 I hope you all are enjoying the 2018 ACI-NA Annual Conference and Exhibition so far! Airport decision-makers and their peers come from across North America each year to attend our signature event and explore the latest trends and strategies that advance the industry.
Yesterday’s happenings were very successful, with a jam-packed agenda featuring the keynote address from Leonard Brody -- and there’s more to explore. Today, attendees will get to take a deep dive into sessions featuring topics promoting security, e-commerce and air cargo, airport infrastructure, and much more. Don’t forget to check out our exhibit hall today, featuring many exhibitors ready to demonstrate their expertise and help you solve the emerging challenges facing the airport industry.
Each year, this event gets bigger and better; but this year, it is even more special.
ACI-NA’s seventieth anniversary celebration will continue today and into tonight at our closing night event. I look forward to seeing you all there. Don’t forget your concert t-shirt!
Warmest regards,
Kevin M. Burke
President and CEO, ACI-NA
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Check out the full 2018 ACI-NA Annual Conference and Exhibition agenda on the Mobile App.
 Delivering Today: E-Commerce and Airports
Industry experts expect retail e-commerce to more than double over the next three to four years. This growth is expected to continue driving air cargo demand, despite rising trade tensions and increasing fuel costs. Airports need to be more involved with e-commerce development because the increasing variety of products transported often means new and different requirements for cargo and modal transportation facilities. Learn from the experts about how you can be more successful in this important and growing industry sector.
 Rightsizing Airport Infrastructure for Future Success
Evolving airline strategies have led to significant changes in passenger traffic for many airports in the United States and Canada, resulting in operational and financial challenges. Learn how airports are successfully responding to the ups and downs of the industry by revising their capital improvement plans, redesigning their facilities and revising their financial plans to serve their passengers and communities today and in the future.
 Airport Regulatory Forum
Join us for this perennial Annual Conference favorite, which provides you with the opportunity to interact face-to-face with senior officials from both Transport Canada and the FAA. In this year’s session we will be discussing ongoing regulatory reform efforts from both agencies, key environmental and policy initiatives, and airport funding. Bring your questions and concerns for an engaging and informative discussion.
 North American Aviation Security Update
In order to address evolving security threats, close coordination with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and Canadians agencies is essential. Collaboration between agencies and industry is critical when developing new risk-based policies and in deploying technology designed to increase security effectiveness and efficiency. Don’t miss this opportunity to talk directly with senior TSA and Transport Canada representatives about strategies to enhance the security of the aviation system.
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Driving more innovation will be an important aspect of the future as it is “critical to the effectiveness of … all industries,” said ACI-NA Chair Candace McGraw, during her introduction at the General Session, which set the stage for keynote Leonard Brody’s intriguing and debatable (though also inspiring and thought-provoking) approaches to innovation that were to come. She also shared some news related to Hurricane Florence, which was particularly hard on the airports in the storm’s path. A total of $47,500 has been raised to help these airports, she said. This generosity is a reflection of the airport industry and ACI-NA, which is celebrating its 70th anniversary this year and has solidified its value to the industry more each year. As McGraw succinctly put it, ACI-NA has the “ability to bring together the industry to find common sense solutions for the challenges we face.”
Also speaking during the General Session was Douglas Kreulen, CEO of Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority, who said, “We’re excited to learn from you and we share your goal to be the #1 airport in North America.” And he had one request (other than to “enjoy yourself”): “Find someone with a BNA shirt and share your experiences so we can learn from you.” Mayor David Riley warmly welcomed everyone to Nashville and had the audience chuckling over his comment about driving a Winnebago to Nashville and everyone’s ears perked up to hear that Nashville is investing $1.3 billion in BNA right now.
When ACI-NA’s President and CEO Kevin Burke stepped up to the podium, he said the conference is a place to “meet and forge strong partnerships for the betterment of YOUR industry. "Remember it is your industry," he said. He also gave a state of the industry address, highlighting recent successes for airports, and ACI-NA’s mission-focused work to advance the industry. To read his full speech, which includes quite a bit of good news, check out ACI-NA’s new website.
