APEX/IFSA Board of Governors vote on new initiatives

The 2021-2022 APEX/IFSA Board of Governors have voted unanimously to accept the introduction of four initiatives for the coming calendar year.

The initiatives concern vaccinations through the “APEX/IFSA vaccinated airline initiative”, which promotes the full vaccination of airline workforces, where possible, for as long as COVID-19 poses a threat to global air travel.

The second initiative passed was the “APEX/IFSA disruptive passenger data-sharing initiative.” With the incidences of unruly passenger behaviour increasing, there have been growing calls for airlines to share details of disruptive passengers. This initiative fosters this collaborative approach allowing airlines to work together to share ‎disruptive passenger data lists with one another while still complying with the law.

Under the “APEX Health Safety Requirement For Four-Star, Five-Star Airlines,” existing Four Star and Five ‎Star airlines under the APEX Official Airline Ratings program will be required to make their health safety ‎protocols easily available to the public to qualify for future awards.

The final proposal saw approval for the introduction of an “APEX Sustainability Requirement For Four-Star, Five-Star Airlines,” under which existing Four Star and Five ‎Star airlines under the APEX Official Airline Ratings program will have to make their sustainability initiatives easily accessible to the public to qualify for future awards. As part of this initiative, airlines would also have to commit to making incremental improvements to their sustainability efforts each year.

The 2021-22 APEX/IFSA Board of Governors include Scott Kirby, United Airlines CEO and the 2021-2022 Chairman of the APEX/IFSA Board of Governors; Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian, Chairman Emeritus of the APEX/IFSA Board of Governors from 2019-2021; İlker Aycı, Group CEO & Chairman at Turkish Airlines; Jeffrey Goh, CEO at Star Alliance; Captain Ibrahim Koshy, CEO at Saudia; Alex Wilcox, CEO at JSX; Yuji Akasaka, President at Japan Airlines; Jóhanna á Bergi, CEO at Atlantic Airways; Xiamen Airlines Chairman Zhao Dong; and EVP and incoming CEO at Southwest Airlines Bob Jordan.

Photo (left to right): Lauren Costello, executive director, APEX/IFSA; İlker Aycı, Group CEO & Chairman at Turkish Airlines; Scott Kirby, United Airlines CEO and the 2021-2022 Chairman of the APEX/IFSA Board of Governors; Scott Kirby, United Airlines CEO and the 2021-2022 Chairman of the APEX/IFSA Board of Governors; Captain Ibrahim Koshy, CEO at Saudia; Alex Wilcox, CEO at JSX; and APEX/IFSA CEO, Dr. Joe Leader. Photo: APEX