Category: Air Service

Infrastructure Week 2019: 20th Century Airports in a 21st Century World

Posted on | by Scott Elmore

Today marks the official start to Infrastructure Week 2019, the long-celebrated week each year when the infrastructure community comes together and engages in a broad conversation about the importance of modern infrastructure.  For us, every week is Infrastructure Week (we’re not the first ones to make that joke and we won’t be the last…), but we’re proud to join in and represent airports in such an important dialogue this week.

As part of our participation in Infrastructure Week, ACI-NA will continue to amplify our important message about the need to invest in America’s aging airports.  Beginning today, passengers in airports will have the opportunity to hear directly from ACI-NA on the benefits of an improved and modernized airport system.  Watch by clicking below.

We couldn’t think of a better way to get our message in front of those who stand to benefit the most from the improved passenger experience, increased airline competition and lower airfares, and enhanced safety and security that will come when we meet the nearly $130 billion in infrastructure needs of America’s airports over the next five years.

We are proud to count CNN Airport Network as a valued ACI-NA member and an active participant in our Beyond the Runway Coalition.  CNN Airport Network’s tremendous support for our industry is greatly appreciated as we ramp up our efforts to engage in a broad conversation about the importance of modern airports to local communities.

For the latest on Infrastructure Week, visit the Centerlines NOW blog or following along on social media using #InfrastructureWeek #BuildForTomorrow.

Air Service Development Success

Posted on | by rrudishlaning@airportscouncil.org

BLENDING SMART TECHNIQUES WITH SEXY APPROACHES

By Nicole Nelson

The new carrier. The new city. The new growth. In the language of air service development, all of the above translate to “the sexy things” associated categorically with success, according to Brian Pratte.

As San Antonio International Airport’s Chief Air Service Development Officer, Pratte is proud to tout the “sexy” trifecta SAT has achieved with the announcement of service via Sun Country Airlines to its Minneapolis-St. Paul hub in May, followed by the commencement of Sun Country service to Portland International Airport in June. SAT is also thrilled with its Valentine’s Day gift of nonstop flights to JFK via American Airlines that began Feb. 14.

Yet as wonderful as these new routes may be, both Pratte and San Antonio’s Aviation Director, Russ Handy, attest that they are perhaps equally, if not more, gratified by the existing routes that continue to grow and thrive in the highly leveraged marketplace.

“This probably doesn’t sound real glamorous, but I’m as proud of the things that you don’t see as much of as I am about the big wins in air service,” Handy explained, noting the gratification that ensues when air carriers decide to not only stay in a route but expand in that route by adding additional seats or larger aircraft. “We’ve had a couple of airline meetings in the recent past where airlines have stressed how well their routes are doing. When you see a bunch of positives, you know that not only did you secure that new route, but you made a good overall decision. We’ll have some losses as well as wins, but I think that is what I’m most proud of.”

STEADY AND SEXY

Campbell-Hill Aviation Group Vice President, Kevin Schorr, applauded airports such as SAT that take a well-rounded approach to route development.

“People instinctively think about marketing and talking about new service, but we also need to keep the existing service in mind,” Schorr said. “Airports need to make sure the public knows what they offer because, in the end, it really comes down to butts in seats, and that is going to determine whether or not you maintain service for the long run or lose it before it has a chance to mature.”

Pratte said that SAT has taken a three-pronged approach to air service development to better serve the tremendous growth the mid-sized airport has experienced in recent years. In 2017, SAT exceeded 9 million passengers for the first time ever, and by 2018, the airport exceeded 10 million passengers.

“There is maintenance and keeping what you’ve got; expansion of what is already there and, of course, the growth,” Pratte said. “We have been able to hit on all three approaches. I think that’s really what’s more beneficial than just one singular victory.”

Three years ago, the city and the airport system made a strategic decision to focus on air service development, both air service new development and retention, Handy explained. “Brian and his team, in an impressive amount of time, developed an air service development plan, a strategic plan with goals and metrics identifying, with data, air service opportunities and how they might go about that, and they tackled it.”

Prior to Pratte’s hire, air service development was relatively flat – growing by roughly one percent per year – despite the fact that the San Antonio community was consistently growing. The numbers have risen very quickly since then due, in part, to the under-told story of up-gauging with added frequencies and added capacity. Pratte and his team developed the plan and have spent up to three-quarters of their time on the road, selling the realities of SAT’s demand potential to airlines. The result was that the airport system exceeded its five-year goal in a little over two years.

COMMUNITY EMBRACE

Once an airport has a stellar route development team in place, one might think the job of air service development is seemingly formulaic. Between meetings at air carrier headquarters and air service speed dating conferences on the road (ACI-NA’s JumpStart® Air Service Development Conference) and periodic conference calls with the airlines from the home airport office, there are seemingly tried and true techniques and strategies.

But truth be told, it is far from a wash, rinse and repeat affair, according to Campbell-Hill’s Schorr. As each airport has its own unique circumstances, the air service development consultant shared that in-depth data dives and community outreach have proven necessary to round out airport-airline mating and relationship rituals.

