ACI World joins key aviation leaders to promote gender equality at ICAO Global Aviation Gender Summit

Immediate action required to accelerate change and address talent shortage

Cape Town, 8 August 2018– During the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Global Aviation Gender Summit in Cape Town, South Africa this week, Airports Council International (ACI) World Director General Angela Gittens will express the organization’s firm commitment to promote gender equality in aviation.

Taking part in a panel exploring leadership and gender equality, Gittens will stress the importance of coaching and mentoring women in aviation-related jobs citing it as one of the most important functions managers perform.

“Gender inequality persists in the aviation sector and ACI reaffirms its commitment to supporting the United Nations goal of achieving gender equality and empower all women and girls,” said Angela Gittens. “This is directly pertinent to the airport industry and ACI World is working with ICAO and our partners on ways to attract more women into aviation and to support their professional development.

“Air service demand will double in 15 years. The aviation industry cannot continue to ignore half of the world’s population as it competes with other industries for the talent it needs to continue to play its role as an economic driver.

“On behalf of ACI World, I am glad to be part of this effort because aviation needs to have a diverse talent pool from which to draw in order to ensure the sustainable growth of the industry. We want to lead by example and, in our Montreal office, ACI World is working from a strong base, where more than 58% of our professional staff are women.

“ACI has long been a proponent of diversity in the workforce and is proud to have partnerships and agreements with ICAO and IATA to work collaboratively on many facets of the gender equality issue.

“Thanks to our partnerships, we will continue to put the focus on education, training and job opportunities by offering to our airport members robust suite of Global Training educational programmes.”

In terms of professional development and support, ACI provides scholarships for the Airport Operations Diploma Programme (AODP) and the Airport Executive Leadership Programme (AELP). The latter is targeted at future CEOs, Deputy CEOs and Vice-Presidents of airport operating organizations and is one of our ways of creating a network of future industry leaders.

Notes for editors

1. Airports Council International (ACI), the trade association of the world’s airports, was founded in 1991 with the objective of fostering cooperation among its member airports and other partners in world aviation, including the International Civil Aviation Organization, the International Air Transport Association and the Civil Air Navigation Services Organization. In representing the best interests of airports during key phases of policy development, ACI makes a significant contribution toward ensuring a global air transport system that is safe, secure, efficient and environmentally sustainable. As of January 2018, ACI serves 641 members operating 1953 airports in 176 countries.

2. Download the PDF version of this media release.

Media contacts:

Hicham Ayoun
Manager, Communications
ACI World
Telephone: +1 514 373 1223
Email: mediarelations@aci.aero

Anita Berthier
Manager, External Relations and Special Events
ACI World
Telephone: +1 514 373 1254
Email: mediarelations@aci.aero