MONTREAL: The global airport industry is expected to lose $76 billion in 2020 as the Covid-19 outbreak has resulted in an unprecedented and dramatic decline in air travel this year, said the Airports Council International (ACI), the trade association of the world’s airports.
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ACI World has highlighted the important role that the airport industry plays in fostering global economic prosperity in its newly published annual Airport Economics Report and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).
“Our Economics Report and KPIs show the immense value a healthy and successful airport industry provides to the global economy and illustrates why assistance and relief is needed for the sector to ensure essential operations and protect millions of jobs,” ACI World Director General Angela Gittens said
“Airports are facing difficult prospects right now because a significant proportion of airports’ capital costs in particular are fixed, leaving less of a cushion during a downturn, especially one of this unprecedented magnitude.
“As a significant portion of airport revenues goes to fund the much-needed capacity development once business as usual operations resume, any decrease in revenue may have a dramatic impact on airport development, and in turn on the airline business.
“This is because aviation is an interdependent and interconnected ecosystem, and, in order to stay afloat, it will require a coordinated and strategic response to overcome the unexpected difficulties and get back on track as soon as possible.”
ACI’s Economics Report found that global industry revenue grew by 4.3 per cent to reach $178.2 billion in 2018, but that revenue per passenger declined by 1.7 per cent.
Global airport revenue per passenger was $17.95, of which aeronautical revenue accounted for $10.03 and non-aeronautical revenue $7.03 (the remainder is non-operating revenue). Significantly, total cost per passenger was $13.76, further illustrating the importance of developing sources of non-aeronautical revenue to bolster the revenue collected from aeronautical activities.
Airport revenues grew less than traffic and the decrease in aeronautical and non-aeronautical revenues on a per-passenger basis of 2.3 per cent and 2.2 per cent respectively are reflective of the diverse market forces shaping airport pricing. Airport charges and capacity constraints require flexible solutions that move away from strict forms of pricing regulation, considering the long-term forecasts for global air service demand still show the potential for growth.
