Airport strategy, infrastructure crucial for growth in LatAm

PANAMA CITY — Airport infrastructure is critical to growth and efficiency between operators, Joao Pita , chief commercial and cargo officer at Sao Paulo/Guarulhos International Airport, said during a presentation at Cargo Facts LATAM 2024 on May 14. Without modern infrastructure and a set network strategy, it is challenging to grow operations efficiently, he said. [caption id="attachment_57143162" align="alignleft" width="300"] Joao Pita, chief commercial and cargo officer at Sao Paulo/Guarulhos International Airport, discusses improving airport infrastructure at Cargo Facts LATAM 2024 on May 14. (Photo/Cargo Facts)[/caption] Sao Paulo/Guarulhos ( GRU ), Brazil’s largest cargo airport, has grown in the past decade, moving 664,500 tonnes of air cargo in 2023, up from 250,000 tonnes 10 years ago, Pita said. The airport has a 56% share of Brazil’s air cargo market, he said. GRU recently invested $125 million to expand its 145,000-square-meter warehouse to 300,000 square meters by 2025, Pita said. The hope is that, in the next year, forwarders will sign 25- to 30-year contracts for the warehouse space, Pita said. Challenges ahead However, challenges loom concerning airport expansion, and they are not exclusive to GRU. An economic downturn and other trends, including e-commerce growth , are not easily predicted, making some warehouse investments and updated infrastructure a hard sell to shareholders, Pita said. “How can the airport community build warehouses that are capable of such growth and how you can convince the shareholders that this growth will come?” he said. There are four areas to consider when growing a network or expanding airport operations that can help implement a solid airport strategy, Pita said, including: Infrastructure; Quality of service; Regulatory environment; and Airport community. Each area draws some operational complexity, Pita said. “If you have a hub ... you have a lot of stakeholder engagement and you have a lot of people to talk with,” Pita said. “But if you have a smaller airport — a regional airport — you have your community, you have your population, you have the people that you serve as an airport,” he said. “You can have smaller warehousing, big warehousing, you can have dedicated warehousing or you can have common warehousing. So it’s not a one-size-fits-all approach.” Airports of all sizes must encourage growth by building warehouses with modern technology to increase efficiency and by sharing data to encourage transparency of operating systems, Pita said. The process can be gradual. Small steps can help airports achieve growth, he said. “Maybe AI will change everything we are doing,” he said. But it is important “to keep your core business. Don’t try to do what the other airports are doing just because they are doing it. If you [keep your core business], you might be more well-positioned to be a successful airport.” Air Cargo Next has launched a business directory listing cargo carriers, service providers and technology companies. Each category has sub-categories, allowing users to find the right business to meet their needs. Users can also add their businesses to the directory and claim existing entries. Visit the Air Cargo Next Directory here.

Airport strategy, infrastructure crucial for growth in LatAm

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