AIR 2023 Conference

Tan Ee

Chief Financial Officer, Changi Airports International

Risk and chances – how megatrends affect the aviation industry;

Tan Ee is the Chief Financial Officer of CAI, and also heads up the Portfolio & Capital Management (PCM) business. He is responsible for the corporate functions of Finance, Legal & Compliance and IT in addition to the investments of CAI.

Prior to joining CAI, Tan Ee has 20 years of experience in M&A, strategic planning & development, corporate finance, and business development across a range of sectors including power, oil & gas, real estate and infrastructure in companies such as BP plc and Keppel Corporation. He has led and closed investments and acquisition deals in both private and public markets globally. He also serves as Director on the Boards of airport companies in Brazil and Russia.

Tan Ee earned his bachelor’s degree in Accounting from Nanyang Technological University, and holds a Executive MBA from INSEAD. He is also a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), Chartered Accountant (CA), and a Financial Risk Manager (FRM).

Paweł Galiak

Kraków Airport

Terminal Design – searching for limits.

Pawel Galiak serves as the Director of Aviation and Commercial Services for the largest regional airport in Poland, Kraków Airport.
He has a broad expertise in global managing of business activities with particular emphasis on aviation market. Pawel has been working with Kraków Airport since August 2003. Within this time, he has held various positions in commercial related activities at the airport. His success in pursuing the airport’s aviation strategy allowed Pawel to successfully acquire new airlines, new routes and further develop air traffic at Kraków Airport. In order to better understand customer needs in 2006 Pawel introduced Kraków Airport to the Airport Service Quality program and has been supporting the idea of passenger experience, which resulted in numerous awards and recognition across the industry.

Michał Fijoł

PLL LOT

Risks and Benefits – How Megatrends Affect the Aviation Industry

Michał Fijoł from PLL LOT has been associated for seven years, accompanying the company during its greatest development. He started his career path with the national transport as the Board of Management representative for trade. Then, from March 2017, he was a Member of the Board for trade, in June 2023 he was assumed the position as a Chairman of the Board. He completed doctoral studies in the field of Economics at the Warsaw School of Economics. He also studied at the University of Osnabrück in Germany as well as the University of Economics in Vienna. Before joining the PLL LOT team, he worked for international corporations in the areas of digital, marketing and sales.

Olivier Jankovec

ACI Europe

Risks and Benefits – How Megatrends Affect the Aviation Industry

Olivier Jankovec became Director General of the European Region of the Airports Council International (ACI EUROPE) in September 2006. ACI EUROPE is the European region of Airports Council International (ACI), the only worldwide professional association of airport operators. ACI EUROPE represents over 500 airports in 55 countries. Our members facilitate over 90% of commercial air traffic in Europe. Air transport supports 13.5 million jobs, generating 886 billion in European economic activity (4.4% of GDP). In response to the Climate Emergency, in June 2019 our members committed to achieve Net Zero carbon emissions for operations under their control by 2050, without offsetting.

Olivier first joined ACI EUROPE in March 2006 as Director of Strategy & Communications. He has more than 25 years of governmental and lobbying experience, having worked for Alitalia (2002-2006), Air France (2000-2002) and the Air Transport Directorate of the European Commission (1994-2000).

Immediately prior to joining ACI EUROPE Olivier was the Director of Institutional Relations for Alitalia where he was in charge of governmental affairs at national, European and International levels. During this time, he was also Chair of the Association of European Airlines Policy Committee. In 2006 and 2007, he participated in the EU’s High-Level Group on the future of aviation regulation in Europe.

Urška Binter

Ljubljana Airport operated by Fraport

Top trends in travel retail management.

Urška Binter works at Ljubljana Airport operated by Fraport, one of the leading airport management groups. At the main Slovenian international gateway with the catchment area of nearly 7 million passengers she is responsible for the non-aeronautical segment that generates around 25 % of the company’s sales revenues and comprises of parking, retail, advertising as well as real estate.

Dr Viktoriia Myroniuk

MSc Sustainable Air Transport Operations and Planning

Top Trends in Travel Retail Management

Dr Viktoriia Myroniuk is the Programme Leader for MSc Sustainable Air Transport Operations and Planning. Viktoriia teaches a number of courses focused on sustainable airport and airline operations and planning. Viktoriia graduated from National Aviation University (Kyiv, Ukraine) in 2005 and was awarded a Ph.D. in 2009. During 2005-2012 she was teaching at National Aviation University (Kyiv, Ukraine) as an Assistant Professor / Associate Professor and delivered a short course in human resource management in aviation as an invited lecturer at Korea Aerospace University (Seoul, South Korea). In 2012-2013 Viktoriia was a Fulbright Visiting Researcher at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (Daytona Beach, Florida, USA). From 2014-2015 she was an Erasmus Mundus Postdoctoral Researcher at Technological University Dublin (Dublin, Ireland). Since 2015 Viktoriia has been a Senior Lecturer in Aviation at Salford University (Manchester, UK).

Mr. József Kossuth

Budapest Airport

Aviation Cargo Trends and Advanced Air Mobility

Mr. József Kossuth is Cargo Director of Budapest Airport. He is responsible for managing the airport cargo business development, sales and marketing, and he co-ordinates the work of the air cargo community. His mission is to support the development of the air cargo industry in the Central Eastern European region and improve the air cargo environment for all air cargo business partners. He works with passion to increase the regional cargo hub role of BUD utilizing the expanding cargo potentials in the Central Eastern European region.

Mr. Kossuth has spent his entire carrier in the Aviation Industry. From 2003 he worked as Assistant Fuel Manager for Malév Hungarian Airlines, Sales Manager of Airport Fuel Supply Ltd. subsidiary of (BUD), responsible for fuel service purchasing, sales, and marketing activities. From 2008 to 2014, he worked as Controlling Manager for BUD. His task was dealing with capital expenditure and airport development projects of the airport and other controlling activities, and he joined the air cargo business department of BUD in 2015.

