Airport Show to feature 200 brands; focus on sustainability

The 22nd edition of the Airport Show, the world’s largest annual airport industry B2B platform taking place in Dubai from May 9 to 11, will connect over 200 aviation brands and 100 buyers from over 30 aviation authorities from 20 countries.

With a sharp focus on sustainability and innovation, the event will be held under the theme “Together in Innovating Future Sustainable Airports”. Over its three-day run at the Dubai World Trade Centre, it will highlight ways sustainable aviation can contribute to the UN Sustainable Development Goals and Airports Council International’s Sustainability Strategy through improved service quality, widening infrastructure development, and ensuring safe and efficient operations by all the stakeholders.

As the expanded, evolved version of the e-Apron at 2022 edition, the Sustainable Apron, in continued partnership with dnata, will feature ground handling equipment and services that enable airports in their sustainability goals.  Innovation Trail will be a bespoke customer experience which includes an impressive line-up of breakthrough innovations from leading airport suppliers in more than 20 countries.

Sustainability Trail will have a strong focus on products and services that enable regional airports to shape their roadmaps to sustainability this year. The products that will be considered in this trial are those supporting airports in reducing CO2 emissions and promoting operational efficiencies at airports.  

Also taking place on its sidelines will be four industry-specific exhibitions and conferences.  It will be held under the patronage of Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President of Dubai Civil Aviation Authority, Chairman of Dubai Airports and Chairman and Chief Executive of Emirates Airline and Group.

It will see over 4,500 visitors, with global exhibitors. Its organizer hopes this breaks the previous records. Last year’s edition drew 4,200-plus attendees from 71 countries, over 160 exhibitors from 23 countries and 100-plus hosted buyers from 23 countries along with five country pavilions.

May Ismail, Event Manager at Reed Exhibitions Middle East, its organizer, said environmental impacts and energy efficiency in the medium-and-long term are among the key areas of concern and focus by airports in operating their facilities and services. It includes energy consumption in the heating, lighting and cooling of a terminal and for powering systems that support the daily operations of an airport, including passenger services, ground vehicles and airside services.

SITA, the world’s leading specialist in air transport communications and IT, has found 73 per cent of airports working to have in place by 2024 policies/physical systems that promote energy savings.  Its report confirms airports implementing renewable energy usage and smarter infrastructure controls.

By 2024-end, 62 per cent of airports will have policies or frameworks in place that includes environmental impacts and lifecycle management controls. The airports are focusing on the environmental impacts of the technology and plans to implement newer solutions to drive greater efficiencies and support their de-carbonization efforts.

Raed Younes, UAE & Regional Business Development, dnata, said: “dnata, part of the Emirates Group, provides ground handling, cargo, travel, flight catering and retail services in 38 countries across six continents. In 2022, dnata successfully launched an e-Apron at the Airport Show 2022 with the support of the event organiser, RX Global.

“At its 2023 edition, the Sustainable Apron will be even bigger and better, featuring advanced ground support equipment (GSE) and the latest technologies that significantly enhance environmental efficiency at airports. In 2022, dnata committed US$ 100 million to implement green technology and initiatives across its businesses to achieve its strategic objective and reduce its carbon footprint by 50% by 2030.

“In recent years, the company has significantly invested in advanced technologies to optimise resources and improve operational efficiency across its facilities. It installed renewable energy features, such as solar panels, heat recovery units and electric vehicle charging at its existing facilities and will also incorporate carbon reduction initiatives in the construction and operation of its recently announced new cargo centres in The Netherlands and Iraq.”

He added: “Choosing green options is a prime consideration in dnata’s fleet planning, too. It has increased investments in electric and hybrid ramp, ground support and forklift equipment, and refurbished existing GSE with new technologies to further decrease emissions and update them to the latest safety and quality standards. As a result, dnata became the first ground handler to successfully complete green aircraft turnarounds using only zero-emission GSE in the USA and UAE. In the financial year 2021-22, dnata’s customer-oriented teams handled over 527,000 aircraft turns, moved 3 million tonnes of cargo, uplifted 39.9 million meals, and recorded a total transaction value (TTV) of travel services of US$ 632 million.”

Erik Velderman, CEO, TKH Airport Solutions, said the company has been seeing a growing interest from the Middle East region for sustainable innovations. In the airfield ground lighting business,  innovations like smart airfield lighting, individual lamp control and implementation of  ‘Floating Follow-the-Greens’ technologies have become hot topics.

TKH’s CEDD airfield ground lighting technology is gaining traction in the region the technologies have been providing the tools for airports to become more efficient airside, reduce operations cost and increase revenue by through efficient slot sales.