“What we now have at our disposal are new data and new tools that make us smarter and hence make the airlines smarter about existing opportunities and about how to market new service, as well,” Schorr said, emphasizing the customized approach. “We now have better insights as to who is using the airport or not using the airport, and other choices they are making. Which airlines are they flying, for example? While we have been able to get that kind of information for years, we can now get it sooner and with greater granularity.”

Edmonton International Airport is all about the granularity as it relates to air service development. Realizing the vast importance of data, the airport developed “EIA rewards” a proprietary program that has provided the airport with a steady stream of exclusive passenger data since the program’s inception in 2011.

“When our customers reserve a parking stall or become a rewards member, we have the data on where they fly,” said EIA Vice President of Air Service and Commercial Development, Myron Keehn, noting that EIA owns the data derived from the proprietary rewards program. “We have a lot of data on very frequent customers’ travel and we utilize that as a tool to provide data so we can go to the airlines to have a conversation.”

Used in tandem with industry data, Keehn said this valuable information has contributed to EIA’s acquisition of seat capacity, both on mainline Canadian carriers as well as in the lower-cost entrance market with Air Canada Rouge, Swoop and Flair.

“All three of (the new entry lower-cost airlines) provide service from our market and that has, honestly, helped on all routes,” Keehn said, noting the carriers have ‘thickened’ some routes, and added new routes based upon the steady growth demand. “This has opened opportunities for people to travel somewhere they haven’t gone before, which is really helpful.”

The other thing EIA is prone to do is work very closely with the Edmonton business community – whether it be the tech, health, manufacturing, professional services, finance or beyond.

“We take the opportunity to say, ‘Where do you guys need to go?’” Keehn said, noting that the May 18 launch of air service to San Francisco was a community-driven objective with an Air Canada partner. “There is a large tech sector in Edmonton, and they need connectivity from a financing perspective to get to Silicon Valley. The tech communities simply don’t connect, so going through L.A. wasn’t working. They wanted point to point.”

From an airport perspective, Keehn said his team strives to work hard with the airlines in partnership.

“It is a partnership, and we really view it that way,” Keehn said. “We work on both the supply side, working with the airlines to look at where capacity is unserved or underserved, and where they can thicken routes, increase frequency or drive a larger aircraft under the same route itself, and still maintain the same crew cost.”

But that is only part of what EIA does. The other part is the work on the demand side of it.

“My team actually goes out and acts like an airline sales agent,” Keehn said, explaining the airport personnel work with tourist agencies, travel agencies, and trade agencies on both sides of the network route. Keehn again cited the recent Air Canada launch of the nonstop, year-round EIA-SFO route as a prime example.

“We actually had trade missions go down on the business side in advance, and after the route was actually launched, we had a bunch of business-to-business meetings in both cities,” Keehn said. “We actually hosted a group that came up here, and at trade shows as well. So, we drive from a business perspective, a political perspective, and an association perspective – like a Chamber of Commerce or Board of Trade. Then, we do it from a travel and tourism perspective as well.”

Keehn said he believes 2018, by far, was the year EIA has proven to be the most effective at community outreach.

“We were very deliberate, and we spent a lot of time and effort planning and working from both ends,” Keehn said. “I have a team of folks that I like to see often, but I tell them, ‘I really don’t want to see you in the office’ because their business is out of the office.”

DIALING IN THE DATA

Mined data, combined with community education and support, has also played a large role in Ontario International Airport’s rise from a small regional airport under the Los Angeles World Airports system to a vibrant, independent aviation gateway.

In recent years, the Inland Empire airport has marketed its convenience and accessibility in serving one of the fastest-growing population and economic centers in the United States, giving its airline partners more reasons to put more flights in the air. The result has been a double-digit increase in traffic over the past two years.

“I can really get my hands dirty in data,” remarked ONT CEO, Mark Thorpe, who has utilized his vast air service development background to work with reliable sources and consultants to process data and make appropriate industry inferences. “I spend a lot of time myself with it; it is what I enjoy and what I do best.”

Thorpe explained that LAWA acquired Ontario Airport back in the 1960s mainly for diversions. After a long period of growth throughout the early 2000s, the financial crisis hit and service was retrenched to primary airports.

As Thorpe recalled, the LAWA management team focused on building up and adding new facilities at LAX – and they needed to keep all the revenue that they could at that airport.

With that change in management philosophy came a division between the cities of Los Angeles and Ontario, which ultimately resulted in the transfer of the airport with the support of local, state and federal government. As a result, the dynamics changed and the realization took hold that overdependence on one airport wasn’t going to be a good thing for the region in terms of environmental and infrastructural impacts, among others.

“There are a lot of reasons that went into why it was transferred back, but what it means for us now is that we have the only airport in Southern California that can accommodate any significant amount of passenger and cargo traffic growth,” Thorpe said.

ONT had been the most expensive airport in Southern California in terms of airport costs on a per unit basis. But the tables have turned since the transfer to make ONT the least expensive airport in Southern California, in terms of rates and charges. This structure has led to ONT’s ranking as a Top 10 cargo airport in North America with a UPS hub, the Amazon West Regional hub, and the current build out of a FedEx hub facility.