Besides, he is the Board Member of Association of Logistic Service Centres in Hungary, Head of the Aviation Working Group of the Freight Forwarder Association in Hungary and represents the association in the international aviation working group of FIATA. József Kossuth has gained a Master of Economics specialized in Management from the University of Miskolc in Hungary in 2003. Mr. Kossuth was awarded as Logistics Manager of Hungary in 2021 by the Hungarian Logistics, Purchasing and Stock keeping Association and Budapest Airport has received the “Cargo Hub of the Year 2021” award by Air Cargo News.

Marko Guček

GoOpti

Trip to the Airport as a Part of the overall Passenger Experience

Marko Guček is an experienced serial entrepreneur and an expert in the fields of travel, tourism, and transportation. He founded GoOpti, an innovative shuttle service for airport transfers, with a focus on optimizing transportation through dynamic algorithm pricing and a unique tool for maximizing vehicle capacity by optimizing empty seats.

GoOpti successfully secured investments of 5.75 million from Point9, EBRD and other investors along with 1.55 million from EU funds. One of Marko’s pioneering projects is the SmartMOVE initiative, where he developed an innovative system for commuting from home to work.

Marko is an enthusiastic traveler and advocate for new sustainable forms of transportation.

Roy Toh

Changi Airports International

AIR Insight: Asian Perspective on European Market

Terminal Design – Searching the Limits;

Roy Toh, Director, International Projects, Changi Airports International

Roy is a practitioner consultant, with 19 years’ experience at Changi and overseas partner airports. At Changi, he delivered a state-of-the-art dining experience at T3 and a retail rejuvenation plan for T1. He ensured passenger traffic resilience during the GFC through LCC diversification. In terms of international work, he has undertaken operations & management projects, investment due diligence and asset management, across multiple geographies including Brazil, Mexico, Czech Republic, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, China, India, Japan, Philippines, Indonesia and Uzbekistan.

Marcin Osowski

Welcome Airport Services

Aviation cargo trends and advanced air mobility

Graduate of Executive MBA at the Institute of Economic Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences and postgraduate studies in Foreign Trade at the University of Gdansk. Experienced manager in both maritime and aviation logistics industry. Since 2021, he has held the position of Vice President at Welcome Airport Services sp. z o.o., where he is primarily responsible for overseeing the cargo segment, among other duties. As a co-creator of the innovative concept of using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for commercial cargo transportation, he played a crucial role in the establishment and registration of Welcome Cargo UAV Airlines by the CAA.

Rafał Lew-Starowicz 

Polish Airports

Aviation Need in Lifelong Learning – Academies Network

Advisor at the Management Bureau of the Polish Airports, previously Coordinator of the Aviation and Airport Education Program, Vice president of EdTech Poland Foundation. 2015-2021, deputy director of the department of the Ministry of National Education, where he was responsible for innovation in education. A graduate of the University of Warsaw, PhD studies at APS and Top Public Executive IESE Business School in Barcelona. Polish delegate to the OECD Educational Policy Committee, expert of the European Commission Agency: Research Executive Agency, Innovation and Networks Executive Agency. Was recognized as one of the 100 people who contributed the most to the development of digital competences in Poland by the members of the SPRUC chapter.

Andrzej Miłaszewicz

Central and East European Travel Retail Association. (CEETRA)

Top Trends in Travel Retail Management

Andrzej Miłaszewicz- Managing Director Operations & Development , Chairman of Central and East European Travel Retail Association. (CEETRA)
30 years’ experience in Retail, 15 years in Lagardere Travel Retail Poland. Managing operations and development of all formats of stores at the Airports, Railways, Metro, Malls and City.
Before for 14 years CEO Lagardere Duty Free in Poland. As a Board Member and now since 2 years as a Chairman of CEETRA, takes an active role in supporting travel retail industry in the Region, by enhancing its share of voice on the relevant forums.

He started his professional career in FMCG in big distribution, being the part of the management team in Carrefour Poland.

Education: master degree of Warsaw School of Economy (SGH)

Stanislaw Wojtera

Polish Airports / V4+ Airports

Opening Ceremony

Stanislaw Wojtera, President of V4+ Association, CEO of Polish Airports. Manager with 20 years of professional experience. Expert and academic lecturer. Associated with the aviation industry since 2013. Since October 2020, President of ‘Polish Airports’ State Enterprise, formerly a representative for the board of Solidarity Transport Hub for Chopin Airport infrastructure. He held managerial positions in PKO BP Group, PHO and PZL Świdnik, among other companies, as well as in the Polish Tourism Organization.

For many years he has held positions in supervisory bodies of capital companies. His professional experience is complemented by his education at the University of Warsaw’s Faculty of Journalism and Political Science, and he also holds a Master of Business Administration degree.

Aziz Abu Sarah

MEJDI Tours

Tourism and Aviation – Boost Development by joinT efforts

Author, National Geographic Explorer, Cultural Educator, Entrepreneur and TED Fellow, Aziz is at the forefront of responsible travel and the founder of MEJDI Tours, originators of the Dual Narrative™ an innovative approach to harnessing the power of travel to make the world a better place. Aziz has received numerous awards, including the Goldberg Prize for Peace in the Middle East, the Silver Rose Award from the European Parliament and the Eisenhower Medallion from People to People International.

Peter Fodor

Debrecen International Airport

AIR Insight: Firefighters Training

I finished my studies at Budapest University of Technology and Economics and have a master’s degree in transportation engineering (specialised in air transportation).

I started to work for Hungarian Civil Aviation Authority in 2012 as Aerodrome Inspector, where I was auditing and monitoring the operations of all commercial and non-commercial Hungarian airports. In 2014 I moved to Hungarian Air Navigation Services where I earned student air traffic controller license, but in 2016 I received an offer from Ryanair’s largest training center and I started to work as a Flight Simulator Engineer at Stansted Airport. Here I was responsible for the daily operations of the full flight simulators. I worked 5 years in this area when I received an offer from my hometown, Debrecen.

Since January 2021 I am working for Debrecen International Airport and I am the responsible person for the operations and ground handling. Beside these tasks me and my team are really enthusiastic to introduce XXI. Century solutions in airport operations which improves the flight safety and the efficiency. These initiatives besides Hungarian CAA have been already successfully recognised by other Aviation Authorities and Airport Operators too.

