Can greater air traffic volumes be reconciled with strict environmental standards?

Several current projects show that it is possible to make progress in mobility and environmental protection simultaneously.

Let’s take the example of Lisbon, with its charming look-out points and trams clinging to hillsides, the smell of sardines in the air and the sounds of fado never far away. Recent years have seen the Portuguese capital (re)emerge as one of Europe’s tourism hot spots. But it is also one of the continent’s leading tech hubs, mobbed by young entrepreneurs attempting to get their start-ups off the ground. One consequence of all the Lisbon hype is that its Humberto Delgado Airport is fast approaching full capacity. Traffic has doubled in just six years, up from 15 million passengers in 2012 to almost 30 million in 2018.

The national carrier, TAP, along with the Portuguese government and everyone involved in the tourism industry are in agreement: one airport is no longer enough.

After two years of intensive consultation with various local stakeholders, VINCI Airports, which acquired ANA, concession operator of 10 Portuguese airports including Lisbon, in 2012, signed an agreement with the state to cover financing the increase in Lisbon’s air passenger numbers. The project centres on conversion of the existing military airport at Montijo, 25 kilometres from the city centre. 

The situation raised a twofold challenge: to respond to the strong growth in air traffic while minimising the environmental impact of the extension. How best to square the circle? Rather than build a completely new airport, a reconfiguration of the nearby military airport seemed the best solution. The Montijo site, property of the Portuguese air force, has been in use as an airport since 1952. By 2022, there will be a new 90,000-square-metre terminal alongside the existing runways. The airport project “will finally settle one of the main problems hampering the country’s economic development,” says Lisbon mayor Fernando Medina.

Optimise not extend

Adapting an existing site rather than starting from scratch: the same mindset can be seen at London Gatwick airport, a member of the VINCI Airports network since spring 2019. Against a background of constantly increasing traffic levels and the impossibility of building new structures in view of space constraints in and around London, the management team at Gatwick decided instead to focus on optimising existing infrastructure.

July 2019 saw the publication of a 15-year masterplan. It sets out how the airport, used by over 46 million passengers a year, will be able to grow in a sustainable manner. There are two core pillars: new technologies to maximise use of the main runway, and use of the existing standby runway for regular services.

Dialogue with local stakeholders

The project is the fruit of a wide-ranging public consultation. The airport carried out a 12- week survey, questioning concerned local actors and gathering over 5,000 responses. Two-thirds of respondents said they were in favour of "making the best use of both runways." London Gatwick thus intends to continue its commitment to ecological excellence. The airport has already obtained Level 3+ Airport Carbon Accreditation, attesting to its carbon neutrality and in perfect alignment with AirPact, the VINCI Airports environmental policy in operation at its airports since 2015.

This pioneering and resolute policy is an industry first. It has helped reach the target of reducing the carbon footprint of all VINCI Airport facilities by 20% over a four-year period. The latest targets are even more ambitious: to halve the carbon footprint by 2030 and reach zero net emissions by 2050. The lesson? By combining innovation with collective actions, it is possible to expand capacity without growing the physical footprint, and to reconcile mobility with environmental protection.