complexity of its operations. This is due in no small part to the continent’s air navigation service providers (ANSPs), of which skyguide is one. But what will the picture look like 10 years from now, if air traffic continues to grow at the rates currently projected? Eurocontrol expects traffic volumes to increase by 2.8% a year. If they do, it will not be too long before the growth can no longer be handled using the present airspace structures – or at least not without major delays. (more…)
Issue 6 2010 / 13 December 2010 /
Working airside has never been short of hazards. Airport operators and regulators have long concentrated safety planning on protecting those individuals working on ramps, aprons, taxiways and runways. Unfortunately, ground handling incidents continue to rise worldwide, resulting in injuries to personnel and damage to aircraft and property. Additionally, the use, and indeed, misuse of vehicles in airside areas has led to major operational disruption at busy airports. (more…)
Issue 6 2010 / 13 December 2010 /
Further to the ‘High Tyre Pressure Test’ (HTPT) overview presented in Issue 4 2010 of International Airport Review, this article presents test analysis, conclusions and recommendations. Detailed information on test background, facilities and test procedures are all contained in the former issue; therefore, for a better understanding of this second article and for an overall view of the HTPT test, the reader should refer to Issue 4 2010 of International Airport Review. (more…)
Issue 6 2010 / 13 December 2010 /
In the wake of the latest series of terrorist bomb plots, the enhancement of air cargo security has pushed itself firmly into the spotlight. Yet, as Drew Hillier reports, in the UK, for example, where 60% of air freight is carried in passenger airlines, (the remainder being handled by specialist cargo planes) whilst all passenger baggage is subject to inspection by X-ray, only a small amount of air cargo has hitherto been checked with similar rigour. With this in mind, and the global economic belt being pulled ever tighter, it’s time that the industry adopts far greater degrees of joined up thinking to ensure belly-hold cargo does not constitute a major weak link in the worldwide distribution supply chain. (more…)
Issue 6 2010 / 13 December 2010 /
Modern aircraft engines are designed and built to be resistant to multiple birdstrikes from birds of up to 4.5lb (2kg) in weight. The UK CAA has played a leading role in developing enhanced engine certification requirements and United States National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and UK Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB) recommendations have served further to emphasise the need for such activity. This work has been conducted in co-operation with other safety regulators (the US FAA, Transport Canada and other agencies such as the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA)) and the aero engine industry. (more…)
Issue 5 2010 / 1 October 2010 /
The worldwide trend towards ever safer GSE
No airport in the world, be it the smallest, can operate today without some fleet of aircraft ground equipment (GSE). How is it possible, with so many equipment types in thousands of airports in all the countries in the world, to immediately know what a given piece of GSE, wherever it is used, is capable of? Standards are the answer. And standards for GSE have been developed over four decades by several organisations in the industry, culminating in International Standards that give them the necessary worldwide application. (more…)
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