Rome Fiumicino confirmed as Europe's best airport, better even than Istanbul
Winners of the ACI EUROPE Best Airport Award for 2022 unveiled
IST
The winners of the Annual ACI EUROPE Best Airport Awards were announced during the Gala Dinner of the 32nd Annual Congress and General Assembly of ACI EUROPE. This year's awards took into account both the many ways in which airports are recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic and the increasing focus on sustainability-related outcomes. Airports in this section are divided into five groups, based on 2019 passenger traffic.
In this article:
Category up to 5 million passengers
The award for the 'under 5 million passengers' category went to La Palma Airport for resilience not only during the COVID-19 emergency but also during the Cumbre Vieja volcanic eruption, and at theTurin Airport for its significant post-pandemic recovery and work on innovation and sustainability.
Category 5/10 million passengers
The "5-10 million passengers" award went to Valencia Airport . The panel particularly highlighted the significant operations put in place to cope with the pandemic measures, including cargo traffic and medical flights. Valencia Airport is also a SAF pioneer, being a test airport for Aena's collaboration with BP. They have received praise for their continued investment in service quality improvement, such as a new automatic border control system.
Category 10/25 million passengers
This year's award in the 10-25 million passenger category. Has been assigned to the airport in Porto which was praised for its impressive recovery from the pandemic and for its plan focused on combating climate change, which involved both the airport and its stakeholders. Highly engaged with the local community and the region, the airport has implemented initiatives such as rainwater harvesting, water footprint reduction, and organic waste collection at a nearby waste park.
Category 25/40 million passengers
The winner of the 25-40 million passenger category was Vienna International Airport. The Austrian airport took the opportunity, initially forced by the pandemic, to modernize and innovate. Terminal 2 was redesigned and reopened, and the Vienna Lounge was renovated, introducing "smart lounges" and dormitories available for passengers within the airport. The airport's sustainability commitments also received praise, as Vienna Airport plans to become carbon neutral by 2023 and net zero by 2035.
Athens Airport was also highly rated in this category.
Category over 40 million passengers
This year's award in the category more than 40 million passengers went to Rome Fiumicino Airport in recognition of its leadership position among the continent's hubs. Rome Fiumicino led the innovation plan this year, with the opening of a new APOC as well as a new SAF facility, making it the first Italian airport to offer SAF.
The Rome hub is also a leader in terms of sustainability, being the first European airport to achieve Level 4+ in the Airport Carbon Accreditation program .
Innovation standards are very high, with an ambitious new Innovation Plan to stimulate digital transformation, as well as the opening of the new Aviation Innovation Hub, as well as through collaborations with key stakeholders and a strong focus on local business development.
The iGA Istanbul Grand Airport was also commended for this award.
Digital Transformation Award
ACI EUROPE has partnered with the SESAR Joint Undertaking to establish the Digital Transformation Award. This award recognizes a European airport that has embraced digitization, adopting innovative technologies and procedures to improve the safety, capacity, efficiency and environmental footprint of its airside operations.
This year's winner is London City Airport. The UK hub has been recognized as a pioneer in implementing the Digital ATC Tower, a SESAR solution, at such a large airport. The project was implemented in just four years. It was made possible by the airport's close cooperation with NATS and SAAB, but also UK CAA, airlines, and local communities. A true example of a successful joint effort.
The move from a traditional visual control room to a remote ATC center also offered London City Airport multiple benefits in terms of safety, resilience, security, and cost efficiency. The project was supported by a highly successful communications campaign.
Eco-Innovation Award
The Eco-Innovation Award recognizes outstanding environmental initiatives at airports and is presented in association with Airport Carbon Accreditation. This year's Eco-Innovation Award is. gone jointly to Bristol Airport and iGA Istanbul Grand Airport., who both submitted their projects in the climate change category.
The Bristol Airport project was the low emissions turnaround trial with easyJet as part of its strategic sustainability partnership. Bristol's goal of "demonstrating that carbon savings can be achieved without compromising operational efficiency" was a notable starting point, given the challenge of reducing scope 3 emissions.
In contrast, iGA Istanbul Grand Airport presented a project of IoT technology as a tool for process management and decision-making optimization. Environmental co-benefits included real-time data reported on sustainability throughout the airport.
Human resources excellence award
The ACI EUROPE Human Resources Excellence Award was created to recognize both individuals and human resources departments that have demonstrated outstanding leadership and management among ACI EUROPE's regular members. The goal of this annual award-now in its third year-is to give visibility to innovative examples that will help the airport community better evaluate and implement new procedures and skills needed to develop the industry's workforce. The jury is composed of the Presidents of the Leadership & HR Forums of the ACI Regions.
This year's human resources excellence award went to iGA Istanbul Grand Airport , for the overall strategy and numerous initiatives implemented during the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic and its recovery. A cornerstone of the strategy was regular employee meetings and listening carefully to their feedback and needs.
A "Pandemic Board" was also established, in close cooperation with the Board of Directors, to produce quick and effective solutions for urgent incidents.
In conclusion
This is a different award from Skytrax, which is based on passenger votes, but it is just as reliable, and for Rome Fiumicino to be at the level of Istanbul is a truly incredible achievement, not least because I personally predict that IST will soon be in the world's top 3 airports.
