Speaking to over 400 global airport and aviation executives attending the Airport Service Quality & Facilitation Conference in Shanghai, the ACI Chairman James Cherry warned that the key challenge for all aviation partners is how to optimise the efficiency within the aviation system and the effectiveness of the outputs.
 
In his keynote address, Cherry said, “Our theme -- ‘Partnering for Excellence’ -- essentially describes what we, as an industry, must do to meet the efficiency challenge. Simply put, it’s about implementing management best practice.”
 
The conference, hosted by Shanghai Airport Authority (SAA), brings together a diverse, multi-disciplinary group of aviation and business professionals, with a wealth of management experience. Sessions will focus on best practice exchanges, including measuring and benchmarking customer service levels through the ACI Airport Service Quality (ASQ) programme. Other topics will include terminal design and management; facilitating passengers with reduced mobility; airport preparedness for infectious disease pandemics and optimising the benefit from airport IT investments.
 
Cherry added, “It is conceivable that the 9 billion passengers travelling through our airports by 2025 will be facilitated in a very different way than today. As airports we need to envision the future and prepare for it.”
 
At a press briefing held on the conference opening day, SAA Chairman and President Mr Wu Nianzu said, “The expansion project of Pudong International Airport was completed and Terminal 2 put into operation last week, which signifies a solid step for the hub construction. In addition, the Beijing Olympics 2008 and World Expo Shanghai 2010 provide historical opportunities for the development of Shanghai airports.
 
"Our city has been part of the phenomenal recent economic growth and change in China. Last year GDP rose by more than 11% in China, which in turn stimulates the airport traffic growth. In 2007, the passenger traffic handled by Pudong airport grew by 8% to 29 million and cargo handled rose to 2.56 million tonnes, ranking the 5th worldwide in cargo handling. By speeding the pace of air hub construction and the handling capabilities of Shanghai airports, we are ready to provide better services to the economic growth of Shanghai, the Yangtze River Delta Area and the whole nation. ”

ACI Director General Robert J Aaronson placed this conference in an international perspective. “Airports worldwide are committed to six broad priority areas, no matter what the size or traffic volume. They are safety, security, environment, economic contributions, efficient operations and customer service delivery. At the same time we must face the impact on airport capacity of strong growth in the coming years…what that means for our customers and for our service delivery.
 
“This open forum presents a unique opportunity to mutually assist each other in planning for the sometimes unpredictable future. Together we can examine how we work within our management teams, with our airport platform partners and with regulatory and oversight bodies that can help mitigate the hurdles that slow response to the requirements of our fast-moving aviation sector. We look forward to discovering the benefits of innovative and sustainable solutions developed by the many airports participating in this event and to honouring the top performing airports in the ASQ benchmarking programme tomorrow evening.”