Curaçao Airport Holding

“The future is now!” This mantra is both inspirational and provocative. What will YOU do TODAY to innovate the way we work and live? Knowledge has long been recognized as the prime condition for innovation, economic development and growth. Research has shown that a country’s prosperity is proportional to its development as a knowledge economy.

Text Jairo Lobo And Gonneke Van Den Kieboom

Curaçao is no exception to this principle and we need to expand our own potential to realize a sustainable future for our island as a central hub for intelligence, digital services, trade and innovation in our region. It’s this strategic opportunity that inspires Curaçao Airport Holding to take a leading role in future thinking.

CURAÇAO AIRPORT HOLDING: INNOVATOR ON A MISSION
Curaçao Airport Holding (CAH) is a government- owned, limited liability company that owns the Curaçao International Airport and surrounding terrains. CAH has leased out the operations of the airport to Curaçao Airport Partners (CAP), a subsidiary of the experienced international airport operator A-Port. “The airport is in good hands and this gives CAH ample opportunity to focus on its mission to increase air traffic, as well as acquire, develop, support and manage value-adding business activities and sustainable economic growth for Curaçao in a new airport city,” according to CAH Director, Maurice Adriaens. In order to succeed in its mission, Curaçao Airport Holding recognizes that it has various roles and responsibilities, not only towards its stakeholders, but also to Curaçao as a whole:
• As airport supervisor, CAH’s primary responsibility is guaranteeing a well-functioning quality airport, through monitoring of operations and reporting on performance. CAH also seeks to continuously improve the airport’s functioning through new investments.
• As air traffic developer, CAH proactively supports and assists in efforts to increase the volume and quality of air traffic to, from and through Curaçao.
• As innovator and area developer, CAH initiates development of the terrains surrounding the airport for economic activity, creating a high tech, 100% self-sufficient, green and sustainable airport city. Between all these ambitions, CAH recognizes its position as a government agency and assumes responsibility for excellence towards Curaçao and its people. CAH envisions the Curaçao International Airport to be a highly efficient airport servicing origin and destination traffic, connecting South America and the Caribbean to North America and Europe. The airport will be at the center of a dynamic airport city with both aviation and non-aviation businesses focusing on green, sustainable, innovative and knowledge-intensive industries, creating a powerful engine for the economic development of Curaçao. It will be the first 100% self-sufficient, green energy-based airport in the region, featuring such innovations as SaltWater Air Conditioning, Waste-to-Energy and Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion to generate electricity.

A STATE-OF-THE-ART COMPETITIVE AIRPORT
In its role as supervisor, CAH supervises the continuous daily operation of the international airport in compliance with the Development, Operation and Maintenance Agreement (DOMA) it signed with Curaçao Airport Partners (CAP) and in accordance with other applicable regulatory requirements. In addition, CAH ensures that a continuous improvement process is followed to keep the Curaçao airport competitive in its service and infrastructure provisions as the competitive environment and quality requirements change over time. The DOMA contains provisions to operate the services and facilities of the airport at a high quality standard. CAH’s key role in this is to verify compliance, which it does by carrying out regular inspections with frequent reporting and consultations with CAP. As the ultimate owner of the facilities, CAH wants to ensure that as time goes by, new systems are introduced and the facilities remain up to date. Quality standards in the DOMA are therefore regularly reviewed and clarified or changed when this happens.

CAH occasionally also invests in improvement of the airport through investments of its own. Commercial Developer Simon Kloppenburg explains why: “Long-term initiatives affect all stakeholders of the airport and may lead to requirements that services are improved upon or better coordinated to ensure a seamless total package to the customers and ultimately to the overall economic benefit for Curaçao. Long-term plans are therefore always discussed with all airport stakeholders and, as the supervisor, we play a central role in organizing and managing these discussions.”

HIGHER VOLUME AND BETTER QUALITY OF AIR TRAFFIC Identifying and creating opportunities to stimulate new air traffic to operate through Curaçao is a task that cannot be left solely to CAP as the operator of the airport. The volume and types of air traffic through Curaçao’s international airport have a direct effect on the expansion of the island’s hub function in the Pan-American region. The proposed airport city depends on it, but also feeds it. At the same time, the quality operation of the airport itself is also a determining factor in the attractiveness of Curaçao as a choice for services such as cargo transshipment, technical stops and transit of passengers to other destinations. “In this sense we can speak of a strong reciprocal development, which is why CAH’s role in all three of the aforementioned areas of development is equally as important”, says Director Adriaens. “The stimulation of additional air traffic of multiple types is key. The current majority of traffic in Curaçao is origin and destination traffic, consisting of locals, visiting business people, tourists and cargo destined to the island itself. The airport has a great potential to influence more discretionary traffic, such as technical stops and transshipment of cargo and passengers in transit to other destinations.” Looking to attain a central hub position between South America, the Caribbean, North America and Europe, Curaçao Airport Holding aims to achieve a competitive position and attract new business, through continued excellence in the total package of services: reasonable fuel prices, a fast turnaround, good cargo and passenger facilities and efficient immigration and customs processing.

