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© MODAIR Consortium

TOPIC AAT.2012.7-27

Airport-centred co-modality and intermodality

Project acronym: ModAir

Project full title: Co-modal Airport

Grant agreement no: 314348

D3.3: Preliminary report on the findings of workpackage 3

Organisation name of lead beneficiary for this deliverable: AdC

Dissemination level: PU

Classification level: R

Date of preparation: 10-06 2013

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DELIVERABLE CONTRIBUTORS

Name Organisation Role in the project

Responsible Ad de Graaff AdG WP Leader/partner

Authors

Reviewers Sarah Whalley FFE partner

DIFFUSION LIST

REVISION STATUS

Date Issue Notes

10/06/2013 1 Initial version

28/6/2013 2 Final version

Organisation Name

European Commission DG Research & Innovation

Mr Ivan KONAKTCHIEV

Consortium Partners and third parties

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. SUMMARY ............................................................................................................ 4

2. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................... 4

3 AIRPORTS USED FOR COMMERCIAL FLIGHTS ............................................... 4

4 AIRPORT CONNECTIVITY ................................................................................... 6

5 HIGH SPEED RAIL AND AVIATION .................................................................... 6

6 INTERMODAL AIRPORT INFORMATION ........................................................ 12

7 SINGLE TICKET AND OTHER SERVICES ........................................................ 12

8 INTERMODAL INSTITUTIONAL CONNECTIONS ............................................. 14

9 POLITICAL INTEREST ....................................................................................... 14

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1. SUMMARY

THE REPORT SUMMARIZES THE MAJOR FINDINGS OF WORKPACKAGE 3 OF THE MODAIR PROJECT.

2. INTRODUCTION

The ModAir project aims at designing and setting up a mode-overlapping forum, where representatives from the air, rail and urban transport as well as any other relevant actor will contribute to the development and improvement of co-modality and inter-modality for passengers in European airports. The interconnectivity at European airports is often still limited to urban transport, with very few (high-speed) train stations. Some of the existing intermodal links do not fully meet the passengers’ expectations, leading to low usage. ModAir has investigated the current state of inter-modality and co-modality at European airports, it will deliver a roadmap for future research and propose to the European Union a structured group of experts able to help choose the best ways of implementing the connectivity of airports with other transport modes. WP3 of the MODAIR project investigated the current and planned intermodal connections to airports. To this end the project looked at plans for new high speed rail connections, made an inventory of current intermodal connections and passenger services and collected the plans of airports to improve inter-modality as far as published in open sources. This deliverable will contribute towards this aim by providing a summary of the findings of WP3 based on evidence gathered from a comprehensive survey and consultation with intermodal experts. This deliverable will serve as:

A reference document for future initiatives in the frame of intermodal connections of airports

A starting point for the discussion in the MODAIR workshop planned to be held in Madrid mid September

An input for the future work to be developed by the European Forum on Airport Passenger Inter-modality (EFAPI).

3 AIRPORTS USED FOR COMMERCIAL FLIGHTS

There are about 2500 airports and aerodromes in Europe. MODAIR investigated more than 1270 airports by visiting the websites and gathering information via the WEB. Airports were classified as commercial airports, dual use airports where both civil commercial and military operations take place, military airports and General Aviation airports.

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A database of 543 commercial airports was constructed. These airports are used for commercial flights. A detailed analysis was made of these airports and the co-modal connections of the airports was mapped. Based on 2011 data, the following division was made:

Less than 100,000 passengers

Between 100,000 and 500,000 passengers

Between 500,000 passengers and 2 million

More than 2 million passengers

211 130 93 109

There are currently a number of new airports planned, constructed or reclassified from General Aviation to commercial operations. These include: Bulgaria: Gorna, Ruse, Stara Zagora Slovenia: Maribor Romania: Brasov Slovakia: Zilina Spain: Corvera Germany: Magdeburg, Kassel Calden (and Berlin Brandenburg) Poland: Modlin, Gdynia, Lublin, Radom, Szymany Portugal: A new Lisbon airport? Many regional airports serve seasonal traffic. The Low Cost Carriers (LCC) that operate on these airports serve leisure travel during the summer (and in some cases during the winter). The distances flown by LCC are in general beyond 600 km point to point. Low Cost Carriers have a market share of more than 38% in European air travel (see OAG graph below). In general, 70% of air travel is for leisure and under 30% for business trips.

