European Airport Industry Comes to Athens for 26th ACI Europe General Assembly

The European airport industry will gather in Athens during June 20-22 for the 26th ACI Europe General Assembly, Congress & Exhibition hosted by Athens International Airport (AIA).

The event, to take place at the Divani Apollon Palace & Thalasso, is firmly established as the annual meeting place for leading aviation, airport and airline executives, world aerospace industry representatives, EU legislative bodies and academics. ACI Europe is the European region of Airports Council International, the only worldwide professional association of airport operators.

“It is a great pleasure for Athens International Airport to welcome the ACI Europe Annual Assembly, Congress & Exhibition to Athens for the second time”, AIA’s CEO Dr Yiannis Paraschis said in an announcement.

The theme of this year’s event is “There is nothing permanent except change* – towards a radical remodeling of passenger & airline customer relationships” (*partial quote from Heraclitus).

“Inspired by the ancient Greek philosopher, this concept will be reflected in all sessions of this year’s congress, to express the constant change of the global conditions, and the most prominent characteristic of the extremely volatile aviation industry”, he said.

This year’s event will include in-depth discussions on airport and aviation issues with the participation of important aviation executives such as the general manager of ACI Europe, Olivier Jankovec; the Chairman & CEO – Aéroports de Paris & President ACI Europe, Augustin de Romanet; the managing director of Aegean Airlines, Dimitris Gerogiannis; the CEO of Brussels Airport, Arnaud Feist; and the chairman of the Executive Board of Fraport AG, Dr Stefan Schulte.

Various discussions will take place during the event with panel guests including the Director DG Competition of the European Commission, Henrik Morch; the CEO of Star Alliance, Mark Schwab; and the CEO of ACI World Chair & London City Airport, Declan Collier. The CEOs of many airports will also attend, such as AENA, Budapest, Dublin, Zurich, Copenhagen, Munich, Bristol, Rome, Vinci Airports.

With an ongoing dynamic presence in ACI Europe, AIA will be the host airport of a series of events during the general assembly, including the Gala Dinner and ACI Europe Best Airport Awards ceremony that will be held in the evening of June 21.

“What is more, it is an exceptional honour for our airport to be hosting the biggest gathering of the European airport community during a year of a special symbolism for us, since we are celebrating 15 years of operation of Athens International Airport and the 20th anniversary since the establishment of our airport company, a pioneer internationally acknowledged public-private partnership scheme with a proven track record of success”,  AIA’s CEO added.