Hydrogen-fueled aircraft are a promising innovation for a sustainable future in aviation. While hydrogen aircraft design has been widely studied, research on airport requirements for new infrastructure associated with hydrogen-fueled aircraft and its integration with existing facilities is scarce. This study analyzes the current body of knowledge and identifies the planning challenges which need to be overcome to enable the operation of hydrogen flights at airports. An investigation of the preparation of seven major international airports for hydrogen-powered flights finds that, although there is commitment, airports are not currently prepared for hydrogen-based flights. Major adjustments are required across airport sites, covering land use plans, airside development, utility infrastructure development, and safety, security, and training. Developments are also required across the wider aviation industry, including equipment updates, such as for refueling and ground support, and supportive policy and regulations for hydrogen-powered aircraft. The next 5–10 years is identified from the review as a critical time period for airports, given that the first commercial hydrogen-powered flight is likely to depart in 2026 and that the next generation of short-range hydrogen-powered aircraft is predicted to enter service between 2030 and 2035.

Purpose: Governments and airports worldwide are increasingly interested in promoting innovation growth in their Aerotropolis developments – large-scale, master-planned developments around airports. The mainstream academic concept and industry practices in Aerotropolis planning use a cluster-based model with a sprawling built environment and industry composition that lack considerations in knowledge base and skills-relatedness. This study applies Boschma’s Proximity Theory for Innovation to critically assess to what extent these might not be the ideal urban design and industry composition to stimulate innovation effectively. Design/methodology/approach: A mixed-methods methodology utilising online surveys and interviews was conducted in 2022 with entrepreneurs and staff from ten industries across nine Aerotropolises, asking about their experiences of inter-industry ideas exchange and innovations in their Aerotropolises and evaluations towards what could be improved in the built environment, industry composition and in general, to facilitate inter-industry ideas exchange. Findings: Results show that an urbanised built environment and a co-location of skills-related industries from a common knowledge base facilitate inter-industry ideas exchange, subsequently promoting innovation. This aligns with the theoretical understanding that geographical and cognitive proximity support innovative processes. Additionally, a genuine community atmosphere inside the Aerotropolis supports innovation. Originality/value: This study approaches the largely under-researched topic of innovation dynamics in the Aerotropolis context. Insights from this study provoke researchers and governments to rethink the current Aerotropolis urban development model and offer an alternative that fosters innovation.

Mixed-use commercial property on airport premises, defined as Airport City, could deliver significant commercial, social, and environmental success to airports and their communities. Yet, findings on Airport City’s success factors remain fragmented and inconclusive, hence hampering validity. This paper presents the first systematic literature review to identify consistently validated Airport City success factors. Using a mixed-method synthesis design, 53 peer-reviewed studies published between 2007 and 2022 were selected through database keyword searches and two rounds of reference snowballing. Their findings were aggregated through metasummary approach that grouped and abstracted findings into 21 overarching themes comprising 95 distinct success factors, and quantified their frequency effect sizes. Among those, 14 factors with frequency effect size above 10% were distilled: stakeholder coordination, multimodal transport, compact design, regional integration, air connectivity, real estate expertise, airside-landside coordination, aesthetics, shared facilities, solid business case, mixed-use development, sustainability, land for expansion, and public spaces. However, the literature often treats these factors in isolation. To advance knowledge, the authors propose how these factors may reinforce one another through configuring six higher-order constructs: Plane (robust air transportation), Place (urbanisation agglomeration), Purpose (social mission), People (human capital), Platform (multimodal transport), and Planet (sustainability). Together, these constructs form the coherent 6P Conceptual Model of Successful Airport City, where neglecting one may undermine overall success. Practitioners are invited to consider and leverage these interdependencies. Limitations of this review are the high proportion of conceptual studies and case studies. Future research is encouraged to empirically test the proposed relationships of the 6P Model.

Airport Cities have gained momentum all over the world in the last decades. However, Airport City planning often follows a one-size-fits-all blueprint approach, with many elements incompatible with the regional, economic, and cultural context. Using a general aviation Airport City in Adelaide in South Australia as the case context, we survey the retail choices of airport users and compare them with existing facilities and those retail facilities at Airport Cities of large commercial airports from the literature and industry examples. We found that desired retail facilities at Airport City Parafield are widely different from those at large-scale commercial hub airports and commonly promoted in the Airport City literature. The results indicate that preferences for retail facilities in the Airport City differ depending on the airport user groups, which are determined by the role of the airport. These findings suggest that the often practised one-size-fits-all approach in Airport City planning should be reconsidered. In summary, this study helps to augment both knowledge and practice by reinforcing the importance of planning retail facilities in Airport Cities in alignment with the airport role, the airport user groups, and the regional, economic, and cultural context.