ACI OPINION
All aboard
ACI director general, Angela Gittens, reflects on upcoming events, new revenue streams and emergency preparedness.
T
his issue of Airport World examines new ideas and possibilities in the field of airport land development – with authors encouraging us to use our thinking caps to exploit new revenue potential.
As we have seen in recent years, the diversification of airport
revenue streams and the growth of retail opportunities has enabled airports to continue critical capital investment even in strained financial times. At February’s Trinity Conference in Bangkok, airports looked
at the dynamic relationship between airports and their retail and brand partners and learn more about the potential for enhancing commercial opportunities at the airport. Economic sustainability and our ability to manage the
complexities of airport revenues, financing and investments will be the central topic at the Airport Economics and Finance Conference in the first of March in London. One of the many reasons airports require financial flexibility is
that they must prepare for, and manage facilities and operations, under emergency conditions. Extreme weather, health threats, volcanic activity, geopolitical activism and security incidents, for example, have all been culprits in disrupting airport operations over the past year. For every airport there is a greater than zero risk of a disruptive
externally caused event. And they will inevitably perturb our daily routines, but we should take this as an opportunity to reflect on what can and can’t be done to mitigate the impact. At the heart of the matter is our commitment to the process of
emergency preparedness – defining, elaborating and practicing the plans that will be ready when we need to set them in motion. There are some key questions to ask ourselves: have we
thought of multiple scenarios where the circumstances will dictate how we adjust our plans? Have we thought through how our internal teams will communicate and work with one another to manage the crisis? Do we have clear guidelines for staff as well as managers? Also, have we co-ordinated with our many stakeholders on
the platform, those who will play significant roles when emergencies occur? Have we co-ordinated with all the necessary authorities whose decision-making role and intervention may be critical in time of crisis? And, have we looked at our failures and
learned from those experiences in order to be better prepared the next time? We have a strong model to build on. Safety, which has been a
success story priority in our industry, is founded on that ‘just culture’ concept where information can be shared with impunity, and where progress grows from transparency and trust. We have learned to steer clear as much as possible of the
‘blame game’, choosing rather to look dispassionately at the situation and determine a collaborative response between airports, airlines, and authorities. Our new safety initiative APEX in Safety builds on this
very principle. We need to extend this concept to all aspects of our operations. Seeking collaboration and co-operation is an investment in mitigating their impact and perhaps the best means of averting the direct consequences. In security, we can learn from what has happened, not just
layering more and more equipment and process in a larger and larger perimeter, but adopting a risk management approach, and encouraging national authorities to work upstream to identify the problem cases before they arrive on our doorstep. Extreme weather is beyond our control, but our emergency plans
must be well formulated, our partners in managing the situation identified and perhaps better trained for handling the extraordinary tasks that will be required. We will never jeopardise the safety of our passengers by
maintaining operations under unacceptable circumstances. But we can work with all of our partners to seek solutions that minimise the inconveniences and constantly improve the way in which we run our business.
AIRPORT WORLD/FEBRUARY-MARCH 2011
AW 19
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80