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Airports Council International (ACI) is an organization of
airport authorities An airport authority is an independent entity charged with the operation and oversight of an airport or group of airports. These authorities are often governed by a group of airport commissioners, who are appointed to lead the authority by a govern ...
aimed at unifying industry practices for
airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surfa ...
standards. Established in 1991, its headquarters (ACI World) are based in Montreal, Quebec,
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...
, and its members operate nearly 2000 airports. Major programmes include
safety Safety is the state of being "safe", the condition of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings There are two slightly di ...
enhancement (APEX) and Airport Service Quality Awards (ASQ), based on passenger satisfaction ratings. Other initiatives cover economics, operational security, carbon accreditation and passenger transportation. Next Experience in Travel and Technologies (NEXTT) coordinates the movement of passengers, cargo, baggage and aircraft by using processing technology and interactive decision-making.


Background

Before 1970, the world's airports were represented by three distinct associations: * Airport Operators Council International (AOCI) * International Civil Airports Association (ICAA * Western European Airports Association (WEAA) Due to the growing importance of external factors on airport operations, the need for a formal relationship with governments, airlines, manufacturers and other parties concerned became more apparent. In 1970, these three associations created the Airport Associations Coordinating Council (AACC) in order to formulate unified airport industry policies, furthering collaboration between its constituent associations and representing them collectively with aviation organizations and other relevant bodies. The decision to create ACI was taken in 1989. The Constitution of ACI to succeed AACC was approved in the Autumn of 1990 and came to effect in 1991. In 2011, ACI relocated its headquarters from
Geneva, Switzerland Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Situ ...
to
Montreal, Canada Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-p ...
. The decision was in part motivated by the fact that the
International Civil Aviation Organization The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO, ) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that coordinates the principles and techniques of international air navigation, and fosters the planning and development of international ...
(ICAO) is located in Montreal. The purpose was to facilitate a better coordination of their activities and also to operate alongside the International Air Transportat Association (IATA), also located in the same city. In 2016 airports worldwide welcomed 7.7 billion arriving and departing passengers and handled 110 million metric
tonne The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1000  kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the short ton ( United State ...
s of cargo and 92 million aircraft movements. ACI reported 641 members operating 1,957 airports in 176 countries and territories. ACI regular members are owners or operators, other than airlines, of one or more civil airports with commercial air services.


Priorities

ACI represents airports interests with governments and international organizations such as
ICAO The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO, ) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that coordinates the principles and techniques of international air navigation, and fosters the planning and development of international ...
, develops standards, policies and recommended practices for airports, and provides information and training.


Safety

ACI considers safety its main priority and has launched programs such as Airport Excellence (APEX) to help airports enhance their level of safety. It also provides may publications on recommendations and best practices for airport operators. It is involved in airport design specifications,
standard operating procedure A standard operating procedure (SOP) is a set of step-by-step instructions compiled by an organization to help workers carry out routine operations. SOPs aim to achieve efficiency, quality output, and uniformity of performance, while reducing misc ...
s for airports, technology, systems & equipment, safety management systems for airports, safety guidance material and training.


Economics

ACI encourages its member airports to improve operational and cost efficiency to moderate the cost of flying, mitigate capacity shortfalls and create sufficient rates of return.


Security

ACI has formulated policy positions on security issues which guide the organisation and member airports.


IT

All of the ACI World IT initiatives are coordinated through the ACI World Airport IT Standing Committee, constituted by people from airports and business partners and aims to reformulate recommended practices and develop guidelines, benchmarking and training materials.


Environment

ACI develops initiatives to reduce environmental impacts while supporting economic and social benefits. It created tools to help airports calculate their
greenhouse gas emissions Greenhouse gas emissions from human activities strengthen the greenhouse effect, contributing to climate change. Most is carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels: coal, oil, and natural gas. The largest emitters include coal in China and ...
. As one of the founding members of the Air Transport Action Group (ATAG), ACI, along with other trade associations, is part of a coalition of aviation industry experts focusing on sustainable development issues. ATAG defines common positions on issues to make contributions to the industry and governmental consultation processes.


Facilitation

ACI helps airports improve their management or flow of passengers, baggage, cargo and mail by providing a set of best practices together with measuring and benchmarking opportunities provided through the Airport Service Quality (ASQ) programs.


Airport Slots

In 2015, ACI created an Expert Group on Slots (EGS) that proposes a worldwide policy on slots. The Group wrote a Position Paper to guide ACI's advocacy on this topic and recommend involvement in the development of the IATA Worldwide Slot Guidelines.


Programmes


Airport Service Quality (ASQ)

ASQ is a worldwide program part of the ACI's Airport Quality Service Initiative that surveys passengers on their day of travel, measuring passengers' view. The program claims to "measure passengers' satisfaction" at the departure and the arrival stages of their journey through airports.


