Europe's growth returns for October
Source:aircargoweek 2013-12-25 11:35:00
The figures, provided by Airports Council International (ACI) Europe, were also overshadowed by the fact that aircraft movements, an indicator of airline capacity, had a near flat outcome; at 0.2 per cent growth, compared with October 2012, aircraft movements were stagnant. The year-to-date figure for aircraft movement is even worse, at minus 1.5 per cent. ACI Europe represents 450 airports in 44 European countries that handle 18 million tonnes of freight. The October report is compiled with data from 176 of them. Its director general, Olivier Jankovec, says: "The improvement in freight traffic is real, but we are still below 2010 volumes."In overall traffic terms, ACI Europe identifies Moscow's Sheremetyevo and Domodedevo as two of the largest and fastest growing airports, along with Turkey's Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen International Airport (see in picture above) and the Eurasian country's Antalya Airport. Airports whose traffic was of concern included those in Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Romania. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) published figures last week that contrasted with the ACI figures. According to IATA (see story below) European carriers freight tonne kiolmetres (FTK) grew 4.4 per cent year-on-year. This is below the long term FTK trend of up to six per cent. IATA also reported that European freight capacity only grew by 3.6 per cent, reflecting the subdued level of aircraft movements. ACI published its World Report December 2013 last week. In it the Council's World director general Angela Gittens reported the organisation is confident taxiway separations can be reduced. Separation guidelines are now thought to be too conservative, according to Gittens. The proposals are now with the Internatonal Civil Aviation Organization's (ICAO) aerodromes panel, which in turn will report to ICAO's Air Navigation Commission. The report also quoted Jankovec welcoming progress in European airports implementing Airport-Collaborative Decision Making (A-CDM). A common situational awareness process, A-CDM, is expect to deliver time and fuel savings from airlines. Last month ACW reported A-CDM had been applied at Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport, Heathrow Airport, Frankfurt Airport and Brussels Airport.