Robert Carsouw, executive vice president and CFO at Royal Schiphol Group, made the opening address and keynote speech at Passenger Terminal Conference at 8:30am on Tuesday, March 14, 2023.
Attendees listened as Carsouw revealed the negative and positive effects that Covid-19 had on Amsterdam Airport Schiphol in the Netherlands, alongside ongoing operational issues at the airport and its plans for the future. The executive also detailed the impact that government regulations have had on the group’s strategic planning, plus Schiphol’s innovative projects and technology being implemented to drive the company’s sustainability goals forward.
The conference, which will include several key speakers from Royal Schiphol Group, will feature almost 400 expert airport and airline industry speakers in total. It regularly attracts more than 1,900 senior airport, airline, aviation authority, government and related business executives from all over the world to discuss business-critical issues and solutions, providing innovative ideas and progressive thinking for future airport development, and proven measures for maintaining passenger satisfaction.
During his presentation, Carsouw said, “Technology has changed our lives and the way we travel in so many ways. When I started at Schiphol Group during the second year of the pandemic, the aviation sector took a hard hit, both financially and operationally. But the pandemic also gave us a very clear insight: that freedom of travel is very important to all of us. Whether we fly to a holiday destination, board a plane to visit relatives, for business or for any other reason: flying means connecting. And that entails more than simply transporting people and cargo. Connecting means bringing different cultures closer together. It brings us closer together. This leads to a better understanding of each other and of the way we live our lives.”
He continued, “We strongly believe in collaboration across the aviation industry. Airports face similar challenges and can speed up innovation by learning from best practices across the sector. We are therefore bringing our most innovative airport solutions, with proven business value at Schiphol, to market. We develop solutions in-house or work closely together with industry leaders to tackle our common challenges head on. Some of the key solutions that are currently available for airports across the globe include Deep Turnaround and AIrport Inspector.”
Tony Robinson, the founder of Passenger Terminal Expo and CEO of show organizer UKi Media & Events, also welcomed attendees to the event, saying, “At this expo and conference, I hope you’ll have the chance to make use of the extensive networking opportunities, exchange key information and share expert industry insights to drive the industry forward. Thank you all for coming today. It is you that makes Passenger Terminal Conference as special as it is.”
Following Carsouw’s opening address, Schiphol will be the case study subject for two other conference sessions: Gopal Kandiyoor, a sustainable aviation consultant at Netherlands Airport Consultants (NACO), will discuss ‘The impact of hydrogen aviation on airport masterplanning’ and Jacques van Zijp, managing director of Idemia Netherlands, will present ‘Montreal/Schiphol Airports’ pilot innovative technologies to digitalize the passenger journey’. There will also be several other Royal Schiphol Group sessions led by Royal Schiphol Group at Passenger Terminal Conference.
To hear more of Royal Schiphol Group’s valuable industry insights, be sure to book a conference pass for Passenger Terminal Conference, which will be held on March 14, 15 and 16, in Amsterdam.