Anca Apahidean

IATA

Risks and Benefits – How Megatrends Affect the Aviation Industry

Tourism and Aviation – Boost Development by joinT efforts

Anca Apahidean has 30 years of Aviation experience involving Aircraft Construction, Technical Operations, Customer Service and Relationship Management, Sales & Business Development, as well as Global industry affairs and Financial distribution systems, gained in numerous roles in the airline sector. She is trained as an Aircraft Engineer with advanced studies in Corporate Governance and Sustainability, Aviation Project Management, Sales and Business Administration, Strategic Thinking, and International Relations.
Since November 2010, Anca has been Area Manager Eastern Europe, managing all IATA activities in the region, working closely with governments, airport authorities, ANSPs, member airlines, and other industry stakeholders. Between 2008 and 2010, Anca has been part of IATAs Simplifying the Business team as Program Manager Eastern Europe, Russia & CIS, managing the transition to 100% electronic ticketing and automated passenger processes.
Before joining IATA in 2006 as Country Manager Romania and Moldova, Anca worked for 10 years in the British Airways office in Bucharest as Customer Services at the Airport, Finance Executive, Account Manager for Travel Agents, Town office Supervisor, and Commercial Executive. Before British Airways, she was a Flight Attendant Instructor and accredited Romanian Civil Aviation Authority Cabin Safety Inspector, providing ground and in-flight training for flight attendants.

Iulius Jipescu

IATA

Aviation Need in Lifelong Learning – Academies Network

Iulius Jipescu is an IATA Industry Manager Relations for Eastern Europe. His background is related to the legal field, Iulius being a lawyer, member of the Bucharest Bar since 2003.
His area of expertise includes a wide range of fields: civil law, company law, intellectual property law, labor law, and personal data protection law, but the most relevant is aviation law.
He holds a master’s degree in business law and postgraduate studies in diplomatic law (Romanian Diplomatic Institute) as well as an IATA International Air Law Diploma and a British Law Diploma (awarded by British Law Centre – Bucharest University, Law Faculty).

He was also a lecturer at Romanian University – Law Faculty and at Nicolae Titulescu University – Law Faculty in the aviation law domain.
He is constantly lobbying and advocating for the aviation industry’s interest in front of authorities, governments, and other significant players in the industry.

Roxani Athousaki

Coventry University

Aviation Need in Lifelong Learning – Academies Network

Aviation professional with diverse industry and academic background. Roxani earned a BSc in Aerospace Engineering from ERAU in the USA, an MA in International Business Management from Westminster University in the UK and a PhD in Aviation Management from Coventry University. She is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and an External Examiner, specialising in the development of aviation programmes including curriculum transformation, design, and quality monitoring of relevant modules, stakeholders’ analysis, and soft skills development. By focusing on student enhancement and employability in the aviation field, she has developed strong ties with important aviation institutions and external partners. Over the years, she has become a member of the Coventry University team that developed hundreds of aviation professionals around the world.

Julian Jäger

Flughafen Wien AG

Risks and Benefits – How Megatrends Affect the Aviation Industry

Julian Jäger has more than 20 years of aviation experience. As Joint CEO and Chief Operating Officer at Flughafen Wien AG, he is responsible for Airport Operations, Ground Handling, Center Management, Information Systems (IT) and Auditing since September 2011. Since he has been CEO, Vienna Airport was voted for example “Best European Airport” (2022), “Best Airport Staff Europe” (2015, 2016, 2017, 2019) and 4-Star-Airport (since 2016). Before that Julian Jäger was also CCO (2007) and CEO (2008-2011) of Malta Airport. Since 2019, Julian Jäger is also Member of the Board of Directors of the Airports Council International Europe (ACI Europe). With a degree in law, he started his career as project manager at a Software company before he moved to a tax consultancy firm after successfully completing his judicial year.

Tine Tomažič

Pipistrel

Aviation Cargo Trends and Advanced Air Mobility

Dr. Tine Tomažič is the Director of Engineering & Programs at Pipistrel. He is an award-winning and globally recognized expert in the field of electric flight, with 20 years’ experience in aviation and 15 years’ experience in electric flight.

At Pipistrel, Tomažič was part of the team that developed the world’s first two- and four-seat electric aircraft; the Taurus Electro and the Taurus G4. His work in systems automation and human machine interfaces ranges from autopilot technologies for unmanned aerial vehicles to electric and hybrid-electric propulsion systems. He holds EASA CVE and HDO privileges, is a member of SAE, EASA T4S Technology for Safety and received the 2016 AIAA Piper General Aviation Award as well as the 2021 AIAA Aircraft Design Award for Pipistrel’s Velis Electro, the world’s first certified electric aircraft.

Outside of Pipistrel, Tomažič is involved in the strategic road-mapping for manned and unmanned aviation, batteries, autonomy and emission-free flight and is a member of several research project advisory boards. This includes his current research in the field of certifiable hybrid-electric propulsion systems and their intuitive user interfaces. As well as being involved in its development, Tomažič is active in working groups with ASTM, SAE, and EUROCAE to rewrite current general aviation design standards, to allow proliferation of electric flight.

Tomažič holds a Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) and a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in electrical engineering from the University of Ljubljana, which he received in 2007 and 2014 respectively. He is currently European Union’s Clean Aviation High5 Ambassador.

Tunc Cavcav

iGA Istanbul Airport

AIR Insight: Firefighters Training

Tunc Cavcav is a remarkable figure in international relations, political economy, and aviation. 

Educated in the UK, Cavcav earned his master’s degree in political economy from the London School of Economics, before returning to Turkey to secure his PhD in International Relations. Not limited to academia, Cavcav also holds a helicopter pilot’s license. 

Since 2021, he has served as the head of the academy at Istanbul Airport, where his diverse skills and knowledge have contributed to shaping the future of the aviation industry. Known for his intellectual prowess and commitment to excellence, Cavcav stands as a significant influencer in both academic and aviation circles.

Hakan Arslanh

iGA Istanbul Airport

Aviation Need in Lifelong Learning – Academies Network

Hakan Arslan is a distinguished professional in Human Resources management and Strategic Planning. 

His career began in 2006 at HAVAŞ Ground Handling Services’ HR department. In 2007, he joined Global Bilgi Call Centre, a TURKCELL group company, to enhance strategic planning and performance monitoring. 

