Plaza Premium Group, a pioneer, industry leader, and the world’s largest provider of airport hospitality services and facilities with an international footprint. We are present in over 250 locations, and 74 international airports, and annually serve over 20 million passengers worldwide through our premium airport lounges, hotels, and concierge facilities. Plaza Premium Group is found where committed to making the travel experience better and better, going from good to great. From award-winning lounge operations and design, to industry leading in-airport accommodation, airport dining, meet & assist and airport passenger services, we have developed systems to enable operational efficiency, commercialisation, as well as data analytics, designed to scale.

Richard joined MAG in 1996 holding a variety of Commercial and Operational leadership roles across the Group’s Airports including Manchester, London Stansted and East Midlands.

As a founding member of the CAVU leadership team, holds the role of VP Growth responsible for client’s commercial performance and expansion of the organisation’s organic and inorganic growth across EMEA and APAC. Previously held a variety of Board level roles: VP Product Development authoring the product strategy and vision alongside its realisation which included the development of Manchester Airport’s Private Terminal, transforming the guest journey. Business Development Director leading a multi-functional team establishing the organisation globally, deploying B2C propositions expanding global reach unlocking value for Airports, alongside B2B product and services realising premium profit for others.

During MAG’s acquisition of London Stansted, Richard provided leadership for the retail operational transformation unlocking MAG’s ambitious growth aspirations. Held various Director roles on industry bodies.

Marcelo holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering (B.Sc.E.E.) and an MBA. He is currently the Director of Operations and Chief Operation Officer of Aeroportos Brasil Viracopos, the organization responsible for the development and operation of Viracopos International Airport in São Paulo, Brazil. Prior to this, Marcelo served as an Associate Vice-President at the TD Bank Financial Group and as the Director of Information Technology & Telecommunications Programs at the Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA) in Canada. He is a distinguished Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE) and has served as a former Director of the Project Management Institute (PMI)’s Southern Ontario Chapter. Marcelo has also been honored as an honorary member of the Brazilian Air Force for his contributions to the field.

Melik Şengül is  a technology developer in the aviation industry, focused on offering passengers high-end, innovative and effective solutions. The objectives he pursues in his current position involve continuous development of new projects to improve passengers’ digital journey.

He manages relations with various partners such as development teams, start-ups and large-scale companies to ensure better experience and increased efficiency for all parties involved.

Altin Progonati was born in Albania and have since pursued his education in various countries, including Turkey, USA, UK, and France. With 25 years of professional experience in the aviation industry, he initially studied at the Air Force Academy where he graduated as both a fighter pilot and industrial engineer. After serving as a Wing commander in the Air Force, he transitioned to civilian aviation as a pilot for Albanian airlines, Star Airways, before moving into airport management roles as an operation manager, safety manager, compliance manager, ground handling manager, quality postholder, COO, and ultimately CEO. Altin is married with three children and holds numerous certifications, including a master’s degree in Advanced Aviation Safety. In addition to his native Albanian, he is proficient in Italian, Turkish, and English.digitalized

Carmen Peraita Sanz is a Consultant Director at Mott MacDonald. She has spent much of her career client side in senior leadership roles, designing and leading transformation programmes in transportation. She spent 16 years in Aena, the major airport operator in the World, in different roles. Carmen was involved in the ORAT process of Istanbul Airport and spent two years as the Programme Manager for Systems and Information working for the Elizabeth Line (first digital railway), where she implemented an enterprise architecture approach to help the organisation move from construction to the operational environment. Carmen currently leads globally in Mott MacDonald ‘Enterprise and Digital Integration Services’. This is a global suite of advisory services which support our clients in transforming their organisations to enable integrated, fully digitalised approach to their asset lifecycle. With the customer at the heart, these services allow the clients to align their vision to processes, people, information and technology and adapt to the rapidly changing external and internal context.

Jerry Angrave is founder of Empathyce, a specialist Customer and Passenger Experience consultancy. Jerry is UK based and works with companies around the world including those in aviation, travel and hospitality.

The nature of his work is around building and managing effective customer experience programs from a cultural, strategic and operational perspective. He aims to provide clarity, structure and direction for those driving their CX agenda.

He is a member of the Accessibility Advisory Group at London Heathrow Airport, a member of the British Aviation Group and a Certified Customer Experience Professional. Jerry is author of “The Journey Mapping Playbook”, co-chair of the UK networking group for the global Customer Experience Professional’s Association and a judge of the CX World Series awards.

Antonio is an executive with over 15 years of experience in product management, user experience, digital transformation, and customer service. As Chief Product and Customer Experience Officer of Qantas Loyalty, he oversees the entire suite of Loyalty propositions which spans travel, financial services, and retail verticals. Antonio is responsible for the product organization and the digital and contact centre channels. With a proven track record in transforming organizations into customer-centric businesses, he has served in key leadership roles at the Boston Consulting Group, Telstra, and ING Bank. Alongside his corporate career, Antonio funded a mobile SaaS startup in Australia and an e-commerce business in Brazil. 

Antonio holds an MBA from IE Business School and an MS in Computer Science from Uppsala University.

Michail is a highly competent, dedicated, result driven, enthusiastic professional with 23 years of corporate experience in delivering multimillion, international and state-of-the-art large scale Technological Programs which have been positively impacting the company’s operational effectiveness and corporate image as well as passenger´s experience.

He is an ICT senior consultant with a strong technical and business airport background, having worked in Aviation for ICT projects relating to operations, ORAT, master planning, construction, design, due diligence, Business Continuity Management and acquisition transformation. Michail managed or supported the Greenfield airport or airport’s terminal ICT systems openings of the following international airports: Athens, Tirana, Amman, Warsaw, Budapest and Cairo.

