ACI-President Greg Principato at the AMPAP Booth with Cheryl Marcell, Deputy Director, Marketing and PR, Sacramento, and Paul Behnke, ACI Team Leader for AMPAP.
I saw this photo and immediately wanted to post it and let folks know what all these acroynms in the poster behind us in the photo actually mean, and why they are becoming well known among airport operators worldwide.
ACI and ICAO launched the global Airport Management Professional Accreditation Program (AMPAP) in March 2007. Airport managers completing the 6-course program within 3 years earn the title International Airport Professional (IAP), the only global professional accreditation for airport personnel.
AMPAP has grown to over 220 participants from 50 countries. The program has persevered on target through the current industry-wide downturn and plans to expand in 2010 to offer the gateway Air Transport System (ATS) course 12 times, roughly doubling the size of the programme (the ATS course was offered 15 times in the past two years). In some respects, AMPAP has exceeded expectations, even in these tough times.
For example, while candidates have 3 years to complete their coursework, we have already seen nearly 40 persons (about half from NA) earn their IAP accreditation, some in as short a time as one year! This outcome was not foreseen: but it is a great advantage for ACI and ICAO to have so many IAPs emerge so early in the programme. This “competition to finish early” is quite healthy for the program and it gives us a large pool of “ambassadors,” graduates from the program whom we mobilize to recruit new candidates. An example of the enthusiasm of AMPAP graduates comes from Perry Miller, Assistant Director, Houston Airport System: “The experience you gain in working with other people across the globe in coordinating activities is just phenomenal. I have formed relationships with people all over the world where I can pick up the phone and compare experiences: no other programme can top that!”
Another measure of AMPAP’s success is the recognition by the Toulouse Business School of the value of the programme, which it examined very closely. In the university’s MBA programme, AMPAP courses are given one full course credit to students, a considerable achievement for courses based on just one-week of content.
Some 30 months after it’s launch, I believe AMPAP stands out as a success because it is filling a valuable need for ACI members and enhancing the reputation of airport management as a unique and complex profession. For my part, my role in interfacing with ICAO and in marketing and delivering AMPAP courses all over the globe is the most rewarding phase of my career. There is nothing like an intense week in a classroom with a score of high energy airport managers: the challenge of communicating and problem-solving across cultures is absolutely exhilarating.
– By Paul Behnke, ACI Team Leader for AMPAP, pbehnke@aci.aero