ASA Leadership Forum 2023

Jesper Rasmussen

EASA

Jesper Rasmussen has been director for Flight Standards in EASA since 2017. He is responsible for the development of regulations and oversight (standardisation) of EU National Authorities in the domains of Aircraft Maintenance, Production, Air Operations, Aircrew & Training, Aerodromes and Ground Handling. His responsibilities also cover approval & oversight of production, maintenance and training organisations mainly outside the EU. Prior to joining EASA Jesper Rasmussen was the deputy director general in the Danish transport authority, where he since 2012 has been responsible for aviation safety as well as railway safety. Before entering into aviation, Jesper Rasmussen occupied for 20 years other posts in the Danish central government administration in the Ministry of Transport and Ministry of Industry. Jesper Rasmussen has a Ph.d in social sciences.

Gabriel Mocho Rodriguez

International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF)

Gabriel Mocho Rodriguez is the Civil Aviation and Tourism Services Secretary of the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) supporting the General Secretary and Chairs in leading the sections. Gabriel started his career in the aviation industry as a Cabin Crew member in 1988 and had served as leader of the National Cabin Crew union of Argentina for 12 years before joining the ITF. He was appointed by the Executive Board of the ITF in 2009 to take responsibility of leading the secretariat of the Civil Aviation and Tourism Services Sections of the organisation with headquarters in London, UK. He has represented the ITF aviation unions in several international fora and UN agencies (e.g. International Civil Aviation Organization –ICAO- and International Labour Organization –ILO-) leading delegations of union leaders into the discussions of the present and future of the aviation industry.

Fabio Gamba

Airline Catering Association (ACA) & Airport Services Association (ASA)

Fabio Gamba is a seasoned manager in Air Transport, with more than 20 years in the industry. Gamba started his career at the Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation (CANSO) upon his return to Geneva in the late 90s, then joined The Boeing Company as a Deputy Director Air Traffic Management in Brussels. Gamba proceeded with the position of Deputy SG of the now defunct Association of European Airlines (AEA), before leading the European Business Aviation Association (EBAA) during six years until 2016. He is currently managing two Associations in parallel, namely the Airline Catering Association (ACA) based in Belgium, and the Airport Services Association (ASA) based in Switzerland.

Steve Allen

dnata

After 15 years at British Airways in various Finance, strategy, commercial and Airport Operations roles Steve Allen joined the Emirates Group in 2008 as Vice President Operations for dnata. Allen then led the Emirates Group internal consulting division for 5 years before taking over as Head of dnata’s UAE Airport Operations in 2016.

Atilla Korkmazoglu

Celebi Aviation

Atilla Korkmazoglu is current Chairman of ASA. Korkmazoglu has 30 years experience in the Ground Handling Industry and took several operational ad executive roles at Celebi Group. He is currently President for Ground Handling & Cargo (EMEA) for Celebi.

Mete Erna

Havas Ground Handling

Mete Erna began his professional life in the aviation industry in 1995 at Havas. Undertaking several positions at various airlines and ground handling companies in Turkey, and abroad, Erna re-joined Havaş in 2014 and continued his role in sales, marketing, and business development operations. Erna worked as the Deputy General Manager in charge of Sales and Marketing since October 2017 and was assigned as Acting General Manager of Havas from July 1st, 2020, and as General Manager as from October 1st, 2020.

Warwick Brady

Swissport International

Warwick Brady was appointed President & CEO of Swissport International as of 1 May 2021. Prior to joining Swissport, Warwick was the CEO of Esken Limited, formerly Stobart Group, a British infrastructure, aviation and energy company with operations in the UK and Ireland. He served as Chief Operating Officer at easyJet for nearly eight years and was part of the leadership team that transformed the airline into a FTSE 100 business. His previous roles include the posts as Chief Executive Officer of Mandala Airlines in Indonesia, Chief Operating Officer at Air Deccan/Kingfisher in India and Deputy Operations Director at Ryanair plc. He previously held board positions at Airline Group and NATS and was Deputy CEO of Buzz.