“We’ve already got a lot of cargo traffic growth, but we want an airport that can really accommodate passenger traffic growth,” Thorpe explained.

For this reason, Thorpe has used numeric proof to make a significant case for the resurgent airport in its first stage of redevelopment. For example, Thorpe noted, ONT is more convenient than LAX for 10 million out of 18 million people in Southern California. “We have a huge market to go appeal to and we’re really careful in seeing where we have an advantage of getting to this airport, as opposed to LAX or the other airports on the coast. And that’s where we focus our marketing and our advertising. That’s what we tell airlines about – where our catchment area is.”

Thorpe said the airport is bullish about regaining essential routes that were lost a decade ago to reinstate ONT as a true gateway.

“We’re at this first stage where we’re getting back a lot of services that we’ve lost,” Thorpe said, citing as a case in point the April 22 reinstatement of daily Delta service to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport – as well as a red-eye beginning in June from ONT to the world’s busiest airport.

In addition, red-eye flights prevailed with recent additions to include JetBlue’s service to the JFK market and United’s overnight to Houston. Southwest is entering the San Francisco market for the first time via ONT with four daily flights planned this summer, and Frontier has proven to be “a really great partner” offering frequency to a multitude of markets.

Most notably, however, is ONT’s banner offering of transoceanic service with China Airlines flights to Taipei.

“When you think about a flight to Taiwan from Ontario Airport, it was kind of a seven on the Richter Scale,” Thorpe said, noting that the route is historic as the only commercial aviation flight to either Asia or Europe originating from an airport in Southern California beyond LAX. “It was a major occurrence in the aviation world, at least in Southern California.”

“We’re starting to see things really take off and I think we’ll start to see things reach a tipping point where we really can develop this airport into a second major international gateway in the United States,” Thorpe projected.

SLC – Designing for the Future

Posted on | by rrudishlaning@airportscouncil.org

By Bill Wyatt, Executive Director, Salt Lake City International Airport

I’m often asked why, after a week of retiring from the Port of Portland (PDX), I decided to accept an offer to go back to work as the new executive director of the Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC).

The reason is simple: SLC is building what will be the first new hub airport in the country in the 21st century. We’re not talking a remodel or an expansion, but an entirely new airport. The new airport will secure SLC’s position as a global aviation hub that will serve and grow with the region for decades to come.

As with many airports, SLC is experiencing tremendous passenger growth and operating in facilities that are over-utilized and well past their prime. The history of SLC goes back to 1961, when Terminal 1 first opened. Over the years, we added Terminal 2, additional concourses and an International Terminal. Our newest building is the International Terminal, which was constructed more than 20 years ago.

Our facilities were originally built to accommodate 10 million passengers and, today, SLC is seeing upward of 25 million passengers each year. We have become a thriving hub airport for Delta Air Lines and today are Delta’s fourth largest hub.

Our passengers experience congestion at SLC daily, whether it’s curbside, in the parking garage or when trying to find a seat in gate hold areas and restaurants. Plus, the lack of available gates limit new air service to SLC.

But that will all change the fall of 2020, when the first phase of The New SLC Redevelopment Project opens with a parking garage with double the capacity, one central terminal with 16 security lanes and portions of two new concourses. Once we open the first phase, the process to build the second phase begins with the demolition of current facilities, which allow construction to the east to commence. Come 2025, the entire project will be complete and passengers will travel through an entirely new, modern airport.

The advantage to building a new airport is that you can design for the future. The New SLC will be more efficient and more sustainable. The new concourses are designed in a parallel configuration, which will eliminate aircraft bottlenecks, so airlines can get their planes back in the air faster.

We are also aiming for a LEED Gold Certification from the U.S. Green Building Council and plan to achieve this through a variety of ways, such as converting all airline ground service equipment to electric by 2023. The use of natural light will also help to achieve our energy goals.

Those who have arrived at Salt Lake City may have experienced a phenomenon that is unique to our airport and which we are addressing in the new terminal. Thousands of young men and women travel around the world on missions for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and depart from our airport. SLC is also the place where friends and families come to greet these missionaries when they return home. It’s not unusual to see large gatherings at the luggage carousels with family and friends holding signs welcoming back their loved ones. This also presents a challenge to passengers attempting to get their luggage. In the new terminal, we will have a Meeter-Greeter Room where those waiting for passengers to arrive – whether they be military personnel, missionaries or a winning sports team – can relax in a comfortable setting.

But beyond the brick and mortar, the new airport has been designed to leave a lasting impression on travelers. Art and other elements will provide a sense of place through the use of sandstone, copper colors and native plants. The design incorporates plenty of windows to provide views of the mountains from many vantage points throughout the airport, including from an outdoor deck from Delta’s Sky Club.

Passengers will be wowed by massive art installations, such as The Canyon, which is being integrated on both walls of the airport terminal. The Canyon evokes the Salt Lake City landscape and spans roughly the size of a football field.

An expanded concessions program with 29 retail stores was recently announced and includes a mix of local, regional and national brands, including new brands such as Coach, Frye and Mac. The restaurant program announcement is coming soon and is expected to be just as impressive.

