Conference videos

Jonas Abrahamsson, Chief Executive Officer at Swedavia, discusses his presentation titled Operating and developing sustainable airports. Swedavia operates and develops a network of 10 airports across Sweden, with safety and satisfied passengers as the foundation of the business. Its role is to contribute to, and create, the accessibility that Sweden needs to facilitate travel, business and meetings – in Sweden, in Europe and around the world. Click play to hear more.

Christina A Cassotis, Chief Executive Officer, Pittsburgh International Airport, USA talks about her role during the Future Airports panel discussion titled CEO Airport Innovation. Having been a major connecting hub for an airline that is no longer flying, Pittsburgh International Airport faces the challenge of being over capacity and is therefore looking to both downsize and modernise existing facilities to attract new airline business. Click play to hear more.

Fredrik Jaresved, CEO of Airport City Stockholm at Swedavia, talks about his presentation titled Airport City Stockholm. Started in 2012, Airport City Stockholm has developed a strategy that has strengthen the location as a hub for sustainable innovation and meetings and has recently moved into the next phase of development with rapid growth increasing the number of new companies by more than 25% in just three years. So, what are the future plans for this airport city, and what is needed to get there? Click play to hear more.

Palmina Whelan, Managing Director at American Airlines, comments on her presentation titled Technology advancement at DFW through partnership, which looked at the partnership and collaboration between American Airlines and DFW Airport Authority to introduce technology at DFW Airport to enhance the passenger end-to-end journey. Click play to hear more.

Shane de Wit, Director Commercial at Northern Territory Airports, Australia discusses his presentation titled Overcoming challenges through innovative approaches to services and spaces. Darwin is the first airport in Australia to establish and operate its own business centre and VIP International Lounge, setting a precedent for airport business diversification, aviation route development and customer service with the opening of its Wirraway Business Centre and Catalina Lounge. Click play to hear more.

Ioannis Metsovitis, Vice President Operations, Hamad International Airport, talks about his presentation titled Implementation of A-CDM as a transformative initiative. Since the start of operations only three years ago, HIA’s airport management company has continuously improved operations and its service offering for passengers and public alike. It recently launched A-CDM with great success, measured by the transformation HIA is achieving in its business and operations across the entire organisation and progressively throughout the airport community. Click play to hear more.

Michael Ross, Director, Commercial Development at Greater Toronto Airports Authority, comments on his presentation titled ‘I am Toronto Pearson’ – anatomy of an airport employee movement. Airport operators have goals that often require the cooperation and collaboration of several thousand people who work for myriad companies, each with their own objectives. How then might airports influence all their employees to work towards a common goal? How might they encourage behaviour that puts passengers first, creating a more helpful and friendly experience? Click play to hear more.

Beth Brewster, EVP International Business Development and Lounges, Manchester Airports Group, UK discusses her presentation titled How to maximise the growth in ‘common use’ executive lounges. As an airport and operator of common-use lounges, both within its own airports and as a ‘tenant’ within other airports, Manchester Airport Group has a unique perspective on not only what makes a good ‘landlord’ but also what makes a good ‘concessionaire’. Click play to hear more.

Li San Poh, Vice President, T4 Programme Management Office, Changi Airport Group, discusses her presentation, which provided an insight into the strategic considerations for the design philosophy of ‘Rethink Travel at Changi Airport Terminal 4’, and shares how a different terminal design strategy is used to overcome site constraints and challenges. Click play to hear more.

Lorne Cass, Vice President, Integrated Operations Center, American Airlines, USA talks about his role in the Management and Operation panel discussion titled: The Secrets of a successful integrated operation centre which discussed the steps to build an integrated operations centre from the perspective of DFW’s EVP of Operations, American Airlines offering Dallas’s perspective of building a new operations centre, and the consultant view of assisting clients through successful gap analysis and business processes mapping. Click play to hear more.

Dr Enrique Belda, Deputy Director General of Communications and Information Systems for Security, Ministry of the Interior, Spain, comments on his presentation titled Smarter borders in Spain. In 2017, Spain had more than 60 million tourist visitors, 30 million of whom arrived from non-Schengen countries. These movements are concentrated in short periods of time, and the challenge was to build the technological infrastructure capable of integrating technology and new operating procedures and to find a balance between security and efficiency in migration management, border checks and law enforcement. Click play to hear more.

Houssam H Sleiman, Director, Capital Programs and Environmental Affairs, Massachusetts Port Authority, USA discusses his presentation titled Airport balancing act: the need to grow yet reduce environmental impacts. As air mobility continues to grow, airports are on a constant path to expand or rebuild their infrastructure, which needs to be operational for up to 30 years or even more. As such, not only investment costs, but also operating costs are a relevant factor, and passenger satisfaction should be further developed while environmental impacts are reduced and mitigated. Click play to hear more.

Hari Krishnan Marar, Executive Director and President, Bangalore International Airport, discusses his role in the Future Airports panel discussion titled CEO Airport Innovation. Bangalore is one of the world’s fastest-growing airports, with 25% growth year-on-year for three consecutive years. The challenge is to manage the impact of the growth and continue to meet passenger and airline demands. Click play to hear more.

Lena Rökaas, Head of Operations at Swedavia, discusses her joint presentation made with the CIO of Swedavia, titled Operational vision and digitisation – the transformation journey at Swedavia, which looked at Swedavia’s transformation journey combining operation and digitisation. Click play to hear more.

Stijn Bannier, Product Manager Mobile at KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, discusses his presentation titled Implementing augmented reality in the airline customer journey. With both iOS and Android including AR as one of their top priorities in all mobile innovation, how can an airline implement AR in its customer journey and how can they inspire, entertain and sell via augmented reality? Click play to hear more.

Steven Yiu, Deputy Director, Service Delivery, Airport Authority Hong Kong talks about his presentation titled: Operational modelling tools for managing baggage system performance, which presented a new software tool that allows airports to make operational decisions for their baggage systems based on changing conditions. The Operational Modelling Tool (OMT) has two primary purposes: (1) Assist in daily/near-term planning to manage resource requirements due to last-minute flight schedule changes, load variation, flight delays, etc.; (2) Assist in medium-term planning to identify requirements for changes to upcoming schedules, check-in assignments, makeup configuration and passenger processing. Click play to hear more.

Elisabeth Le Masson, Member of the Board, Hubstart Paris Region Alliance, France talks about her presentation titled Urban quality – a challenging factor of attractiveness for airport areas. Using Paris-CDG and Le Bourget as examples, the presentation looked at why airport areas often suffer from mono-functional urban planning, second-rate architecture, insufficient transportation and a poor living environment. Why are urbanity and hospitality important? What are the solutions to create an attractive, people-centred, enjoyable airport area? How is it possible to involve the local communities (inhabitants, employees, visitors) in the process? Click play to hear more.