Arslan’s expertise led him to Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen International Airport Investment Construction and Operation Inc. in 2009 as the Management Development Manager, and he quickly rose to become the HR Director in 2010. In 2021, he took up the role of HR Director at Istanbul Airport Operations, where he currently serves at Istanbul Grand Airport (IGA), continuing his impactful contributions to HR management.

Joanna Wieczorek 

Drone Alliance Europe

Terminal Design – Searching the Limits

Joanna has been supporting aviation companies in the regulatory, business, and communication aspects for 18 years now.  She has been working for leading air carriers on the European market, airports, aircraft producers and for many global aviation entities.  She has unique experience in representing companies before the Civil Aviation Authority and in working with  Air Navigation Service Providers. With regard to the aviation sector, she specializes in antitrust law, intellectual property law, environmental protection issues, as well as new technology and personal data protection. She is a strategic advisor to Drone Alliance Europe – the member-driven drone industry association, helping to shape the regulations and policies for the unmanned sector.  As the author of the social campaign focused on raising awareness of the drone safe and secure integration with other airspace users, she invited 20 industry partners to contribute to the safer sky at the proximity of Polish Airports.  Her awareness campaign was carried out at Warsaw’s Chopin Airport and partnered by the Ministry of Digitization. She has been organizing many international and local conferences devoted to airport and airline business as well as unmanned systems. She moderated and organized panels at ILA Berlin, Eurosatory, Le Bourget, Amsterdam Drone Week. She supported SSW Pragmatic Solutions, Dentons Global Advisors and PWC in the aviation projects as a team leader and aviation expert.

Valentin Ivancea

Bacău County Council

Tourism and Aviation – Boost Development by joint efforts

Valentin Ivancea, President of Bacău County Council since 2020, led for over 20 years an institution of strategic importance – the National Administration of State Reserves – Territorial Unit Orbeni/Bacău.

As the executive director of this institution, he organized and led the entire activity of the territorial unit, managed the achievement of the indicators of the state reserve program, the assurance of qualitative and quantitative integrity, the realization of revenues and the execution of expenses based on the state reserve program and the state budget.

He also held, for a while, the position of General Director of the National Administration of State Reserves, Bucharest.Starting from April 2017, he held the position of sub-Prefect of the Prefect’s Institution – Bacău county, in which capacity he ensured the operational management of the institution.In 2019, as Prefect of Bacău county, he has coordinated and supervised the fulfillment of two large categories of administrative duties:

1. the one regarding the ensurance of the local implementation of government policies and respect for public order;
2. the one regarding the exercise of the constitutional leadership role of the decentralized public services of the ministries and other bodies of the central public administration in the administrative-territorial units.

Since 2020, when he has been elected President of Bacău County Council, among his main duties are:

– the role of main authorizing officer of credits

– preparation of the draft county budget and the closing account of the budget exercise

– supervising the way of obtaining budget revenues

– coordination of the realization of public services of county interest provided through the specialized apparatus of the County Council or through the institutions providing public services of county interest;

– coordination and control of institutions providing public services of county interest, established by the County Council and subordinate to it

– coordinating and controlling the implementation of investment and rehabilitation activities of the county infrastructure.

Mr. Valentin Ivancea has two degrees – in engineering and legal sciences, a master’s degree in Resource Management in Public Administration and numerous postgraduate courses in areas such as Internal Affairs Management, National Security, International Relations.

Grzegorz Zajączkowski

Polish Airports

Artificial Intelligence Revolution in Airport Management

Engineer, developer, social activist, and IT society development project coordinator. Since 1998, focused on IT in education, civil society growth, and cultural heritage. Co-author of “ePolska 2001” and regional IT strategies. Advisor to various governmental institutions since 2008 (e.g., Ministry of Education, Foreign Affairs). Co-developer of Poland’s first open-source educational repository and lead engineer of a virtual school for migrating students. Data manager for OECD’s “PISA Study” (2014-2017). Political advisor at the Ministry of Digitization (2016-2018), overseeing projects like widok.gov.pl and Kronik@. Named “Digital Champion for Poland” by the European Commission in 2017. Expert at the Ministry of Digital Affairs and Chief Data Officer for Polish Airports.

Jarosław Niewiński

EUROCONTROL

Aviation Cargo Trends and Advanced Air Mobility

Jarosław Niewiński has more than 20 years of experience in the airport environment, working at the ANSP, Airport and Ground Handling. He has been leading the innovations and digital evolution projects for European aviation, and currently supports the digital airports and vertiports integration topics for EUROCONTROL.

He has a variety of expertise in managing large scale projects within aviation, focused on optimization of available infrastructure, safety standards and efficiency. Being a passionate entrepreneur with experience from public and private organizations, Jarosław is focused on operational excellence, efficiency and business transformation.

Jeroen Van Brussel 

SITA

Opening ceremony

In my position as SVP within SITA, I am responsible for all commercial activities within the Central Europe region, with a specific focus on business development (G2M), Innovation and product marketing. In this role I am fully responsible for the P&L and for all commercial staff in the Central European region. The short-term objective, next 12 to 36 months, is to accelerate growth of the revenue with double digit percentage year on year. Next to that I am also responsible to transform and position SITA as the partner of choice when it comes to Digital Transformation with our customers in Central European region.

Issa Castro

ACI World

Aviation Needs Lifelong Learning – Network of Academies

As ACI World’s Director for Training Programs, Issa is responsible for the overall strategic partnerships, operations, content management and delivery of ACI’s high quality airport training solutions. Based in Montreal, she brings to the airport industry over 25 years of international experience in training, organizational development, and customer engagement. 

Issa spearheads collaborative engagements with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) on global training matters, as well as the management of ACI’s corporate training partnership with them on joint accreditation programs and professional certificate courses. 

She represents ACI at the European Association for Training Aviation Organization (EATEO), ICAO TRAINAIR Plus Steering Committee, and regularly presents at various events, conferences and workshops on ACI’s initiatives and global trends impacting aviation training. 

