ALTA (the Latin American and Caribbean Air Transport Association) presented its annual Federico Bloch and Rolim Amaro awards during its Airline Leaders Forum at the Palacio de Mineria in Mexico City.
The Federico Bloch Award was presented to Bill Franke, Founder and Managing Partner of Indigo Partners, in recognition of his outstanding leadership in driving the introduction and advancement of the ultra-low-fare airline business model in the Latin America and Caribbean region across multiple countries and markets, making air travel affordable to the masses while creating impressive shareholder value.
"I am truly honored to receive this prestigious recognition from ALTA. As someone with a long history of both living and doing business in the region, I look forward to continuing to collaborate with our partners in positively growing and developing the air transport industry in the Latin America and Caribbean region," said Bill Franke, Indigo Partners Founder and Managing Partner via video acceptance.
This year for the first time, ALTA presented two Rolim Amaro Awards, including the Aeronáutica Civil de Colombia, and Tijuana Airport"™s Cross Border Xpress.
Aeronáutica Civil de Colombia was recognized for testing reduced airport taxes at Cartagena Airport, which stimulated Colombia"™s tourism and connectivity. ALTA commends the Colombian government for their efforts to stimulate tourism and connectivity in Cartagena by reducing airport taxes. As of January 1, 2015, airport fees for international flights in Cartagena were reduced from $92 to $38 dollars. Colombia"™s reduction of Cartagena airport taxes has incentivized air transport and tourism substantially and ALTA hopes to continue seeing an increase in efforts like these throughout the region. Lower taxation stimulates supply and demand, as evidenced by the significant increase of Cartagena"™s international passenger numbers with 32 percent more passengers in 2015 compared to 2014, and new and additional international routes and frequencies.
Juan Pablo Hernandez de Alba, Ministro Consejero of the Embassy of Colombia in Mexico accepted the award on behalf of the Aeronáutica Civil de Colombia.
Tijuana Airport "™s Cross Border Xpress (CBX) was recognized for the out-of-the-box solution in opening the CBX bridge between Tijuana Airport and San Diego. CBX is an enclosed pedestrian bridge for Tijuana Airport (TIJ) passengers crossing the U.S./Mexico border. After more than seven years of planning, design and permitting with government agencies from both sides of the border, CBX opened for business in December 2015. Spanning 390 feet, the CBX skywalk is the first ever to connect a facility in the U.S. directly into a foreign airport terminal. CBX serves the approximately 2.4 million passengers who already cross the border as part of their travels, helping them avoid unpredictable, often long delays at congested San Ysidro and Otay Mesa land ports of entry. Users of the bridge will be able to access the more than 30 destinations within Mexico that TIJ offers, many of which are not served by other Southern California airports.
Imagen: ALTA
