The 21st World Conference of the Air Transport Research Society hosted by the University of Antwerp was successfully held July 5-8. Highlights of the conference included the annual presentation of the ATRS Benchmarking Awards to the most efficient airports in the world. After an extensive analysis of airport operating and cost data, the ATRS Benchmarking Taskforce led by Prof. Chunyan Yu of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University found the following 2017 airport efficiency winners:
NORTH AMERICA:
Overall Winner: Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport (also in the over 40 million passenger category)
Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport: 25-40 million passenger category
Vancouver International Airport: 10-25 million passenger category
Kahului Airport: under 10 million passenger category
EUROPE:
Overall Winner: Athens International Airport (also the 10-25 million passenger category)
Airport Groups: Royal Schiphol Group
Amsterdam Airport: over 40 million passenger category
Copenhagen Airport: 25-40 million passenger category
EuroAirport Basel Mulhouse: under 10 million passenger category
ASIA:
Overall Winner: Jeju International Airport (also the 25-40 million passenger category)
Airport Groups: Korea Airport Corporation (KAC)
Hong Kong International Airport: over 40 million passenger category
Haikou Meilan International Airport: 10-25 million passenger category
Guam International Airport: under 10 million passenger category
OCEANIA:
Overall Winer: Sydney Airport
Townsville Airport: under 15 million passenger category
In receiving the award for the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Airport Deputy General Manager, Balram Bheodari, stated how his airport is constantly seeking to increase efficiency in order to provide excellent cost-effective service to its passenger and airline customers.
In addition to the efficiency award presentations, the ATRS had two industry and one academic keynote speakers. Dr Kostas Iatrou, VP Public Relations of ATRS said: “The link with the air transport industry is critical and essential with the academic community. The year we were fortunate to have the opportunity to have industry keynote speakers that added value to the conference.”
Director-General Henrik Hololei of the European Commission discussed the importance of connectivity in stimulating economic activity. A 10% increase of air connectivity stimulates the GDP growth rate by 1%. According to Mr. Hololei, a key to connectivity for Europe has been the open skies agreements that have been signed by the European Union. Additional open skies agreements are being considered with countries around the world and they will lead to further economic growth.
Mr. Brian Pearce, Chief Economist at the International Air Transport Association, discussed how policy decisions impact the aviation industry. In particular, protectionist policies have likely led to a slowdown in growth in the aviation industry, especially for air cargo.
The academic keynote speaker, Prof. Kenneth Button from George Mason University, discussed how the economics field has been able to inform the development of aviation over the past five decades. Contributions from leading economists, including Nobel Prize winners, have led policymakers, regulators, and managers to think of how best to price aviation services and how to schedule operations, among other key aviation activities.
After the plenary sessions, ATRS delegates were able to attend sessions in which 225 research papers were presented. Prof. Martin Dresner, ATRS President and CEO, stated: “The presentations add value to both our academic and our industry delegates. The academics learn about the state-of-the art research methodologies and discover the “hot” topics for airline research. The industry delegates learn how various managerial policies affect organizational performance.”
