Ground Access Strategies: Lessons from UK Airports?

Major airports are currently operating close to capacity and in the medium-long term air traffic is likely to grow, despite the effect of September 11 th 2001. One of the consequences will be increased airport ground access congestion and a deterioration of ground access time reliability. A major challenge for airports is to make efficient use of ground access capacity which is currently dominated by private car trips. In response to the problem in the UK, the Government has instructed 27 airports to lead an Airport Transport Forum comprising key stakeholders namely the airlines, airport owners, employers, local transport authorities, rail companies, bus companies, and local government. Each Forum is responsible for producing an Airport Surface Access Strategy (ASAS) in order to encourage more efficient use of ground access capacity and to attract more trips to airports by public modes of transport. The aim of this paper is to review the UK mechanisms for co-ordinating ground access and to compare and contrast the strategies proposed for reducing car dependency for surface access trips by employees to airports. Although there are differences in the operating context of US and UK airports this paper investigates: What lessons can be drawn from UK airports? The paper compares and contrasts the strategies of different sized UK airports and findings reveal evidence of good innovative practice for reducing car dependency and improving efficiency of ground access systems, with potential for transferability to the US airport environment.