Over 150 delegates from European regional airports, local and national authorities, airlines and ACI EUROPE World Business Partners gathered in Naples on 14-16 May for the 11th ACI EUROPE Regional Airports Conference & Exhibition, hosted by Naples International Airport. Under the theme “What are the strategic pillars of dynamic regional airport development?”, participants discussed a range of topics affecting regional airports, such as airline strategies, digital trends, customer experience in a time of growth, remote technologies and sustainability.
The 12th ACI EUROPE Regional Airports Conference & Exhibition will take place on 20-22 May 2019 in Krakow, hosted by Krakow Airport.
First session chaired by John Strickland focused on the changes in airline strategies and their impact on regional airports with insightful views from David O’Brien, CCO of Ryanair; Andrea Andorno, CCO of Air Italy; Graeme Ferguson, Corporate Development Director of MAG; Monserrat Barriga, Director General of ERA; Olga Krasowska, Airport Operations Manager of EBAA; and Roger Estefors, Spokesperson on regional airports of AER.
Olivier Jankovec, Director General ACI EUROPE, gave a presentation on the regional airport industry and was interviewed by John Strickland on key industry topics, including Brexit, the future of regional airports & consumer trends.
Armando Brunini welcomed participants with an inspiring speech on the strategy and successes of Naples International Airport.
Valentina Lener, Head of Legal Department of Assaeroporti, speaking about Assaeroporti’s vision on how to balance passengers’ growth with the customer experience.
Barbora Smolikova, Project Manager & Funding Expert of SESAR-related Deployment Airport Grouping (SDAG, part of ACI EUROPE), encouraged regional airports to apply for the 2019 Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) funding to modernise their infrastructures, with the support of SDAG.
Session 2 allowed for an interesting discussion about digital trends in airport retail with Giovanni Russo, Director of Operations of Geneva Airport; Marco de la Feld, Business Strategist of ENCO; Stéphanie Metz-Thevenod, Executive Vice President Marketing & Digital Duty Free Global, Lagardère Travel Retail; and Salvatore Landolina, SAGAT Administration Planning, Control and ICT Manager of Turin Airport.