And the good news keeps on coming. The $3.6 billion-plus airport is being built without one cent of local tax payer dollars. For years, SLC was the only large-size, hub airport in the country to be debt free. That has since changed, but the foresight of those planning this project allowed the project to begin with savings. It will all pay off in the end. A recent economic impact study showed the project is contributing approximately $5.5 billion to the local economy.

SLC is currently one of the nation’s most cost-effective airports for airline operations and plans to maintain one of the lowest CPEs in the country for a hub operation.

So you can see why my plans to retire have been put on hold – so that I can be part of this remarkable program that will make traveling through SLC truly unforgettable.

Checked Facts: Airports Are Not Taxpayer Funded

Posted on | by aci_na_wpadmin

Benjamin Franklin said there are only two certainties in life: death and taxes.  If there’s one more thing we can be certain of on April 15, it’s the airlines continuing to spread misinformation about how America’s airports are funded.

It is common misconception that airports are funded with taxpayer dollars.  In reality, infrastructure projects at airports in the United States are funded through three key mechanisms: federal grants through the FAA’s Airport Improvement Program (AIP), the Passenger Facility Charge (PFC) local user fee, and tenant rents and fees.

No matter how many times the airlines repeat it, the PFC is not tax. The PFC is a local user fee that airports rely on to repair aging facilities, improve aviation safety, improve the passenger experience, create more airline competition to lower airfares, and accommodate rising demand.  With nearly $130 billion in infrastructure needs over the next five years, the PFC is the cheapest and most sustainable option available.

Here’s why:  The PFC empowers those who know the most about the local airport needs, infrastructure investments, and safety upgrades to make the best decisions for the airport while balancing the passenger’s interests. The PFC is collected locally and, unlike other aviation-related fees and taxes, stays local. It never gets passed to Washington, D.C. The PFC is the only funding tool that maximizes this kind of critical local control.  The airlines’ erroneous “tax” argument doesn’t hold water.

Today’s modern conservative movement is diverse and often fractious, so it can be hard to find unanimity on almost any issue. But when it comes to support for the PFC, conservative think tanks and advocacy groups speak with a clear voice in support of this quintessential user fee.

The Competitive Enterprise Institute, FreedomWorks, Heritage Foundation, Heritage Action, Reason Foundation, Council for Citizens Against Government Waste, Taxpayer Protection Alliance, and Citizen Outreach are some of the leading anti-tax and free market organizations that agree the PFC is a local user fee.

User fees represent a better way to pay for infrastructure. Under this system, the people who actually use the airport bear the burden of upkeep and modernization. That is the most fair and equitable way to fund it – passengers who don’t use the airport will never be asked to pay for it. Americans certainly deserve to keep as much of their hard-earned money as possible.  How else would they be able to pay all those exorbitant airline bag fees?

Communities Left Behind and Airline Industry Consolidation: The Promise of Airline Deregulation Has Only Partially Been Fulfilled

Posted on | by Scott Elmore

To commemorate the 40th Anniversary of the enactment of the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978, championed by Dr. Alfred E. Kahn while serving as Chair of the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) under President Jimmy Carter, various industry experts were asked by the JDA Journal to comment on “whether the Airline Deregulation Act is meeting Dr. Kahn’s vision.” The following is the contribution by ACI-NA General Counsel Tom Devine.

 

The Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 has certainly provided benefits to consumers in many areas, as airlines and others often point out, but the promise of deregulation has not been fully realized, and many communities have been left behind.

Dr. Kahn assumed we could rely on market forces to supplant government regulation, but industry concentration is now higher than it was prior to deregulation, due to waves of industry consolidation in the past decade.  It is also likely that Dr. Kahn did not anticipate the advent and widespread use of ancillary airline fees (totaling more than $20 billion in 2017) that distort market signals.  Moreover, the paucity of viable new entrants and the dominant carriers’ reaction even to small-scale challenges from other carriers has meant that the market has not always been effective in curbing anti-competitive behavior of dominant airlines.  A distorted or constrained marketplace does not realize the benefits of true competition.

Competition also depends on access by airline competitors to necessary airport facilities, such as runways and terminals.  Preserving and enhancing competition was a key goal of Congress in 1990, when it restored, in a limited form, airports’ right to impose per-passenger fees to raise money for necessary airport capital improvements.  This was critical, because, while dominant hub carriers, for instance, were willing to finance improvements to benefit themselves, they were naturally reluctant to fund facilities that would enable competitors to gain access to the airport.  The PFC statute helped solve this dilemma and enhanced competition by explicitly (1) providing that airline agreements could not govern the imposition or use of PFCS and (2) precluding the leasing of PFC-funded gates on a long-term, exclusive use basis.

Unfortunately, the PFC was initially capped at $3 per passenger in 1990 and has only been raised once, 18 years ago, to $4.50.  The erosion of PFC purchasing power over the years–coupled with the fact that many airports’ PFC capacity is fully committed to pay off projects already constructed–thwarts airports’ ability today to fund the necessary infrastructure to provide for competitive entry.