Mohamed Hanno

ASE Group

Mohamed is a experienced Chief Executive Officer with a demonstrated history of working in the airlines/aviation industry and travel industry. He is a board member of Airport Services Association - ASA and a member of the IATA Ground operation Group - GOG. ( GOG IS acting as an advisor to the OPC, IATA management and other relevant IATA bodies on all matters related to the ground operations. It will also be approving changes to the AHM and IGOM ). Mohamed holds skills in negotiation, operations management and tourism. Mohamed is a strong business development professional with a Bachelor of Arts, Department of English Language and Literature, Ain Shams University.

Glyn Hughes

TIACA

Chris Notter

The EVA Podcast

Mark Pilling

Master of ceremonies, ARGS Editor

Mark Pilling is an experienced journalist, editor and publisher covering the global airline and aviation industry for 25 years. In the 1990s and 2000s he was the editor of several leading industry titles, including Airline Business, Airports International and Airport World. He went on to become publisher of the FlightGlobal aviation brands, featuring flightglobal.com, Flight International and Flight Daily News, and helped establish FlightGlobal (now Cirium) as a leading aviation data and information business. Today, Mark is a consulting editor at FlightGlobal, the editor of Airline Routes & Ground Services magazine, a contributing editor at Arabian and African Aerospace and anchor at Times Aerospace TV, and contributing editor for leading aviation sustainability website GreenAir News.

Philipp Joeinig

Menzies Aviation

Dr. Christos Tsitouras

Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority

Dr. Christos Tsitouras is a graduate of the Department of Mechanical Engineering of “The City University of New York”, holder of the following degrees: Ph.D., M.Ph., M.Eng. and B.Sc.. With a strong academic background, he contributed to the Mechanical Engineering and Mathematics Department at the City College of New York, USA, for ten years as a lecturer and research fellow. Throughout his career, Dr. Tsitouras has been actively involved in esteemed scientific institutions and his research findings have been published in prestigious international journals. His expertise and knowledge have led him to assume critical managerial roles in both public and private sectors, demonstrating his competence and leadership abilities in Greece and abroad.

Nicolas Rallo

International Civil Aviation Organization

Mr. Nicolas Rallo is the Regional Director for the ICAO "European and North Atlantic" (EUR/NAT) Office in Paris, France. He oversees 56 States in Europe, the North Atlantic, Asia, and North Africa, supporting ICAO's strategic objectives in aviation safety, air navigation capacity, aviation security, environmental protection, and sustainable air transport development. With 30 years of experience in civil aviation, Mr. Rallo joined ICAO in 2003 and held various positions, including chief of the "Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme" (USOAP) at Headquarters. He provided implementation support to States in Europe, South-East Asia, and the Pacific, both at technical and strategic levels. In 2020, he coordinated ICAO's response to the COVID-19 pandemic as requested by the Secretary General. Before joining ICAO, Mr. Rallo worked in aircraft accident investigation, aerodrome safety, and environmental protection in France and Brazil. He holds a Master's degree in Aeronautical Engineering and a Postgraduate degree in Human Factors for the Design of Aerospace Human-Machine Systems. Mr. Rallo is fluent in English, French, Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese, and holds French and Italian citizenship.

Dr. Diego Alonso Tabares

Airbus

Dr. Diego Alonso Tabares has a MSc Aeronautical Engineering & Airport Engineering from UPM of Madrid and a PhD in IT from UPS in Toulouse. He joined the A380 Programme in the Airport Compatibility Department of Airbus in 2003 for the preparation of the entry into service of the A380. Since 2007 he has been working in Airbus Engineering Airport Operations Department taking care of aircraft-airport integration issues for in service, in development and future aircraft. Diego is an expert in airport Ground Operations and holds several positions in international committees for aircraft Ground Equipment.

