Regional update
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Manager for communications and brand marketing, Yuman Lau, rounds-up the latest news and developments from ACI Asia-Pacific.
ACI ASIA-PACIFIC REITERATES CALL FOR ADOPTION OF ONE-STOP SECURITY
ACI Asia-Pacific participated at the 9th Annual Technical and Operational Meeting (ATOM) of the Cooperative Aviation Security Programme – Asia Pacific (CASP-AP) in Singapore in early February 2023.
The event, hosted by the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS), is a regional ICAO programme designed to provide technical assistance to Asia-Pacific States looking to enhance security at their airports.
Attended by over 30 representatives from a host of States and industry associations, the two-day meeting addressed some of the training and capacity building initiatives in aviation security and the priority areas that the CAS-AP should focus on in the coming year.
Gary Leung, ACI Asia-Pacific’s manager for security and facilitation, was invited to give a presentation on the ACI APEX in Security programme.
At the meeting, ACI Asia-Pacific reiterated the importance of OSS to the sustainability of the civil aviation industry, and encouraged States to share challenges and difficulties in implementation at future MID-RASFG meetings.
INSIGHTS ON THE ROLE OF AIRPORTS IN ADOPTION OF SAF
In February, ACI Asia-Pacific participated in a series of Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) Webinars organised by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).
The webinars aimed at exchanging insights on the scale up of SAF in South East Asia, and to facilitate establishing partnerships among interested parties. More than 120 participants from all ASEAN members joined the the sessions.
Ken Lau, our senior manager for the environment and IT, provided an overview of ACI Asia-Pacific’s advocacy on airport environmental and sustainability issues, highlighting the ongoing decarbonisation efforts of airports.
Together with ACI Asia-Pacific, Takahiro Ohmiya, manager of the business group of the refuelling business for Narita International Airport Corporation, shared his experiences on how governments and the aviation industry can work closely together to increase SAF supplies to airports.
WEBINAR SERIES: AIRPORTS GOING BEYOND GREEN BUILDING
Members of the ACI Asia-Pacific Regional Environment Committee and environmental sustainability experts from airport across the globe shared their knowledge and insight during ACI Asia-Pacific’s ‘Airports Going Beyond Green Building’ webinar earlier this year.
The webinar aimed to promote environmental best practices to help airports minimise the impact of their facilities and aviation on the environment, potentially building more resilient and sustainable airports for future.
Gerald Ng, Changi Airport Group’s vice president for the environment and sustainability and S. Lakshminarayanan, senior vice president of engineering and maintenance at Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL), were the keynote speakers with the event moderated by Ken Lau, ACI Asia-Pacific’s senior manager for the environment and airport IT.
Participants shared best practice advice on topics ranging from environmental management and commissioning, maintenance and operational challenges to formulating long-term plans.
NEW FACES TO LEAD REGIONAL ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE
The ACI Asia-Pacific Regional Environment Committee is under new leadership this year following the appointment of Changi Airport Group’s Gerald Ng and Airport Authority Hong Kong’s Kristy Tan as chair and vice chair respectively for 2023-2024.
Singapore based Ng is CAG’s vice president for the environment and sustainability and Tan is AAHK’s senior manager for climate resilience, and both have been busy since taking up their roles, Ng making a keynote speech at ACI Asia-Pacific’s Airports Going Beyond Green Building webinar and Tan speaking at a meeting of the European Aviation Climate Change Adaptation Working Group earlier this year.
AIRPORTS IN ASIA-PACIFIC AND MIDDLE EAST CONTINUE TO REDUCE CARBON FOOTPRINT
Between them, 64 airports from Asia-Pacific and the Middle East have reduced their carbon emissions by 162,623 tonnes (Scope 1 & 2), according to ACI’s Airport Carbon Accreditation Annual Report for 2021-2022.
This is equivalent to the CO2 emitted during the production of close to 24 million cotton t-shirts.
ACI Asia-Pacific’s director general, Stefano Baronci, noted: “There have been significant efforts to reduce the carbon footprint at airports, but the emissions levels will still increase due to a lack of clear solutions to decarbonise the industry and surging demand for air travel.
“The ACA programme is a great tool to encourage and enable airports to implement best practices in carbon management and achieve emissions reductions.
“The coming years will be more challenging as Asia-Pacific and Middle East traffic is expected to collectively grow by 2.6 times until 2041 from 2019 level of 3.4 billion.
“Airports are already doing good work in decarbonisation, but are expected to scale up their efforts to reach net zero goals by 2050. We look forward to see more airports join ACA and progressively make it to the top tier of the programme.” Sixteen airports from Asia-Pacific and the Middle East upgraded to a higher level of accreditation within the reporting period.
