Abdulla Rashed Al Otaiba, Chairman of Department of Transport Abu Dhabi (DOT), and Khalifa Mohammed Al Mazrouei, Chairman of Abu Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC), today officially opened Airport Council International (ACI) Airport Exchange 2011 at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Center (ADNEC).

The event is jointly organized by ACI Europe and ACI Asia-Pacific, and hosted by ADAC, bringing Airport Exchange for the first time to the region.

The exhibition and conference opened with a keynote speech given by Jim Bennett, CEO of ADAC, who explained: "ADAC is extremely proud to be given this opportunity to play a pivotal role in the exchange of expertise and insights by hosting an event of such a multi-faceted nature and international standing. Since its launch in 2006, Airport Exchange has become ACI Europe’s largest airport conference and exhibition, and our close relationship with ACI and active membership in ACI Asia-Pacific demonstrates ADAC’s commitment to supporting the common objectives of airports across the world." This year the joint-hosted event by ACI Europe and ACI Asia/Pacific has attracted a record number of delegates confirming its reputation as the premier event for the aviation industry, with over 1000 airport and aviation executives from across the globe coming to Abu Dhabi to discuss key issues and challenges in the industry.

Jim Bennett further explained: "Challenging times are ahead of us with critical issues requiring strategic solutions and strong perspectives: enabling growth and delivering capacity, further liberalizing the skies, withstanding the pressure of airlines for charges reductions, debating with states on airport regulation are key items on the agenda which we are called to deal with whether in Europe, Asia, or any other part of the world. Furthermore, beyond the airport industry, external parameters such as the world economy or geopolitical events will continue to impact airports and require collaborative actions, and we look forward to discussing many of these events over the coming days." The opening sessions also included speeches from Olivier Jankovec, Director General of ACI Europe, Patti Chau, Regional Director of ACI Asia-Pacific and Kevin Knight, Chief Officer of Strategy and Planning of Etihad Airways.

Throughout the three days of networking, exhibitions and conferences, various seminars will allow delegates to enjoy sessions from six individually tailored conference programmes dedicated to the following areas: Security; Airport Operations; Airport Development and Environment; IT; Facilitation ’&’ Customer Service; and Commercial Network Planning.

The sessions conclude with a CEO panel to discuss emergency planning and crisis management. The panel was made up of Declan Collier, CEO of Dublin Airport Authority and President of ACI Europe, as well as Kosaburo Morinaka, President and CEO of Narita International Airport Corporation in Japan and Second Vice present of ACI Asia-Pacific, Iftikhar Ahmad, Director of Aviation at New Orleans Aviation Board and Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport, and Samuli Haapasalo, President and CEO of Dinavla.
 

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