An Alliance Between…Airports?

We have all heard of airline alliances like Star Alliance, SkyTeam, and oneworld, but what about an alliance between airports? Obviously some airports already work together as they are managed by the same large group. But now, Aeroports de Paris (who operates CDG and ORY) and the Schipol Group (operates AMS) have decided to form an alliance and will invest 8% in each other, and some committees will be formed to facilitate the cooperation. The alliance is initially supposed to last for twelve years.

The airports hope to work together on things on the group like airport retail, and it looks like they are looking to standardize some infrastructure and save money by purchasing things together. But they also hope to work together in terms of airlines. These airports should ring a bell for most - SkyTeam, specifically Air France-KLM. ORY and CDG are major Air France Hubs, and AMS is KLM’s major hub. The press release mentions this in a couple of places:

Aeroports de Paris and Schiphol Group will jointly approach future international airport developments with a key focus on strengthening the dual hub within SkyTeam network internationally and have an opportunistic approach in non SkyTeam zones.

Additionally, Schiphol Group and Aéroports de Paris expect the cooperation to strengthen their relationship and integration with their largest clients, among which Air France-KLM, through optimized connectivity between the two airports, aligned processes and best-in-class airside operations and infrastructures (e.g. luggage sorting systems, baggage tracking device). The alliance will also improve the competitiveness of both airports vis-à-vis specialized or regional hubs and enhance their market attractiveness for all carriers by offering more frequencies to markets such as Eastern Europe and South America.

This idea is quite intriguing to me and I think it can be good for the airlines (specifically Air France-KLM), but also consumers. The release mentions that “both partners will also cooperate to develop more attractive retail areas and customer experience.” Hopefully this move can lead to a better airport experience for passengers. I’m certainly looking forward to seeing how this works out, and I wonder if any other airports will try to do the same.