BUSINESS NEWS


Europe’s airports warn of ‘big challenge’ in summer


Ian Taylor


Europe’s airports face “a big challenge” to cope with passenger numbers this summer, senior aviation figures have warned. They blame not only staff


shortages but continuing Covid restrictions, the war in Ukraine, the boom in leisure travel and passengers arriving at airports unprepared to display documents, and they warn UK travellers face an additional impact at overseas borders due to Brexit. Jacopo Passinotti, network


management director at air traffic management body Eurocontrol, said: “Traffic has come back heavily – 86% of 2019 capacity is in the network – and a lot of traffic has moved west out of Ukraine. “Volatility remains and there is


additional complexity with Ukraine and airports having difficulties to hire enough staff. It will be a big challenge to manage this summer.” Lufthansa Group chief operating


officer Ola Hansson agreed, saying: “Traffic is much more concentrated at weekends. We are struggling with the peaks [which] are almost as high


France concedes ‘crazy decision’ will delay flights


Delays to flights using French airspace will continue through the summer due to a shortage of air traffic controllers and “a crazy decision” to upgrade the French air traffic control system.


travelweekly.co.uk Frankfurt airport


as pre-Covid. We had peaks before but not as extreme.” Hansson added: “There is a


shortage of personnel all over. [But] the number-one problem is the reliability of ground-handling, with new processes and the need to check documents to some destinations. We tried to digitise as much as possible, but only 30% of passengers have already uploaded documents for travel. More than two-thirds do it at the airport. It takes time and space.” Rafael Fernandez Villasante,


director of operations at Spanish airport operator AENA, reported: “Peak times are at the level of 2019 and the Mediterranean has


much more traffic than in 2019. “It is much more complicated


than it used to be. Sanitary measures are still in place. There is uncertainty about new waves [of Covid]. Passengers want to fly and feel back to normal, but they have different expectations of social distancing, ventilation and waiting times.” He warned: “It will be a challenge


to deal with high numbers of passengers. We’ll be back to the level of 2017-18 [this summer] but with much higher peaks.” Villasante also warned: “Brexit is


affecting UK passengers for the first time, [with] new requirements for UK nationals at borders.”


ACI brings forward date for full traffic recovery to 2024


Air passenger numbers in Europe are set to rise faster than previously forecast, according to ACI Europe, which now forecasts a full recovery by 2024 rather than 2025. The European airports association


foresees passenger numbers returning to 78% of 2019 levels this year, having previously forecast a return 10 percentage points lower at 68%. However, ACI Europe warned


of “significant uncertainty” due to the war in Ukraine, “worsening economic conditions” and threat of new Covid variants. It also warned of staffing issues “disproportionately affecting larger airports”. ACI Europe director general


Olivier Jankovec said: “Passenger traffic is trending along our optimistic scenario on the back of travel restrictions lifting across many markets and strong summer pent-up demand. But the history of the past three years suggests caution, especially as we still do not have an established playbook on how to deal with future Covid-19.” He warned “the slump in airport


revenues and continued financial weakness” allied to operational challenges and inflationary pressures would hit airport investment.


Paris Charles de Gaulle airport


continue all year last week but insisted: “It will get better in 2023.” French air navigation service


The air navigation services


director of France’s civil aviation authority, Florian Guillermet, confirmed the delays would


provider DSNA began installing a new air traffic control system at its control centre in Reims at the beginning of April, with the work requiring reduced traffic volumes just as flights ramped up for the summer. Many flights are being rerouted over Germany to relieve the pressure, making its airspace more congested than normal.


Guillermet told a Eurocontrol


webinar: “We are still controlling with a paper system that is 30 years old in France. That is why a French air traffic controller can’t be as productive. “That is the reason we took


the crazy decision to upgrade the system right before the summer with potentially a lot of disruption.” He added: “We hired a number


of [air traffic] controllers but we are still at a historically low level.”


26 MAY 2022 47


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