Despite growing fears of a double-dip recession in Europe, Airports Council International reports “buoyant” five percent year-on-year traffic growth to the end of September.
This should be welcome news for most airport operators – and their suppliers.
ACI says Latin America and the Caribbean had the highest growth at eight percent as a result of strong domestic demand in Brazil and Mexico. Middle East traffic rose 7.1 percent for the month with Abu Dhabi contributing 17.1 percent and Atatürk airport 22.5 percent. Russian also saw double-digit growth with Moscow’s two airports (DME and SVO) increasing passenger numbers by 20.5 and 16.2 percent respectively.
Notwithstanding a general contraction in Asia, the region’s passenger volume rose 4.8 percent overall in September with Xiamen, New Delhi, and pre-flooded Bangkok posting gains of 25.8 percent, 23.2 percent and 15.9 percent. And while North America grew at a modest 2.7 percent for the month, ACI notes that continued “political unrest” in North Africa contributed to an overall continent decline of 6.4 percent year-on-year.
ACI thinks passenger handling at most airports around the world can expect more of the same for the remainder of the year – barring a complete collapse of the global economy with an unravelled Euro.
Global air freight, on the other hand, usually a bellwether for global economic activity, has declined for the fifth consecutive month overall with a September year-on-year figure of minus 3.7 percent.
In North America the combination of limp economic activity and an east coast hurricane in late summer helped air freight drop 6.4 percent overall. Across the Pacific, the slowdown in China was reflected in negative figures at Shanghai and Hong Kong.
The story was the same in Europe with a drop of 2.5 percent overall as Amsterdam, Frankfurt and London airports averaged a decline of just over five percent.
ACI World’s economics director Rafael Echevarne commented, “Passenger growth continues to show robust gains particularly with respect to international traffic, where year-over-year growth has attained 6.6 percent. While passenger growth continues to weather the storm of economic uncertainty, global freight traffic appears to be less enduring. As major economies wait for the outcome of sovereign debt issues to unravel particularly in the Euro zone area, international trade in air freight appears to be on the side-lines. If the uncertainty persists into the last quarter of 2011, we are likely to see growth rates in negative territory for freight traffic.”
Frankfurt reports its passenger traffic rose by 2.5 percent year-on-year in October with maximum takeoff weights climbing by 0.8 percent to 2.57 million tonnes. Although air freight dropped by 9.3 percent for the month as the night-time ban hit Lufthansa, the increase in overall aircraft movements by 0.5 percent to about 42,500 takeoffs and landings is music to a company like Dynatest that supplies customised runway friction testing equipment to airport operators.
According to David Leask, vice president, business development for Dynatest, his products, to paraphrase the Greek historian Herodotus, are unlikely to be stayed neither by snow nor rain nor heat nor darkness from accomplishing their appointed course with all speed.”
Begun in 1976 by Danish engineers, Dynatest is now joined by a small group of manufacturers, mostly in Europe, who supply the world with runway testing equipment. They include ASFT in Switzerland, SARSYS in Sweden, Findlay Irvine in Scotland and Douglas Equipment in the UK , the latter now owned by New-Jersey-based Curtiss-Wright Corporation.
Their basic premise is a simple one: Every airport that operates within ICAO has a legal requirement to test its runways. If an airport operator allows its infrastructure to degrade, they are required to produce a NOTAM (literally “Notice to Airmen”). Leask says Ryanair won’t fly into an airport that has posted a NOTAM. Presumably nor will anyone else.
So as long as aircraft leave rubber on a runway, airports will need to test the degree of tarmac traction to ensure safe landings and takeoffs. And with the ACI still predicting global airport growth, even at a modest pace, this engineering niche is clearly lucrative and almost recession-proof for the right supplier.
Unlike some of his competitors, Leask says his company will install friction testing equipment in the customer’s choice of vehicle without compromising its warranty. So if an American airport has a Ford or GM fleet policy, then Dynatest will either purchase a complementary vehicle or customise an existing one without altering the body.
ASFT takes a different and, given the size of the market, a no doubt successful approach by basing its test equipment on a specific chassis – Volvo or Skoda for example. With most of the equipment installed in the rear of the vehicle, ASFT’s solution means the friction measuring wheel is not attached to the body or chassis but connected via a spring to the rear axle.
SARSYS also uses the Volvo platform as well as Saab and VW to mount its testing products. And all three manufacturers provide trailer-based alternatives for smaller, low volume airports. The SARSYS system in the Volvo consists of a friction measuring wheel mechanically geared to a wheel on the rear axle.
Typically a busy airfield will test its runways every month. In winter, and depending on the location, this can come down to every hour, particularly in snow conditions.
“The snow ploughs obviously come out first followed by friction testing,” explains Leask. “Because safety is absolutely paramount, our equipment provides an audit trail to show everything has been done according to ICAO (legal) standards.”
Leask adds that just as “you can’t just give a guy a huge snow plough and say ‘away you go’ on a runway with expensive light fittings”, the same is true for friction testing. Both activities require considerable training and a high level of skill. He suggests there’s no room for error: “Disaster avoidance is critical in this environment.”
Dynatest manufactures in Denmark for Europe and Michigan for North America. Leask says lead times are usually 3-4 months from customer specification to delivery. Because the company has a basic “drop in and go” approach to vehicle installations, purchasing managers are not faced with a lease versus purchase issue. “They can do either or both,” he says. “How the customer finances the platform is not critical to us.”
With success in North America, Dynatest is aiming to expand in Europe, the Middle East and Africa – hence its recent attendance at Inter-Airport 2011 in Munich. Leask suggests his focus will be on developed, rather than developing, markets: “Normally we will go in, or be invited in, as a consultant to determine feasibility and requirements and then provide a solution.”
Perhaps surprisingly, Asia remains a largely untapped market for the company although Leask concedes it will be a “big market” in a future that is still 2-3 years away. “We are in the process of setting up a supply chain for China but growth will be dependent on airport operator compliance with ICAO,” he adds.
With no apparent signs that China is poised to become a major friction testing equipment manufacturer, Europe looks set to continue its historical role as a main supplier to the world’s airports. Ryanair should be reassured.
What the customer thinks
Denver airport: “We chose the Dynatest Runway Friction Tester for several reasons. Besides being approved by the FAA, the Dyantest unit appeared to be reliable, well-designed and intuitive for the end-user.
“We purchased two units five years ago and have used them for both winter and summer operations. They have provided valuable friction/braking action data during our many snow events. With the Dyantest units, we’ve been able to determine the effectiveness of our runway cleanings (i.e. snow removal) by conducting post-cleaning friction tests.
“Unlike some other units, the Dynatest units test the entire length of each of our 12,000 feet runways in just three-and-a-half minutes. This efficiency allows us to minimize runway closure times and to keep aircraft operations as “normal” as possible.
“During the summer, we’ve used our Dyantest units on a weekly basis to determine the impact to friction/braking action because of rubber accumulation on each runway. With the data that the units provide, we’ve been able to create specific runway cleaning schedules for each of our six runways. In fact, we’re currently testing a method for importing this test data into a database that can then generate a work order for runway cleaning when the friction/braking action nears a “Maintenance Planning” value assigned by the FAA.
Picture caption 2: “While the Dyantest units are easy to use, they are very complex internally. Dynatest has always been available to answer any questions or provide assistance when necessary” says Denver airport .
