Rethinking Renovation│Whitepaper

A new era in airport development

Since European and North-American airports started developing in the 1950s and -60s, airport development has evolved through distinct phases. The first era, the Jet Age (1965-1995), was characterized by rapid expansion and growth, driven by increasing air traffic and the need to build capacity. This was followed by a second era, an “Age of Economies” (1995-2025), focused on the optimization and efficient use of existing infrastructure. Today, the industry is entering a third era: the Age of Renovation. With much of the infrastructure now over 60 years old and reaching the end of its lifespan, the focus has shifted towards how to renovate existing infrastructure while maintaining operations.

The coming decades are critical: renovation is becoming increasingly urgent and a new central driver of future airport development.

Delayed /Localized /Minimal renovation is not an option

Because of their complexity and their impact on operational capacity, major interventions in airports are approached with caution. On the one hand, there is a strong objective to maximize asset lifespan utilization. On the other hand, the practice of “sweating the assets” increases the risk of technical failure and, in the long-term, contributes to the accumulation of renovation (and financial) backlog for the coming years.

To address this, renovation should be framed as part of a structured lifecycle strategy, defining a planned sequence of recurring, comprehensive interventions aimed at maintaining and restoring asset condition within acceptable performance limits.

The scope is critical: Small, localized renovation works are cost ineffective and do not have the necessary scope to sustain acceptable performance levels. Regular, comprehensive renovation interventions keep the infrastructure fit for purpose.

Multiple renovation drivers and a long-term impact

While asset management is a well-established discipline, its application to operationally constrained environments and complex interlinked systems such as airports remains a struggle. Benchmarks show broad awareness of the importance of lifecycle‑based asset management strategies, as well as a shift towards larger, clustered renovation programs—reflecting the fact that many assets now require demolition or complete stripping of
building components rather than minor interventions.

However, a system‑level, long‑term perspective is often missing: the availability of spare traffic capacity to absorb the impact of such major works is rarely addressed, and constantly evolving ambitions related to capacity, sustainability, operational concepts, industry innovation or financial planning are insufficiently integrated.

As the renovation interventions are expected to last for decades, it becomes essential to maximize synergies with long-term and strategic objectives. Failing to do so risks costly construction projects having to be revisited or adjusted, because they did not meet future expectations, or lacked sufficient capacity flexibility.

Airport development in brownfield environments must transition to comprehensive strategies that integrate and balance lifecycle-based renovation with broader, strategic ambitions.

HOW TO APPROACH THE RENOVATION CHALLENGE

strategies at System Level

Given the operational impact and long-term significance of major interventions, there is a need to plan these well in advance and to have a comprehensive overview of the entire infrastructure system and all renovation activities. The objective of system-level renovation strategies is to manage complexity by structuring renovation planning in line with asset lifecycles:

1. Division of the infrastructure system into logically homogeneous objects.

2. Assessment of the technical status of each object.

3. Distribution of renovation interventions along a lifecycle-based timeline. At the end of its lifespan, each object should undergo one comprehensive (heavy) renovation.

These comprehensive renovations have a positive impact not only on the technical condition of individual objects, but on the technical condition of the overall system. The remaining challenge lies in defining how renovation interventions should be prioritized across the system.

Strategy through data driven prioritization

Technical condition and asset age alone are not the only relevant drivers that determine the priority of renovation measures. As mentioned before, airport infrastructure is a complex ecosystem in which financial, operational, capacity, and safety & security considerations are all drivers that may trigger renovation projects. In addition, emerging ambitions are constantly evolving with the industry's development and ongoing innovation. Traffic demand itself is also a dynamic and uncertain variable.

The most effective strategy is therefore one that optimally balances these diverse drivers while aligning with overarching corporate objectives.

The complexity of this task can only be addressed through continuously updated, data‑driven models, fed by quantifiable airport data.

This enables the development of decision‑support tools that simulate the implications of different renovation scenarios across multiple key performance indicators (KPIs) over time, thereby supporting informed and transparent prioritization of renovation measures.

THE NEW WAY OF AIRPORT DEVELOPMENT PLANNING

to airport transformation

Given the scale and long-term impact of major renovation moments, and the expectation that assets remain largely unchanged for decades, these regularly scheduled interventions represent a valuable opportunity to integrate renovation with innovation and broader strategic objectives.

In this sense, rethinking renovation also means rethinking airport masterplanning. This shift requires integrating renovation strategies with long-term development strategies, resulting in a new approach to airport planning. While traditionally driven by capacity expansion, future master planning must also consider:

• Built-in spare capacity to maintain operations during major renovation works
• Greater flexibility, to adapt to unforeseen changes in use and operations over time
• Additional drivers, such as sustainability, that require existing
infrastructure to meet current and future standards.

This strategic approach should be applied across all airport domains, including terminal buildings, airside infrastructure, baggage handling systems, and landside assets.

Ultimately, renovation must be reframed from a technical necessity into a strategic lever for transformation, defining airport development planning in the decades ahead.