Before joining ACI, Issa amassed extensive international experience working with Cathay Pacific Airways, Princess Cruise Lines, and the International Air Transport Association (IATA). Issa obtained her Bachelor of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies, majoring in Industrial Psychology, from the Ateneo de Manila University (Philippines). She also earned Diplomas in Airport Operations, Advanced Global Safety Network from ACI, as well as the Global ACI-ICAO Airport Management Professional Accreditation Programme (AMPAP) Associate Diploma in 2017.

Maciej Paszkowski 

CPK

Terminal Design – Searching the Limits

Senior Designer, Architect, representing CPK’s engineering team. He is the architectural and spatial planning coordinator on the design of main facilities of the future transport hub: Passenger Terminal Bldg, Railway Station Bldg and Passenger Transport Interchange. He graduated from the Warsaw University of Technology School of Architecture. Licensed architect, worked in international architectural firms, gaining over 20 years of experience in architectural design of a wide spectrum of projects

Óscar Lara

UMILES Next

Artificial Intelligence Revolution in Airport Management

Chief Operating Officer (COO) of UMILES Next. Óscar has a doctorate in aerospace engineering and a master’s degree in finance and has worked for ESA and NASA on the International Space Station as Operations Leader for 9 years. In addition, he founded Theia Space, together with other colleagues, one of the first CubeSats companies in our country and worked as director of Strategy and Innovation at IberEspacio (belonging to the Técnicas Reunidas group), one of the main providers of structural, thermal and propulsion for more than 100 satellites from countries such as the US, Europe, Turkey, Japan or Israel. He is also a professor at the OMMA business, finance and investment school.

Natalia Roj

HAMAD INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

Natalia is an aviation enthusiast and a frequent traveller, her industry experience relates to airports in all areas of capital project lifecycle, from planning, designing, constructing, handing-over to operating. 

Natalia is currently working in the Middle East on an airport expansion programme that includes a variety of facilities, such as Passenger Terminal, Cargo Terminal, Utilities and Airfield Infrastructure. She is engaged in the design, delivery, handover and closeout of these projects, ensuring processes standardisation, continuous improvement and benefits realisation.

Patrick Bohl

CEETRA

Top trends in travel retail management

Dr. Patrick Bohl is Dean at Corvinus University of Budapest and Senior Advisor to CEETRA, the Central and Eastern European Travel Retail Association. He is a well known figure in the airport industry, and his previous roles included leading the retail and property business unit at Budapest Airport and building up the sales and route development department of the airport. Previously, he held roles at Malév Hungarian Airlines and British Airways in commercial and airport management. Patrick Bohl is a frequent keynote speaker at conferences and workshops, and an expert in travel retail management, commercial airport planning as well as route development. His academic interest lies in marketing strategy and environmental psychology. His doctoral dissertation discusses the impact of the atmosphere of airport spaces on emotions and shopping behaviour.

Paweł Kranc

Polish Airports/ V4+ Airports

Tourism and Aviation – Boost Development by joint efforts

Pawel Kranc – Since 2021 Director of Management Bureau at “Polish Airports” State Enterprises, the largest airport operator in Poland and one of Polands’ top aviation infrastructure company. From 2022 he also holds the position of Deputy Director of the Sales Office responsible for the development of the connection network, both at Warsaw Chopin Airport and the newly built Warsaw-Radom airport. 

Paweł is also a founder and Operations Director of the V4+ Airports Association, an organization whose membership is open to the airports of the Visegrad Group. In September 2022, this association organized the Airports Innovation Roundtable (AIR2022) conference, which was dedicated to Central and East European airports.

Georges Rebender

Artificial Intelligence Expert

Artificial Intelligence Revolution in Airport Management

Being  very early a radio controlled plane enthusiast, at the age of 14, self-starter, he studied by himself the French civil aviation books (PPL level) to successfully pass a State examination which allowed him to join a French State subsidized Aviation Junior program , making his first solo flight at the age of 15. 

He studied Aeronautical engineering, at Paris University, Business Administration at Strasbourg University,

Once having performed his military duties as Officer, Air Force traffic controller, he worked for European Aviation, at both Industry and EU Regulator level. 

Joining Airbus flight test and certification, he became Certification Manager Flight and Human Factors. involved to certify the first civil fly by wire aircraft.

In this position, he acquired an in-depth experience in aircraft design assessment and certification.

After 20 years industry experience, he “jumped over the fence”, became a regulator, holding managerial positions (Director) at the Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA) and EASA (Head of Department) 

Joining EASA, he held not only the post of the Head of Department Aircrew and Medical, but also made the EASA senior management aware of Artificial intelligence developments.

He was consequently invited to join the EASA innovation cell, where he   co-lead, based on the European Union concept of “AI trustworthiness,” the EASA Artificial Intelligence road map, regularly updated since.

 Within the innovation cell scope, he contributed to EASA/Industry partnership contracts focusing on regulatory feasibility of some disruptive technologies making use of AI, such as advanced cockpits, single pilot/autonomous aero planes. 

After having left EASA, his genuine strong interest to advocate a human centered approach for new technologies applications in aviation lead him to present  in different symposium, such as the  European Aviation Training Symposium, or the AMST human factors symposium,  an aviation human centered AI “augmented intelligence concept”  blending artificial intelligence with neurosciences and  state of the art training methods.

Wojciech Czernek

Baltona

Top trends in travel retail management

President of the Management Board of Baltona since January 2021.

The companies of the Baltona Capital Group operate in the Travel Retail, F&B and ship chandling industries, fulfilling the needs of travelers and ship crews working at sea.

Matured Managing Director with proven experience in working in the retail industry. He has held executive positions in such companies as Toys “R” Us, REWE Int. BILLA Polska and Ukraine, Ahold, NOMI and Makro Cash & Carry Polska.

Mark Tyler

SITA

Artificial Intelligence Revolution in Airport Management

Director – SITA Business Consulting Mark is the Head of the SITA Business Consulting organisation and leads a team of industry focused business consultants delivering discrete, technology driven, business impacting Strategy assignments across Technology Master Planning, Digital & Data Transformation and Process Optimisation. He is a highly experienced Principal Consultant, with business, technology and commercial acumen built upon a track record of innovation, and delivery excellence in the complex business environments of the ATI at more than 35 airports in over 30 countries.

Mark is passionate about sharing his knowledge, experience and insights of the IT landscapes of airports and airlines, and how technology enables the businesses to improve through the leveraging of data, automation and optimisation.