While the ADA provided some mechanisms for addressing communities and consumers that have been disenfranchised, such as the Essential Air Service program, their effectiveness has proven to be limited.  Reduction in air service is the biggest concern of many of our non-hub, small hub, and medium hub airports throughout the country.  While airports are working diligently to take the self-help steps they can to induce, attract and retain air service, the tools and resources available to them are quite limited.

It is in everyone’s interests — airports, airlines, consumers, communities, businesses and the government, alike — to come up with creative and effective ways to ensure that small and medium-sized communities throughout the country have access to, and connectivity with, the national air transportation system and that there is effective competition throughout the system.  Airports currently produce $1.4 Trillion in economic activity.  Expanding access to the national network of vibrant aviation activity to underserved markets and ensuring true competition throughout the system will allow the economic and social benefits of Deregulation to be realized by all.

A version of this column originally appeared in JDA Journal on October 23, 2018. Read the full article, “40th Anniversary of the Airline Deregulation Act: Retrospectives from 7 Different Perspectives” >>

BNA Is Ever-Expanding

Posted on | by Scott Elmore

By Douglas E. Kreulen, A.A.E., President and CEO, Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority

Nashville is on fire – there really is no other way to describe it. Always a great place to live, the city is now receiving an unprecedented level of attention from all across the country and beyond. National Geographic Traveller U.K. included Nashville on its “Cool List,” Business Insider named Nashville as one of the “33 Trips Everyone Should Take in the U.S. in 2018,” Forbes “The 20 Happiest Cities to Work in Right Now” list included Nashville, and the lists and accolades just go on and on. The word is out, and the world is coming here to see for themselves. In fact, according to recent U.S. Census estimates, 94 people are moving to Nashville every single day.

As aviation industry professionals, you know how this type of popularity and growth can put major demands on transportation facilities. The challenge is to anticipate and address those demands so as to best serve the aviation needs of the community.

The story of passenger growth at Nashville International Airport (BNA) has followed an irregular path. Nashville’s current terminal opened in 1987, built to accommodate the hub then-operated by American Airlines. Driven by that hub activity, BNA grew to serve more than 10 million passengers by 1992, though only 15 percent of which were origin and destination travelers. In the next year, however, American began reducing operations at BNA and ultimately “de-hubbed” from our airport, causing a steady decline in overall passenger traffic. As it turned out, the high water mark of 1992 would remain the passenger record at BNA for the next 21 years.

But the city and region continued to prosper, solid and steady, and passenger traffic grew likewise. With the end of the recession in 2009, Nashville boomed and growth surged, along with steep increases in air travel. Since then, we’ve been on a tear. By 2013, BNA finally surpassed that 1992 passenger record, and we would add an additional million passengers or more in each of the following five years, reflecting annual growth rates as high as 11 percent. Most recently, in our Fiscal Year 2018, BNA surpassed 14.9 million passengers, a ten percent increase, with nearly 90 percent origin and destination traffic.

This torrid growth required a response. Today’s passenger numbers are years ahead of the forecast found in our last master plan. It was clear to our Board of Commissioners and executive team that expansion plans needed to be finalized – and accelerated – to accommodate the region’s aviation needs.

So in 2016, after additional passenger analysis and forecasting, research and planning, we launched BNA Vision, our dynamic growth and expansion plan for Nashville International Airport. Upon its completion in 2023, BNA Vision will include a parking and transportation center, a new Concourse D, an expanded central terminal, an airport administration building, a possible hotel and transit connection, and a state-of-the-art International Arrivals Facility, among other features.

This billion-dollar project will be completed in phases, as to limit inconvenience and allow the airport to continue all operations. Current projects under construction include a terminal garage and transportation center; a second garage with an airport administrative office complex on top; Concourse D and ticketing wing expansion; and a terminal apron and taxilane expansion to accommodate the construction of our future International Arrivals Facility.

Our focus is on expanding and renovating BNA, and we’re working at a swift pace to add more than 500,000 square feet to our terminal. But the cranes and construction only tell half the story. Expansion for us also means adding air service to make certain we are taking Nashvillians to as many places as we can in the world while also bringing the world to Nashville.

In May of this year, transatlantic service returned to BNA after a 20-year hiatus. The long sought-after and highly anticipated service to London’s Heathrow Airport via British Airways was largely made possible thanks to the support from our community, business leaders, state and city officials and our Board of Commissioners. This new services truly opens Nashville up to the world with Heathrow serving as a gateway to so much of Europe and Asia. As our airport grows, and as Music City expands its increasingly recognized brand, we anticipate adding more international service to meet local demands and that of travelers worldwide.

And while we bring these dramatic changes to our airport facilities, it is vital that we maintain the sense of place and top-notch customer service our travelers expect. Nashville is truly a unique city – from the extraordinary food scene to the live music day and night for which we’re known. It is important to us that the moment you step foot off that plane you know you’re in Music City. This is top-of-mind with every decision we make during construction – the warm and welcoming vibe, the concession offerings, and especially the music. Our live music in the terminal program recently celebrated its 30th anniversary and touts more than 700 performances a year in six performance areas throughout the terminal, and we plan to add more. Nashville is southern hospitality at its best, and we want to make sure those values remain embodied in our approach to customer service.

