ACI Asia-Pacific Grows With New Airport And Associate Members

[July 12, 2021 – Hong Kong SAR] Airports Council International (ACI) Asia-Pacific has added three airports from the Maldives, New Zealand and Vietnam to its membership. The association’s membership now stands at 122 members operating 609 airports in 49 countries/ areas. The China-based Air Transport Institute joins as an associate member.

“Our association’s advocacy work and portfolio of safety, security, health, and environment programmes and extensive repository of content and guidance material hold wide appeal to airports and organizations across the region who are ramping up for post-pandemic sustainable growth,” said Stefano Baronci, Director General, ACI Asia-Pacific. “We warmly welcome our new airport and associate members to the ACI Asia-Pacific family.”

New member Addu International Airport (Pvt) Ltd, established in 2012, is the operator for Gan International Airport in the Maldives. The one-runway airport serves as the second international gateway to the Maldives and served 175,000 domestic, regional and international passengers in 2019. The airport started out as a Royal Air Force (United Kingdom) base in the 1940s.

In New Zealand, Waikato Regional Airport Limited (WRAL), operator of Hamilton Airport, has become ACI Asia-Pacific's eight member in New Zealand. Hamilton Airport started scheduled domestic services in the 1950s and today offers services to Christchurch, Nelson, Palmerston North and Wellington. The airport served 380,000 passengers in 2019.

Situated near the popular tourist destination of Ha Long Bay in Vietnam, Van Don International Airport is the first private airport in the country which officially opened for operations in December 2018. The airport has seven aircraft parking stands, four jet bridges, four baggage carousels, eight security gates and 31 check-in counters. The runway, 3600 meters long by 45 meters wide, is certified for Cat II Instrument Landing System operations. In 2019, the airport handled 260,000 passengers, mainly domestic, and has an annual handling capacity of 2,5 million passengers and 10,000 tons of cargo.

The Institute of Air Transport, a unit of the China Academy of Civil Aviation Science and Technology, has joined as an Associate member. Its broad remit includes market research and analysis for the civil and general aviation industry and offering training programmes. The Associate membership, which now stands at nine members in eight countries/ areas, is open to non-commercial organizations, including national or regional airport associations, governmental or non-governmental organisation and academic institutions.

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