Along with his depth of experience, Mark holds a Master of Business Administration from Macquarie Graduate School of Management (2002) and is also an AMPAP Graduate, and IAP accredited.
Prior to joining SITA Mark held roles and undertook consulting assignments across key airports in Australia including Sydney and Melbourne airports.

Kim Silander

Kookiejar of Sweden; IBG A2M

Aviation Cargo Trends and Advanced Air Mobility

Mr. Kim Silander is the Founder Kookiejar of Sweden a provider of Vertiport as a Service and Independent Business Group (IBG), a leading consulting firm that has been involved in various infrastructure related projects in the airport and Air Traffic sector. 

Kim started his career in LFV, the Swedish State-owned Air Navigation Service Provider working with research and development. In 2007 when joining EUROCONTROL he founded IBG that to date have completed over 90 airport and Air Traffic Management projects around the world. In 2020 during the COVID outbreak IBG secured 130M EUR deal to help Qatar to modernise their National Air Traffic Management infrastructure and Airspace. In addition IBG secured several RnD projects in Europe within the Advanced Air Mobility sector.

IBG has now a dedicated unit (IBG A2M) working with Advanced Air Mobility helping municipalities to establish UTM/U-Space. Whilst Kookiejar provides the start and endpoint of a trip then IBG A2M helps design and implement the airspace between the points.

Răzvan Horga

Tourism and Aviation – Boost Development by joint efforts

Răzvan Horga serves as the Chief Executive Officer of Oradea Airport, where he oversees the airport’s most important infrastructure and business development program to date.

A passionate and determined aviation professional, he has activated across a range of sectors within the industry, ie. airlines, technology providers, airports. Having started his career in Revenue Optimization for Emirates Airline, he was responsible for demand forecasting activities for selected markets in the West Asian and Indian Ocean region. In that role he actively engaged with the internal and external stakeholders, such as tourism boards and destination management organizations to identify and stimulate untapped demand.

Following Emirates, he embarked on a challenge to work with a promising technology startup, Volantio, where he broadened and deepened his understanding of passenger behaviour in relation to air travel and ways in which demand can be more accurately captured through the use of artificial intelligence.

Krzysztof Olendzki

Opening Ceremony

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Poland to Slovenia

Krzysztof Olendzki – Polish historian and diplomat, Titular Ambassador, Till 2008 lecturer at Warsaw School of Economics, 2006 – 2007 undersecretary of state in the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, 2008 – 2012 Ambassador of the Republic of Poland to Tunisia, 2016 – 2019 Director and CEO of the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, from 2020 Ambassador of the Republic of Poland to Slovenia.

Stephan Syring

AIR Insight: Firefighters Training

Stephan is a professional and dynamic fire instructor with 30 years of airport experience who sets the standard in fire protection training. He has an in-depth knowledge of fire and rescue topics, which he passionately passes on to his trainees and customers around the world. His leadership skills are based on competence and excellence while creating a confident team of respect and trust. He is an excellent planner, organizer, and goal-oriented leader.
Stephan has worked for almost all global Fraport projects in South America, Greece, Egypt, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia and is also responsible for developing disabled aircraft recovery programs for the Canadian Air Force and the AWACS Early Warning Fleet – NATO Component E-3A.

Maciej Zawadzki

Trip to the Airport as a Part of the overall Passenger Experience

For the last 13 years holds the position of the President of the Management Board at APCOA Parking Polska, the polish branch of APCOA Group, the biggest European car parks operator, managing over 14 000 car parks, including 60 airports, including Heathrow, Berlin, Oslo, or Malpensa. Maciej Zawadzki has extensive experience in international business and equity markets – developing and managing big IT projects for European institutions like European Commission or European Parliament as well as supervising companies in Lithuania (Vilnius) and Russia (Moscow, St. Petersburg). Graduated faculty of Law and District Chamber of Attorneys at Law in Poznań, also holds an MBA degree from European University (Montreux, Switzerland).

Maciej Zawadzki

Trip to the Airport as a Part of the overall Passenger Experience

For the last 13 years holds the position of the President of the Management Board at APCOA Parking Polska, the polish branch of APCOA Group, the biggest European car parks operator, managing over 14 000 car parks, including 60 airports, including Heathrow, Berlin, Oslo, or Malpensa. Maciej Zawadzki has extensive experience in international business and equity markets – developing and managing big IT projects for European institutions like European Commission or European Parliament as well as supervising companies in Lithuania (Vilnius) and Russia (Moscow, St. Petersburg). Graduated faculty of Law and District Chamber of Attorneys at Law in Poznań, also holds an MBA degree from European University (Montreux, Switzerland).

Jessica Wagner

AIR Insight: Firefighters Training

Jessica works at the Fire Training Center of Frankfurt Airport Fire Department in Frankfurt am Main.

She joined the fire department as a professional firefighter in 2012. Since 2019 she is part of the instructor team of the Fire Training Center Frankfurt. She is a language skilled and dynamic firefighter instructor for fire and rescue topics. She is especially responsible for the emergency communication trainings of incident commanders. She educates with a mission and teaches with desire. The training objectives are achieved with the appropriate professional knowledge.

She is a remarkable planner, organizer and goal oriented instructor with good interpersonal communication skills. She easily adapts to new environments, foreign cultures and languages.

Mateja Košak Maljevec

AIR Insight: Firefighters Training

Mateja Košak Maljevec works at Ljubljana Airport operated through Fraport Slovenija by Fraport AG, one of the leading airport management groups.

She joined the airport team in May 2022, taking over the Aviation Academy and in June 2023 also the airport’s Rescue and Fire Fighting team.

Together with the Fraport Fire Training Center team in Frankfurt they provide wide training portfolio for ARFF staff of the airports within the Fraport Group as well as for other civil and military airports. Following the Fraport sustainability agenda the team focuses on the use of new technologies and environmentally friendly agents and tactics.

