As of 2004, the future of the traditional airlines is at stake. By extension, so is the future for their platforms, their airports. Once air transport became open to unregulated competition, many kinds of innovative companies have challenged the "legacy" airlines. Whether the innovators focus on passengers (Southwest, Ryanair), integrated cargo (DHL, Fedex) or the airports themselves (Frankfurt/Hahn, Boston/Providence), they fundamentally challenge the traditional business model for airlines. Since the airport business is closed tied to that of the airlines, the presumption must be that the past airport business proposition is also changing.The paper offers a perspective and presents a unique global set of data on secondary airports. It is based on the observation of their evolution over many years. It includes both the extensive experience in North America, where air transport has been more intensely developed than on other continents, and extended observations of developments in Europe and other continents.This article suggests that we may be witnessing the development of 3 air transport networks based on distinct airports. These will serve the traditional airlines, the "low cost" carriers, and integrated freight. These networks intersect but, since they have different needs, they will demand and obtain substantial independence. This hypothesis leads to two propositions. The first is that many secondary, "low cost" airports will develop in […]
Low-cost carriers (LCCs) currently represent the most growing segment of the European air market. An analysis of the geography of low-cost air supply compared to the economic typology of the Western European areas shows that LLCs are predominant in the metropolitan and central areas. However, low-cost air supply is quite specific in the subcentral and middle areas, where LCCs constitute the indisputable driving force of the air dynamics.Low-cost carriers often have recourse to secondary airports, whether regional or urban, which are generally underused and few profitable. These airports are frequently in a dependency situation with regard to low-cost airlines: if the latter do represent an opportunity for these airports, they also are in a position of strength to negotiate their conditions of establishment.After a global presentation, the dependency relationship will be illustrated through the analysis of the Ryanair-Charleroi Airport (in Belgium) couple, on the basis of the investigation conducted by the European Commission and the resulting judgement. This will allow us to realize in a concrete manner how many advantages airlines can take from an underused airport and from an area faced with recession and restructuring attempts.This will be followed by an appraisal of the economic effects of the increased low-cost air supply on two airports/areas: Charleroi and Tours. It appears from our analysis that the effects on tourism are uncertain, while they are significant as far […]
Metropolis is characterized by the combination of several factors: beyond its demographic weight, it must have a lot of diversified activities (economics and cultural). Moreover, it must promote its influence by the control of transport mode allowing a projection on the international scene. In this case, the airport plays a central role and its progressive alliance with the railway represents the will to create intermodal systems making easier the networks-territories relations.In a context where the international dimension defines the metropolis, this article answers to the following question: can we admit that a city that doesn’t have any international airport, but has a fast railway access to such an equipment could be considered, according to accessibility criteria, as eligible to the rank of metropolis? Before hand, we will characterize the notion of intermodality.Three points will be developed in this article: first of all, the characterization of intermodality according to three dimensions, intermodal organization, place and uses; secondly, the role of the intermodality in the relations city-airports, according to the type of service proposed and the quality of this one; lastly, an illustration of the article on the couple of intermodality and metropolisation will be analyzed, from the example of the accessibility to the city of Lille.
A whole range of commentators argues for improved levels of public participation in environmental decision-making on the basis of equity, accountability and the quality and acceptability of outcomes. In particular, Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) research has placed great emphasis on public involvement to the point that some claim that ‘EIA is not EIA without consultation and participation’ (Wood, 1995). However, despite this fulsome support for the principle of public participation, delivery on the ground remains fraught with problems as participation procedures are seen to conflict with administrative efficiency.In order to examine the tension between the private and public motivation for wider participation, this paper examines the consultation program associated with the proposal to build a second runway at Manchester Airport. Using an evaluation framework developed by Petts (1999) from Webler’s (1995) work on participation and social learning, the analysis is able to demonstrate significant shortcomings in the degree of genuine involvement in the decision-making process. These findings are used to explain why many participants felt alienated from the decision-making and thus, to this day, remain dissatisfied with the process and outcome of the Runway Two EIA. Furthermore, the research demonstrates that the current EIA system, which largely relies upon the initiative of the developer to conduct public consultation exercises, results in a level of participation […]
Despite its well-known potential to regulate environmental impacts, the internalization of the aircraft noise social costs doesn’t really take place in the air field. This article has the purpose to show, from the analysis of semi-directive interviews led with the main stake-holders involved in Roissy CDG case, that this lack deals with a technical and normative rational, which gathers certain actors around the official knowledge and expertise. More widely, it is shown that this rational structured all the local concerns, without allowing, although the impressive arsenal, to calm relations between actors. In fact, the historic weight of this rational contributed to the emergence of an other one, based on opposition, focusing on local territories, carried by a will of place-attachment recognition, notably thanks to the mobilization of the other knowledge and know-how for the evaluation of the human and territorial effects of aircraft noise. Number of airport conflicts are marked out by these two perception schemes. It stems from this results that in order to allay the contextual tensions, applying really internalization, it could be recommended to adapt the methods of evaluations and social costs amounts proposed with the aim of a better representation of territories and populations which live there. Would not it be the mean to allow the monetization to help building compromises rather than just carry the scientific "evidence" of the "right" account?