ACI signs Memorandum of Understanding with Aerocivil to promote airport excellence in Colombia

Punta del Este, Uruguay, 26 September 2018 – Airports Council International (ACI) World and Unidad Administrativa Especial de Aeronautica Civil de Colombia (“Aerocivil”) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that will see enhanced cooperation on vital airport programmes and initiatives, including airport safety and security reviews, customer experience solutions and training, to promote operational excellence at the country’s government-owned airports. The agreement will also see the deployment of peer review missions from ACI to help Aerocivil evaluate their airport infrastructure projects and initiatives.

Aerocivil is a government agency of the Colombian Ministry of Transport in charge of managing and controlling Colombia’s public airports, as well as regulating civil aviation, the aviation industry and managing the Colombian airspace. Aerocivil currently operates 41 airports.

Juan Carlos Salazar, Director General of Aerocivil, and Angela Gittens, Director General of ACI World, signed the MoU at the ACI/LACAC Workshop on the Economics of Airports, attended by many of the region’s Directors General of Civil Aviation.

The agreement will see Colombia benefit from established ACI programmes including:  ACI Airport Excellence (APEX);  ACI Airport Service Quality (ASQ) , including the ASQ Arrivals Survey and Employee Survey; and, support and expertise from ACI Global Training on a broad range of training needs.

“With Colombia’s 11% share of Latin American-Caribbean passenger traffic, this country ranks in the Top 15 emerging aviation markets. There were over 65 million airport passengers in 2017 and it is set for continued growth in the coming years. ACI is delighted to strengthen our relationship with Colombia and agree enhanced collaboration to promote professional excellence in airport management and operations, in accordance with our mission,” said Gittens.

“This important MoU will serve to enhance our operations and access training and insights from the programmes that ACI offers,” said Salazar, “We always seek to provide the best and most up-to-date support to our airports and we believe that ACI’s programmes provide this.”

ACI continues to increase its Spanish language offering of training courses and publications.

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. Colombia continues to gain momentum after the recovery in commodity prices. According to ACI World’s recently released World Annual Traffic Report, South America is on the path to recovery with countries such as Brazil and Colombia allowing air transport demand to grow quickly over a decade. During the period from 2000 to 2017 countries in South America experienced 5.9% average annual passenger traffic growth.

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