Welcome to the second edition of Airport: The Bulletin

At ACI EUROPE’s Annual Congress held in Geneva last month, I had the honour of being elected as the association President. As I assumed my new role, I was asked one question more than any other. What did I think was going to be the single biggest issue facing ACI EUROPE’s membership over the coming months?

Sadly there is a very long list of possible responses to the question. The pandemic has delivered a body-blow of a hit, and the challenges ahead are so many and varied that the list is indeed a long one. As I write, the case numbers are rising and our industry is once again urging Governments to follow the ECDC guidance and to harmonise a proportionate response. As ACI EUROPE’s Director General, Olivier Jankovec, set out clearly in his State of the Industry address, the imperative to invest in digitalisation and decarbonisation whilst in a position of uncertainty and debt is going to occupy the mind of many an airport CEO for many months to come.

And yet, I think there is an even bigger challenge than this ahead of us all in the aviation industry. It’s one that flows less from the immediacy of the pandemic as we all limp from restart to recovery, and has more to do with the imperative flowing out from the COP26. It’s the challenge of racing against the ticking clock of decarbonisation for an industry which is, at the same time, one of the most determined to decarbonise and one of the most difficult to do so.

On the stages of COP26 we saw the airport industry present remarkable projects of ‘innovation with purpose’, as my colleague Derek Provan of Glasgow Airport puts it. Drones flying urgent medical supplies to remote areas of Scotland. Architects working on terminal building design in the tropics which eradicate the need for air conditioning. The world’s first eco-airport. And yet at the same time we see pockets of belief that the banning of short haul flights, for example, is a solution to aviation’s climate challenge. This would be the death-knell for the smaller, regional airports which are the incubators for the most innovative climate solutions.

So I’d say that the biggest issue facing us over the coming months and years is this: flying isn’t the problem, carbon is the problem. Airports are economic and societal hubs, with a vital role to play in their communities. We need to keep flying, but we need to fly smarter. And so the challenge is to ensure that our customers and communities, our governments and regulators are part of our positive journey as we strive towards this transition.

Javier Marín

ACI EUROPE President

Javier Marín is Managing Director, Airports and Executive Member of the Board of Directors for Aena. He was elected as President of ACI EUROPE on 27 October 2021.