After a clearly troubled recovery period post-Pandemic, we’re delighted to see that aviation appears to have found its feet again, or perhaps more specifically its wings to fly.
The aviation sector has dusted itself off from the Covid imposed exile and a multitude of travel restrictions, with 2023 aiming to consolidate on the rapid recovery that started in 2022 when travel restrictions were lifted. Demand is strong within current predictions, and good revenue performance is expected across the sector throughout 2023.
With passengers returning to the air, airports and airlines are dusting down their capital investment plans as investment in facilities and infrastructure ramps up once again to meet the increasing demand. Doig+Smith are already supporting several airports with the roll out of their capital programmes and our Cost Management and Project Management teams have a wealth of expertise across all aspects of airport development. The industry is taking the fledgling steps towards regrowth and, as development projects begin anew, Doig+Smith has grown in stature as a clear industry partner, with proven track record of successful project delivery at airports across the UK for more than 30 years.
With the recovery, however, comes the demand for industry development in terms of green energy, decarbonisation and Net Zero benchmarking. This is evidently an opportunity for aviation more broadly, to reassess and rebuild within the new framework for the future – here at Doig+Smith we are perfectly positioned to support and manage these new opportunities for the future of the industry. A recent European Parliament roundtable “Pact for the decarbonisation of air transport”, met lately in Rome and highlighted the need for clear sustainable development in air travel with airports and ground services leading by example in terms of decarbonisation and sustainability goals, thereby safeguarding the sector’s future economic success within low-carbon parameters.
Doig+Smith are ideal partners to support these projects as they move forward to a successful conclusions, while simultaneously enjoying clear results-driven partnerships here with our UK airport and airline partners.
Director of the D+S London office, Alastair Archibald explains, “The demand for D+S employees to support the recovery in the aviation sector appears exponential. We currently have more than a dozen staff either seconded to or supporting the delivery of projects across the UK, and as such we expect that to increase significantly over the course of 2023.”
D+S continues to work within the aviation industry at a variety of airport locations, including Gatwick, Heathrow, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Luton and Dublin airports.
Our framework partnership with Gatwick aims to support the delivery of their capital investment programme and underpins our focus on airport projects and the wider industry. To that end, our Associate David Lim recently returned to Gatwick where he is delivering a portfolio of projects within Gatwick’s Airfield Programme. Meanwhile, our collaboration with Glasgow Airport has seen our co-located team grow to 8, with Sam Williamson joining as Project Manager.
Our site teams strive to hit the highest standards within the industry to deliver clear objections – from early-stage cost advice to procurement strategies, cost management, contract administration and project management activities, to ensure the successful delivery of projects.
Doig+Smith have become one of the market leaders in aviation cost management and project management and we are proud to support our industry partners as they plan a clear and continuous recovery.