FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ACI Chairs Offer Regional Overviews at Press Conference

Boston, MA (Sept. 22, 2008) – Airports Council International’s (ACI) five world regional chairs came together at a press briefing at the ACI World/North America Conference and Exhibition in Boston Sept. 22, to discuss the global challenges and opportunities of the aviation industry.

Meeting in the U.S. for the first time since Sept. 11, 2001, Randy Walker, ACI-NA Chairman and Director of Aviation at Clark County Department of Aviation in Las Vegas, Nevada; Dr. Yiannis Paraschis, President of ACI Europe and Chief Executive Officer of Athens International Airport in Greece; Max Moore-Wilton, President of ACI Asia Pacific and Chairman of Sydney Airport Corporation Ltd.; Héctor Navarrete Muñoz, President of ACI Latin America & Caribbean; and Georges Muhoho, President of ACI Africa and Managing Director & CEO of Kenya Airport Authority, sat on a panel, moderated by ACI World President Jim Cherry, President and CEO of Aéroports de Montréal and chair of ACI World, to offer five-minute overviews of their respective regions.

Several common themes echoed throughout each region’s presentation. “Our membership is very diverse, but despite this diversity, we do indeed have many common issues and needs,” said Cherry. “We all have six main priorities: safety, security, alleviating the environmental impact, business efficiency, high-quality customer service, and making positive economic contributions."

Each region, however, presented unique qualities reflecting their region’s issues and current events. Muhoho and Moore-Wilton described the challenge of matching airport facilities with rising numbers in traffic. “Last year, the African region of ACI World grew at a rate of 11.3 percent. Economic growth and the restoration of peace in a number of countries are pushing this growth,” said Muhoho. “A lot of airports in Africa were built pre-colonial or immediately after independence, and they now need to expand."

“In terms of airport developments, the Asia-Pacific region is the fastest-growing ACI region,” said Moore-Wilton. “I think that represents that we have the fastest-growing economy in the world."

Paraschi and Walker, representing the more mature ACI regions discussed their increasing concerns with security, and the impact airports have on the environment. Rather, “European and American airports have some of the highest standards in the world in terms of security,” said Dr. Paraschi. “Also, Europe is very advanced in regard to environmental issues and the current politicians have that high on their agendas.” Navarrete Munoz said, “We don’t need to build new airports in our region. We have plenty of airports and they are being modernized."

In general, all five regions agreed in that each would have to look to the future. “We cannot pull back on essential capital projects. We need to work with all of the regions and have a worldwide focus on addressing security and try to harmonize the security so people have a consistent and predictable experience,” said Randy Walker. “In terms of the environment, airports have to educate people on everything we’ve done, then we need to do more, and then make sure everyone understands how large our footprint is."

About ACI-NA:
The mission of Airports Council International - North America (ACI-NA) is to advocate policies and provide services that strengthen the ability of air carrier airports to serve their passengers, customers and communities.  ACI-NA represents local, regional and state governing bodies that own and operate commercial airports in the United States and Canada.  ACI-NA member airports enplane more than 95 percent of the domestic and virtually all the international airline passenger and cargo traffic in North America.  Nearly 400 aviation-related businesses are also members of the association, which is the largest of the five worldwide regions of Airports Council International.

CONTACT:
Victoria Houghton, vhoughton@aci-na.org (202) 861-8080
Eileen Denne, edenne@aci-na.org (202) 293-4537