Airport Turnaround, Development & Management
ABA have a unique set of skills and experience to offer Airport owners and operators
Experience
ABA is proud to have been, and to continue to be associated with the development of Lydd (London Ashford) Airport. Purchased by ABA in 1996 Lydd was turned around and made net profits in Y/E 1999 and 2000 leading to a successful investment in 2001 since when the airport has not looked back. In 2005 the shareholding was reduced and ABA now advises the airport.
ABA's involvement with Lydd has included every aspect of airport development. With actual proven hands-on experience ABA can offer expertise in the following areas of airport development:
MARKET APPRAISAL
No business has a future without a market. Assessing the market for an
airport has many determining factors such as drive time profiles, demographics,
market segmentation, infrastructure, airport capacity constraints, facilities
and availability, inbound and outbound markets, competition and so on.
Often the market is either not immediately obvious, or the correct blend
of different inputs is obscure. ABA is able to look at all the angles
and bring these together with an objective appraisal of market potential.
THE ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY
With the environment now being the dominant factor in most airport development
projects it is essential to get a firm grasp of the environmental and
ecological impacts of any proposed development. Knowing what to seek
is the key and ABA is able to coordinate the correct environmental experts
to conduct scoping reports leading to an Environmental Impact Assessment
(EIA). The scoping report is done in consultation with all interested
stakeholders, including the planning authority and this then gives the
definition of the EIA and informs the developers of what they may or
may not be able to do.
LOCATIONAL CONSIDERATIONS AND LAND USE CONSTRAINTS
The airports location will often provide the overarching consideration
in development potential. As with the market, the drivers here can often
be obscure. On the one hand there is the thirst for an immediately available
massive market. On the other is a multitude of less obvious considerations
which, when analysed, give the right answer. Looking at this aspect along
with physical development constraints at the site are clearly important
and once again ABA has the proven track record to advise on such matters.
AIRSPACE INTEGRATION
Understanding traffic flows, airspace classification and airway integration
makes it possible to determine the airport's acceptability within the
wider air traffic picture.
AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL AND AIRPORT NAVIGATION FACILITIES
Every airport has a different ATC and facility requirement. ATC forms a
large part of an airports fixed costs in the start-up or development
phase and getting the right level of manning and correctly assessing
the timetable for navigation facility installation is of key importance.
FIRE COVER AND SECURITY
Being familiar with the legislation and having actual hands-on experience
enables ABA to advise on the correct equipping and categorisation of
the Fire and Rescue Service. In today's aviation world airport security
is something operators and passengers have to accept. Again, ABA has
hands-on experience.
MAXIMISING ON REVENUE POTENTIAL
How do you squeeze the last penny out of your asset? There are two clearly
defined parts - operational and retail. Operational covers all revenue
from aircraft operations such as landing and parking fees, passenger
taxes, security charges and so on. Retail is the terminal outlets. How
do you handle these? What about fuel sales? What about car parking? Both
of these are massive revenue potentials. ABA can advise on how best to "sweat" your
asset in every respect so as to maximise profits.
FEASIBILITY STUDIES AND MASTER PLANNING
We have touched on a few of the key drivers above but the list is long:
ABA has expertise on runway and taxiway requirements, specifications
and layouts, political lobbying, capital expenditure requirements and
financial projections, terminal and facility planning and virtually every
other aspect of airport development based upon invaluable real-life experience.
This enables us to advise on either individual projects or to draw up
a full feasibility study, coordinate a Master-Plan and manage an entire
development.