Collaboration Benefits All Sides When It Comes to Transnational Issues

In the final session of this year’s Annual Conference, St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport’s Tom Jewsbury engaged the FAA’s Winsome Lenfert and Transport Canada’s Pierre Ruel in a discussion on the latest regulatory landscape, reform efforts from both agencies and key policy initiatives for airports in both countries.

Lenfert outlined the FAA’s projects since this same session in Nashville last year, including the five-year FAA Reauthorization bill and continued work around the Airport Improvement Program (AIP). Ruel discussed issues of importance to Canadian airports, including safety issues, like runway incursion and unmanned aerial systems (UAS), which are a focus area for both countries. Lenfert and Ruel agreed that wildlife management and UAS are areas where working together benefits both nations and that coming together on solutions in these areas will pave the way for global collaboration on these and other issues.