Joanna Bensz

Terminal Design – Searching the Limits

Joanna, accomplished entrepreneur, led multinational companies. Passionate about healthcare, she founded Warsaw’s 2019 Longevity Center. With expert doctors, they focus on preventive care using diagnostics, epigenetics, biomarkers for biological age. Also co-founder of International Institute of Longevity, chairwoman of Longevity Vaduz Roundtable, collaborating with global age science experts. Top 50 women in Aging Analytics Agency’s development list. Longevity Center is part of Luxembourg’s Longevity Group SA, aiming for more centers across Europe soon.

Josip Klišmanić

Zadar Airport

Terminal Design – Searching the Limits

Josip Klišmanić, IAP, General Manager at Zadar Airport for the last six years. Zadar Airport has had a steep growth of passengers in a recent few years and has doubled its numbers. Therefore we are undercoming through a major upgrade of the airport’s facilities. Masterplan has a vision of an airport of next generation and to make a documented designs come to life is extremely challenging and satisfying journey.

Witold Janiszewski

Polish Airports S. A.

Risk and Chances – How Megatrends Affect Aviation Industry

Member of the Management Board of PPL S.A. He also held the following positions with PPL: Director of the Legal and Ownership Supervision Office and Director of the Sales, Marketing and Communications Office of PPL S.A.
He is a graduate of the Faculty of Law and Administration at the University of Warsaw, Centre for English and European Legal Studies, Faculty of Law and Administration, Faculty of Law – Warsaw University, Cambridge University, Center for American Law Studies – Faculty of Law and Administration, Warsaw University and Frederic G. Levin College of Law, University of Florida, a Legal Counsel with many years of experience in Polish and international business entities (including CMS – Cameron McKenna, DLA Piper, White & Case).

He specializes in commercial and international law as well as negotiations. Privately, a husband and a father of two lovely children. Aviation enthusiast.

Antoinette Nassopoulos-Erickson

Foster + Partners

Terminal Design – Searching the Limits

Antoinette is an architect and urban designer, chair of the Women’s Forum at Foster + Partners, with over 25 years’ experience across a wide range of projects. She works with complex client organizations and has designed and delivered several large-scale strategic projects, masterplans, office and residential developments globally including the McLaren Technology Centre in Surrey, 30 St Mary Axe in London, and the Hearst Headquarters in New York. Her extensive experience in aviation covers masterplanning and design for several terminals including at Heathrow T2 and landside Masterplan, Tocumen, México city and Marseille International Airports and the world’s first commercial spaceport: Spaceport America, New Mexico. She is currently Project Lead for CPK transport hub Poland.

Pawel Skuteli

Embraer

Drone Alliance Europe/ V4+ Association Expert

Trip to the Airport as a Part of the overall Passenger Experience

Regional Director Airline Marketing, Embraer Commercial Aviation

Pawel is a Regional Director Airline Marketing at Embraer Commercial Aviation. Based in Warsaw, he is responsible for marketing activities in CEE, CIS, Nordic Countries and Turkey.
Pawel has 10 years of working experience in aviation, knowing the industry from airline, consulting, and aircraft manufacturer perspective. He is supporting existing and prospective Embraer operators in defining customized fleet, network, and product solutions. Prior to joining Embraer in 2019, Pawel worked at LOT Polish Airlines and Accenture Consulting.

Desmond Chin Tjao Khang

Lufthansa Group

Trip to the Airport as a Part of the overall Passenger Experience

With extensive experience spanning a diverse range of roles in the aviation industry, Desmond is a seasoned professional known for their exceptional expertise in account strategy development, revenue growth, and client satisfaction. Endorsed by high-level executives, Desmond has successfully overseen joint venture integrations, orchestrated strategic approaches that boosted market share, and conducted insightful business analyses to enhance operational efficiency. His impressive track record includes managing key client accounts, cultivating strong relationships, and consistently surpassing sales targets. Proficient in collaboration across departments, Desmond is also recognized for leading transformative projects and driving commercial success through innovative strategies.

Marcel Riwalsky

Aviation-Event

Risk and Chances – How megatrends affext aviation industry

Marcel Riwalsky, CEO, Aviation-Event is a seasoned professional with a Master of Business Administration degree and Certificat d‘Etudes Supérieres. Over the past decade, he has successfully orchestrated numerous high-profile events, most notably as the driving force behind Aviation-Event. As the creative mind behind this event and its spin-off, Aviation-Event Special, Marcel has brought together more than 100 esteemed speakers and discussion participants, captivating guests from diverse fields, including politics and various business sectors. With a background in public relations and communications, Marcel Riwalsky boasts expertise in various domains, including business processes, sales, business development, marketing strategy, and customer relationship management (CRM). His entrepreneurial spirit is underscored by his IHK Zertifikat in Marketing from the Chamber of Commerce (IHK).

Martins Tamovics

Budapest Airport

Terminal Design – Searching the Limits

Airport Development professional with more than a decade experience in diverse airport planning and development projects within AviAlliance group and beyond. At the current assignment, Martins is leading the Terminal 3 development program at Budapest International Airport, which will double the passenger capacity from 15 to 30 million per year.

Martins Tamovics holds engineering degrees from Riga Technical University and Technical University of Munich as well as Master in Business Administration from Vienna University of Economics and Business and University of Minnesota.

Jerzy Kwieciński

Bank Pekao S.A.

AIR Insight: Challenges in Financing Airports Infrastructure

He is a graduate of Faculty of Materials Engineering of the Warsaw University of Technology and holds a degree of Doctor in the field of technical science. He also completed a postgraduate course for managers at the Warsaw School of Economics and an international Master of Business Administration (MBA) programme run by the University of Antwerp, the University of Staffordshire, the Free University of Brussels and the University of Warsaw. Jerzy Kwieciński also has experience in academic and research and development work, which he gained, among others at the Warsaw University of Technology and as a visiting professor at Brunel University of West London. Jerzy Kwieciński has more than 30 years of international experience in strategic planning, management of large organizations, programs and projects in the public, private, non-governmental and scientific research sectors, including energy sector. From 1993 to 2004, he worked for the European Commission Representation in Poland, where his duties included management of programmes and projects financed by the European Union. He also participated in the works preparing Poland for membership in the European Union. Between 2004 and 2005 he was the President of Europejskie Centrum Przedsiębiorczości sp. z o.o, where in 2008-2015 he acted as a Vice-President of the Management Board. In 2005, Jerzy Kwieciński took a position of the Undersecretary of State at the Ministry of Regional Development, where he coordinated the national development policy and cohesion policy, including the work on the National Development Strategy for 2007-2015 and the National Cohesion Strategy for 2007-2013.

