Airport surface access in the UK: A management perspective

Abstract

Air passenger traffic in the UK has increased significantly over the last 30 years, and is forecast to continue to grow for the foreseeable future. This has clear implications for airport capacity in the UK, and is expected to pose a number of important challenges for UK airports. A key challenge is likely to involve the management of airport surface access.Currently, airport surface access in the UK is heavily reliant on trips by private car. Growing demand for air travel has generated increasing volumes of surface traffic at UK airports, which has resulted in congestion on local road networks and raised levels of pollution from vehicle emissions. It is likely that surface access issues will become even more acute in the future, given the dominance of the private car as the preferred mode of choice and the forecast growth in UK air travel.The paper aims to offer an airport management perspective on airport surface access in the UK. Semi-structured interviews with key personnel responsible for surface access management at 14 UK airports revealed a wide variety of surface access issues and management policies. The need to reduce the share of journeys made by private car is identified as a key issue, with a particular focus on reducing 'kiss-and-fly' journeys for passengers. While reducing private car journeys may yield environmental benefits, such strategies are largely at odds with substantial commercial pressures to maximise the revenue potential of airport parking.

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