"Alert could damage UK airport revenues over long-term"

Wednesday, July 4, 2007

Alert could damage airport revenues over long-term
By Martin Evans
United Kingdom - The Western Mail


Aviation expert Martin Evans looks at the security issues facing airports
following Saturday's terrorism attack in Glasgow and the impact on
passengers

THE air transport industry again found itself under attack with the
attempted car bombing of Glasgow Airport on Saturday.

Fortunately the vehicle failed to penetrate the building and cause any harm
to the passengers inside. Glasgow Airport staff took just 24 hours to have
the building up and running again even though there is fire damage around
the affected area.

The roads in front of the Glasgow terminal building are closed for the
foreseeable future with a new drop-off area being established in a car park.
Vehicles were banned from the front of the terminals at other UK airports
leaving passengers with longer walks to terminals and armed police patrols
on approach roads to airports are stopping and searching cars.

At Cardiff Airport there are severe restrictions on vehicles approaching the
terminal. Cars are not being allowed to drive to the front of the terminal
building which means that cars picking up or dropping off are being directed
to the short-term car park. An alternative road into the airport is having
to be used to avoid passing in front of the terminal to access the car
parks.

We are surely all aware of the increased security measures as we go through
to the departure lounge at airports designed to ensure that terrorist
devices or weapons cannot be used on board aircraft. Unfortunately this
level of security may secure the aircraft, but moves the focus of the
terrorist to the next vulnerable area.

Airport terminals are an attractive target for a terrorist because you have
a large number of people gathered in one place and a large amount of
personal and economic disruption is caused by an interruption to normal
operations. Under normal circumstances you have to allow unhindered access
by members of the public to facilitate the dropping off and collection of
passengers.

Larger airports such as Heathrow and Gatwick that have short stay
multi-storey car parks built in front of the terminal can redirect cars
dropping off or collecting passengers without too much inconvenience.

Regional airports that have traditionally allowed passengers to be dropped
in front of the building will find it harder to put in place arrangements
that do not inconvenience the passenger. It is easier for terminals that are
built to a newer design than the one at Cardiff. Bristol Airport had already
taken drop-off and pick-up away to a rapid pick-up car park at the side of
the building where it is in a safe place but only a very short walk to the
terminal.

Passengers have been advised to use public transport rather than use their
cars. Any long-term shift from cars to public transport would not be
welcomed by airports that gain substantial revenues from their car parks.

The security alert has also had international repercussions with increased
security at airports in the United States. We should all now expect to be
scrutinised a lot more closely on arrival to the United States even though
there is an unprecedented level of information about passengers being
transmitted to the authorities there before the flight has taken off.

Security measures do have an impact on the desirability of using air
transport. Security measures add time to the journey and make air transport
far less effective over short distances as the extra time for security
measures adds to total travel times.

Passengers when confronted with the uncertainty of how long extra security
measures will take will allow generous amounts of extra time. While this
won't be too important to the leisure traveller, it can be very important to
the business traveller. Large numbers of passengers arriving early for their
flight adds to congestion in terminal buildings particularly over the busy
summer period.

Over short distances, extra time added to journeys may enable surface
transport to compete and even be quicker. This can impact on airlines if
business travellers move away from air travel as business travellers pay
higher prices for their tickets and make a big contribution to revenues and
profits.

Even when the present threat level is downgraded, private cars should no
longer be allowed to pull up at the front of terminal buildings. Where
public transport vehicles, airport vehicles and taxis are allowed to pull up
in front of the terminal, there should be barriers to stop an unauthorised
vehicle entering the area. Older regional airports, designed in times when
the present threats weren't even imagined, would find it difficult to meet
such standards.

Martin Evans is External Research Fellow at the University of Glamorgan.

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