So we’ve taken on a big challenge – expand the airport while maintaining that “Nashville feel.” We’re confident we will accomplish our goals thanks to the thousands of our hardworking colleagues and partners from all over Middle Tennessee. These are the people who make the aviation industry go. The people who show up every day, arriving before the sun rises and working until long after it sets, to open our storefronts and music stages, provide passenger safety and make sure our baggage systems are running while tackling so many other tasks necessary to make a modern airport function. Because of their commitment and dedication, we know the best days at BNA are in front of us.

And in this fashion, we’ll provide our world-class city with the world-class airport it deserves.

Airplane takes off in front of airport at sunset

Finding a Seat at the Slots Table

Posted on | by Scott Elmore

Airports Align to Amplify Visibility, Voice in Worldwide Slots Guidelines Process  

By Nicole Nelson

Imagine a dozen members of your extended family showing up unannounced at the front door of your home to tell you they’re not just staying overnight, but they’re moving in.

This visualization is how Port Authority of New York & New Jersey Director of Aviation, Huntley A. Lawrence, views the airport’s role in the current system to allot airport capacity, with the International Air Transport Association representing the family of international air carriers and airports having no voice when made to obligingly open their doors.

“You may love these people – at least some of them anyway – and you want to accommodate them as best as you can, but without time and money to plan, and buy extra beds, linens, and food, you’re not always going to be a very good host,” Lawrence related. “You may normally be an excellent host, but without having a say about who stays over, and when, you simply can’t be expected to shine.”

It is Huntley’s desire to not only provide the PANYNJ’s airports—including slot-constrained John F. Kennedy International, Newark Liberty International, and LaGuardia– but all airports the ability, “to shine always.” To that end, Lawrence and his staff have become increasingly vocal on the need for airports to have a voice in the International Air Transport Association (IATA) Worldwide Slots Guidelines (WSG) process. Designed by airlines decades ago, airlines continue to write the rules and govern the process of allocating airport capacity that, ironically, does not include airports.

“You are literally at your airport, and these new rules are being made, are being modified, or being considered, and you are an outsider looking in,” Lawrence confounded, citing the need to make the current slot system more transparent, pro-consumer and pro-competition.

Lawrence said there is no question that the current system is complex by design. The legacy carriers have designed a system that makes it difficult for new airlines, or non-IATA carriers, to penetrate a multifaceted system of codes, computer messages, and also meetings.

“I am not a regulator of slots, but what I’m saying is that we’ve got a less-than-okay process in the United States,” Lawrence said, noting the current slot system poses a barrier to market entry that should be looked at very closely with all key stakeholders. “We don’t have an issue with the rules that are written. We actually have an issue with how the rules are administered, and the transparency of the entire and overall process.

“We have been crystal clear that there is an opportunity to improve collaboration, and utilization of our assets through a way more transparent process. We are certainly looking at a strategic review of the Worldwide Slot Guidelines to advocate for reform, but our focus is not on authority, or power, or control. It is the effect on the consumer, the market, competition, and the people that fly, most of all.”

PANYNJ has been looking at the various changes, or iterations of the slot order in place today, and has responded to various Notices of Proposed Rulemakings from the FAA and is a key participant in the Strategic Review of the WSG, a collaborative initiative of Airports Council International, IATA and the Worldwide Airport Coordinators Group (WWACG) that was welcomed by the Economic Commission at the 39th ICAO Assembly. Since the aviation community agreed to establish this in-depth review of the slot guidelines in 2016, PANYNJ Manager of Industry and Regulatory Relations, Bradley Rubinstein, has helped shape strategic direction for airports globally as the North American representative to the ACI Expert Group on Slots. Chief Strategy Officer Patty Clark has served on the Access to Congested Airports Task Force in the Strategic Review.

After participating in monthly meetings for the better part of two years on the taskforce, Clark said her contribution within the WSG subcommittee is her continued advocacy for the sharing of WSG data with the airport community.

“Believe it or not, data is almost exclusively given to airlines, but never to the airport, which is really unconscionable in many ways,” Clark said. “My task force that includes facilitators, airlines, and airports, are in agreement, so we hope to see positive movement there, in that data would be provided to airports and airlines. It seems very elemental, yet that’s a pretty heavy lift to get two words in.”

In addition to requesting the information for airports among the other stakeholders, Clark recommended universal formatting in Excel spreadsheets.

“One of the things that happens is you will get reams of paper with 800 pages of data requiring significant mining, and special software, et cetera. If you provide the data in a format that is universally accepted, more stakeholders could use it.

“Given the other things that we need to talk about, that is what we may accomplish at the end of the day. It is not as significant as the work that we really need to get done,” Clark said. “I’m not going to deny it is progress, but it is kind of disappointing given the barrier to entry for new entrants.”

“The Port Authority has long sought to make our airports available to anyone who wants to participate in them, but the U.S. conference where domestic slots are traded is conducted by A4A, and airports and the FAA don’t really have visibility into it,” Clark said, noting that the FAA simply receives the results with no transparency whatsoever. “Other entities besides airlines should decide who gets the benefit of this very valuable resource and that there are other considerations beyond that particular airline, and how and whom they choose to work with.”

