... despite the short-term challenges facing the industry. More than 2,000 airport executives and exhibitors met here this week for the combined ACI World/North America Conference & Exhibition. The last time ACI World and ACI-NA met jointly was on 9/11 in Montreal. This meeting, fortunately, had a better result … and was surprisingly upbeat considering the turmoil facing the industry.
Angela Gittens, director general of ACI World, told attendees that “airports need to plan for the long term,†citing projections that the industry, globally, can expect 4 percent growth over the next 20 years. It was a message echoed by incoming ACI-NA chair John D. Clark III, executive director of the Jacksonville Airport Authority, and others. Yet, says Clark, “this would be a good time to take a timeout,†in reference to capital development projects. “I would proceed with some level of caution.â€
Perhaps the highlight of the meeting was the opening keynote address by 91-year old Dr. Alfred E. Kahn, a professor emeritus at Cornell University and the man known as the “father of deregulationâ€. Dr. Kahn reiterated his support for airline deregulation, but challenged airports and the industry to rethink its system of rates and charges. Funding airports and the aviation system by way of weight-based formulas, fuel excise taxes, and ticket taxes, says Dr. Kahn, “is the most absurd way to do it.â€
Adds Dr. Kahn, “You couldn’t devise a system of pricing that was more perfectly prepared to create congestion.†He called on industry to put aside its parochial interests and come to agreement on how to best fund the system while also addressing capacity and congestion issues.
Thanks for reading. jfi