Mie Rajcic has been passionate about creating a community at Copenhagen Airport for the last five years. Recently moving on from Denmark’s busiest air gateway, she now runs her own company with the goal of creating airport communities by integrating partners/handlers into the decision-making process. She believes that collaboration is fundamental for creating a safe and efficient airport
Before we dive into the benefits of an airport community, let me just introduce you to the definition. The word ‘community’ comes from the word ‘common’ and embraces the condition of sharing or having certain attitudes and interests in common. In airports, we can relate it to the fact that everyone working within or having an impact on the aircraft turnaround process has a common interest: namely, getting an aircraft away on time safely and efficiently.
An Airport Community is a lot more than ACDM
Most airports have implemented Airport Collaborative Decision Making (ACDM) and are looking into developing a platform where real-time operational data can be exchanged. Let me emphasise that this is not, in itself, a ‘community’ but merely supporting tools for optimising operational performance on a daily basis. Important, certainly, but not what I have in mind with regard to a community. What I am talking about is including airport partners in the vision of the airport, its strategic direction and prioritisation when it comes to certain investments.
Collaborating on a more strategic level will strengthen the competitive position of the airport, since all perspectives will then have been analysed, evaluated and debated. This will lead to the most beneficial decisions for the airport community as a whole.
An Airport Community has a shared vision. A vision that can be turned into goals and that everyone supports. It is about the feeling: a feeling of being an important part of something bigger and a feeling that creates a shared identity and thereby a strong urgency to drive results.
Conflicting interests
We are all aware of the triangle that consists of the airport, airlines and ground handlers. Often, conflicting interests pop up between the partners.
Airports try to optimise the value of infrastructure, since capacity will always be a limited resource.
Airlines want their aircraft parked on gates near lounges with the possibility of rapid connection and branding to increase revenue possibilities. They are very focused on the passenger experience and, depending on the type of airline, there will be different needs to meet.
Ground handlers form the last part of the value chain, but from my perspective are also very underestimated. As we know, profit margins are low, due to airlines driving costs down. Ground handlers are often under pressure owing to a lack of resources in terms of both people and GSE. They often handle a variety of airline types and have to adjust the operations to meet the need.
It is within this triangle that we find a huge potential for improving results through creating an Airport Community.
Shared benefits
Forecasts predict that many airports will reach their upper capacity limit before previously anticipated due to ongoing increases in traffic. To accommodate this increased traffic, most airports have therefore put in place expansion plans. To operate and expand at the same time – often in a constrained environment – airport partners are required to come up with new solutions that enable them to turn aircraft around safely and even more efficiently.
This can only be done through collaboration between the partners. Airports have no (or little) clue about ground operations: thus they are very dependent on the handlers delivering services to the common customer – airlines.
Airports often make decisions that will make it more difficult for handlers to operate. If ground handling isn’t performed efficiently, aircraft might be delayed, which will impact on the competitiveness of airports. But if an airport includes both airlines and ground handlers in the development of its expansion plans, solutions will be sustainable and will benefit all partners.
Transforming the mindset
So far, airports have been sitting at the head of the table making all the decisions. Probably that has been fine so far; after all, airports own the infrastructure and make the necessary investments. On the other hand, if ground handlers cannot generate a profit due to a complex infrastructure provided by the airport, it is fatal to all.
To build a community, the airport has to facilitate the process. To really benefit from a community, all partners – but especially airports – will have to change their mindset to one where inclusiveness and collaboration are more important than power.
To include partners, you must change the mindset of the people making decisions about expansion plans. It takes more than just good intentions. It takes leadership skills to make the transformation. But it will be worth it. Imagine the airport building a new baggage hall where the ground handlers cannot operate efficiently. This will surely impact the handling process as well as the passenger experience.
A practical example
At Copenhagen Airport, the operator has been working intensely on partner involvement over the last few years. Together with ground handlers, new stands have been designed. The airport made the first proposal, and then the ground handlers made adjustments. The end result was created in collaboration and supports efficient ground operations.
The new stands are larger and designed without obstacles such as light poles, and technical support is sited in the middle of the handling area. If the handlers hadn’t had the chance to make adjustments to the stands, they would have been designed on the basis of sparse knowledge of ground operations.
For a gateway to create a genuine community, there are certain steps that should be followed. The five steps to creating an Airport Community are:
1. Get people to understand the importance of partner involvement
2. Get to know your handlers, airlines and ATC – find out who they are – not just an email address but the real people
3. Be curious about their needs – they are often different depending on the service they provide
4. Create a forum in which you discuss the strategic and long-term vision of the airport, including expansion plans – and allow all partners to give their perspective
5. Create a forum for daily operation, if you don’t already have it. This allows for daily operations to be discussed in one place and more strategic long-term issues to be discussed in another place. You need different types of skills for each forum
Mie previously served variously as head of airside compliance and safety, of operational business development and as the executive assistant to the director of traffic and airside operations at Copenhagen Airport.
She is available for consulting and lectures on creating airport communities.
For more information please visit www.airportcommunity.dk or write to hello@airsidecommunity.dk