EUROPEAN CONSENSUS

Düsseldorf Airport CEO Thomas Schnalke shares Clark’s sentiments. His Vice President of Marketing and Strategy, Lutz Honerla, is an engaged member of both the ACI-World Expert Group on Slots and the ‘Access to Congested Airports’ task force as part of the WSG strategic review.

“Jointly, the three industry partners propose greater transparency in the complex processes of slot distribution and, explicitly, an improved information situation, especially for airports,” Düsseldorf Airport CEO Thomas Schnalke said. “These proposals must now be integrated into the WSG. The goal of best utilization of scarce airport capacities can be reached only if the same information is available to all three partners on time.

“We see ourselves as equal partners when it comes to setting rules about how scarce airport infrastructure is utilized,” Schnalke continued. “We are committed to a rulebook that is consistent and set up by all industry partners together, and which equally reflects the legitimate interests of all involved.”

Schnalke said slot allocation at Düsseldorf, a coordinated Level 3 German airport, follows clear rules based on European regulation implemented in 1993. The core principles of this regulation are quite similar to the principles of the IATA WSG, including the principle of ‘Historical Rights.’

“The incumbent airlines at Düsseldorf have greatly benefited from this, because they could develop their route networks over many years and, with appropriate slot use, are entitled to reassignments,” Schnalke explained. “We embrace this core principle because it secures certainty in planning for the airport and its airlines. On the other hand, the principle makes it harder for new airlines to enter Düsseldorf. More than 90 percent of all slots at Düsseldorf are grandfathered and as such, the number of available slots for new applicants is low.”

Schnalke said that all too frequently the German airport coordinator has to deny slot applications from new applicants on a large scale or can assign them only with significant delays.

“Often, new applicants don’t receive enough slots to build a competitive flight program at Düsseldorf,” Schnalke said. “In this respect, I welcome the joint initiative by airlines, airports, and slot coordinators for the strategic review of the WSG.”

A major point of discussion in this review is a slot distribution rule for new applicants that is adapted to local conditions.

“Local conditions differ from airport to airport,” Schnalke explained. “One example is the purpose that a particular airport has for traffic, the extent of the slot scarcity, or even the particular environmental concerns related to air traffic. In this respect, we are committed to giving utmost consideration in the slot allocation to the local conditions under which air traffic at the respective airport takes place. Naturally, this must be transparent and free of discrimination.”

CANADIAN APPROACH

Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA) President and CEO Howard Eng shares similar opinions on the governance of local concerns with its North American, European and other global peers. The airport has taken an innovative approach to address localized concerns accordingly and is also actively participating in the Strategic Review of the WSG.

“The WSGs serve to shape the way we approach allocation of slots, but as a guideline, it’s understood that in some cases, local procedures developed in consultation between the airport, airlines and coordinator are more effective and appropriate to the airport’s operation,” Eng said, noting that in recent years, as demand and airport utilization at Toronto Pearson have continued to increase, there has been a growing need to improve schedule coordination through efficiency, process improvements and investments in technology. To this effect, and given the complexity arising from increasing traffic, the GTAA elected to assume full ownership of slot coordination in January 2017 from the management of a third-party coordinator. This shift has allowed the GTAA to improve coordination and alignment between demand and capacity within the airport community.

“As a Level 3 coordinated airport – a designation reserved for the world’s busiest airports – we’re advocating to play a larger role in a process that guides how we maximize airport capacity,” Eng said, noting GTAA’s unique position as the airport to take slot coordination in-house. “Upon assuming the role of coordinator, the GTAA made significant investments in people, technology and processes to support this undertaking. In our second year of coordination, we have demonstrated that an airport can successfully coordinate this process, and allocate slots related to airport capacity.

“This ‘made in Canada’ approach has been very successful, by improving upon the prior coordination process through and allowing the airport to leverage the process to better support operational planning and realize significant efficiencies.”

Other airports are also taking the opportunity to cater to their own localized needs including San Francisco International Airport. SFO deviates from the WSG and instead takes an approach that meets its own goals and Department of Transportation policy objectives.

“We view the Worldwide Slot Guidelines as just that…a guideline,” SFO Airport Director Ivar C. Satero said of his Level 2 airport. “In our opinion, what’s missing from the current WSG is a meaningful role for organizations that own the airport infrastructure. It is that omission that led us to take an approach that we feel is appropriate for our airport, one that retains gates as a public asset, has a regular reallocation that rewards efficiency, and allows us to stimulate and promote competition.

“We believe that if airports were to have a seat at the (WSG) table, it should come with decision-making authority and not simply a token seat as an observer.”

GLOBAL CONCERN

Most worldwide airports are categorized as Level 1, non-coordinated airports within the WSG. But regardless of the fact that only 300 airports worldwide are held to a slot facilitated Level 2 status where demand is close to capacity; or a fully coordinated Level 3 where demand exceeds the capacity, PANYNJ’s Lawrence believes the WSG to be a policy issue that all airports should be interested in.