Thomas Romig

Airports Council International (ACI) World

Thomas Romig joined Airports Council International (ACI) in November 2020 as Vice President Safety, Security and Operations. Romig heads up all advocacy efforts and programme areas related to airport operations – ranging from Airside Safety and Capacity through to Cargo, Facilitation and Security and across into Innovation and IT. Prior to this, Romig held a number of senior leadership positions at Geneva Airport in Switzerland, both in Safety and then Operations. Over the years Romig has been strongly involved in ICAO and EASA regulatory activities as a representative of the airport’s community through ACI.

Richard Prince

CEO, Aviapartner

Richard Prince is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for the Aviapartner Group. The Aviapartner Group is the leading independent ground handling service provider in Europe. They deliver safe, reliable, and on-time airport operations for more than 100 million passengers per year cross 51 airports in France, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Germany, and The Netherlands. Aviapartner is headquartered at Brussels National Airport in Belgium, the capital of the European Union. Prior to joining Aviapartner, Prince led the Etihad Airport Services Ground Handling Company at Abu Dhabi International Airport. He has worked in the Aviation Sector for over 12 years including leading roles running Airport Operations at some of the UK’s leading airports including London Gatwick, Manchester, and London Stansted.

David Anderson

Swissport

David has been in the aviation industry for over 40 years with the majority of that time with British Airways where he held a number of senior roles in Engineering, Flight Operations, Ground Operations and Corporate Safety. He joined Swissport in 2022 as the Global Head of QHSE and is a strong advocate of industry simplification, standardisation of procedures and technology to reduce risks. He is also an member of the ASA Operations Board.

Ourania Georgoutsakou

Airlines4Europe

Ourania “Rania” Georgoutsakou is the Managing Director of Airlines4Europe, the voice of Europe’s leading airlines in Brussels. Rania joined Airlines for Europe (A4E) in June 2023 and is responsible for the association’s strategy and impact. Her role is to represent Europe’s leading airlines in the Brussels political arena, liaise with industry executives and manage the association’s operations. She has 20-years’ experience of advocating for membership associations, previously leading LightingEurope and working as Director of Public Policy for Europe for SEMI and as Senior Policy Coordinator with the Assembly of European Regions in Strasbourg and in Brussels.

Christopher Brown

KPMG

Chris heads the Aviation Strategy hub at KPMG in Ireland. He sits on KPMG’s global Future of Flight working group and has worked with airlines, airports, ANSPs, GHAs and the energy and aerospace supply chains. This spans from M&A and long-term strategic ambition setting to short-term benchmarking and growth.

Ariaen Zimmerman

ASA

Ariaen Zimmerman brings a lot of experience in Aviation and Logistics to his role as Head of Operations and Programs at the Airport Services Association. Over the years, he's shaped key account programs at major air carriers and played a pivotal role in significant transitions at IATA's Cargo iQ. Ariaen's dedication to sustainability and ethical business practices led him to found his other business: neAira Executive Performance, where he supports businesses in addressing leadership challenges. An industry expert, he is also an educator, having taught Marketing at a Dutch University.

Wilson Kwong

Hactl

Wilson Kwong has been Chief Executive of Hactl since March 2018. Kwong’ s 25-year career with the Jardine Matheson Group has also included seven years with Jardine Aviation Services, where he was involved in passenger and ramp handling activities. Significant initiatives under his leadership have included the introduction of robotics to security, hygiene, spare parts provision and ramp operations; the launch of Hactl’s Integrated Hactl Control Centre and best-in-class Cool Chain Complex; the installation of the handling sector’s first intelligent thermal detection system; and attaining accreditation under all four IATA CEIV programmes (Pharma, Fresh, Live Animals and Lithium Batteries). On the sustainability front, Hactl has now committed to reducing its absolute scope 1 and 2 emissions by 50.4% by 2030 from a 2018 baseline, and to reduce absolute scope 3 GHG emissions by 50.4% within the same timeframe.

