Airports Council International Europe (ACI EUROPE) is a European industry

trade association A trade association, also known as an industry trade group, business association, sector association or industry body, is an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific Industry (economics), industry. Through collabor ...

which advances the collective interests of Europe's airports and promotes professional excellence in airport management and operations. The members are over 600 airport operators of all sizes in 58 European countries, over 90% of commercial air traffic in Europe. ACI EUROPE member airports welcomed over 2.3 billion passengers and handled 17 million metric tonnes of cargo and nearly 45 million aircraft movements each year since 1990. ACI EUROPE is a non-profit organisation. It is led by their non executive-general Olivier Jankovec, and has a team of 25 full-time staff. Its offices are in the Square de Meeûs, Brussels, Belgium. As one of the regional bodies within the global family that constitutes

Airports Council International Airports Council International (ACI) is an organization of Airport authority, airport authorities, informing members of industry practices and airport standards. Established in 1991, its headquarters (ACI World) are based in Montreal, Quebec, Ca ...

, ACI EUROPE is in regular contact with its sister organisations, including

, ACI NORTH AMERICA, ACI ASIA-PACIFIC, ACI LATIN-AMERICA & CARIBBEAN, and ACI AFRICA.

History

ACI EUROPE was formed in 1990, as part of a wider development which saw the creation of

. European Airports had previously been represented by the ''Western European Airports Association (WEAA), which was integrated with two other international airport representative bodies – Airports Operators Council International (AOCI) and International Civil Airports Association (ICAA) into the Airports Association Coordinating Council (AACC)'' in 1970. ''WEAA'' disbanded fully in 1985, while AOCI and ICAA remained in existence within the AACC until the Constitution of the new ACI was approved in the autumn on 1990 and came fully into effect on January 1, 1991.

Policy areas

Much of the ACI EUROPE membership is located within the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

, which has a highly active regulatory environment concerning the

aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' include fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air aircraft such as h ...

industry, relative to other regions of the globe. As a result, many of ACI EUROPE's policy concerns reflect those of the various decision making institutions of the European Union, alongside the concerns of the wider aviation industry.

Committees

Individual issues vary according to political and industry developments, however ACI EUROPE has six committees which address broad policy areas: * ''Facilitation & Customer Services Committee'' – focused upon airports' efforts to improve the passenger experience * ''Aviation Security Committee'' – focused upon all issues concerning

aviation security Airport security includes the techniques and methods used in an attempt to protect passengers, staff, aircraft, and airport property from malicious harm, crime, terrorism, and other threats. Aviation security is a combination of measures and hum ...

* ''Environmental Strategy Committee'' – focused upon

environmental issues Environmental issues are disruptions in the usual function of ecosystems. Further, these issues can be caused by humans (human impact on the environment) or they can be natural. These issues are considered serious when the ecosystem cannot recov ...

, in particular

carbon emissions Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from human activities intensify the greenhouse effect. This contributes to climate change. Carbon dioxide (), from burning fossil fuels such as coal, petroleum, oil, and natural gas, is the main cause of climate chan ...

, noise control, local air quality and intermodality * ''Technical and Operational Safety Committee'' – focused on issues such as safety, airport capacity,

Single European Sky The Single European Sky (SES) is a European Commission initiative that seeks to reform the European air traffic management system through a series of actions carried out in four different levels (institutional, operational, technological and cont ...

, airside operations, and slot regulation * ''Economics Committee'' – focused on issues such as airport charges,

key performance indicators A performance indicator or key performance indicator (KPI) is a type of performance measurement. KPIs evaluate the success of an organization or of a particular activity (such as projects, programs, products and other initiatives) in which it e ...

, and competition issues * ''Policy Committee'' – focused upon broader strategic issues affecting airports, encompassing some of the issues addressed in other committees. In addition ACI EUROPE has two fora – The ''Commercial Forum'' and the ''Regional Airports’ Forum''. These fora address commercial concerns and the interests of smaller regional airports respectively.

The Connectivity Challenge

''The Policy Outlook'' states that the aviation industry remains constrained by antiquated rules restricting market access and airline investment. The document supports the

liberalisation Liberalization or liberalisation (British English) is a broad term that refers to the practice of making laws, systems, or opinions less severe, usually in the sense of eliminating certain government regulations or restrictions. The term is used ...

of the European aviation market, and notes that the number of air routes has increased by 170% since the creation of the single aviation market in 1993. This has facilitated the integration of new accession states into the EU. However remaining government-to-government restrictions on air routes, capacity, pricing and airline ownership and control need to be lifted beyond the EU. In particular regional airports and the communities they support would benefit greatly from the resulting increased opportunities for global connectivity. As well as additional routes, freer competition would allow the more efficient use of scarce slots and reduce dependency upon single carriers. Therefore, restrictive bilateral air service agreements and inadequate slot allocation policies should be abolished. ACI EUROPE supports the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

's efforts to fully liberalise international air services agreements at an EU level and in its Policy Outlook suggests that priority should be given to: # Full liberalisation with the

United States of America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguo ...

and anada# Achieving a pan-European and pan-

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

aviation area comprising all EU neighbouring countries by 2013. # Initiating negotiations with the EU's main trading partners –

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

and

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

- at the earliest opportunity ACI EUROPE states that European airports are willing to participate directly in international aviation negotiations.

Initiatives

In addition to the actions of its committees, ACI EUROPE is involved in several specific initiatives which seek to further its policy interests.

Airport Carbon Accreditation

Airport Carbon Accreditation is the European carbon standard for airports.

Airport Collaborative Decision Making

'' Airport Collaborative Decision Making(A-CDM)'' is a joint venture between ACI EUROPE, EUROCONTROL and the Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation which aims to improve the operational efficiency of all airport operators.

Single European Sky

ACI EUROPE is fully supportive of the

project, and participates fully as the representative of European airports.

Publications

Airport Business

Communiqué ''AIRPORT BUSINESS'' magazine is ACI EUROPE's quarterly magazine, containing policy and commercial news regarding airports primarily based in Europe.

Traffic Report

Traffic reports are published on a monthly basis, outlining the performance of the European aviation industry, from an aggregate level and to an individual airport level.

Special Editions

ACI EUROPE also produces ''special editions'' of ''Airport Business'' for major airports in Europe. ''Special editions'' typically provide an overview of specific airports, consisting of interviews with senior members of staff on relevant topics.

Membership and governance

Membership types

There are four different types of memberships available. * ''Regular Members'': airports in geographical Europe with regular or permanent commercial air traffic (affiliated regular membership of ACI EUROPE is open to airports which are already regular members of another region of ''ACI''). * ''World Business Partners'': commercial enterprises seeking airport-related business. * ''National Airport Associations'': trade associations for airport operators, operating at national level in European countries * ''Educational Establishments'': third level institutions with a relevant specialism in aviation and air transport-related studies. Presently ACI EUROPE has: * 187 regular members operating 427 airports * 1 affiliated regular member * 6 national airport associations * 14 educational establishments * 152 World Business Partners * 4 affiliated World Business Partners

References

External links

ACI EUROPE website

ACI EUROPE EVENTS website
{{Authority control Aviation organizations Aviation in Europe Organisations based in Brussels International organisations based in Belgium