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 600,000 miles a year in the air. And if that nugget of information didn’t get your attention, then there were probably quite a few other statements made by Keynote Leonard Brody during the General Session on Monday morning that would have given you reason to listen closely to what he had to say.
Not only did Brody share “a decade’s worth of research in 50 minutes,” he let everyone see a bit of what makes him tick, what inspires him and what changes he thinks the airport industry should be making – though there were a few that differed on those comments.
One of Brody’s recurring points was the value of “human currency” and the changes there. “The big story is the changes in human beings,” he said. Businesses will fail if they don’t pay attention to change. Technology has “enslaved” us, to a degree, and there is a disconnect going on. “The houses we built don’t fit the people who live here anymore.” The disconnect is between “the people we have become, the tech tools available to us and the failure of our institutions to keep pace,” he said.
Behaviors of people have changed too. Our virtual selves are dominant, as two-thirds of our day is spent in a virtual world and only a third in the physical one. And people behave differently as a virtual self than in a physical one, he said. Interestingly, he said people are four times more trusting of virtual form than physical. Also, these virtual worlds, such as virtual performances, are already infiltrating the music scene and “the people walking through your airport doors are part virtual and part physical.”
As a person who travels extensively by plane, he has deduced that there are two demographics in airports: people who travel a lot and people who don’t. It is a comparison of “the value of time versus the necessity of the passing of time” when looking at the two. The goal is to create experiences for both.
And just as innovation never ceases, neither do experiences. "Life continually evolves. We don’t control that….Things evolve and we have to look at the path of that evolution.”
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There has been “phenomenal growth” relative to emotional support animals (ESAs) in cabins, said Rhonda Hamm Niebruegge, Director of Airports at St Louis Airport Authority, at this session on Monday morning. Growth to the tune of a 57% increase from 2016 to 2017. And this is one of the reasons why this topic, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), service dogs and ESAs have been getting a lot of coverage in the news press lately, explained Doug Mullen, Associate General Counsel, Airlines for America.
There are also safety issues. “It’s a challenge because an emotional support animal doesn’t have to be trained at all,” explained Mullen, which means there are 750,000 emotional support animals that are traveling through your airports that are untrained. And that is not sitting well with a lot of airports. “The most important thing for us is the safety and security of people traveling through the terminals,” said David N. Edwards Jr., President and CEO of the Greenville-Spartanburg Airport District. ESAs were defecating in the airport and exhibiting aggressive behaviors, such as biting. So, now they require that any non-service animals be in a cage or be held while in the terminals.
The airports in Canada are having similar problems. “One of the big issues we have is the fact that service animals have not skyrocketed but the ESAs have,” said Robert Sartor, President and CEO at YYC Calgary International. “Plus, fighting dogs at carousels and poop.” There’s just one word for that: “problematic.”
But until there is a standard established for this and parameters set, the path forward is a bit vague. And the surveys are disturbing. Disruptions are rampant and aggressive behaviors are not uncommon, as found by an American Airlines survey and another one geared to flight attendants. “There needs to be more of a nationwide approach as you can’t have different rules at different airports,” said Edwards. “It needs to be a federal approach so there are uniform regulations.”
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"We need to make passengers totally passionate,” said Phillipe Rainville, President and CEO, Aéroports de Montréal, “and improve our bottom line.” Two basic ideas that have so many ways to be achieved – and ideas were not in short supply at this session.
Huntley Lawrence, Director of Aviation at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, is no stranger to the creative process. “Based on what our customers were telling us, we had to do something different at our airports,” he said. There were three basic core things on the agenda we had to change for the customer experience: (1) Investing in infrastructure, meaning “$25 billion in 10 years, said Lawrence; (2) Laser focus on customer experience; (3) Governance reform, such as accountability relationships with all of their partners. “We want to be able to resolve issues before they become problems,” said Lawrence, which means supplementing ACI's Airport Service Quality (ASQ) surveys with other feedback options.
