First Woman Named Chairman of ACI-NA 2003 Board of Directors

The membership of Airports Council International -- North America (ACI-NA) has elected its 2003 board of directors, naming Gina Marie Lindsey, Director of the Aviation Division at the Port of Seattle, as the aviation association's 2003 chairman.

She is the first woman to hold this post. Airport CEOs from Canada and the United States make up the board. A representative from ACI-NA's airport-related business members and two representatives of airport commissioners also have voting rights.

"The ACI-NA board is committed to securing additional flexibility for airports, both operationally and financially," states Lindsey. "With the current concerns over security and capacity issues, airports must be enabled to manage their own challenges utilizing their already-present professional capabilities," she added. Airports face challenges in a number of important areas. Airports are limited in their ability to raise funds and finance projects. The federal government regulates airport monies and indicates how they are used. Additionally, airports are dealing with terminal modifications that must adhere to new federally mandated security requirements.

The 107th Congress has adjourned without passing the Department of Transportation appropriations bill. Throughout the 108th Congress, ACI-NA will continue to pursue more funding resources for airport priorities. Particular attention will be focused on costs to airports for EDS installation which, in the year 2003 alone, will far exceed $275 million, the figure in the House and Senate committee-approved bills. Other funding issues at the forefront of ACI-NA's 2003 agenda are the full-funding of the Airport Improvement Program to help airports address continuing capacity and improvement needs, remuneration for the Transportation Security Administration's use of terminal space, funding federally mandated law enforcement officers at security checkpoints, and reimbursement for other mandated security costs.

Lindsey was appointed in 1993 as the Director of the Aviation Division of the Port of Seattle. Seattle-Tacoma International Airport is the 17th busiest passenger airport in the nation.

FMI: www.aci-na.org