ISSUE 18 DECEMBER 2019
BREAKING ACI ASIA-PACIFIC WELCOMES NEW DIRECTOR GENERAL – STEFANO BARONCI COMMITTEE SNAPSHOT REGIONAL HR COMMITTEE FALL MEETING 2019 CONCLUDED IN NEW DELHI OPENER
STUDY ON DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION: SOARING THROUGH THE GLASS CEILING
LEARNING
FIVE DNA SEMINARS DELIVERED IN THE ASIA-PACIFIC REGION IN 2019
MEMBERS’ NEWS
CHANGI AIRPORT GROUP TO UPSKILL EMPLOYEES FOR DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION TAKING A CLOSER LOOK AT INCHEON AIRPORT AVIATION ACADEMY
TRAINING CALENDAR ACI GLOBAL TRAINING COURSE CALENDAR FOR 2020
ACI Asia-Pacific Welcomes New Director General – Stefano Baronci In late October 2019, the Board of Airports Council International (ACI) Asia-Pacific announced the appointment of Mr. Stefano Baronci as the new Director General for Asia-Pacific. Previously serving as Director of Economics at ACI World in Montreal, Canada, Stefano has taken up his new position in Hong Kong since 9 December 2019. Stefano replaces Ms. Patti Chau who announced in April she was stepping down. Stefano, a native of Italy, has almost 20 years of analytical and representational experience at national and international level in the aviation sector, in both airport and airline industries. He started his career at ACI Europe in Brussels, Belgium as a Senior Policy Manager. He then gained substantial experience at the International Air Transport Association (IATA) dealing with the Single European Sky (SES). He served as Director General of the Association of Italian Airport Operators, before joining ACI World in Montreal, Canada.
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“I am honored to serve our airport members and business partners in the fastest-growing region in the world. Building on the results achieved under Patti Chau’s leadership, my aspiration is to contribute to the progress of the Asia-Pacific and Middle Eastern airports for the benefit of our sector and the people they serve. I am a strong advocate of close dialogue with institutional stakeholders at local level and through organic growth of Airports Council International AsiaPacific,” said Stefano.
Regional HR Committee Fall Meeting 2019 Concluded in New Delhi
The Regional HR Committee Fall Meeting 2019 was held from 12-14 Nov 2019 at Aloft Hotel Aerocity in New Delhi, India, with the kind support of the host, Airports Authority of India (AAI). The theme for the meeting was “HR Readiness for Future Airports� and was wellattended by around 30 participants representing 13 airport members.
an exciting phase in civil aviation and has joined the ranks with the USA and China to be amongst the top 3 nations in terms of total passenger traffic. Along with rapid growth in the number of airports in India, Mr. Aggarwal said that HR needs to gear up to upgrade human capital, both in numbers and capability, and reminded that HR plays a very important role in shaping the future of an organization.
In his welcome speech, Mr. Anuj Aggarwal, Board Member (HR) of AAI, said that India is witnessing
While Mr Sanjay Jain, Executive Director (HR) of AAI, stressed that it is imperative for HR to The Voice of Asia-Pacific Airports | 3
work on manpower infusion, skill upgrades, digitization, change management, and benchmarking, in the face of the ever-expanding Indian air passenger traffic. Ms. Justina Tan, Committee Chair and Managing Director, People of Changi Airport Group also delivered an opening address and introduced Committee Members to all participants. Led by Professor Sanyukta Jolly of the IILM Institute of Higher Education of New Delhi, the first two days of the meeting were filled with presentations, group discussions, and even a debate session. AAI also invited delegates to a colourful reception dinner, and arranged a visit to the Indian Aviation Academy where Committee Members were able to understand in detail the variety of courses offered along with the topnotch facilities of the Academy, which concluded with a tour of the campus. The Meeting, delivered in “conference style” setting during the first two days, was divided into three modules.