Giovano Palma

ANAC - Agência Nacional de Aviação Civil

Civil engineering, postgraduate in civil aviation regulation and safety management and master degree in mechanical structures. Currently is Head of Airport Infrastructure Department of Brazilian Civil Aviation Authority and Brazilian member of the ICAO Aerodrome Panel. After a period in the private sector dedicated to civil construction, since 2008 he has been working with aviation, having the opportunity to participate in projects and programs related to airport concessions, safety, security and facilitation.

Noor Salman

dnata

Noor drives the implementation of dnata’s global Environment & Sustainability strategy across 35 countries for airport operations, catering and travel services. dnata is part of the Emirates Group and is the leading provider of air services with more than 40,000 employees globally. Noor’s efforts are focused on accelerating dnata’s de-carbonisation journey by moving away from fossil fuels, identifying opportunities for renewable energy sources, reducing waste-to-landfill, and engaging with the global businesses and customers to collaborate on sustainability. Noor has +15 years of experience across various industries including oil & gas, ports and harbours, and sensitive developments of assets across environmentally-protected areas. She has helped clients transform their sustainability roadmaps and to assess and mitigate ESG risks to achieve sustainable development and maintain a social-license to operate.

Jonathan Lewis

NAC2000 Corporation Limited

Jonathan Lewis is the Managing Director of NAC2000 Corporation Limited, the leading aircraft ground handling company in Zambia that operates at all four of Zambia’s international airports. NAC2000 is a private company and the only ISAGO registered and accredited ground service provider in Zambia also engaged in fixed based operator handling, cargo warehousing inclusive of cold chain storage, customs clearing and freight forwarding. Since its founding, NAC2000 Corporation Ltd continues to evolve in its dedication to delivery of service becoming the industry leader in the movement of cargo and passengers in Zambia. Previous to NAC2000 Jonathan rose within JP Morgan Chase in London as a business analyst and project manager predominantly working on technology and merger related projects for the bank.

Kristof Philips

TCR

Kristof Philips is TCR Group's Chief Operating Officer, since the beginning of 2020. During its former position as Managing Director of TCR UK, Philips achieved a substantial transformation of the Groups' British subsidiary, resulting in a tangible positive impact on local people and processes. Besides its experience in the aviation industry, be these Airports, Airlines or independent ground handlers, Philips has a solid background in M&A, business consultancy, projects' transformation and JV management.

Sally Leible

Airport Terminal Services

Sally Leible has been with Airport Terminal Services (ATS) since its inception in 1975. Leible started as a Station Manager in St. Louis, moved to Director of Operations, promoted to Vice President of Operations, and then to Vice President of Sales & Marketing. Leible currently serves as President and CEO. Under Leible’s leadership, the company has grown dramatically to over 50 airport locations served in the US and Canada. She serves on the Board of Directors for ASA (Airport Services Association) and was the Chairperson of ASA from 2017-2018.

Janis Balkens

dnata

Janis Baklen's portfolio includes dnata's operations in Brazil, Canada, Iraq and Pakistan as well as growth opportunities in related markets. Balken previously held the position of VP Commercial, having joined the company early in 2014 as Head of Ground Handling Services for International Operations. Balken's earlier positions have included those of CEO of HAVAS Europe in Latvia, Finland, Germany and Sweden; VP and Member of the Board at Riga International airport; and Business Development Manager at SAS Ground Services, UK. Prior to that he was VP Ground Operations in the airBaltic Corporation.

Alex Casadesus

IAG Airports

Ryan Abram

dnata

Ryan joined dnata as Airport Operations COO in 2022, and is responsible for the development, implementation, and performance management of dnata’s global airport operations strategy. This encompasses safety and quality assurance, achievement of KPIs, and continuous improvement of operational processes and systems, to ensure dnata’s ground and cargo handling operations are standardised, consistent, and deliver ‘most admired’ performance worldwide. Ryan began his career at British Airways, holding several commercial and operational management roles before moving to Emirates Airline in 2018 to manage airport operations across Australasia, North America, UK & Ireland.

