ACI last month confirmed that 2018 passenger numbers soared in Europe, rising 6.1% to 2.34 billion, almost 137 million more passengers than in 2017. 16.5 million of these additional passengers passed through the region’s top five airports – London Heathrow, Paris CDG, Amsterdam Schiphol, Frankfurt and Istanbul’s Ataturk.
It is interesting to note however, that the rise in passenger numbers in 2017 compared to 2016 reached more than 8.5%. Although 2018’s growth was slowed, according to some industry experts, by the influence of European-wide political and economic uncertainty largely caused by Brexit, ACI reports that it remained dynamic.
2018 saw some airlines capacity expansion, which encouraged aircraft movement to grow by 4%, adding to already increasing and widespread concerns surrounding the challenges faced by capacity constraints at airports all over Europe.
ACI leaders noted that many Eastern and Southern EU airports, such as Vilnius, Bratislava and Budapest reached growth well into double-figures. The slowest growth happened in the UK, which reflects growing fears surrounding the economy due to Brexit and in Swedish airports, where the introduction of an aviation tax has been blamed for the slow-down. London Heathrow did, however, remain the busiest airport in Europe, handling 80.12 million passengers in 2018.
Tackling capacity constraints with streamlined systems for operational agility
The issue of capacity constraints is debated in the current uncertainty in Europe created by Brexit. The trend of decreasing freight traffic demand, according to ACI Europe, ‘reflects weakening economic data’ which will ‘ultimately translate into lower passenger demand. Adding to that, volatile oil prices, labour cost pressures and more consolidation should also lead airlines to be more cautious with capacity expansion.’
The aviation industry also understands that flight passenger growth slowing over the long-term is unlikely and suggests that modernization of integrable systems and processes within the passenger processing system could provide a long-term solution to creating operational agility across the entire airport environment.
How A-ICE can help
A-ICE has specific experience in the development and implementation of value-added integrable applications for airports, airlines and ground handling teams and understands the pressures faced in terms of regulatory compliance. Using intelligent algorithms and real-time applications, A-ICE can help you to create a scalable solution to future-proof your airport for tomorrow, while addressing today’s passenger handling capacity issues.
When systems and processes communicate and share critical data, a streamlined and fully visible operational platform is achieved, and operational efficiency and productivity increased. Our solutions help to minimize investment in vital infrastructure improvements, utilizing existing technology and systems already in place.
Use the contact form to get in touch and let’s talk about how we can help future-proof your airport, airline and ground handling operations with integrable, scalable and flexible solutions to give you operational agility.