MODULE 1: FUTURE AIRPORTS – WHAT DO THEY LOOK LIKE AND WHAT ARE SOME FUTURE BUSINESS NEEDS? Ms. Julia Yan, General Manager, Corporate Planning at the Airport Authority Hong Kong, and also our guest presenter, literally took participants to the future by giving an overview on future aircraft and airport designs and developments, including the latest research on pure and hybrid electric aircraft, urban taxis, and autonomous vehicles. Julia also brought up the heated topic of climate change leading to more droughts and heat waves, rising sea levels, along with more intense hurricanes which will no doubt lead to a paradigm shift in business continuity and contingency planning for future 4 | The Voice of Asia-Pacific Airports
airports. In addition, a growing and ageing world population, mixed in with “millennials” along with a new middle class, will place new demands on sustainability goals and corporate social responsibility. MODULE 2: FUTURE AIRPORTS – KEY TRENDS AND DRIVERS OF CHANGE This year the Committee also invited industry expert Mr. Mohit Phogat from Oracle to speak about ways that HR could transform to attract talents to meet the future needs of airports. Some major trends impacting the future workforce include automation, robotics and artificial intelligence which are advancing quickly, and dramatically changing the nature and number of jobs available. Demographic shifts (primarily ageing population) is putting pressure on businesses, social institutions and economies. Wealth disparity and job losses due to large-scale automation may even increase the risk of social unrest in developed countries. Mr. Phogat also provided a series of staggering survey statistics gathered from today’s workforce. For instance, 85% of employees are disengaged at work, 87% demand work-life balance, and 93% call out for an empathetic employer. The result is that though employees wanted to stay with their employers, 66% would inevitably leave! It was suggested a paradigm shift is necessary in organizations to simplify and secure technology to stay competitive. In short, Mr. Phogat said organizations must be able to run their entire business just using a browser. Nevertheless, 81% of HR leaders find it challenging to keep up with the pace of technological changes in the workplace. At the end of his presentation, Mr. Phogat laid down a strong reminder that organizations cannot protect jobs which are made redundant by technology – but they do have a responsibility to their people. “Protect people, not jobs. Nurture agility, adaptability and re-skilling,” Mr. Phogat said. On the backdrop of protecting people, ACI AsiaPacific’s Manager, External Affairs, Simon Hui also conducted a brief session titled “Mindfulness for HR Executives”, riding on his decade-long experience on the subject of mindfulness which has become widely accepted by modern day corporations, in the spirit of offering a sense of
clarity and respite from the often cluttered and stressful working environment. MODULE 3: HR USING TECHNOLOGY TO ACHIEVE FUTURE AIRPORT BUSINESS NEEDS In this module we had the privilege of hearing from Ms. Eileen Oh, Associate Director Talent Acquisition & Workplace, People Team of Changi Airport Group, and Mr. Hareendranathan E.P., Executive Director of the Indian Aviation Academy on the topics of “Workplace Transformation” and “Technology in Airport Operation” respectively. Having conducted internal surveys, Ms. Oh learned that Changi employees treasures work comfort, private conversations, and ease of access to information. It was therefore management’s vision to energize the workplace, making the office more space efficient, to enable an all-round more pleasant working environment. A workplace of the future calls for a response to capacity demands and space efficiency so as to re-energise and break down the walls and barriers for a balanced workplace with diversity and enhance engagement so as to reinforce a common identity with a “Home Away From Home” concept. At the end of the transformation exercise, the number of meeting rooms have tripled (to 100 rooms), along with 7 pantry hubs and 1,800 pots of plants introduced. In addition to physical improvements, a new suite of people tools had also gone live, calling for all staff to be mobile and tech savvy, enabling employees to learn, and working from literally anywhere, with the click of a few buttons from mobile devices. Whereas Mr. Hareendranathan E.P., took us through a digital journey (“DigiYatra”) which concerns the connecting of systems to provide seamless services to passengers. One of the goals of the project was to facilitate a passenger’s journey through an airport upon a single scan of ticket/ boarding pass, and thereafter all other touch points will be identified by facial recognition without further need to present documents. In this way, true value is delivered for all passengers, and at the same time, the captured data may be used for proactive decision making by airport operator, airlines, security, and other stakeholders.
The next committee meeting will be held in Nara, Japan in April 2020 alongside the 15th ACI Asia-Pacific Regional Assembly, Conference and Exhibition. Stay tuned for registration and meeting details which will be available in due course!
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Soaring Through the Glass Ceiling: Taking the Global Aviation & Aerospace Industry to New Heights Through Diversity and Inclusion On December 16, 2019 seven organizations affiliated with the aviation and aerospace industry released an important new study on gender diversity and inclusion (D&I) - “Soaring Through the Glass Ceiling.” The study confirmed that, despite pockets of success, the industry still has work to do to achieve gender parity and fully leverage the power of women. For example, the study found that only 60 percent of females in the industry surveyed felt that their voice is heard within their organization and only one-third of female respondents feel that they are treated similarly to men. With an eye to advancing the industry through potential solutions, the study also discovered that women are most likely to join the industry and advance if two fundamental conditions are in place: 1. When top leadership unequivocally communicates the importance of D&I by setting vision, ensuring accountability, and role modeling 2. When women see other women advancing to and performing in senior leadership and governance roles The report clearly identifies five key drivers that the most successful organizations invoke to attract and advance women in the aviation and aerospace sector: • • •
Publicly recognize and highlight female role models Ensure and communicate unquestionable senior leadership commitment to D&I Level set expectations with individual contributors and management, as individuals at lower levels are witnessing less progress on D&I than are their leaders
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• •
Ensure that more women have a seat at the table Invest in more inclusive talent management and succession processes
The study comprised of a global survey of more than 2,400 individuals in the industry, more than 60 interviews with industry leaders and successful women, case studies on industry success stories, and a review of existing literature on the subject. The “Soaring Through the Glass Ceiling” full report is now available. Do promulgate the report to your colleagues and associates as deemed appropriate!