Craig Richmond, President and CEO, Vancouver Airport Authority, provided a scenario a facial recognition process combined with other safety and tracking measures would benefit the traveler, the ariports and the airlines. He said that our goal should not be to add more steps, and facial recognition can do that. “I think we can get there,” he said. “A lot of different parts are moving there... We are still back in the ’70s with making everyone walk through metal detectors.” He mentioned that, at Vancouver, they are "always looking for an edge” and “you have to take a leap to improve things."
At the City of Abbotsford, that “leap” is well underway. According to Parm Sidhu, Airport General Manager, City of Abbotsford, it is either “disrupt or be disrupted. If we don’t disrupt, someone will disrupt us.” They are an ultra-cost airport and are striving to be an autonomous airport. “Our motto is get in and get out,” said Sidhu.
The opposite is true at El Paso. Monica Lombraña, Managing Director of Aviation and International Bridges at El Paso International Airport, said, “Ultimately we are all there to serve or benefit the passengers in some form or fashion.” They incorporate a lot of ASQ surveys, and “we design and plan around a strong customer service experience,” said Lombrana.
The bottom line, regardless of which path to customer serivce your airport takes: “Our facilities are icons and representative of our cities and our countries,” said Huntley.
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Airports Council International – North America (ACI-NA) recognized the 36 North American airports that achieved Airport Carbon Accreditation during the past year at the 2018 ACI-NA Annual Conference and Exhibition. Airport Carbon Accreditation recognizes airport efforts to manage and reduce their CO2 emissions through independent assessment and verification.
“Airports strive to be good partners within their communities and in the global aviation system by promoting sustainability and environmentally responsible practices,” said ACI-NA President and CEO Kevin M. Burke. “One of the chief ways North American airports can lower their carbon footprint is by participating in the Airport Carbon Accreditation program. I applaud the 36 airports that are leading our industry on a path toward continued success in innovation and sustainability.” Read more >>
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General Session II
 Julie Setser
Vice President, R & D Innovation Capability
Proctor & Gamble
Julie Setser is currently Vice President of Innovation Capability at Procter & Gamble. In this role, Julie has responsibility for identifying the best internal and external innovation practices, and scaling them across P&G to accelerate growth through innovation that truly delights consumers. She leads P&G’s multifunctional effort to adopt agile/lean innovation.
Julie started her career in R&D at P&G in 1985 after receiving her B.S. in Chemical Engineering from U. C. Berkeley. She led major innovation programs and technology platforms in several business units including Hair Care, Pet Care and Fabric Care, and has had International assignments in Caracas, Kobe and Brussels. She has a passion for consumer-driven innovation and integrating seamlessly across the technical disciplines and across functions.
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Be sure to tweet comments and photos at the 2018 ACI-NA Annual Conference and Exhibition. Mention @airportscouncil and use this hashtag: #airports18
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 7:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.: Registration - Level 3 Concourse
7:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.: BNA Welcome Desk - Level 3 Concourse
8:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.: Networking Breakfast - Level 4 Concourse
9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.: General Session II - Ballroom A (Level 4)
10:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.: ACI-NA Downes Award Presentation - Ballroom A (Level 4)
10:30 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. : Exhibition Hall Open (Lunch Served in Exhibit Hall from 11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.) Exhibit Hall B/C (Level 3)
1:15 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.: Exhibit Hall Classroom Education Sessions
3:00 p.m. – 3:15 p.m.: Networking Break - Level 2 Concourse
3:15 p.m. – 5:20 p.m.: Education Sessions
5:30 p.m. – 6:15 p.m.: Chair’s Reception – Room 202
7:30 p.m. – 11:00 p.m.: Closing Night Event
Check the Mobile App for more details!
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