• COVID-19
• Other research productsclose
• 2014-2023close
• Open Access close
• Other ORP type close
• English close
• Transport Research close
• COVID-19 close

Over the past two years (2018-2019) European aviation has been confronted with serious capacity challenges and high levels of delay. Subsequently, the Covid-19 pandemic has revealed that the European airspace system lacks resilience and the ability to absorb demand shocks, be these in the form of increases or drops in air traffic. The provision of Air Traffic Management (ATM) data services holds the potential to boost the system’s resilience while enabling the development of virtual centers. Virtual centers, in turn, can make it possible to shift capacities in times of crisis of the kind we are facing today, where, for instance, a significant reduction of the capacity in one center may be needed. Building upon the first workshop on Enabling ATM Data Services, this second workshop aimed to share the latest progress made on the European Commission’s study as well as to provide an opportunity for an open discussion with key stakeholders. This brief summarises the presented results and captures the main reactions received to the study.

Around 75% of European cargo transport operations in terms of ton-kilometers are performed by trucks, which, in turn, entail massive environmental and societal impacts. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, road freight was projected to increase by around 40% by 2030 and by little over 80% by 2050. To support the greening of cargo operations, the European Green Deal calls for a substantial part of the inland freight traffic to shift away from road towards cleaner modes such as rail, inland waterways and short-sea shipping. The subsequent Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy stipulates that rail freight traffic should increase by 50% by 2030 and double by 2050, whereas transport by inland waterways and short sea shipping should increase by 25% by 2030 and by 50% by 2050. In this context, the European Commission has pledged to substantially revamp the framework for multimodal transport by revising the Combined Transport Directive, among other instruments. The scarcity of transhipment infrastructure, and of inland multimodal terminals, in particular, would need to be addressed, and missing links in multimodal infrastructure closed. Moreover, work is underway to establish a common framework for the harmonised measurement of transport and logistics-related greenhouse gas emissions based on global standards. This stands to empower consumers and businesses to make more sustainable delivery and transport choices through the provision of adequate information on the climate footprint as well as on the available alternatives of their deliveries. Inspired by the discussions at the 8th Florence Intermodal Forum, this policy brief reflects on the various measures to green European cargo operations, with a focus on boosting the share of multimodal freight and creating a common carbon accounting framework.

_; This proposal adopts a holistic approach to strategic transport investment by discussing the wider economic impacts (WEIs) analysis method in terms of several dominant and emerging methods. The WEIs analysis goes beyond the effects captured in a standard cost-benefit analysis (CBA). A CBA addresses the market for transport services and infrastructure access but neglects the wider impacts on other markets. These wider impacts usually relate to agglomeration, market power, and the behavioral adaptions of firms and households. The high uncertainty in land use changes indicates that WEIs tend to occur in different forms on multiple spatial scales, varying by place and time. Additionally, some activities, such as education, have no direct market value, but may indirectly contribute to the overall economic output and human capital development in cities and regions. Given that the conventional elasticity methods are not goal oriented, it is important to ensure that the WEIs analysis accounts for the stakeholder-specific costs and benefits. Assuming that it is possible to consider all WEIs through theoretical models, major efforts should focus on establishing and maintaining appropriate methodologies and tools. The social and environmental data needed to address biodiversity issues should also be improved and promoted. Complementary to the WEIs, understanding how the behavior of agents changes in response to the new transport options will help clarify the long-term implications of transportation. This will suggest new strategies (territorial appropriation), approaches/ techniques to feasibility, and ?place-based? interrelations, that is, specific interrelations in places. This last aspect is especially important in the current context of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has affected and will likely change transportation behaviors and transport demand in the dynamic future.

As a prime contender to revolutionise the global auto industry, automated vehicles deployment in cities and within the transport ecosystem requires further investigation. This has also become a prime concern because of the current Covid-19 situation. The introduction of automated minibuses could cause major modal shifts towards or away from public transport. Thus, it is crucial to predict potential deployments and determine their implications to avoid repeating an individual-centric mobility model. This paper suggests possible future scenarios of automated minibuses deployment and calculates the environmental impact through externalities caused by these modal shifts (from traditional transport to automated minibuses). Based on scenario planning and externalities calculations, a methodology is presented and applied to a case study of Geneva using data from a mobility census of Geneva in 2015 and insights from a European project, AVENUE. First, the analysis presents marginal external costs for the automated minibuses. Then, it describes 3 scenarios that highlight the integration of the automated minibuses in public transport and their effects on modal shares. The assessment shows that replacing all cars with automated minibuses produces the best savings of externalities. Replacing all buses with automated minibuses leads to higher externalities. The integration of the automated minibuses as part of mobility-as-a-service MaaS is the most feasible and scalable. The study emphasises the role of targeted policies to optimise the benefits of automated minibuses.

In this study, the situation of the Turkish aviation industry during COVID-19 was examined. Turkish aviation industry entered a rapid growth phase in the 21st century, great developments were achieved in aviation with the investments made, and the share received from the world aviation industry grew day by day. However, this growth has been hit hard by the emerging COVID-19 pandemic. There have been great losses in passenger and freight transport. It is considered that the compensation of these losses will take a long time. In addition, in this study, the steps taken by the aviation authority and aviation companies to prevent the pandemic and to reduce its effects for the COVID-19 pandemic were evaluated.