“The fact of the matter is you’ve got a separate body that’s making these rules,” Lawrence said. “In the end, this is really about how airports are controlled and managed; how we protect the consumer; and ensuring that there is free and transparent access into and out of our airports.”

“This is really about making sure that we’ve got the best process for the traveling public, and also a process that ensures that we optimize our assets – our airports. I believe ACI is on our side, and we intend to continue to take up this fight.”

Crowd listening to a speaker at ACI-NA’s 2017 Annual Conference

Cheers to 70 Years: The Best Is Yet to Come

Posted on | by Scott Elmore

By: Kevin M. Burke, President and CEO, ACI-NA

2018 represents a great milestone for Airports Council International-North America as we celebrate our seventieth anniversary as the Voice of Airports in North America. Anniversaries like this provide a great opportunity to reflect on our past, celebrate our present and look ahead to the future.

As you know, air travel – and the world – has transformed immensely over the last seventy years. And our industry’s evolution along with it hasn’t always been easy or certain. That’s one of the chief reasons ACI-NA exists.

Then in a post-war world with a growing economy, air travel was increasingly accessible to the masses. As we entered the golden age of travel, airports faced many of the same challenges we see today, including burdensome government regulation, infrastructure and investment needs, and airline decision making.

Realizing that there was power in the collective, nineteen founding members convened in New York in 1948 to establish a body that would bring airports together in addressing the challenges and issues of an evolving aviation industry.  From there, our journey took off as the Airport Operators Council.

Looking back, this industry has overcome significant hardships and setbacks. From economic ebbs and flows to airline industry deregulation and airline consolidation to the September 11, 2001 attacks, this industry has always had to be nimble and responsive to the challenge of the day.

Your association has had to be nimble too. In the past seventy years, our name has changed from Airport Operators Council to Airport Operators Council International, and now to Airports Council International-North America in an effort to make room for our ever growing U.S. and Canadian membership and global connections.

While the issues of the past may sound familiar today, so much has changed. Today, airports operate more as businesses than they ever have before.  They are becoming cities unto themselves.

The current landscape presents many unique challenges that require solutions. Today’s airports are not your father or grandfather’s airport. We are seeing a change in the way technology affects air transportation across the world.

Meeting the demands of passenger and cargo growth has never been more important. Our airports must have the ability to modernize as they seek to accommodate rapid growth in passenger and cargo traffic. In the United States alone, airports need nearly $100 billion in infrastructure upgrades and maintenance in order to remain competitive with airports across the globe.

Solving today’s challenges are essential in order to lay the foundation for the future. As such, airports around the world are actively working to enhance competition, create efficiencies through technology, and improve the passenger experience.

There used to be more than thirty airlines that no longer exist because of airline consolidation. The future of the airport industry is at stake without an economic climate that fosters airline competition and choice.

Competition has many benefits in our industry, which can be enhanced through more air service routes and more airline choices. In order to ensure communities in North America remain connected to the global marketplace, we are actively working to make certain our industry – airports and airlines – are as competitive as they can be. Our work in this important area will only grow in the years ahead.

Technology will also be a large part of an overall improved and seamless passenger experience. Today, easiness is synonymous with technology. What new technologies can we use to our benefit? Biometrics is speeding up the boarding process for certain flights, and in a just a few years, all flights may be boarded with the scan of a face.

It’s clear that we must focus on enhancing the passenger experience for a successful future. But these challenges are too big for anyone to handle alone. And that’s where your association comes in.

Members always tell me the real value of ACI-NA comes through our ability to advance airport priorities in Washington and Ottawa, provide essential industry intelligence by keeping the pulse of the issues impacting airport operations, and foster industry collaboration by creating a forum to develop and exchange best practices.  The rich history of advocating for policies and services that strengthen airports will continue as we reflect on our accomplishments and look beyond the horizon.

ACI-NA is only as strong as its members and their active engagement. Our team is proud of the members we serve because of the profound and positive impact they have on local communities across North America. Thank you for your leadership.

Today, as we celebrate our seventieth year with a strong membership and transnational – even global with the establishment of ACI World in 1992 – reach, we recognize that there are obstacles still to overcome. We’re not done yet. We’re just getting started.

Here’s to the next seventy years.

Meet the Member: Rep. Jeff Denham

Posted on | by Scott Elmore

ACI-NA President and CEO Kevin M. Burke recently caught up with Rep. Jeff Denham, a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, to talk about prospects for an infrastructure bill in Congress.

ACI-NA Celebrates 2018 Infrastructure Week at TPA

Posted on | by Scott Elmore

Infrastructure Week, a week-long celebration of the vast network that supports – and moves – the U.S. economy, is taking place this week. ACI-NA’s Airport Infrastructure Needs Study details that U.S. airports have nearly $100 billion in infrastructure needs through 2021 to accommodate growth in passenger and cargo activity, rehabilitate existing facilities and support aircraft innovation.

For Infrastructure Week 2018, Tampa International Airport hosted ACI-NA and Building America’s Future (BAF) along with members of the Tampa Congressional delegation for an event focused on the need for airport infrastructure investment. This video highlights the lawmakers and industry leaders who called for robust infrastructure investment during the event.