It has been almost a decade (2010-2019) since I joined this unique airport organization. My first contact with the organization was in 2006 when I used to work for Tocumen International Airport. Throughout these last ten years during my assignment in ACI-LAC I have to sincerely thank to each of the six ACI-LAC Presidents that I worked with: Miguel Southwell (MIA), Philippe Baril (Quiport), Fernando Bosque (GAP), Hector Navarrete (ASUR), Martin Eurnekian (AA2000) and Andrew O´Brian (Quiport). Each of them with different management styles and a unique commitment and engagement with the organization set the plan to amplify the voice of the airports in the Latin America and Caribbean region and the objectives to support the members to excel in airport management.
The organization has increased its membership since 2010 in more than 40%. Today, 80 airport operators and airport authorities are members of ACI-LAC. More than 40 commercial business partners have joined the organization. The major ACI global initiatives in environment and sustainability, excellence in airport management and customer/passenger experience have been fully supported and promoted from our regional office among our members. Training became a priority in our list of services. Also, as a mean to foster airport management excellence we have established the Young Airport Professional Award and the Green Airport Recognitions. Year after year, since 2011 ACI-LAC has successfully increased the quality of its annual conference.
There are still many industry challenges ahead, as the organization representing the airport operators worldwide, and each of those will make stronger the organization. For instance, efforts shall continue to face the traffic growth of 2X for next 15 years that we will be enjoying; ACI-LAC must continue to work in collaboration with other aviation organizations to advocate to governments in public policies fostering connectivity, minimizing taxation to the industry and the harmonization of the standards and regulations across the region; Airports must reinforce our commitment to work with government authorities to develop and implement international safety standards; there is a huge opportunity to improve efficiency of airside and landside; and above all, let´s keep the Passenger as the center of our business models.
Finally, I just have to say that it has been an honor to serve as Director General of ACI-LAC.
