APEX – The Community of Airports at Work 

The concurrent education session titled APEX – The Community of Airports at Worktook place yesterday during a busy first day of the 2016 ACI-NA / World Annual Conference and World Annual General Assembly in Montreal. Moderated by Dr. Yiannis Paraschis, CEO, Athens International Airport and former ACI World Chair, the session presented delegates an in-depth view of the benefits and future of ACI’s rapidly growing Airport Excellence (APEX) programme.

The programme, which started five years ago provides safety reviews to large and small airports based on ICAO standards and ACI best practices. These reviews are conducted by an international team of ACI Safety Partners, which are airports that provide expert volunteers for onsite reviews at host airports around the world.

Speakers on the session panel included Danny Boutin, Senior Manager, APEX Programmes, ACI World; Jennifer Sullivan, Director, Corporate Safety and Security, Greater Toronto Airport Authority; Nina Brooks, Head, Security, ACI World; and Richard Marchi, Senior Advisor, Policy and Regulatory Affairs, ACI-NA.

A major theme of the session, expressed by Jennifer Sullivan, was how the APEX programme provides an unparrelled platform for comfortable engagement between host airports and safety partners for honest and deep dialogue on challenges and actions required in the area of operational safety. Additionally, the subject of the development of the APEX programme into other fields, such as security and environment were touched upon by Nina Brooks and Richard Marchi respectively.

The session began with Angela Gittens, Director General, ACI World and Danny Boutin honouring the airports of Brussels, Edmonton, Mauritius, Quito and San Antonio with awards for their strong commitment and excellent work as ACI Safety Partners.

More information on the APEX programme, including how to request a safety review and/or become a safety partner can be found at www.aci.aero/apex.