By Declan Collier, Chief Executive, London City Airport & President of ACI EUROPE
The ACI EUROPE Annual Congress and General Assembly is always a special moment for our association and its members. This is when we come together as an industry and take a moment to look back at what we have done over the past year, analyse current trading conditions, and look into the industry crystal ball, at future challenges.
This year’s event, which is hosted by TAV Airports in Istanbul on 10-12 June, is a bit special. For the first time, our annual gathering takes place jointly with ACI WORLD’s Annual Congress and also includes the ACI WORLD General Assembly. In welcoming the global airport community to the shores of the Bosphorus, we will, therefore, be displaying the increasing alignment and cooperation between the different ACI organisations as well as their necessary complementarity.
For me, this will also be the opportunity to look back at the last 2 years, as I will be stepping down from my role as ACI EUROPE President when the event comes to a close. In those 2 years, with the support of the Board of ACI EUROPE, I have sought to consolidate the work done by my predecessors to build a strong, efficient and service-minded organisation – with a key focus on providing value to its members.
As ever, defending our industry’s collective interests has been a priority. With more than 80% of the regulations impacting European airports originating in Brussels, there is little doubt that we do play a very relevant role in liaising on a daily basis with the different European institutions and industry stakeholders. Our extensive network of key institutional contacts is second to none. This gives us the ability to access information in a timely manner and engage constructively with regulators and policy makers – feeding back our expertise and industry knowledge.
While influence can often be a delicate balancing act, we are never shy of standing firm for our members whenever core interests are at stake. I am proud of where ACI EUROPE is today and of the results achieved. In particular, thanks to a cooperative approach followed by the European Commission in the last year, a more realistic and progressive timing for the lifting of the restrictions on the carriage of Liquids, Aerosols and Gels has been agreed. This has avoided operational chaos for airports, airlines and passengers and we are closely monitoring progress towards a first step in January 2014.
Clearly, when it comes to active advocacy, there is never a dull moment. Currently, we are engaged on a wide range of regulatory issues spanning from safety (with the European Aviation Safety Agency), to State Aid, passenger rights, Open Skies agreements, ATM reform, ground handling, slots and aviation noise.
In my view, another key achievement of the last years has been the way in which ACI EUROPE has consistently raised the profile of the airport industry. This has been done through a wide range of initiatives, from our Action Plan on A-CDM and our manifesto for Regional Airports to the highly successful Airport Carbon Accreditation programme and diverse publications – such as our Digital Report and the independent study on Airport Competition. All this, step by step, has been about addressing deep-rooted misconceptions about our industry and demonstrating the key role that we play in the wider European and Global Aviation industry.
Today, ACI EUROPE is not only showcasing the fact that airports are businesses in their own right focused on customer service, efficiency, performance, quality and community benefits. We are increasingly leading and effectively supporting our members in their own business transformation process. The services we offer, in particular through benchmarking opportunities and industry know-how exchange, are especially targeted to that end.
The fact that our membership has kept growing in the last years by more than 40 airports to a total of 451 airports is possibly the best rewards for these efforts. It shows that through its dynamic evolution, ACI EUROPE remains THE voice for Europe’s airports.
At 17 people, the team at ACI EUROPE may be small, but from my tenure as President, I have seen first hand just how passionately they feel about our industry and how dedicated they are to supporting members’ needs. I am confident that my successor can take on their new role safe in the knowledge that the association is as dynamic, fit and service-driven as the industry it represents.
