Regional Gateway Editor, Chloë Greenbank, visited ACI Europe RACE 2023 recently and spoke with Olivier Jankovec, Director General of ACI Europe about regional airport recovery, sustainable aviation, and EUROWAGA 2023.
View the recording here or read the transcript below.
Transcript of Olivier Jankovec’s responses:
Low-cost carrier impact on regional airport recovery
The recovery of regional airports is really moving ahead. We see regional airports outperforming compared to other larger airports and hubs. As of February, I think they were at 93% of traffic recovered compared to pre-pandemic levels in 2019. So that’s very good, compared to 87% for larger airports and hubs.
Similarly, they’ve seen their connectivity recovering much faster than larger airport and hubs. This is obviously very much driven by leisure demand VFR, which is positioning regional airports in a very good spot for this recovery, but also by the low-cost carriers and especially ultra-low-cost carriers, adding a lot of capacity in the market and really driving their recovery. I think we can see this structural change in the market.
Low-cost carriers and ultra-low-cost carriers in particular, are increasingly defining the fate of regional airports moving forward. We have data that shows that the connectivity offered by network carriers out of regional airports has been decreasing by up to 16%. Whereas actually, the connectivity offered by regional, low-cost carriers has been increasing by up to 70%.
So, we have this fundamental shift in the market, which creates some challenges as well. I mean, it’s positive news because they bring volumes – they bring traffic – but it comes with challenges because, of course, low-cost carriers are very opportunistic; they can move location at the blink of an eye. So, a lot of heightened airport competition, especially for regional airports, and also a lot of pressure on user charges. So that leads to a still difficult economic and financial situation.
Sustainable aviation
I think when we look at what’s coming at the EU level, especially with this so-called Fit For 55 package, which is about, you know, leading to the decarbonisation of aviation by 2050, and which we obviously support, we need to think about redressing and compensatory measures, because actually, all these regulatory measures will have the effect of increasing the cost of traveling. And as a result, that will have a downward impact on demand in the future.
And because the scope, the geographic scope of those measures, is mostly about intra-European flights, that means that actually, regional air connectivity is going to be the most impacted by that.
So that’s clearly a concern for us, because you compromise the ability of regional airports to continue to develop connectivity for communities. It’s a risk to cohesion, to territorial inequality, and we feel that down the line, there might be even the risk of a backlash against climate action – once people in these communities realise that the climate action coming from Europe is actually impacting their connectivity and their potential to further develop and support the economy. So, we need more supporting and accompanying measures to kind of cushion the impact of that.
ACI EUROPE/World Annual General Assembly, Conference & Exhibition 2023
I think there’s going to be a landmark event which will bring the whole global airport community to Europe, to Barcelona. We have a fantastic programme with all our institutional stakeholders, industry partners. We’re going to review, of course, trading conditions and address the key challenges that airports globally are facing. And I think it’s going to be it’s going to be a great event. So please do join us in Barcelona.
