At the ACI EUROPE General Assembly held in Cyprus, VINCI Airports was presented with two ACI Best Airports Awards – a benchmark in airport service quality – for its Lyon-Saint Exupéry and London Gatwick airports, acknowledging the effectiveness of the VINCI Airports model in creating a standout passenger experience.
VINCI Airports also reasserted its active contribution to meet the environmental challenges facing the aviation industry. As the world’s leading private airport operator, VINCI Airports operates 26 airports across five countries in Europe – 12 in France, 10 in Portugal and five in the European capitals of London, Lisbon, Belfast, Stockholm Skavsta and Belgrade – handling 135million passengers each year, which represents roughly 5% of the total number of passengers travelling on the continent.
Committed to quality of service for all passengers
In France, Lyon-Saint Exupéry Airport was voted the best airport in Europe in the 10-25 million passenger category. The judging panel commended the performance of the new terminal with enhanced intermodal connectivity, its state-of-the art operational control centre and the digitalization of the passenger journey. The judges also considered that the airport’s commitment to sustainable growth, environmental matters, and local community relations is exemplary.
In the UK, London Gatwick Airport was named the best airport in Europe in terms of accessibility for people with disabilities and persons with reduced mobility (PRM). The judges were impressed by the disability awareness training provided to airport staff, in particular the efforts made to assist passengers with hidden disabilities.
Making sustainable air travel possible – net zero CO2 emissions by 2050
In terms of environmental progress, VINCI Airports ratified ACI Europe’s commitment to achieve net zero CO2 emissions (i.e.without the use of offset) by 2050. The commitment falls within VINCI Airports’ ambitous AirPact strategy, which was launched in 2015 across all 46 of the airports in its global network. This strategy
is the first of its kind in the airport industry and has already enabled VINCI Airports to reduce its carbon footprint by 20% over the last four years.
Nicolas Notebaert, Chief Executive Officer of VINCI Concessions and Chairman of VINCI Airports, said, “for us at VINCI Airports, leadership means setting an example. As the world’s leading private airport operator, we consider it is our role to drive change in our industry. And that is what we are doing, proving it is possible to serve an everincreasing number of passengers in our airports while also improving our environmental performance and quality of service. At a time when people are more than ever on the move, we are paving the way to positive mobility by developing airport models that are more sustainable, more innovative and more inclusive. This is a key step to take to help aviation as a whole to continue to play its part as a strong catalyst of development worldwide.”
