Airport and aviation executives from the United States, Latin America, and the Caribbean recently gathered at the American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE) annual conference to discuss important topics affecting international aviation in the U.S., Caribbean and Latin American region.

Session topics included runway safety, infrastructure planning and funding, commercial air service development, wildlife management, new concession trends and security. Attendees had the opportunity to hear how others are handling current challenges and to discover new solutions for safety, security, commercial air service development and infrastructure development and funding issues.

Houston Aviation Director Mario Diaz is known throughout the industry as a leading expert on topics related to airport management. He led an aviation executive forum aimed at creating a high-level conversation on Inspiring Innovation—the conference’s theme. Discussions focused on the following topics:

• Funding challenges and opportunities,
• the impact of technology innovations and disruptors,
• cyber security and infrastructure issues, and
• human capital and workforce challenges the industry is facing now and will be facing in the long term.

The 2019 Airports Conference of the Americas was presented by the American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE), the South Central Chapter AAAE, and the International Association of Airport Executives (IAAE), and was held in collaboration with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). This year's conference was hosted by the Rafael Nuñez International Airport at Cartagena de Indias.