Figure 1: Share of Low Cost Carriers in European air traffic ( Source OAG)

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4 AIRPORT CONNECTIVITY

The connectivity of all airports was investigated using data from the web, airport and airline websites, websites of other ground transport service providers as well as specific through requests to statistical offices and direct information from the airport management. In nearly all cases the relevant data concerning the number of movements, vicinity to towns, connectivity to other transport modes etc. could be established. The conclusion from this extensive search was as follows.

All airports can be accessed by car.

525 airports out of 543 are served by taxi. (97%)

379 airports are served by regular bus services. (70%)

56 airports are served by local rail and light rail/tram to nearby cities or regions. (10%) 11 airports are directly linked to long distance trains including high speed rail lines (2%). Besides Berlin Brandenburg airport in Berlin will soon be open. The airports are Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris CdG, Lyon, Frankfurt, Cologne, Zurich, Geneva, Barcelona, Budapest, Birmingham. Plans for connection to metro/light rail/tram exist for 16 airports apart from Berlin Brandenburg. These are: Leeds, Luton, Edinburgh, Bordeaux, Göteborg, Helsinki, Sofia, Tallin, Bologna, both airports in Bucharest, Gdansk, Wroclow, Kiev, Katowice, Bilbao and Tessaloniki. Direct airport connections to long distance trains/high speed trains are planned for Vienna, Paris Orly, Charleroi, Luxemburg, Heathrow and Manchester.

5 HIGH SPEED RAIL AND AVIATION

There is a distinct difference between rail transport and air travel. Rail transport focuses on massive numbers of passengers. Since in some European countries the railway tracks are well used and overcapacity is limited, flexibility to respond to changes in demand volumes is normally achieved by making trains longer, not by running more trains. Pricing systems are not clear as many rail connections are subsidized. Compared to air transport load factors are modest. In contrast air transport serves both HUB airports and regional airports in a flexible and cost efficient way. Flexibility is achieved by introducing more flights if demand is there. Load factors in aviation are high (more than 85% on average) which allows low fares. Low Cost Carriers use many solutions to keep prices down. Networked carriers focus on HUB and Spoke connections and higher service levels. As prices are low in air transport the main competitive element with rail is time and distance. There are a limited number of High Speed Rail connections in Europe but - thanks to a strong focus by the European Union - there are many plans to enlarge the network substantially.

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Figure 2: Current and planned high speed rail connections in Europe ( Source Amadeus) Compared to air transport, high speed rail travel can be more time efficient for point to point connections taking into account the total journey time. Very high speed trains (250km/hour) can be more time efficient over a distance up to 600 km. Experience has shown that there is some substitution taking place between air travel and high speed rail up to that distance for example in France and Spain. If trains run slower like the German ICE (Inter City Express high speed train), the distance is quickly reduced to about 300km. This is illustrated by the graph below: The picture shows distance versus total travel time including time needed to travel between an airport or train station and the point of departure and final destination. On short distances the train is faster.

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Figure 3: Total travel time versus distance of different travel modes ( Source Ad Cuenta) Current high speed rail planning may result in partial substitution of regional air travel especially in Spain, France and Denmark. If the plans in the UK are realized there may be substitution in the UK as well. A modest substitution effect may be expected in Finland, Italy, Sweden, Poland, Croatia, Germany, Greece and Portugal if all plans are executed. However due to the economic crisis some high speed rail planning is on hold. Eurocontrol is expecting that the growth in the number of European flights in 2030 may be reduced from 3.9% growth by 0.7% to 3.2% per annum if all plans are realized (and the European economy grows at an average 2.7% per annum). Rather than focussing on substitution the MODAIR focus should be on benefits of directly connecting air travel to high speed rail travel. This is relevant in those cases where airports are or can be directly connected to high speed rail. The benefits of offering a combined ticket for long haul flights and high speed train to regional airport connections are:

1. By substitution freeing airport slots, which is relevant for crowded HUB airports where runway capacity and slots are scarce

2. Creating additional airspace capacity which is scarce in Europe due to the large parts of airspace reserved for military operations

3. Enlarging the catchment area of HUB airports 4. Enabling airports to be interconnected via high speed rail, allowing a better

distribution of air traffic over different airports MODAIR analysed the effects of inter connectivity. It also looked at barriers for a closer relationship. Below is a reprint of a presentation addressing the issue:

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6 INTERMODAL AIRPORT INFORMATION

The websites of the 543 airports were reviewed to identify the intermodal information service currently available to passengers. Most websites have an English translation but still some do not have this facility. In some countries the websites of all airports have the same lay-out which is convenient. In those cases where one single company is responsible for managing several airports a uniform websites lay-out is also often used. Some websites provide information on the airport beyond the departures and arrivals schedules, like statistical information over the past month or years ( number of passengers, movements etc.), pictures of the airport and visiting planes, names of management and contact details. Most airports have a link on their websites to car rental, taxi, bus and rail companies and time schedules of bus and train connections. None have a customer oriented approach where the customer is automatically informed about intermodal connections from arrival at the airport to the final destination and vice versa. The current set up requires the passenger to visit several websites and to estimate the transit time.

