The European landscape is quickly changing and airport centers are expanding to meet today’s needs. With the integration of 10 new members to the European Union (EU) last year — Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, and Cyprus — the borders of the EU are farther east, thereby broadening logistics opportunities.
With the world economy picking up the pace, particularly from Asia, European airports are also increasingly important to commerce and distribution.
Some trends are quickly emerging to take advantage of this changing landscape. Air carriers are capitalizing on their networks, and consolidating or making alliances with other carriers to build a stronger fleet and capture more passenger and cargo business. Similarly, airports and their real estate arms are building up their infrastructure to retain and capture airline and related business.
“Not many carriers have relations and air rights to fly into China,” said Marcel Stuve, managing partner of supply chain strategies for Buck Consultants International of Nijmegen, the Netherlands. “But those that do, connect at Europe’s mega hubs like Frankfurt, Paris Charles de Gaulle, Amsterdam and London Heathrow. So the work load at these airports is only going to increase.”
The Mega Hubs
Frankfurt Airport has gained enormous importance as an air cargo hub thanks to its intercontinental connections and location within 124 miles of 35 million consumers. Frankfurt’s CargoCity South is home to more than 250 high-profile companies. Future plans call for expanding CargoCity to have the capability of handling 2.7 million tons by 2015.
In recent years, Yusen Air and Sea, Panalpina, Kuhne & Nagel, Dachser, DHL Danzas and Nippon Express opened major facilities at CargoCtiy South. In 2003, DHL Danzas Air & Ocean consolidated all of its Rhine-Main logistics activities there.
“Before we were spread over various locations in Kelsterback and Schwalbach,” said Volker Oesau, managing director of HL Danzas Air & Ocean Germany GmbH. “Now we have a central site with a high-tech handling facility, a ‘clean room’ and state-of-the-art technology for managing storage processes.”
Lufthansa, the airport’s major tenant, operates its Lufthansa Cargo Center (LCC) at CargoCity North. LCC is the world’s biggest hub and handling center of Lufthansa Cargo.
“Eighty percent of Lufthansa Cargo’s world tonnage passes through LCC’s export, import and transit area,” said Nils Haupt, a spokesman for Lufthansa Cargo AG.
Amsterdam Schiphol Airport certainly operates as a mega hub by virtue of its record-breaking passenger and cargo volumes. Twenty-four scheduled full freighter airlines operate services to and from Schiphol, making it Europe’s third-largest airport behind Paris’ Charles de Gaulle and Frankfurt.
“As a result of the strong growth achieved in the full freighter segment in 2004, the airport has also reinforced its position as Europe’s largest intercontinental freighter hub,’ said Rob A. Nispeling, marketing manager for Schiphol.
Helping volumes is Polar Air Cargo, which moved its freighter hub from Liege, Belgium, to Schiphol, as well as increased commitments by KLM, Singapore Airlines and home carrier Martinair.
A number of major freight forwarders have made significant investments in facilities in or around the airport, including Excel and Yusen Air & Sea Services. Construction is currently underway for Yusen’s new cargo building and European and Benelux head office. The new, much larger cargo building will replace the forwarder’s existing premises.
The fact Air France and FedEx operate from Charles De Gaulle Airport make this a significant distribution hub. FedEx is in talks with the French government to encourage a link to France’s high-speed TGV network, a deal that could take years to negotiate.
Charles de Gaulle is the only European airport with development land still available. Planners are carefully utilizing this resource for long-term benefits. The airport has four runways that are fully operational 24 hours a day. The two main round handlers — France Handling and SFS — have invested in buildings of 36,000 square yards each, located on the south side of the Cargo Zone. These consist of warehouses and handling facilities, as well as offices that incorporate the latest technology and security systems.
At London Heathrow, work continues on Terminal 5. Phase 1, which is targeted to be completed in 2007, comprises a terminal building, a new air traffic control tower, two satellite buildings, additional aircraft stands, a car park, a world-class public interchange, a new rail station under the main terminal building, and extensions to the Heathrow Express and Piccadilly lines. Phase two, scheduled for completion in 2011, provides a second satellite building to the Terminal 5 campus.
British Airways is Heathrow’s major player. All passenger operations will be consolidated at Terminal 5 once completed. Since 2001, British Airways World Cargo (BAWC) has been operating its Ascentis processing facility at Heathrow.
“We are now processing tonnages that are three times higher than we were when the building first opened,” said Keith Packer, senior vice president, commercial, for BAWC.
Emerging Secondary Hubs
Secondary airports are emerging that offer opportunities. Copenhagen Airport is promoting its rail feeder network, as well as its Airport Business Park. The park comprises of 501,600 square yards, with a construction potential of about 264,000 square yards of floor space.
Vienna International Airport and Halle/Leipzig International Airport are positioning themselves as Europe’s link to booming manufacturing districts in Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. DHL is considering Halle/Leipzig for hub operations since the integrated carrier won’t be permitted to expand at Brussels National Airport because of noise constraints and bans on night flights.
Vatry International Airport, 150 kilometers from Paris, offers a dedicated cargo facility. Equipped with a 12,738-foot runway and leading-edge flight navigation equipment, Vatry can accommodate wide body aircraft in all weather conditions, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Vatry’s substantial property reserve guarantees real potential for expansion and the ability to meet development needs of logisticians over the longer term. Two business parks are being developed on 4,048 acres.
Already located at the airport is Air Liquide Welding and logistician companies JCH/Entrepodis, Geodis Logistics, Giraud, TNT Automotive Logistics, Transports Vertusiens and SCAPEST.
Filling a niche in Doncaster, England, is the recently opened Robin Hood Airport, a redeveloped air base. The facility offers South Yorkshire a much more convenient airport alternative to Manchester Airport. It is expected to have major economic consequences on South Yorkshire and is anticipated to handle 1.3 million passengers during its first year of operation.
“It offers the third-longest runway in the UK,” said Steven Adaman, marketing and promotions manager for Robin Hood Airport. “The runway can handle any size aircraft up to the Antonov.”
Other airports such as Zurich International, home to Swiss Airlines and Swiss WorldCargo, have carved out a niche for specialized services such as those handling values, express cargoes and others requiring extra care.
“We have a very high-tech warehouse run by Cargologic,” said Bernd Maresch, general manager for Swiss WorldCargo. “We see a need for special treatment. This is something we are going into intensively.”
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