Blue Skies or Turbulence Ahead? The sustainability of regional airports Event

Plans for the expansion of Southampton Airport, a regional airport in the UK, have recently been impacted by the Covid pandemic and legal opposition. The Southampton experience also mirrors developments at other airports across the UK in recent years, whether regional or larger, London airport hubs. Combined, such episodes highlight an ongoing tension between national government commitments to environmental sustainability, local socio-economic business cases and political processes, and wider public views. Importantly, these competing dynamics are not just specific to the UK but similar accounts are evident across EU, Asian, and South American countries.

 

Given this, the webinar comes at significant point in time, and aims to contribute to discussion on democratic futures around the sustainability of regional air travel. It provides a forum for key perspectives, thinking and lessons around the topic. Intended to be accessible, informative, and concise, the event will be of interest to policy makers, NGOs, academics and the wider public. To facilitate discussion on the day, the webinar will provide time for a Q&A session after the input of the invited expert speakers.

 

The webinar will be introduced by Prof. Silke Roth, Professor of Sociology, and moderated by Dr. Brian Moss, Lecturer in Criminology, both based at the University of Southampton.

 

Speakers:

Christiaan Behrens

Assistant Professor at the department of Spatial Economics Vrije Universititeit Amsterdam and Senior Researcher at SEO Amsterdam Economics. He is also a Director of Airneth, the worldwide scientific network for aviation research and policy in the Netherlands. Chris combines quantitative and qualitive methods to study the interaction between transport economics, competition, marketing, and consumer behavior. He regularly publishes in scientific and professional journals about transport economics, with a special focus on aviation economics. The functioning of loyalty programs and aviation networks are important topics in his current research.

 

Lucy Budd

Professor of Air Transport Management in the Faculty of Business and Law at De Montfort University in Leicester. Her research addresses many aspects of air transport policy and operations worldwide, including sustainability, airline and airport business models, and air transport accessibility. Lucy has published over 100 scientific journal papers and book chapters and edited 14 books in the area of air transport management. She is also an Editor of the transport journal Research in Transportation Business and Management.

 

Angela Cotton

Angela is a member of Southampton Friends of the Earth and AXO (Airport Expansion Opposition) Southampton. She is Co-Chair of Transition Southampton, a community organisation focused on sustainability issues. Angela runs the Southampton Repair Café and is an active member of Southampton and District Green Party and Southampton Cycling Campaign.

 

Carlos Monterrubio

Carlos received his PhD in Tourism from the Manchester Metropolitan University, UK. He is a lecturer and tourism researcher at the Autonomous University of the State of Mexico, Mexico. He has undertaken research on the perceived sociocultural impacts on tourism in Mexico, and gender and sexuality diversity in tourism. He has undertaken research projects with international collaboration and published several papers in well-established tourism journals.