Airports and Uber 2016: Transportation Network Companies now more welcome at airports. CAPA report
CAPA recently conducted a new survey of airports and their relations with and attitudes towards Uber and other Transportation Network Companies (TNCs). This follows a shorter questionnaire-based report published in Nov-2015.
TNCs are just one of the many methods of peer-to-peer car (or ride) sharing that are catching on globally as a result of the high costs of motoring and hiring traditional taxis, allied to the use of advanced technology platforms. They are the ultimate, most evident and visible statement of the sharing society - and millennials are the biggest adopters.
Peer-to-peer networking is a distributed application architecture that partitions tasks or workloads between peers. Peers are equally privileged, equipotent participants in the application. They are said to form a peer-to-peer network of nodes.
While the direct peer-to-peer rental of motor vehicles where the renter drives for a short period of time (e.g. one to two hours) - either by corporations, through car clubs or even via manufacturers - in order (for example) to access or leave an airport is still in its infancy relatively speaking, the business of the TNCs is growing rapidly. Car sharing is expected to generate USD6.2 billion in annual revenues by 2020, from 12 million members worldwide. That revenue will increase as and when the TNCs move to corner that segment for themselves as well.
- TNCs (Transportation Network Companies) like Uber are rapidly growing in the global market, with Uber being the dominant player.
- TNCs have disrupted traditional taxi systems and have had a significant impact on airports, leading to new ways of thinking and providing new ideas to the airline industry.
- The report provides a comprehensive summary of various TNCs, including Uber, and their operations.
- The potential for seamless surface-air-surface travel using TNCs is unlimited, with frequent business travelers embracing the convenience of TNCs.
- The report discusses the evolving relationship between airports and TNCs, including the impact on airport car parking revenues.
- The report also highlights the challenges and opportunities for TNCs in the aviation sector, including legal and employment matters, and the potential for future aviation linkages.
How a rigid and unresponsive taxi system provided an opening for innovation
The introduction of Uber into popular usage has had a dramatic impact across much of the developed world.
Anywhere a monopolistic and legacy taxi system existed that structure has been prone to disruption, with cheaper service and more convenient use of modern technology.
Major investors have been willing to fund the new Transportation Network Companies to unprecedented levels. There is risk, as rigid national structures are challenged, but one way or another the system has been changed irrevocably.
Inevitably it has also had a direct impact on airports, where TNC usage has blossomed; indirectly too the movement has given rise to new ways of thinking, both in connecting into the airline system and in providing new ideas to the airline industry itself.
This CAPA report contains a comprehensive summary of the various TNCs in operation today - led by a large margin by Uber. It also describes the outcome of a September questionnaire to airport around the world of their various attitudes to the use of TNCs and how they have adapted - or not - to their on-airport operations.
"I don't care what leftists say about greedy private industry companies, not a single one of them are as money-grubbingly greedy as a government with the ability to enforce a tax."
The Index from the report gives a flavour of the content of this 70-page wrap of the key issues:
Airports and Uber 2016: Transportation Network Companies now more welcome at airports
INTRODUCTION.............................................................................................................................04
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY................................................................................................................05
PART 1: THE EVOLUTION OF TRAVEL NETWORK COMPANIES
TNCS IN A NUTSHELL ...................................................................................................................09
How the model works
MARKET LEADER UBER:
IPO DELAYED BUT ALTERNATIVE FUNDING ROUNDS ROLL ON.......................................10
Uber's value estimated at over USD60 million
THE TNC BUSINESS IS GLOBALISING RAPIDLY AND THE
FIRST MOVERS ARE CHALLENGED ALREADY .......................................................................12
Chart: Market share of TNCs by country/region
Chart: TNCs by market size
Uber is by far the global leader in terms of applications use
WHO THE MAIN PLAYERS ARE.....................................................................................................15
Table: The better known TNCs and related companies
Disrupters in danger of being disrupted
PART 2: TNCS AND THE AVIATION SECTOR
THE POTENTIAL FOR SEAMLESS SURFACE-AIR-SURFACE TRAVEL IS UNLIMITED.......26
Frequent Business travellers warm to the TNCs because of app accessibility
GBTA survey - millennials leading the way in adopting new travel modes
But there is a philosophical challenge to contend with
TNCS IN THE AIR ..............................................................................................................................28
Co-operation with business jets
THE STATUS OF AIRPORT-TNC RELATIONS IN 2015...................................................................30
THE EVOLUTION OF THE TNC BUSINESS IN 2016......................................................................34
1. Technical ...........................................................................................................................................34
Uber to offer self-driving cars; others to follow
But self-drive cars would adversely affect the business model
Uber trialling 'Scheduled Rides' - advance bookings
Uber also trialling travelcards
Lyft enables airport drop-off location to be detailed on app The ying TNC?
2. Legal and employment matters.............................................................................................................37
Customer safety concerns continue to predominate but may not be justi ed
The TNC pricing mechanism and its implications for the model in the future
3. The taxi rms' fight back continues........................................................................................40
Differing attitude towards TNCs and taxis at Australian airports as that country shapes up to be the next taxi-TNC battleground
The TNC vs. taxi debate opens a can of worms with the public
4. Negative impact on airport car parking revenues is emerging.................................................................44
5. How airports are adapting (or not) to TNCs in 2016...............................................................................45
Table of airports allowing TNC pickups (Uber, Lyft), Jul-2016
6. How US airports are administering TNCs ............................................................................................. 47
Table of TNC-related events at commercial airports, Apr to Sep-2016
FUTURE DIRECTIONS FOR TNCS AND POTENTIAL FOR AVIATION LINKAGES .......................57
RESULTS OF THE 2016 CAPA AIRPORTS TNC SURVEY....................................................................58
Analysis of 2016 survey results
APPENDIX .................................................................................................................................................64
2015 survey questions and responses
For a copy of the report (USD295 to non-CAPA Members, free to CAPA Members), please contact info@centreforaviation.com