Build, supply, operate

Schimm continued: "A little further west Qatar is shaping up to be a major player in the Arabian Gulf and with the new Doha International Airport designed to accommodate 50 million passengers by 2015, Doha is establishing itself as an alternative destination and transit point."

"This unique momentum is spreading to other countries in the region as well; Bahrain, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait taking the overall investment by 2015 to over US$40 billion. Dubai International Airport already serves 205 international destinations, 15% more than the world's biggest airport for international traffic, London Heathrow."

Yet Schimm warned that with world air traffic forecast to double by 2025 the infrastructure will need to be accommodated in a qualitative and efficient manner to avoid traffic system pile-ups.

"The world's largest airports are no longer driving the growth of our industry. This is not for lack of demand, it's because their ability to respond to increasing demand is constrained by regulatory and financial and geographical reasons."

"Large airports are all too often no longer the service hallmarks of our industry, as they are operating beyond the capacity they were designed for, negatively impacting passenger experience and operational performance."

"Airports are major contributors to national and local economies. 4.5 million people are directly employed by the world's airports. The airport industry alone contributes over $450 billion to the world economy, which is equivalent to 1% of world GDP. Based on this background airports should have the freedom and self determination to stimulate the economy and create employment, promote globalisation and cultural exchange. Instead, in too many cases, they are entangled in unreasonably lengthy, burdensome planning processes, that are costly and delay vital expansion."

"The aviation infrastructure enhancement, incredibly, is still way off the top of most governments' priority lists, either unpopular or too costly. The regulatory environment must therefore allow airport operators to manage the airports profitably at the rate of return sufficient to finance new infrastructure."

"Airport industry capital expenditure currently increases at about 10% per year. Even if annual capital expenditure stagnated, the capital needed for airport expansion not including greenfield airports, until 2020 will represent close to $500 billion. This sum is the equivalent to a current annual turnover of the entire global airline industry. Governments are unlikely to make these funds available. Therefore airports need to become businesses that are attractive to private investors."

Schimm also argued that the success of airports of the future also lies in other factors beyond the airport industry's control, that of air traffic management and the environment.

"It is not only on the ground where capacity is an issue, although aircraft movements might not increase quite as much as passenger numbers, the air traffic management systems in many parts of the world are not fit to cope with regional demand. Air space remains blocked due to military reasons or latest navigation technologies not being applied. This leads to a squandering of resources and emissions, due to longer than necessary flight times."

"Increasing air traffic management performance demands a lateral issue which must be considered by governments as a key element in reaping the full benefits of liberalisation. Airports on and around their premises continue to take the brunt of the public opposition, standing in for the entire aviation industry."

"The environmental debate is not going to go away and the industry is running the risk of being seriously restricted if it doesn't tackle the environmental issue proactively by communicating the facts and advancing technology."

Rising oil prices were also on the agenda during the opening conference and Schimm warned of an aviation industry collapse: "For quite a long time the rising oil price has not had a clear negative effect or impact on traffic figures, however since February 2008 when the oil price settled at just over $100, global airport industry growth has been slowing down and is expected to have stagnated in May after only minor increases in April."

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