The Aviation industry is feeling the impact of the current global economic slowdown. That is having an immediate effect in the logistics sector; the airfreight volumes have fallen sharply and are not expected to recover soon. This has an impact on developments centered on logistics. Many plans are halted waiting for better times. Despite of that, other plans are based on a more diversified portfolio than logistics alone, and we still see major developments in progress in places like Berlin Brandenburg, London Gatwick and Zurich Kloten.
The vision of Dr. John Kasarda, as he lays down in his book “Aerotropolis, the way we will live next”, is not yet in full deployment, but there is a strong trend to select business locations on their connectivity by air, as we did in former days by ships, railroads and cars. Many of our current Metropolises originated from those junctions.
Airports try to arrange transport to the final destination of business travelers in a hassle-free manner, but success is limited and congestion always a risk. So more and more companies chose to shorten the total trip time by setting up operations at, or very close to, the airport. By modeling these locations as business parks we create a successful business environment, further enhanced by themed clustering. This also encourages Business Service providers to set up at these locations.
The outlook for air travel remains positive, of course motored by developing economies, but also Western airports expect continued growth. In the Far East there are good examples of newly constructed airports with room for economic development integrated in their design, in Europe we also find that at Berlin Brandenburg (new airport with integrated business area’s) and Paris Charles de Gaulle (as the result of the visionary design made decades ago). Places like Copenhagen, Amsterdam and Munich have ample room for similar developments. In the USA Detroit and Dallas-Fort Worth also focus on developing the airport as the motor for wide spread economic development.
If projects meet market’s demands, there is a huge interest in business locations combining excellent connectivity by air with good business environments.
By Ruud Storm, Founding Partner at Global-Arena.com and Captain Boeing 737 NG at KLM
