European airports 'must invest in future facilities now'

24/02/2010

By Jeremy Price.

European airports must begin investing in future facilities as soon as possible, it has been claimed.

According to the Airports Council International (ACI), falling passenger numbers across the whole of Europe must not deter bosses from injecting funds into new initiatives that will attract future travellers to their airports.

Overall traffic at Europe's airports fell 5.9 per cent last year compared with 2008, the organisation notes.

Olivier Jankovec, ACI Europe director general, said that it is natural for airports to cut costs during the downturn, but urged them to look "beyond the crisis".

"The long lead time in airport development and the fact that air traffic is still expected to double by 2030 mean that airports need to start investing now to deliver the facilities that will be required tomorrow," Mr Jankovec said.

He added, however, that the pace of passenger traffic recovery is currently very slow.

Birmingham Airport recently announced it will host three new Pret A Manger food outlets at its terminal one building in a move that could boost its passenger numbers.