ACI Europe is poised to introduce policies to help airports tackle personnel challenges such as getting the best from ‘Generation Z’. At ACI Europe’s Airport Leadership and Change Management Forum & Exhibition in Bologna on October 23-25, the association will launch an initiative to help Europe’s gateways find and develop staff.

ACI World has recently announced it will form a standing committee on HR, said Yulia Plyusnina, programme development coordinator at ACI Europe. “At Bologna in October there will also be a regional initiative on HR issues,” she told The HUB. “The background is the tremendous success of our Airport Leadership and Change Management Forum."

Europe’s airports currently face two pressing HR challenges, she added. “In Europe, a lot of airport directors are at retirement age and airports need to plan succession,” she said. But airports must also find ways to attract and motivate ‘Generation Z’, young people now entering the labour market, according to Plyusnina. “'Generation Z' has totally different values from previous generations. They are highly individualistic and look for more from their employers…. They demand a certain kind of contract,” she added.

Plyusnina spoke to The HUB during Routes CIS, taking place this week at Donetsk in Ukraine. At the networking forum, ACI Europe has been developing its cooperation with gateways in Russian-speaking areas. “One of the issues that we are talking about to airports in the region is our Airport Excellence (APEX) in safety programme, for which we translated the handbook into Russian in October,” she said. “For these airports, one advantage in having an international audit is that they can avoid having to also comply with safety demands from local authorities.”