REGIONAL UPDATE

Communications manager, Samantha Solomon, rounds-up the latest news and developments from ACI Asia-Pacific.

HUMAN RESOURCES CASE STUDIES

The Regional Human Resources (HR) Committee has published a guide that is designed to help airports prepare their respective workplaces and workforce for the return to the new normal.

Via this publication, the committee sought to highlight key recommendations which airport HR and administration should take into consideration when gearing up the workplace to be a safe environment for airport staff under the new normal brought on by the pandemic.

The guide addresses key issues around Communications, Wellness, Facilities Management and On the Job for Human Resources professionals.

In the publication, ten members share their experiences, case studies or examples of what steps they have undertaken over the past few months, as a means of knowledge and experience sharing with the broader ACI Asia-Pacific community.

The following members, all part of the Regional HR Committee, are featured: Changi Airport Group, Singapore; Bahrain Airport Company, Bahrain; GACA, Saudi Arabia; Hong Kong International Airport, Hong Kong SAR; Incheon Airport, South Korea; Korea Airports Corporation, South Korea; Kansai Airports, Japan; Narita Airport, Japan; Oman Airports, Oman; and Taipei Taoyuan International Airport, Chinese Taipei.

The Regional Human Resources Committee is a platform for discussion and exchange of best practices and enhancing standards of HR excellence among member airports.

The guide is available in the Library on the ACI Asia- Pacific website.

YEAR IN REVIEW 2020

The 2020 Year in Review, the association’s annual report, highlights the efforts of the ACI Asia-Pacific team and the regional committees in handling the impact of the global pandemic on the airport sector in Asia-Pacific and the Middle East.

The digital publication, available on the association’s website, documents the initiatives and activities across the economics, environment, human resources, safety and security policy areas to represent members’ interests during the industry’s worst crisis and to position our sector for recovery.

“These times of crisis are when the value of associations has become more evident,” noted Seow Hiang Lee, president of the ACI Asia-Pacific Regional Board.

NEW COMMITTEE LEADERS

Both the Regional Environment Committee and the Regional Economics Committee started 2021 with new leaders.

The Regional Environment Committee announced the election of its new chair, Dr Murugesan Muthukrishnan of Delhi International Airport Limited, and vice chair, Gerald Ng of Changi Airport Group (CAG). They will lead the Committee for two years from 2021-2022.

Dr Muthukrishnan is the GMR Group’s airport sector head for EHS and sustainability, and has been supporting the Regional Environment Committee’s work since joining it in 2012.

“I foresee a great opportunity to enhance the committee’s progress towards aviation environment and sustainability management in this region with good teamwork and collaborations with all committee members,” he enthused.

Gerald Ng , CAGs environment and sustainability director, notes that he hopes to work on meaningful and realistic carbon emissions reduction measures, recognising that airports will decarbonise at different paces.

Oman Airports’ Nagy Abu Zeid is the new chair of the Regional Economics Committee, where he will be ably assisted by Fariz Qisti Takwir of Malaysia Airports, who continues in his role as vice chair.

“My primary goals are to strengthen the presence and reach of this committee, enhance mutual co-operation and strengthen relationships among key stakeholders in the largest regional travel market, and proactively support the economic and environmental development of the air transport industry in Asia-Pacific and the Middle East region,” explained Abu Zeid. He has over 24 years’ experience in the aviation and travel industry.

The Regional Economics Committee provides support to members on airport economic matters and serves as a forum for members to share best practices, discuss challenges and opportunities in areas such as airport charges, models of ownership, financing and performance management.

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY EXTENDED TO WEEK-LONG CAMPAIGN

To help promote gender diversity within the airport industry, ACI Asia-Pacific ensured that female airport leaders from across Asia-Pacific and the Middle East were centre stage at this year’s International Women’s Day on March 8.

The campaign tagged onto the United Nations Women’s theme of ‘Women in leadership: Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world’. Extending the global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women to a full week, nine female leaders from the association’s member airports gave candid answers and perspectives to the following questions: 


• How have/can women contribute to the COVID-19 recovery in aviation?

• How can women support each other?

• What positive signs of gender equality are you seeing?

• What advice do you have for women entering the aviation industry?

We are pleased to report that representatives from airport operations, commercial development, communications, human resources, marketing, representatives and even a professor from Adelaide Airport, Airport Authority Hong Kong, Angkasa Pura 1, Bahrain Airport Company, Bangalore International Airport, Changi Group Singapore, Hamad International Airport, Incheon Airport and Kansai Airports gave their full support to this important initiative. 


You can read the full articles in the Perspectives section of the ACI Asia-Pacific website.

A WARM WELCOME TO OUR NEW WORLD BUSINESS PARTNERS

The ACI Asia-Pacific region has three new Affiliate World Business Partner members – Cirium, Materna IPS and Smart Airport System. The Moodie Davitt Report Asia has also joined as a Regular World Business Partner.

Cirium delivers data and analytics solutions globally to a variety of industries including aerospace, travel and airlines. Launched in 1909 as the first printed magazine related to aviation, the company has become a leading global aviation data and analytics company.

For more than three decades, Materna IPS, the aviation brand of the Materna Group, has specialised in airport and airline solutions, focusing on improving passenger handling.

Smart Airport Systems (SAS), an Alvest Group company, provides sustainable solutions for the aviation industry. Its solutions for airports are all about creating operational

efficiency. Smart Airport Systems products include unique airconditioning units as an alternative to on-ground use of auxiliary power units, an autonomous electric baggage tractor, mobile electrical ground power (MEGP) units and the TaxiBot, the semi-robotic dispatch towing vehicle.

Well-known to many in the industry, The Moodie Davitt Report Asia has now formally joined ACI Asia-Pacific as a WBP. The Moodie Davitt Report is a leading information source for the travel retail and airport commercial revenues sectors. The company also co-hosts The Trinity Forum with ACI World and ACI Asia-Pacific; owns the annual Airport Food & Beverage (FAB) Conference & Awards and ‘The Moodies’ – a renowned award scheme for social and digital media excellence.