Growing demand and capacity of airports

The future development of European air traffic will be characterized by profound structural changes in the economic and political framework in which air transport is presently taking place. Therefore, it is difficult to estimate future demand figures which are necessary to plan the future capacity of the whole air-traffic infrastructure. The airports are only one component in an archaic system which fails to keep pace with growing demand. The possibilities for increasing airport capacities are significantly limited. In Germany, for example, it is almost impossible to build new or to modernize existing airports due to sophisticated juristic and administrative procedures. This article analyzes trends of future air-traffic demand and describes the capacity problems of the main German airports. This is followed by an outline of feasible strategies for solving existing and looming capacity problems of airports.