In a more entrepreneurial sense, CAH also believes more traffic can be attracted by proactively building new facilities. For instance, in order to stimulate cargo transshipment, CAH seeks cooperating investors to prebuild warehouses for potential operators. To limit the risk factor, this needs to happen in lockstep with pre-identified operators when a compelling business case presents itself. Besides proactive expansion of facilities, CAH also contributes to airline incentive schemes to open up new strategically attractive air routes for passenger traffic, if they contribute to the vision of Curaçao’s hub function and the proposed airport city. In addition, CAH is looking to further expand the General Aviation niche in conjunction with CAP, by extending leases to new Fixed-base Operators (FBOs) for services such as ground handling, cargo, hospitality, fueling, hangars, tie-down and parking, aircraft rental, aircraft maintenance, flight instruction, etc.

ECONOMIC GROWTH THROUGH AREA DEVELOPMENT
The final pillar of CAH’s mission is achieving significant new investments in diverse economic activities for the new Curaçao Airport City. When talking about this subject, Adriaens sounds most determined. He says: “Dreams consist of thoughts and visions; innovation exists in the perseverance to turn these thoughts into actions. Curaçao Airport Holding has full control of over 450 hectares (1100 acres) of land around the airport, of which around 200 hectares (494 acres) are suitable for immediate development. In this designated area, CAH aims to develop a 100% green, self-sustaining, innovative and high tech airport city. This development will provide a major boost to Curaçao’s overall economic growth and will put Curaçao on the map as the #1 business hub in the Pan- American Region.” Curaçao Airport City will offer over 1 million square meters of rentable space to support high-tech, time sensitive and freight forwarding companies. A free trade zone and exhibition centers will facilitate trade and business between the continents. More importantly, it will bring new and sustainable forms of economic activity to the island, by increasing employment and educational possibilities and the general quality of life of our community as a whole. Simon Kloppenburg is excited about the plans: “CAH’s visionary plan for Curaçao Airport City is so much more than just another airport. We are talking about new hotels, offices, warehouses, universities, housing, sporting & entertainment facilities and ecological industries.” CAH takes the lead as the driving force and coordinating authority to get the first projects going and motivate private investors to participate. New businesses prefer to operate in innovative, environmentally-conscious green industries. This ensures the quality and the strict positioning of the airport city and subsequently CAH’s long-term value. One of CAH’s first partners in this effort is a Spaceport for commercial space travel, operated by the Space Expedition Corporation.

But Space Travel is definitely not the only good thing to come to Curaçao in the near future. CAH also actively invests in the necessary infrastructure, as well as the energy and cost saving technology of SeaWater Air Conditioning in order to facilitate further development. CAH also provides incentives to stimulate strategic developers, in the form of seed capital and co-investments in strategic projects. CAH promotes the economic opportunities in the airport city, positioning Curaçao as the “Safe and Sustainable Gateway to and from Latin America,” specifically identifying and targeting high-potential prospects and providing them with the necessary information for their decision making. CAH acts as intermediary to obtain government permits, licenses, and other decisions; as advisor, coordinator or matchmaker between parties; and as general source of knowledge. Finally, in order to safeguard the character of the airport city concept, CAH has developed a number of criteria that act as a guideline for the continued development of the area and warranty of quality to potential investors.

INNOVATION AND SUSTAINABILITY
Curaçao Airport Holding strongly believes that economic growth is only warranted, and even only feasible, if it is done in a responsible, environmentally friendly and sustainable manner. Therefore, CAH aims to not just attract business to the new Curaçao Airport City, but to specifically target investments in progressive industries, such as Eco-, Agri- and Aquaculture plants. “As a stimulus and a precondition for the 100% green and self-sufficient character of the airport city, CAH will also initiate building and operating sustainable and green innovations, such as a SeaWater Air Conditioning network, a waste-to-energy system and Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion for the generation of electricity”, director Adriaens adds.

SeaWater Air Conditioning: an imperative precondition
An indispensable condition for the successful development of Curaçao Airport City is to supply all tenants with affordable and sustainable energy and cooling. The SeaWater Air Conditioning (SWAC) system is one of the most important investments in this respect and a huge benefit to potential investors and operators because of its vast cost-cutting potential. The system is already being successfully employed in numerous coastal areas around the world (e.g. the US, Canada and Bora Bora) and has abundantly proven its value. It pumps cold seawater from a depth of 600m to the surface, where it acts as a coolant in a heat exchanger. This central air-conditioning system uses only a tenth of the energy of conventional air conditioners and it doesn’t use harmful refrigerants, making it more environmentally friendly. The proposed SWAC facility is an exemplary illustration of how CAH stimulates development by providing a business-friendly airport city through innovative, green investments. Commercial Developer Kloppenburg emphasizes, “SWAC cuts the energy needed for cooling by nearly 90%. Besides realizing considerable cost savings, it also makes the airport city and Curaçao as a whole much less dependent on the fluctuating prices of fossil fuels. Consequently this will improve our global economic position.”

GRABBING THE BULL BY THE HORNS: THE FUTURE IS NOW!
We can safely say that the Curaçao airport and its surroundings benefit from several existing strengths and opportunities, affording us plenty of options for extensive development of the airport as a regional hub and the accelerated development of surrounding terrains for new economic activities. Adriaens concludes: “One of our main goals is to ensure that any new development yields a considerable positive spinoff for the island’s economy. Green and sustainable investments will function as a magnet for research and development and educational industries, leading to impressive long-term educational opportunities, economic growth and job creation.” Together with conservation of the surrounding environment through sustainable infrastructure plans, Curaçao Airport City promises to have a positive socio-economic impact on the island, with the highest level of green and sustainable consciousness. The only question that remains is: “what are we waiting for?”

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