ACI ASIA-PACIFIC NEWS

The announcement of ACI Asia-Pacific’s Young Executive of the Year, green initiatives, a new publication and the 2016 traffic figures make headline news, writes Vivian Fung.

Surabhi Rana of Mumbai International Airport Pvt Ltd is ACI Asia-Pacific’s Young Executive of the Year for 2017.

Rana beat off stiff competition from 15 other candidates to win the award for her submission paper on the topic of the Challenges and Opportunities for Small and Emerging Airports in the 21st Century.

Her paper earned rave reviews from this year’s Panel of Judges for “offering practical solutions that may be considered by small and emerging airports in order to remain viable and competitive”.

“I would like to congratulate Surabhi Rana for her outstanding work on the paper,” says ACI Asia-Pacific regional director, Patti Chau. “Her research covered all aspects of small and emerging airports, in particular the challenges they face. 

“The standard of research papers we received this year was very high. So high in fact that I wish to congratulate all the participants for demonstrating their pragmatic ideas in tackling our industry challenges through their research papers. I am proud that we have so many talented young people in our region.”

This year’s panel of judges – led by Emmanuel Menanteau, Co-CEO of Kansai Airports and secretary treasurer of ACI Asia-Pacific – also unanimously decided to give ‘honourable mentions’ to Maddalena Angelica Gabrielli of Brisbane Airport Corporation and Sandy Kwan of Airport Authority Hong Kong for their papers on Achieving Sustainability for Airports in Asia-Pacific. 

“Their submissions were very comprehensive and demonstrated a thorough understanding of the topic,” they noted.

The ACI Asia-Pacific Young Executive of the Year Award is a research paper competition, introduced in 2009, to encourage and promote innovative ideas and solutions to challenges facing the aviation industry. 

The 2017 candidates were required to submit research papers on either Achieving Sustainability for Airports in Asia-Pacific or the Challenges and Opportunities for Small & Emerging Airports in the 21st Century. 

Year in Review 2016

As its title suggests, the ACI Asia-Pacific Year in Review 2016 highlights the work of the regional office in 2016.  

Topics in the report include New leadership; Engagement with ICAO; the 11th ACI Asia-Pacific Regional Assembly Resolutions; Building Connections and Member Engagement;  Progress in 2016 –  ACI’s Priority Areas; and Events.