Integrating Air Cargo Road Feeder Services into Green Transport Corridors

Abstract

Although European regional airports contribute considerably to regional accessibility of peripheral and remote regions as well as to socio-economic development, it might be stated that they face severe challenges nowadays. The number of loss making regional airports in Europe keeps increasing. The EU Commission has clearly stated that the public support and financial aids cannot be seen as a sustainable stimulation measure for efficient and durable airports’ operations any longer, i.e. the public support to regional and small airports in Europe will be cut. Nevertheless, regional airports can play the role as motors for regional development and growth. On the other hand, the EU introduced and promoted Green Transport Corridor concept as a cornerstone for the development of integrated and sustainable transport solutions based on trans-nationality, multi-modality and a high involvement of public and private stakeholders, including the political level. A limited research has been executed about the integration of regional airports into Green Transport Corridors and which role road feeder services can play in this context. This paper investigates potential role of air cargo and especially road feeder services for the integration of regional airports into Green Transport Corridors as well as favorable conditions for sustainable regional development. Based on the empirical results of these projects, the research focuses on the different concept of Road Feeder Services or “air trucking services” for air cargo and their possible role for the integration of regional airports into Green Transport Corridors. Special attention is paid to the discussion of the tentative role of the air cargo security regulations for third countries in Europe (ACC3) as well as to possible integration air cargo into the concept of Green Transport Corridors. Since the action research of this study was executed in the Baltic Sea region, the presented results includes specifics of this region.