Some 850 representatives from airports around the world are meeting this week at the Palau de Congresos de Fira Montjuïc for the annual assembly of the Airports Council International (WAGA), the most important meeting for the airport and aeronautical sector despite its limited size. Conferences and talks on the future of aviation in the auditorium are mixed with the seventy stands occupying the ground floor.
As in the rest of the congresses hosted by the city, some of the latest innovations in the sector are exhibited, whether modern escalators or systems to get a trolley for luggage like one takes a cart in the supermarket. This last example is led by a company with Spanish participation, one of the few national ones present in this edition of WAGA. It is APS International, which integrates the Salamanca-based Global Exchange, a world leader dedicated to currency exchange. The company has created a system to manage carts that it already applies in airports in the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Turkey, Colombia, and Morocco, where this service has been outsourced and travelers have to pay or leave a deposit.
One of the most prominent stands is that of the catering group Areas, the only Catalan company at the meeting, for whom WAGA is serving as an opportunity to meet and have meetings with sector representatives, seduced by the ham and wine offered at their stand. After taking over the bulk of the catering offer in Barajas, the company detects how other business lines are gaining strength, such as establishments in train stations ---it has a presence in Sants, Atocha, Chamartín, and Valencia Joaquín Sorolla---, and markets such as the American one, where it operates on three highways ---it has just won a new one, in West Virginia--- and 10 airports, awaiting the resolution of tenders in some of its main hubs. With 20,000 restaurants spread across 10 countries and a global workforce of 20,000 employees, the company led by Óscar Vela expects to exceed pre-pandemic revenues this year, which stood at 1.9 billion euros in 2019.
In the Palau de Congresos of Fira de Barcelona, one also comes across a laser system to anonymously measure the users in an airport, being able to know where they are, how they move, and how they use services, with the aim of improving operations and security. It is presented by the French company Outsight, with a Spaniard as founding president, Raul Bravo, and based in Alicante, as well as in the United States, United Kingdom, Belgium, and Hong Kong. Currently, their system is being tested in the Parisian airports of Charles de Gaulle and Orly.
Other companies participating in the event are Exolum, the former Compañía Logística de Hidrocarburos (CLH), dedicated to the storage, transport, and on-board delivery of fuel, and Gesnaer, focused on developing engineering and architecture projects for airports, with Aena as its main client. Based in Madrid and with offices in Barcelona, it is also working on innovative proposals, such as a remote air traffic control tower, already testing it in Menorca, and a system of compartments where one can pick up luggage upon arrival at the destination, thus avoiding the thought that someone might take it.
Record attendance in Barcelona
From Monday to Wednesday, attendees at WAGA have been able to learn about the novelties presented at the stands, as well as hear the concerns of the sector, such as regulation and airport fees. "Events like this boost Barcelona's international projection," states the president and CEO of Aena, Maurici Lucena. In this regard, the director general of Airports Council International (ACI) Europe, Olivier Jankovec, adds that they chose the Catalan capital because it is "a very attractive global city," knowing that potential congress attendees they wanted to attract would have no problems spending a few days there. In fact, the organizers expect to break an attendance record this year. ACI is made up of 712 members operating in some 2,000 airports in 171 countries. It meets every year, but visits a different region. Its last visit to Europe was five years ago, stopping in Brussels.
Likewise, Lucena has taken advantage of the meeting to demand an institutional agreement to expand El Prat, after the rejection that occurred two years ago due to its environmental impact and on tourist pressure. "The main objective remains to try to convince Barcelona, Catalonia and Spanish society that it is very important to reach an institutional agreement with the Generalitat that allows Aena to expand the Barcelona Airport, as we are convinced that the value it will bring is very relevant," he explains. Lucena has found the ACI representatives as allies. "Connectivity is a key factor to position oneself on the map and the airport, as it is now, has limitations," defends Jankovec, recognizing that the environmental impact it may entail must be assessed, but without forgetting the competitive advantage that will be achieved compared to other destinations if it is expanded.