Rebecca Maloney
Americas Press Office ,Boston
Arup developed a study on the airport infrastructure in Fortaleza, Recife, and Natal to help LATAM Airlines Group implement the first domestic and international flight connection centre in Northeast Brazil.
LATAM Airlines Group, the largest airline group in Latin America, presented their airport infrastructure analysis on 15 October to the State Departments of the three states involved, as well as to federal officials from Brazil’s Department for Civil Aviation and National Civil Aviation Agency.
To inform the Group’s analysis determining the location of the hub, we conducted an independent analysis of the existing infrastructure at the passenger and cargo terminals of the three airports to highlight improvements and investments required to guarantee the feasibility of the LATAM Airlines Group hub in its initial phase of development, as well as over time.
“Arup’s study supports one of the three decision criteria established by the LATAM Airlines Group to implement the hub: the quality of the airport infrastructure. And it’s also connected to the other two: the customer experience and the cost competitiveness. With the data from the analysis, we will continue to evaluate the development plan for each of the airports.
Claudia Sender, CEO of TAM S/A, a brand of LATAM Airlines Group.
As primary assumptions, Arup used projections of aircraft and passenger traffic during peak hours for the period from 2018 to 2038, based on data provided by LATAM Airlines Group and independent growth projections from other airlines. Through these assumptions, we evaluated and structured alternatives for the airport infrastructure development that would be required for each of the three airports involved.