Departure lounges are bustling once more as millions of expectant passengers return to skies across the Americas. But amid another year of double-digit volume growth, lurks a growing menace of employee attrition, rising accident risks, soaring costs, fragmented supply chains and dilapidated infrastructure. GHI will unite senior leaders from airports, airlines, GSPs and suppliers and challenge them to propose a mandate for a more harmonious future, which gears capacity up for growth. Panel topics include tackling skills shortages, electrification of the apron, digitisation and finding an equitable way to drive the innovation we crave in ground services.

Do you have a view on the future of ground handling in the Americas? Email our panel your thoughts by contacting max@groundhandling.com

Join us at Damarel as we showcase the latest generation of the FiNDnet Suite—an enterprise-level turnaround management, service capture, and billing solution. Whether you're a small operation or a global ground handler, FiNDnet offers a class-leading solution used worldwide to seamlessly coordinate, monitor, and enhance all aspects of airport operations. It comprehensively addresses your operational and business processes and leverages automation to drive cost reduction, performance enhancement, and revenue growth.

This session will ask leading stakeholders to assess the current constitution of SLAs and whether a leaning towards penalties over rewards ends up punishing all supply chain partners in the long run. We will hear about examples of SLAs that focus instead on bonus-based rewards and how these have unlocked far reaching gains for carriers/GSPs and ultimately customers. How do we optimise SLAs for the changed landscape of ground handling in the Americas and strike a more effective balance between penalty and reward?

Length of time since last safety incident? Number of near miss reports? Or Safety Training Completion rates among ramp teams? There are a myriad of safety SPIs in the typical ground handling operation, but are some more conducive to driving a high-performance safety culture than others? This safety training workshop will equip you with a better understanding of choosing the right SPI for your operations to effectively manage your safety performance. Participants will receive a free certificate of participation. Both facilitators are current ISAGO Lead Auditors, they deliver ICAO compliant SMS and aviation auditor courses.

This session will assess the market outlook for aviation in the Americas in 2024. After the Covid crisis- is traffic growth here to stay? Will we continue to see a growing theme of consolidation among ground handling providers? Does a market characterised by fewer, large-scale providers with greater benefits of scale then pave the way for a step change in successful ground service provision?

GHI invites leading suppliers to detail the latest developments in driverless vehicle technology that are being developed and trialled at airports across the region. Is automated GSE the ultimate solution to an unrelenting skills crisis where experienced pushback drivers and seasoned ramp operatives are in short supply? The session will explore the latest in GSE technology, the performance benefits and associated costs. The panel will also debate a roadmap towards the widespread roll out of autonomous GSE across key Latin and North American markets.

Amid an influx of inexperienced workers and rising attrition, how are operators in the Americas preparing new people to be aware of common accident risks and during pushback and turnaround? The session will investigate the role of more visible and engaged leadership teams and the adoption of new technology in ensuring safety standards do not slip as the region responds to record breaking passenger demand.

Exploring case study examples of aviation operators who have deployed AI on the ramp or in the airport terminal to boost KPIs or enhance passenger services. How can smarter software help us in an environment where we’re being asked to do more with less? The session will also investigate the role AI might play in helping us hit back against the skills crisis. How might predictive modelling help with recruiting/retention of key positions and designing development pathways to keep our employees engaged?

Despite great enthusiasm for the adoption of electric GSE, hydrogen, SAF and other sustainable initiatives – frontline operators are finding infrastructure, prohibitive costs and poor alignment inhibiting a greener aviation age. Join us for a special Conference session, in partnership with the GSE Podcast’s Matt Weitzel, that will invite GSE suppliers, airports, GSPs and an airline to set the record straight on the steps they see as essential to the Americas market stepping up to the challenge of achieving a more sustainable aviation footprint in the Americas.

A case study presentation revealing how a six-month collaboration between a European and a North American based ground handler centring on cross-training shopfloor staff brought significant costs savings whilst improving operational performance. The session will explore the crucial steps to identify waste, increasing resilience, impact on pay, and wider station performance to more actively engage in the customer intimacy.

Latin America is home to some of the most exciting aviation growth markets in the world. Despite limited state aid during Covid, the region posted more than 410 million air passengers in 2023 and became one of the first to exceed 2019 levels. Yet, despite the traffic growth – operators are struggling to convert potential into profit. Infrastructure challenges, taxation and political interference all threaten to flatten the growth curve. So, what can be done? GHI invites our panel to discuss a blueprint.

The ISAGO program works the same way as your internal SMS, by following the continuous improvement cycle. The new model starting in Q3 of 2024 changes the way you will plan and prepare for your initial or recurrent ISAGO certification. Let us help you with five key preparation steps to adapt to the proposed changes and ready your organisation for the future. Participants will receive a free certificate of participation. Session is led by current ISAGO Lead Auditors.

Canada’s flag carrier will detail how it has developed a world-class ground services strategy in collaboration with its supply chain. The case study will explore how Air Canada picked its preferred ground handling KPIs to maximise passenger satisfaction and then set about driving up performance across these criteria among its partner GSPs. The session will also explore the power of innovation and how Air Canada is looking to uncover performance improvement ideas from its partners.

Sustainability and electrification are impressive buzzwords in many a corporate strategy. But, what does it really take to deliver a functioning electric infrastructure on the apron? Two aviation teams from Halifax International Airport and Talma Ecuador give a frontline account of their paths to electrification and making the set up pay for all supply chain partners.

GHI unites leading cargo operators from across the region to assess the latest market indicators in air cargo. How has a return in pax belly capacity affected pricing and an ability to keep pace with demand? From airport infrastructure improvements to digital innovations, this session will look at how stakeholders in the Americas can get themselves in trim for cargo growth.

With assisted passenger services demand on the rise, ageing populations, tighter flight connection times and growing complexity of airports, aviation stakeholders are under ever-increasing pressure to develop service delivery programs that can cope with the strain. This session will invite stakeholders to explore the PRM/Assisted Service dilemma and discuss innovative best practices to cope with this ever-increasing challenge.