Luis Felipe de Oliveira to succeeds Gittens as new director-general of ACI World
The Airports Council International (ACI) World Governing Board has announced that Luis Felipe de Oliveira will be the new Director-General of ACI World.
Mr. de Oliveira will succeed Angela Gittens who has successfully led the global voice of the world’s airports for twelve years, working collaboratively with the leadership of ACI’s five Regional Offices: Africa, Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin-America/Caribbean and North America. Ms. Gittens earlier announced her intention to retire at the end of June 2020.
Mr. de Oliveira is well known throughout the aviation industry. He is currently the Executive Director and CEO of the Latin American and Caribbean Air Transport Association (ALTA). Mr. de Oliveira will officially take up the role of Director General in June, with a 30-day formal transition.
“Felipe is an aviation leader with decades of experience in business development and strategic planning, and has led international teams, in the private and non-profit sectors,” ACI World Governing Board Chair Martin Eurnekian said. “Throughout his career in the aviation industry, he has established a strong record of building relationships at a global level and in the Americas, Middle East and Africa regions to advocate on behalf of the organizations he has represented”.
“This experience will stand him in good stead at ACI World as he builds on the tremendous success that Angela Gittens has delivered in the 12 years leading the organization.
“Angela has taken the organization from strength to strength, both building on ACI’s advocacy on behalf of its member airports as well as building capacity among the world’s community of airports ensuring that airports reach the highest level of performance in management and operations. ACI is recognized as the only truly global representative of the World’s airports and we, our members, and the aviation industry, are enormously grateful for her unrivalled dedication, hard work, and achievements.”
Prior to joining ALTA, Mr. de Oliveira held senior international roles with World Fuel Services and Shell, leading sales and business development activities across Latin America, Africa and Europe, in addition he also served International Air Transport Association (IATA) leading global initiatives and fuel, airport and Air Traffic Control campaigns for the Americas, Africa and the Middle East regions.
“I am honored to have been appointed to serve this important organization and continue actively working to develop the aviation industry, now as the voice of the airports around the world,” Mr. de Oliveira said. “It is not an easy task to replace Angela after so many successful years leading the organization with excellent results. With the support of the great ACI team in Montreal and the regions, we will be able to efficiently serve our members to improve this fascinating industry.”
Ms. Gittens began her tenure as Director General in 2008 following a prolific career in senior roles in the aviation industry. She was formerly airport CEO for Miami and Atlanta, Deputy at San Francisco International Airport and supervised management/ operations contracts at airports in the UK, US and Canada.
“ACI has had a long and mutually productive relationship with ALTA and with Luis Felipe de Oliveira,” ACI World Director General Angela Gittens said. “He brings the kind of collaborative, win-win approach to problem-solving that fits so well in the airport environment. His experience in multiple sectors in our industry will be a benefit as will his appreciation for the federated nature of ACI which is key to forwarding the progress of the highly diverse airport sector.”
