EUROPEAN AIRPORTSREPORT Has 2014 been a bullish year for Europe? A


continent that stretches from the West coast of Ireland to the Ural mountains, the experience of its airports for the last 12 months has been as different as the many ter-


rains of Europe. While Istanbul Atatürk Airport has seen the


construction of a new cargo terminal by Turk- ish Airlines for its cargo division and its city plans for a third airport, Heathrow Airport has to wait until after May 2015 for a decision on whether it can expand its runway capacity. In the UK, the government’s Airports Com- mission, set up in 2012, is to report after May 2015 about how the country’s runway can be increased. It is reporting after May because that is when the general election is being held to decide the next government. However, the options are already known. In


a public consultation document published last month the commission set out three options for


increasing capacity at Heathrow and Gatwick Airport. Two are for Heathrow getting either a third runway to the North West (see picture) or an extension to its north runway. The third pro- posal is for a second runway at Gatwick.


Full for a decade


The issue of capacity is so acute for the UK, supporters of Heathrow in the country’s runway debate, talk about the coming capacity crunch. In November, the pro-runway campaign group Let Britain Fly published a statement signed by 50 business people. It says: “The need for action could not be clearer. Heathrow [Airport] has been full for a decade, Gatwick [Airport] will be full by 2020.” According to Heathrow’s website in 2013 it handled 1.4 million tonnes. In its Novem- ber 2014 volume data, the total year-to-date (YTD) tonnage was 1,372,948 and that month had seen 136,419 tonnes. That is a 2.3 per cent improvement on the same month in 2013, while the YTD figure was 5.3 per cent better than the same period last year. December in 2013 saw 118,759 tonnes handled. A similar percentage increase to November 2014 would see 121,490 tonnes, bringing the year total to 1,494,438 tonnes, almost 1.5 million. To reach this level, the largest increases were


from countries increasingly known for their rapid growth. In November, Heathrow saw 41.3 per cent more cargo from Mexico, the highest of the leading trading nations. Heathrow states:


“To meet growing...cargo demand, Aeromex- ico recently announced the deployment of its Boeing 787 Dreamliners and an increase to five weekly frequencies on its Mexico City-Lon- don route from next spring.” The other leading nations sent Heathrow, 37.6 per cent more cargo from Brazil, India’s tonnage rose by 20 per cent and Turkey by 13.3 per cent. Almost six months


before the commission’s report is published, Turkish Airlines Cargo should have opened its new facility at Istanbul Atatürk Airport. Con-


struction started in January this year and Air Cargo Week was given an exclusive tour of the facility in November. The new facility has 53 cargo acceptance and


delivery doors and will be able to handle 1.2 million tonnes per year. It has a total area of 70,000 square metres with an indoor area of 43,000 square metres. Its special storage area within that is 3,000 square metres.


Stakeholders Its special storage capabilities include, a


radioactive materials room, a room for valu- ables, dangerous goods and vulnerable storage areas, a room for live animals; and cold stor- age areas able to provide temperatures from minus 21 degrees Celsius, zero, two to eight degrees and 15 to 25 Celsius. It has a luggage area of 1,550 square metres. At Atatürk, Turk- ish already has an 10,500 square metre storage area. Beyond cargo facilities, Atatürk, oper- ated by TAV Airports, has boasted more new routes in 2014 than any other European airline. According to the airport, in August it reported that: “Istanbul Atatürk Airport has become the airport which increased the numbers of direct destinations the most amongst the European airports. Including 20 new destinations to its flight network,” in the last 12 months. TAV Istanbul’s general manager, Kemal Ünlü, stated at the time: “Working in harmony with


all our stakeholders, particularly with General Directorate of State Airports Authority, Gen-


eral Directorate of Civil Aviation and Turkish Airlines, we are working to make Atatürk Air- port one of the world’s important hubs. We are more than happy to become the airport which increased the numbers of direct destinations the most.”


Another airport, which unlike Heathrow,


already has an approved expansion plan is Frankfurt Airport. While Heathrow hopes to


be selected for some sort of runway expansion, Franfkurt is expanding its CargoCity South with the goal of increasing its capacity to about three


ÜNLÜ


We are work- ing to make Ataturk one of the world’s most important hubs


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ACW 15 DECEMBER 2014


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