The end of the second day of Passenger Terminal Expo marked another busy day of conference sessions and exhibitor visits, before finishing off with the Skytrax World Airport awards.
During a morning session about running and developing energy efficient airports, Anna-Mart Jander, head of business development, Swedavia Energy and Swedavia energy specialist, Elisabeth Celsing, took to the floor to explain why Stockholm Arlanda is a pioneer when it comes to energy efficient airports. Both Jander and Celsing revealed how as a result of more than 10 years of dedicated work with energy efficiency at Stockholm Arlanda Airport there has been 30% energy reduction and 100% green energy supply based mainly on profitable investments.
Airport cities
Airport cities and urban planning have been consistent themes throughout the first two days of the conference and speaking as the president and CEO of Winnipeg Airports Authority in Canada, Barry Rempel stated that “managing political realities at municipal, provincial and federal levels is key to creating a successful airport city.”
Speaking on behalf of another regional airport in Canada, Tom Ruth, CEO and president, Edmonton International Airport declared that creating an airport city in a non-hub market presents unique challenges. Explaining that innovation plays a key factor in the development of passenger satisfaction and non-aeronautical revenue he highlighted how Edmonton has created a number of strong local partnerships to drive economic growth in tandem with regional plans.
One of the partnerships the airport has formed has been with Aurora Cannabis, a medical marijuana producer which is building the largest licensed cannabis facility in the world at Edmonton Airport.
The airport also works closely with tourism groups and the local business community as part of its strategy to align with partners in order to foster growth.
Other talks throughout the latter half of the day focused on matters ranging from increasing non-aeronautical revenue in India’s airports and improving security and operational planning at London Luton Airport to carbon, air quality and cost savings as a result of using low-carbon heating and cooling solutions at Liverpool John Lennon Airport..
Skytrax awards
Saving the best till last, the day finished up with the Skytrax World Airports awards ceremony where among various other awards regional airports around the globe were recognised for their achievements over the last year.
Centrair Airport in Nagoya, Japan was declared the overall world’s best regional airport, while King Shaka in South Africa, Hamburg in Germany, Christchurch in New Zealand, Haikou Meilan in China, Bengaluru in India, Denver in the US, Quiport in South America and Kazan in Russia, were all declared regional airport winners for each of their respective regions.