Between 2008 and 2015, he served as President of the Management Board of JP Capital Group sp. Z o.o., specializing in preparation and implementation of projects and innovations, including establishing and running start-ups. In that period he was also head of Fundacja Europejskie Centrum Przedsiębiorczości (European Entrepreneurship Centre Foundation). In 2015, he was appointed the Secretary of State in the Ministry of Development. Since 2015, he has been a member of the National Development CouncilIn November 2015, he was appointed the First Deputy of the Deputy Prime Minister in the Ministry of Development. From January 2018, he held the office of the Minister of Investment and Development, and from September 2019 he served also as the Minister of Finance. He held both functions until November 15, 2019. He worked on, among others on preparation and implementation of the Strategy for Responsible Development and implementation of cohesion policy. From January to December 2020 he acted as President of the Management Board of Polskie Górnictwo Naftowe i Gazownictwo S.A. (PGNiG), he has been a member of the Supervisory Board in TUW Polski Gaz, Europolgaz SA and President of the Board of Directors PGNiG Upstream Norway. From March 2021, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Pekao Investment Banking S.A. and since April 2021, Member of the Supervisory Board of Pekao Leasing Sp. z o.o.

Katsiaryna Shchadrova

Flibco

Trip to the Airport as a Part of the overall Passenger Experience

Katsiaryna Shchadrova is a passionate business developer and country manager with over 8 years of experience in the field. Speaking about flibco.com progressive data driven and ecological digital approach towards the airport shuttle bus business, which improves passenger experience, increases the catchment area and optimizes traffic in front of the airport while generating higher revenues from the airports ground passenger transportation.

Katsiaryna trialing and implementing new projects which are digitalizing automotive and passenger transportation sector in various markets over the last 6 years. She has made her mark as a driving force behind flibco.com, contributing significantly to its growth and success. Armed with a prestigious business degree from Stockholm School of Economics, Katsiaryna’s journey began in the automotive sector, specializing in after-market fuel control solutions where she worked with one of the biggest Turkish bus manufacturers.

Beyond the professional development, Katsiaryna’s interests are as diverse as her career achievements. With an innate passion for Italian wines and travelling, love for sports, genuine curiosity about people, coupled with her sincerity and sharp business acumen she enjoys mentoring young individuals embarking on their independent lives.

With an inspiring blend of expertise, passion and curiosity, Katsiaryna Shchadrova stands as a beacon of innovation in the world of transportation.

Manages German market and focuses on new strategic markets development.

John Reavy

John Reavy, Director, Transport Practice and Principal Account Leader – Aviation, Mott MacDonald, BAG

Aviation Cargo Trends and Advanced Air Mobility

John is an aviation advisor with a broad range of experience across the industry, having worked for the world’s busiest international airport and two of the world’s fastest growing airlines. He has extensive experience leading Operational Research and Planning teams across airport operations, capacity assessment and master planning, plus airline strategy and operations. He is an experienced leader of research, design and implementation of innovative decision support tools in crew rostering, revenue management and network planning. John currently leads Mott MacDonald’s European Aviation team including their development in future and advanced air mobility. He is a representative on the British Aviation Group’s Business Intelligence Working Group.

Vincent Treve

EUROCONTROL

EUROCONTROL Presentation

Mr. Treve has 20 years of experience in aviation domain.  He started his career as Fluid Mechanics Researcher in École Polytechnique de Louvain in Belgium, before joining Airbus Flight Physics department where he was involved in the A380 certification program. Before joining the Airport Unit in EUROCONTROL Experimental Centre, where he lead R&D and deployment projects, like RECAT and Time Based Separation; he coordinated avionic programs In Thales Communication, as a system engineer. He was also active in EUROCONTROL Single European Sky Unit as regulatory specialist on AIXM and Datalink program.  He was appointed the Head of the Airport Unit in June 2021, after contributing to the reorganisation of the EUROCONTROL Airport Work Programme around Local Airport Enhancement, Airport Connectivity to the Network and new services delivered by the Network Manager to airports.

Joanna Bensz

Longevity Center

Terminal Design – Searching the Limits

Joanna, accomplished entrepreneur, led multinational companies. Passionate about healthcare, she founded Warsaw’s 2019 Longevity Center. With expert doctors, they focus on preventive care using diagnostics, epigenetics, biomarkers for biological age. Also co-founder of International Institute of Longevity, chairwoman of Longevity Vaduz Roundtable, collaborating with global age science experts. Top 50 women in Aging Analytics Agency’s development list. Longevity Center is part of Luxembourg’s Longevity Group SA, aiming for more centers across Europe soon.

Dušan Keketi

Bratislava Airport

AIR Insight: Financing the Development of Airports Infrastructure

Experienced Banking professional with a demonstrated history of working in the Corporate, Retail, Wholesale segment of Banking & Leasing industry and having a succesfull experience in Governmental relations area. Strong business development professional, skilled in Trade Finance, Export support, Negotiation, Business Planning, Banking, Sales, Customer Relationship Management, Networking and Crisis and Change Management area. Currently in a crisis manager role for the Ministry of Transport and Development of the Slovak Republic in the Airport/Aviation sector.

Tomislav Zepina 

Zadar Airport

Tourism and Aviation – Boost Development by joint efforts

I have been employed at Zadar Airport from year 2006. My first job at the airport was Commercial referent and I have been doing that job untill 2009 when I have been upgraded to Commercial Manager. The job included evrything related to the aviation traffic, from negotiations to final agreement. At that time I was the jungest Manager in the company with only 26 years of age. From year 2014 I am taking over whole sales of the airport and becoming Manager of Commercial Division which, besides my previous tasks includes managing of Duty free shop, food and beverages, catering and sales on board.

Besides my work at the airport I was a member of Zadar Tourist Board council for 4 years and still working closely with them and all the relevant tourist companies at Zadar region such as major hotel houses, smaler TB-s, travel agencies etc in order to produce great and complete product for the tourist arriving to Zadar Region.