Airport Excellence Programme (APEX)

ACI first launched the Airports Excellence Program (APEX) in Safety in 2012. The program provides assistance for airports to enhance their level of safety. It is based on airport safety review, which analyzes gaps in airport operation and infrastructure in comparison to
International Civil Aviation Organization The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO, ) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that coordinates the principles and techniques of international air navigation, and fosters the planning and development of international ...
(ICAO) standards and safety best practices. ACI organizes and dispatches an on-site team from ICAO and other airports to identify and remedy safety vulnerabilities through peer reviews, information sharing, training, assistance with implementation of management structures. It covers the setup, implementation and performance of the safety management system in the areas of physical characteristics & pavement management, air rescue and firefighting, wildlife management, apron management, documentation, record keeping, and security management systems. In October 2017, ACI launched the APEX in Security Program based on the same principles as APEX in Safety. The program covers Operational Security Management, with assessments being performed by security experts.


Airport Carbon Accreditation (ACA)

Airport Carbon Accreditation was launched as an independent, voluntary programme in 2009 after the adoption of a resolution on Climate Change in 2008 at the annual assembly of ACI Europe. Member airports committed to reduce carbon emissions from their operations, with the ultimate goal of becoming carbon neutral. The programme allow the assessment and recognition of participating airports' efforts to manage and reduce their emissions. Airport Carbon Accreditation has been extended to airports in the Asia-pacific region in 2011, in Africa in 2013, and eventually went global in 2014 with the extension to the regions of North America, Latin America and the Caribbean.


Next Experience in Travel and Technologies (NEXTT)

In 2017, IATA and ACI launched the New Experience in Travel and Technologies (NEXTT) initiative for on-ground transport experience, to guide industry investments and help governments improve the regulatory framework. NEXTT investigates how passengers, cargo, baggage and aircraft move through the travel journey with a focus on change in off-airport activities, processing technology, and interactive decision-making.


Human and Wildlife Trafficking

Airports Council International expressed airports' commitment to the fight against human trafficking through the approbation of a resolution during the ACI World General Assembly in 2016. The resolution expressed ACI's commitments to promote awareness of human trafficking through media, provide access to training materials and materials for distribution, encourage the incorporation of training into airport staff security awareness programmes, and support activities of governments, charities and non-governmental organizations who are involved in the prevention of human trafficking. Airports Council International is committed to developing a framework to fight
wildlife trafficking Wildlife smuggling or trafficking involves the illegal gathering, transportation, and distribution of animals and their derivatives. This can be done either internationally or domestically. Estimates of the money generated by wildlife smuggling ...
and adopting and encouraging the adoption of a zero tolerance policy regarding illegal wildlife trade. ACI was one of the parties involved in the signature of the United for Wildlife Task Force Declaration at the Buckingham Palace in 2016. The organization is dedicated to developing a practical solutions while cooperating with international initiatives such as the Reducing Opportunities for Unlawful Transport of Endangered Species (ROUTES) partnership.


Regional offices

* ACI-North America: Washington, D.C. (with a Canadian Division satellite office in
Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...
) * ACI-Europe:
Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
,
Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...
* ACI-Latin America and Caribbean:
Panama City Panama City ( es, Ciudad de Panamá, links=no; ), also known as Panama (or Panamá in Spanish), is the capital and largest city of Panama. It has an urban population of 880,691, with over 1.5 million in its metropolitan area. The city is locat ...
,
Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Co ...
* ACI Asia-Pacific:
Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...
– encompassing mainland Asia, Australasia, Indonesian Archipelago, the island nations in the Pacific Ocean, Vancouver (Canada), San Francisco (USA) and Hawaii (USA). * ACI-Africa: Casablanca, Morocco


Statistics

ACI delivers data regarding the aviation industry monthly and annually. *
List of busiest airports by passenger traffic The world's busiest airports by passenger traffic are measured by total passengers (data from Airports Council International), defined as passengers enplaned plus passengers deplaned plus direct-transit passengers. Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta In ...
*
List of busiest airports by cargo traffic The world's thirty busiest airports by cargo traffic for various periods (data provided by Airports Council International). Numbers listed refer to loaded and unloaded freight in metric tonnes, including transit freight. 2021 final statistics ...
* List of busiest airports by international passenger traffic


Airport Service Quality Awards

The ACI gives out the ''Airport Service Quality Awards (ASQ)'', based on passenger satisfaction ratings in the ASQ Survey, which is a global survey based on interviews with passengers on the day of travel. Along with the ''World Airport Awards'' by
Skytrax Skytrax (originally known as Inflight Research Services) is a United Kingdom–based consultancy which runs an airline and airport review and ranking site. Services Skytrax conducts research for commercial airlines, as well as taking survey ...
, it is considered one of the most prestigious accolades in the industry."World's best airports announced – Asia dominates"
''CNN Go''. 15 February 2012. Retrieved 12 April 2012
The awards are given out in five categories: * Best Airport by Region * Best Airport by Size * Best Regional Airport * Best Improvement


Best Airport Worldwide


References


External links


Airports Council International homepage
{{Authority control Aviation trade associations Organizations based in Montreal International aviation organizations International trade associations International organizations based in Canada