7 SINGLE TICKET AND OTHER SERVICES

Already some airlines offer single tickets or combined tickets to passengers that allow a multi modal travel by plane and train. Examples are:

TGVair; A combined ticket offered for rail/ flight connections by TGV in France to Paris Charles de Gaulle and Orly

Figure 4: Combined Air France ticket (Source Air France booking system)

Air and Rail: a combined (return) ticket for travel from Brussels to Paris CdG airport.

Air and Rail: a combined ( return)ticket for travel from Brussels and Amsterdam.

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Rail and Fly: the opportunity to buy an airline ticket and a rail ticket at the same time in Germany.

Figure 5: A Lufthansa combined ticket ( Source Lufthansa booking system) Besides these ticketing possibilities there are services for luggage drop off for airline passengers at remote locations. In Vienna passengers can check in and drop off their luggage in down town Vienna as a service by selected airlines. FlyRail in Switzerland offers the possibility to drop off luggage at several railway stations in Switzerland before going to an airport. This allows passengers to travel to the airport without their luggage. The same facility existed in Germany, called AirRail. Although the service is still offered on internet it seems that the service has stopped due to lack of interest. This may partially be explained by the fact that internet check-in is now offered by airlines using modern social media which replaced remote physical check-in.. Low cost Carriers often use regional airports to avoid the high fees that need to be paid at HUB airports. As these airports are located outside the big cities, LCC cooperate with a direct bus connection to these cities. There is no single ticket but the time schedule of these busses match the departure and arrival times of the LCC aircraft. In bigger cities, airlines own their own bus company that offer a bus-link to the down town city. An example is Air France offering an Air France bus service to down town Paris. The passenger needs to buy a separate ticket for that service. Another service that is worth mentioning is the possibility to check in at the US customs at Dublin and Shannon airports, thus avoiding long queues when entering the USA.

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8 INTERMODAL INSTITUTIONAL CONNECTIONS

In the past KLM airline took a 10% share in Dutch high speed rail (NS: Nederlandse Spoorwegen) in the Netherlands to ensure a high speed connection to Brussels from Amsterdam airport. This would enlarge the catchment area of Schiphol airport as well. Due to the difficulties with the new high speed trains (the new Italian built Fyra trains are still not operational and the order has been cancelled) the share was withdrawn. It is interesting to notice that there is more cooperation within the same transport mode than between different modes. For example airlines cooperate amongst themselves especially when they are part of the same group like Sky Team, One World or Star Alliance. This enables them to share the codes and provide customers with tickets for onward travel with an associated airline at lower prices. The same intra modal agreements have been reached in the rail sector with the Interrail and Eurail passes. In air cargo, providers of parcel and mail services have an integrated transport chain from door to door. These integrator companies ( like DHL, FedEx and UPC) combine all transport modes within one company including aircraft, warehouses, vans etc. It seems that intermodal transport where more independent organisations need to work together is far more difficult to organize. What is important is the added benefit for mode operators to be involved in a multi modal transport chain. Such intermodal chains require organisation and administration and therefore create cost. These cost should be lower than the benefits expected from intermodal offerings. The basic benefit expected will be an increased number of passengers by enlarging the catchment area or offering better services than competitors. However there seems to be little incentives in the air transport industry as the load factor in European aviation is already extremely high at the moment and passenger numbers are increasing again.

9 POLITICAL INTEREST

There is a large political interest at the European Commission to achieve interoperability ( like the vehicle standards and the new European Rail Agency) as well as for inter-modality. Specifically the European Commission aims to develop a framework for an optimal integration of different modes so as to enable an efficient and cost-effective use of the transport system through the seamless, customer-oriented door-to-door service whilst favouring competition between transport operators. The Commissioner for Transport has already indicated the interest to implement a single ticket for a whole journey. The two ways in which the European Commission can promote single ticketing is by:

Providing incentives to the mode operators in case of market failure, or

Implementing legislation to enforce single ticketing

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MODAIR promotes the solution where private entities cooperate on a voluntary basis to achieve inter modal connections, rather than looking for new European legislation. Therefore the project wants to promote setting up EFAPI or European Forum on Airport Passenger Inter-modality as a platform where different service providers are united and working together to develop and improve the connectivity of airports with other transport modes.

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