Five DNA Seminars Delivered in the Asia-Pacific Region in 2019 ACI’s Developing Nations’ Airports (DNA) Assistance Programme continues to attract interest. In collaboration with respective host airports, 2019 saw the successful delivery of five DNA Seminars in Asia-Pacific covering crucial topics and achieved commendable participation from over 90 colleagues representing over 30 airport members. The ACI-DNA Programme’s objective is to support member airports in developing countries. It does so by aiding airport initiatives that are sustainable, have an impact, and bring results to those airport members. In addition to the DNA Seminars on Management of Airport Security and Aerodrome Certification which concluded in Hong Kong and Haikou in April and June of 2019 respectively, three more Seminars were held in the latter half of the year including: • • •
Airport Customer Experience Management 6 – 7 September | Denpasar, Indonesia Safety Management Systems 9 – 11 October | Auckland, New Zealand Airport Non-Aeronautical Revenues 12 – 13 December | Bangkok, Thailand
For the Seminar on Safety Management Systems in Auckland, airport representatives from Airport Authority of the Cook Islands, Port Vila Airport in Vanuatu, Samoa Airport Authority and Tonga Airports Limited completed a three-day training. Lead trainer Peter Adams, member of the ACI World Safety & Technical Standards Committee and certified by the ACI-ICAO Airport Management Professional Accreditation Program (AMPAP), reviewed the elements of a safety management system with the participants. In interactive group and brainstorm sessions, the participants then discussed and evaluated recent safety incidents and assessed how well the airports in question followed the recommended approach. ACI World and ACI Asia-Pacific are grateful to World Business Partner - Beca, one of the largest employee-owned engineering and related consultancy services companies in the AsiaPacific, for the arrangement of the training venue.
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At the last DNA Seminar of the year in Bangkok, Thailand, airport professionals from India, Myanmar, Federated States of Micronesia, Thailand and Vietnam spent two days with instructor Andre Bergeron learning how to create non-aeronautical revenue streams for their airports. The seminar was hosted by Airports of Thailand Public Company Limited and gave all participants a taste of Thai culture by hosting an evening dinner with Thai dancing. The training outlined what to consider when planning an airport terminal retail program and provided best practices to positively impact revenue generation. This was followed by a deep dive into how to manage airport concessionaires. The training concluded with an overview of other revenue opportunities including parking, advertising and promotional space and the impact of airline frequent flyer programs. Participants teamed up in group exercises to put their newly-acquired knowledge to the test.
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Members’ News Changi Airport Group CHANGI AIRPORT GROUP TO UPSKILL EMPLOYEES FOR DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION On 2 December 2019 Changi Airport Group (CAG) announced that it will commit S$10 million over two years to upskill its 2,000 employees in adaptive, technological and technical skillsets to prepare them for new jobs and tasks to be created by the company’s digital transformation. Under the initiative, CAG employees will have the opportunity to attend up to ten days of digitalfocused training over the two years, including a growth mindset programme that will strengthen their readiness to embrace new technology. They will be offered courses and workshops to build competency in digital skills such as data, robotic process automation, programming, as well as User Interface/User Experience (UI/UX) design.
“Looking ahead, with Terminal 5 coming onstream in about a decade, the scale of our operations will double, and technology will continue to transform airport operations and the way we work. Digital transformation demands that workers today are upskilled to accelerate change and to meet the challenges of tomorrow. With this investment in digital-focused training, we hope to establish a relevant, ready and resilient workforce.”
CAG’S DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION JOURNEY Mr Lee Seow Hiang, CAG’s CEO, said, “With technology enabling new business models to disrupt the travel landscape, the customer journey is evolving with an expectation for seamless travel experiences. CAG intends to exploit the opportunities presented by digital solutions to serve our customers better.”
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Incheon International Airport INCHEON AIRPORT AVIATION ACADEMY (IAAA) – SHARING BEST PRACTICES THROUGH PRACTICAL TRAINING PROGRAMMES GLOBAL STANDARDS TRAINING FOR AVIATION PROFESSIONALS Incheon Airport Aviation Academy (IAAA) is one of the first training centres in the world designated as International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Regional Training Center of Excellence (RTCE). IAAA was also certified as a TRAINAIR PLUS full member by ICAO and designated as a Global Training Center of ACI in 2011. The certification acknowledges IAAA’s capabilities as among the world’s top level in developing and delivering competency-based training programs. IAAA training programs are in conformity with the standards set by ICAO to guarantee the high quality of training, satisfying training needs. IAAA training courses are dynamic and practical which consist of best practice sessions, airport field visits, case studies and workshops. As for the instructors, Incheon Airport experts join the course to deliver most updated knowledge and experience in their professional fields. Customized courses are also available for organizations needing more indepth analysis of their current issues. These courses are designed for single participating organizations to precisely meet their objectives and training
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needs. For more information on available training courses in 2020, visit IAAA’s website.
Event Invitations for You...
To learn more about the ACI Global Training courses available in 2020, please visit the training calendar.
ACI 12th Annual Airport Economics & Finance Conference & Exhibition Exploring best practices in airport investment, financial management and economic sustainability, this year’s conference will take place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from 24 - 26 March.
15th ACI Asia-Pacific Regional Assembly, Conference & Exhibition Our annual flagship event will take place in Nara, Japan from 21 - 23 April to bring all aviation leaders, regulators and industry partners together in sharing the latest industry insights and promoting airport excellence. The Voice of Asia-Pacific Airports | 11
The Voice of Asia-Pacific Airports
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