The everyday running of an airport involves hundreds of different companies. These include businesses operating on the airfield, such as airlines, ground operations teams and baggage handlers, and those operating inside terminal buildings, including retailers. The way these companies operate affects our ability to achieve our corporate responsibility objectives. For example, we rely on the airlines to improve their performance to meet noise and air quality limits and the practices of retailers directly affect our health and safety, energy and waste performance.

Our approach
We work closely with our partners to ensure the smooth running of our airports and to improve our safety and environmental performance. While we often do not have direct control over the practices of third-party companies working at our airports, we use our influence to ensure compliance with BAA policies and regulatory requirements, to encourage effective management of corporate responsibility issues, and to ensure all parties work to deliver the highest standard of customer service.

Below we outline our approach to engaging with our main partners.

Airlines
As well as operating aircraft, airlines control ticketing, check-in and baggage handling.
We interact with airlines on a number of key corporate responsibility issues:

• Air quality – we encourage airlines to use aircraft which produce fewer emissions. We also work with airlines and ground handlers to reduce emissions on the ground from APUs.
• Noise – we encourage airlines to use quieter aircraft and to adopt quieter operating practices. For example, we link landing charges at Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow to noise levels, with lower charges for quieter aircraft, and fines for airlines that breach agreed noise thresholds.
• Climate change – we influence airlines to operate more fuel-efficient fleets and have worked to encourage them to support the entry of aviation into the EU ETS.
• Health and safety – we work closely with airlines to reduce the number and severity of incidents. This includes sharing contingency plans for crisis situations and enforcing driving standards in airside areas. We conduct health and safety audits and our airside safety groups co-ordinate safety improvement programmes.
• Passenger experience – we work with airlines to offer the most efficient service for passengers. For instance, we support the introduction of time-saving innovations, such as electronic check-in and e-ticketing.

Ground handling companies
Ground handling companies are employed by airlines to support aircraft on the stand. They include ramp teams, baggage handlers and terminal staff. BAA duty teams are in regular contact with these companies to help them understand and meet regulatory and BAA requirements for airside health and safety. We agree systems for performance measurement in licence agreements and audit ground handling companies to ensure compliance during aircraft turnaround operations. We are empowered to impose penalties on any licence holder if proper standards are not met.

Retailers
Retailing, including catering and shopping, is an important element of the travel experience for passengers. We have direct control over the corporate responsibility practices of our World Duty Free (WDF) retail business which operates across our airports. We use our influence to improve the performance of other retailers operating at our airports and will take the same approach to WDF once the sale of the business is completed.

Rather than leasing property from BAA, retailers in our airports pay BAA a concession fee (a percentage of their sales). We offer empty units which retailers fit out to their specifications. We make recommendations to help retailers design and operate their units with the environment in mind. At Glasgow, for example, specialist staff have been assigned to work with existing, and prospective, retailers to ensure that fire safety standards are met, that waste is managed effectively, and that all airside staff are security checked, in accordance with Disclosure Scotland, in advance of the opening of the airport’s £31 million terminal extension.

Transport providers
Although bus and taxi services are provided by third-party companies, BAA works closely with transport providers to ensure that customer expectations are met. This includes ensuring that there are sufficient taxis to meet demand, and that there are frequent, high quality, bus services to a range of destinations around our airports. BAA Scotland also operates a Public Transport Levy on short stay car parking which supports public transport initiatives.

Contractors
With a £500 million investment plan in place, BAA Scotland’s airports are undergoing a major transformation, not least at Glasgow, where a £31 million terminal extension is due for completion in October. BAA has worked closely with contractors, and sub-contractors, to ensure that BAA’s health and safety standards are met, and to minimise accidents among the workforce.

Control authorities
A number of Government agencies operate from our airports, providing an important layer of security and customer service. These include UK Border Control, responsible for passport control, HM Customs and Excise, responsible for immigration checks, and the Department for Transport, who are responsible for UK airport security. Although these organisations operate independently of BAA, airport duty teams are in regular contact with these organisation to help them understand, and meet, customer service standards. For example, during the 2007 UEFA Cup Final, held in Glasgow, teams from Glasgow and Edinburgh airports worked closely with control authorities to ensure that thousands of visiting Spanish fans were quickly and efficiently processed.

Tenants
Our airports are home to hundreds of individual companies. These include airlines, government agencies, ground handling companies and support companies such as cleaners. We run initiatives at airport level to encourage our tenants to improve their safety and environmental performance. We share information on safety incidents and conduct joint investigations wherever possible. We conduct annual inspections across our portfolio to identify safety issues and operate a reporting system for tenants to inform us of any hazards. We also provide annual fire safety training for all airport staff.