They are Bahrain (BAH); Chengdu Shuangliu (CTU); Christchurch (CHC); Hawke’s Bay (NPE); Delhi-Indira Gandhi (DEL); Kansai (KIX); Kobe (UKB); Osaka (ITM); Palmerston North (PMR); Perth (PER); Phnom Penh (PNH); Queen Alia (AMM); Salalah (SLL); Siem Reap (REP); Sihanouk (KOS); and Shenzhen Bao’an (SZX).
Airport Carbon Accreditation is the only institutionally-endorsed, global carbon management certification programme for airports. It independently assesses and recognises the efforts of airports to manage and reduce their carbon emissions through 6 levels of certification: ‘Mapping’, ‘Reduction’, ‘Optimisation’, ‘Neutrality’, ‘Transformation’ and ‘Transition’.
Through its 6 levels of certification, Airport Carbon Accreditation acknowledges that airports are at different stages in their journey towards comprehensive carbon management. It is a programme for airports of all sizes, extending beyond hubs and regional airports with scheduled passenger traffic, to include general aviation and freight-focused airports.
Find the full list of accredited airports and more information about the programme here: www.airportcarbonaccreditation.org/
EUROPEAN AVIATION CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION WORKING GROUP IN RAS AL KHAIMAH
ACI Asia-Pacific has participated in the first European Aviation Climate Change Adaptation Working Group of 2023, effectively a gathering of experts in the fields of environment, climate change and technical operations at airports.
At the meeting, the participants engaged in a knowledge exchange session about the latest development of ACI Asia-Pacific’s advocacy effortd in aviation sustainability.
On behalf of ACI Asia-Pacific, Kristy Tan, vice-chair of the ACI Asia-Pacific Regional Environment Committee (REC) presented the process and good practices of the committee and airports with regards to the development of climate resilience within the industry.
The latest Tender Guideline for Climate Resilience & Planning, published by ACI Asia-Pacific, was presented during the meeting.
MAKING NEW CONNECTIONS IN INDIA
ACI Asia-Pacific director general, Stefano Baronci, had a productive meeting with the India’s Minister for Civil Aviation, Jyotiraditya Scindia, at his office in New Delhi in March, 2023.
ACI Asia-Pacific will co-operate with the Indian Ministry to try and significantly increase the number of Indian airports to achieve carbon neutrality as well as assist them in their efforts to meet environmental targets.
Environmental best practice is, of course, already high on the agenda of a number of Indian airport operators such as Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL); Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL); Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL); and GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd (GHIAL).
We look forward to working closely with MOCA and the Honourable Minister’s team for a larger participation of Indian airports in the Airport Carbon Accreditation programme in the near future.
AIRPORT PANDEMIC RESILIENCE ON THE AGENDA AT ICAO MEETING
Bahrain Airport Company recently played host to the joint ICAO Europe and Middle East Tenth Collaborative Arrangement for the Prevention and Management of Public Health Events in Civil Aviation (CAPSCA EUR-MID/10).
In collaboration with the Civil Aviation Authority of Bahrain, the meeting was attended by over 60 medical and civil aviation professionals from many different States and industry associations from Europe and the Middle East.
ACI Asia-Pacific provided an overview of ACI’s initiatives in public health introduced over the past three years, such as the Airport Health Accreditation (AHA) programme and its health-related guidance documents, aimed at helping airports better implement ICAO recommended health measures during the pandemic.
A number of recommendations that could help airports enhance their preparedness for future health crises were also put forward at the meeting, including the introduction of universally accepted digital health credentials and to adopt a balanced approach when implementing additional health measures at airports, if required, to minimise unnecessary interference on operations.
Established in 2006, CAPSCA is a programme managed by ICAO that brings together stakeholders from the civil aviation sector and public health sector to improve preparedness planning and response to public health events that affect civil aviation.
A number of lessons learned from COVID-19 were shared during the three-day meeting, such as the various control measures taken by the aviation ecosystem to prevent the spread of the virus and their impact on aviation, economies and societies in general.
ABU ZEID RE-ELECTED CHAIR OF ECONOMICS COMMITTEE
Nagy Abu Zeid, vice president corporate planning for Oman Airports, has been re-elected as the chair of the ACI Asia-Pacific Economics Committee for a second term.
He will work closely with François Southarewsky, chief commercial officer for Aero Kansai Airports, who was unanimously elected a vice chair during the Economics Committee’s 18th committee meeting in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in late 2022.
Zeid and Southarewsky will lead the Committee for two years, with the term beginning from February 2023.
AIRPORTS INNOVATE – SAVE THE DATE!
Our global aviation conference Airports Innovate will take place in Muscat, Oman, on November, 21/22, 2023. The event is co-organised by ACI Asia-Pacific, ACI EUROPE, ACI World and hosted by Oman Airports. We are now calling for potential exhibitors and sponsors to participate in our flagship event. If you are looking for opportunities to showcase your products and solutions to the market and explore collaborations, here is your opportunity. Mark your calendars now!
