Cities within cities

According to recent reports, American Airlines (AA) has notified the Texas Workforce Commission that it could cut 209 jobs at airports in Texas by September of this year.

The bulk of the Fort Worth-based airline's Texas cuts will be at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport where it plans to eliminate 158 jobs.

Soaring fuel prices combined with a weakening economy are to blame for the job cuts says AA's senior vice president. This may be the start of the high fuel price taking its toll on the industry, but how will this translate across the Mid-East region and is it set to scupper airport expansion plans?

This month's cover story interviewee Inderjit Singh, senior vice-president of Dubai Aerospace Enterprise and industry expert thinks it unlikely.

Singh heads up the airports division of the corporation that encompasses manufacturing services, airports and education. Although job cuts may not affect the region, in Singh's opinion the creation of airport cities could have a detrimental effect on the global industry if they are allowed to grow.

Staffing the various components of Dubai World Central (DWC) will, according to Singh not be a problem but if other similarly vast facilities continue to emerge worldwide while the economy appears to be so unstable, surely the time will come when keeping airports fully operational will become almost impossible?

The concept of an airport city or even an ‘aerotropolis' is an exciting vision but air traffic control needs to be in balance with the infrastructure on the ground. If this careful balance is not considered then the ground support and subsequently human capital resources required, could be damaged.

No one anticipated airports as large as Al Maktoum International at DWC could ever be built, let alone operated, and as Singh says there should be no one-upmanship. With this in mind, the question to be asked should be, where do airport developers go from here?

Sarah Cowell is the editor of Airport Middle East.

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