The airport industry briefing
The latest news, views and numbers you need to know this month
News in Numbers
136,000
Australia’s government-owned airports could power more than 100,000 homes if solar panels were installed on their roofs.
$393m
Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington DC has opened a new 14-gate concourse, at a cost of almost $400m.
$1.2bn
Canada has announced a C$1.5bn ($1.2bn) in support to go to the beleaguered travel and tourism industries.
46%
Passenger traffic at the world’s top ten busiest airports fell by almost half in 2020.
30,000
A new cargo hanger at Riga Airport is set to handle more than 30,000 tonnes per year, making it the busiest air freight handling site in the Baltics.
Projects
Retirement for largest air fire extinguisher
Global SuperTanker Service, the group that owns the world’s largest aerial fire extinguisher, was grounded after investors pulled the plug. The US-based Boeing 747 SuperTanker could drop 19.200 gallons of fire retardant or water in just six seconds, and has fought fires all over the world, including in Israel, Chile and Mexico.
Source: Airways Mag
Top contract for Siemens
Siemens Logistics has won a contract for the large-scale expansion of the baggage handling system at South Korea’s Incheon Airport. The agreement, to totally revamp the baggage system at Terminal 2, is set to allow 6,000 extra storage spaces for passengers to check-in early.
Source: Air International
Germany to get first cargo ‘droneports’
DRONAMICS has added three German airports to their network of drone cargo ports. Paderborn-Lippstadt, Rostock–Laage and Airport Weeze will soon be home to same-day unmanned cargo drone flights. Each ‘Black Swan’ drone has a capacity of 350kg and a range of up to 2,500km, making it 80% cheaper than traditional air cargo.
Source: Air International
Quotes
Airport Operators Association chief executive Karen Dee, commenting on their 2021 Scottish election manifesto, hopes a new government will get the air industry back on in the air:
“The pandemic has had a devastating impact on aviation. A new Scottish Government will have to get an aviation recovery started from its first day in office to return Scotland’s airports to the success story they were previously. Aviation brings social and economic benefits to everyone, not just to those employed in aviation and tourism. Many businesses rely on aviation to reach customers and export products while aviation connectivity brings people together, particularly across Highland & Island communities.”
Andreas Pötzsch, managing director of DFS Aviation Services, comments on the future of air traffic control, after DFS released cloud-based air situation display system PHOENIX WebInnovation:
“Air traffic control, along with its infrastructure, is a highly safety-critical industry. We ourselves are an air navigation services provider and we also develop and sell international air traffic control systems. Therefore, we have the same high requirements for our systems and infrastructure as the rest of the aviation industry. We are convinced that cloud technology today has advanced so far that it is able to reliably fulfil these high safety and performance criteria.”
