Innovating as if our future depends on it

As we enter a new year, we look forward to the global air travel sector finally reaching full recovery, with ACI World - Airports Council International projecting global passenger traffic to surpass 2019 levels for the first time since the pandemic, reaching 9.7 billion passengers, or?106% of 2019 numbers.

Airports are more galvanised than ever to return to smooth running operations, elevate passenger experience, reduce their carbon footprints and invest in technology and?innovation.

At the end of 2023, ACI World launched its first Airports?Innovate event held in Muscat and hosted by Oman Airports. At the event I caught up with Oman Airports Management Company CEO, Sheikh Aimen Alhosni for an exclusive interview. Aimen spoke openly about the airport’s first Aerohack hackathon and the ideas that it created, and also on his commitment to invest in innovation, because as he says, “if you invest in technology and new machinery, you do not need to invest in adding square metres to the airport building.” Read the full interview on page 2.

At the same event, I also spoke with Luis Felipe de Oliveira , Director General of ACI World. Felipe spoke about the industry’s ambitions to double the size of the industry in the next 20 years with more than 19 billion passengers by 2041, however airport buildings and the size of the airport workforce will not be able to grow exponentially in the same way that passenger numbers grow, this is why it is so important that airports innovate so that we can meet this demand, provide a good passenger experience and maintain the licence to operate sustainably and in harmony with airports’ surrounding communities. Read the exclusive interview with Felipe on page 4.

In this issue you can read all about innovations such as biometrics (Barth, p. 32), cutting-edge terminal design at Finavia 's Helsinki Airport (p.?18), emerging technologies such as smart security and self-service ( Alessandro Fidato , p. 8), personalised experiences for passengers ( Federico Cabrera , p. 11) and a prime example of an airport who is leading the way in terms of transformative air travel experiences ( Changi Airport Group , Ke Wei Peh , p. 24), of course, when implementing new innovations, airports must take a step back and think about the importance of change management programmes, as outlined by David Wilson n in his interview with IAR on page 38.

The centre piece to our first issue of the year is the winner of International Airport Review’s Airport Leader of the Future Award, Ricia Vinelli Montejo , Head of Terminal Operations of Mactan-Cebu International Airport in the Philippines, who also features on our front cover. Ricia was presented with her award at the Airport Honour Awards at the International Airport Summit which took place in London in November last year.

In her exclusive interview, Ricia revealed how she leads her team, the skills she is working on and her career advice for women and next gen leaders entering the industry, as well as her top tips for creating an engaging and empowering work environment, plus tips to help women achieve the success they want in their workplaces, especially in male-dominated roles or industries. Read the inspirational interview on?page?28.

Also in this issue, The International Air Cargo Association TIACA Director General, Glyn Hughes gives his outlook on the global air cargo market for 2024 (p.?36), we talk air traffic control with Edinburgh Airport ’s Head of Air Traffic Services, Vicky Bhogal-Hunt (p. 46), Los Angeles World Airports ’ Ian Law and Sharjah Airport ’s Aisha Obaid Almheiri address the power of airport associations on page 44, route development on the dazzling island of Madagascar ( Tatamo Rakotozafy p. 15) and downtown San Francisco (p. 22), and empowering the next generation of airport workers, ( Heathrow Stannett p. 41).

We have an exciting year coming up for International Airport Review content, including virtual panels and webinar series, you can see previews for these throughout the issue. And?this year, we are taking the International Airport Summit to Amsterdam on 13?14 November! If you are interested in attending then register your interest here: https://bit.ly/3SnJx8W

I hope you enjoy the issue! Read it here: https://www.internationalairportreview.com/article/216917/issue-1-2024-international-airport-review/