John Geddes

Chief Governance and Sustainability Officer and Company Secretary, Menzies Aviation

John Geddes joined Menzies is 1997 and possesses a keen and comprehensive understanding of the wider logistics market. He has spent most of his Menzies career in and around their aviation business. He has experience of acquisitions, major start up’s as well a keen understanding of operational risk and contracting. Geddes is a Chartered Secretary and his responsibilities include Legal, Insurance, Governance and Risk.

Sergios Diplarakos

Aegean Air

Sergios Diplarakos is a highly seasoned Manager boasting over two decades of expertise in Ground Operations. Presently accountable for overseeing all ground handling operations at Aegean and Olympic Air across a network of over 165 airports.

Ksenija Kovacevic

Qatar Aviation Services

Ksenija has over 20 years of work experience in the aviation industry with various ground handling operational and strategic leadership roles. She joined Qatar Aviation Services in 2017, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Qatar Airways and the sole ground handler at two main airports in Qatar. Ksenija is responsible for leading critical strategic projects such as business expansions, airport and operational readiness, operational efficiency, and innovative methodologies of management tools for the ground handling operations. She is also actively involved in business development of new revenue feasibility streams and organisational development of QAS expansion efforts into emerging markets.

Candemir Akyildiz

TAV Airports Holding

Candemir Akyıldız, has been appointed as Airports Director for TAV Airports Holding as of January 2021. He has responsibility of fully airport management, monitoring the Airport Operations, setting KPIs for organizations, setting and keeping standards between 14 airports within TAV group. Performance management and re-organization studies for airports. Focused on improving the efficiency of Airport managements. Supporting airports any operational overview and getting benefit of having a central management for outsourced services or organizations. Akyıldız has been working in the TAV Group where he joined in June 2001. He has worked as Istanbul Atatürk Airport Flight Information and Information Desks Manager, TAV Georgia Airport Operations Manager, TAV Academy Project Manager, TAV Aviation Minds Training and Consultancy Company Managing Director and Deputy General Manager responsible for Human Resources of TAV Technologies within TAV Group respectively. Akyildiz is mainly experienced on Airport Operations, Terminal Operations, Airport Marketing, Airline Relations Management, Flight Information Systems, Human Resources, IATA Standard Ground Handling and Contract Management fields. He worked for TAV Academy simultaneously with his main responsibility in operation for Ankara, İzmir, Tbilisi, Enfidha, Monastir and Medinah Airports’ staff development process during transition periods. Also, he performed tailor made trainings in China, Saudi Arabia, Georgia and Albania with the subject of Airport Management and Commercial Management.

Dr Kostas Iatrou

Hermes - Air Transport

Dr Kostas Iatrou was appointed in 2018 as the Director General of Hermes - Air Transport Organisation. Kostas holds a PhD in Air Transport Management from Cranfield University, is the author of the book "100 Years of Commercial Aviation" and co-author of the book "Airline Choices for the Future”. On Thursday 8 December 2022 co-signed the formation of International Aviation Forum (IAF). He is Associate Editor of the Journal of Air Transport Studies. Kostas is the founder and owner of ATN - Air Transport News, President of the Air Transport Awards and founder and Honorary Member of the Hellenic Aviation Society. In 2016 Flight Safety Foundation (FSF) Mediterranean awarded to ATN and to his owner, Dr Kostas Iatrou, the International Press Award for his contribution to European Aviation. During the 2022 Air Transport Awards on Thursday 10 February held in Ekali, Greece, Dr Kostas Iatrou, Director General of Hermes was bestowed with the 2022 Keramianakis Award of Hellenic Aviation Society for his contribution to air transport. In 2009 he served as Deputy Mayor of Ekali, Greece.

Speakers