Mohannad is the Chief Information Officer for flyadeal with more than 25 years of experience in Information Technology and Digitization. He has worked on several organizations in the Aviation industry and played a major role in developing and implementing digital strategies, roadmaps, and projects. In 2022 Mohannad AlSalmi has been recognized among the top 10 CIOs in the Middle East by IDC Middle East Africa.

Sandra has a wealth of aviation industry experience which spans over 30 years. Her career started in British Airways where she held front line operational roles within the In-Flight Services department, Operational Training & development and latterly HR. She has managed and lead teams in several disciplines but the forefront being customer service delivery before moving into the Corporate Learning & Development field. She has international experience working as a consultant in the USA, Middle East and Asia and has designed and delivered an extensive number of training programmes in her career for many international blue-chip organisations. She has held senior management positions as Head of Recruitment & Training in Qatar Airways and as VP HR Business Partnership with Etihad. Sandra originally held the position of Director In-Flight for Air Astana and was part of the team to achieve a 4* skytrax rating for Air Astana in 2013. She is now Vice President Customer Experience & Training for Air Astana Group and leads the strategic direction for both enhancing the customer experience across all customer touchpoints and building the airline’s training academy. Sandra has a BSc (Honours) degree in Psychology and a Masters Degree in Occupational Psychology from Leicester University.

Daniela is currently serving as the Head of Quality Management & Customer Experience at Aeroportos Brasil Viracopos. This organization is responsible for the development and operation of Viracopos International Airport in São Paulo, Brazil. As a member of the Operational Performance Technical Committee of the Brazilian National Commission of Airport Authorities, Daniela contributes to the evaluation of Brazilian airports’ performance and the creation of new policies related to customer service and passenger satisfaction. In recognition of her accomplishments, Daniela was honored as a “CX Emerging Leader” by the CX Professional Association (CXPA) on a global scale in 2022.

Burak Kurt joined Plaza Premium Group in 2022 with a major focus on developing PPGs APS solutions. With experience spanning air cargo, passenger terminal hub operations, ground handling, and VIP and General Aviation solutions, Burak brings a comprehensive understanding of the industry to his current role as the SVP-Airport Passenger Services for Plaza Premium Group.

Throughout his career, Burak has held key positions in prominent organizations. He served as the Group Chief Operating Officer – Cargo & Board Member (Global) at National Aviation Services, where he played a crucial role in overseeing operations while driving strategic growth. Additionally, he served as the CEO of Cargo (India) and Regional Director (Turkey) at Celebi Aviation Services, where he successfully managed multiple departments, including finance, sales, marketing, and business development, while driving and consistently ensuring business profitability.

Burak’s remarkable track record spans over 22 years across Europe, Asia, India, the Middle East, and Africa. He holds a degree in Civil Engineering and dual MBAs from renowned universities in Turkey.

Chamith is a passionate aviation enthusiast with several years of experience in the customer experience segment from his time at Air Canda, Air Astana, LSR and Airliners & Atourz. His roots originate from an island called Sri Lanka known for its warmth, hospitality and care for their guests. Before taking on any of his professional roles, Chamith’s passion for the aviation and airline industry sprouted from seeing both his parent’s successful careers in the industry.

Similarly in his current role as a Customer Experience Manager at Air Canada, he goes well above and beyond the expectations of his role to satisfy their travellers. “We have to always fly in our customers shoes” it’s the principle that allows for better understanding the customer and what we at Air Canada follow. Customer experience has a direct impact on revenue and loyalty to a certain product/company/brand help create long term Return on Investment. Most successful organizations continue to succeed given the importance they make in customer experience; and Air Canada has always been in the forefront in doing so.  

Chamith holds a Bachelor’s degree in Aviation Management from IUBH. In addition to his professional work, Chamith enjoys creating impactful processes and programs for his team to enhance customer experience in the daily airport operations.

Swati Tandon Joined McKinsey & Company in September 2013 and currently working as Partner. Swati is experienced in leading large scale transformations to drive growth, and profitability across aviation and tourism value chain. Experience includes working with several Airlines, airports, support service providers, tourism authorities and civil aviation authorities

Rajesh is the Chief Customer Experience and Ground Handling Officer for Air India – worldwide. In this role, he is responsible for the complete transformation of Air India’s customer experience and airport operations worldwide. Despite the massive global landscape and several inherent challenges, Rajesh has managed to deliver exponential value within a very short period. With highly improved ‘on time performance’ of Air India, drastic change in the culture with a focus on customer centricity and customer obsession. Rajesh is building a robust governance structure, bringing in IT innovations, and incubating a winning team that will help in making Air India a world-class airline.

He also sits on the Board as Director of Air India SATS, a Joint Venture between Air India and Singapore Airlines. Rajesh is a Tata veteran and before joining Air India last year he was the Global Program Director of the Passport Seva Program at Tata Consultancy Services. He set up and managed India’s most iconic passport program since its inception for over 10 years, which led to a massive transformation of Indian passport services globally. He has spearheaded various eGovernance and large public services transformation programs in India and abroad and won many awards.

Ahmet is the Customer Experience and Service Design, Deputy Manager at the mega hub airport – İGA Istanbul Airport. He has more than 10 years of experience in designing customer experiences in the aviation sector. Over the years, Ahmet have an extraordinary in-depth understanding of customer expectations and needs.

His deep-rooted passion lies in the creation of new solutions for serving the best service to humanity. Aside from technological infrastructure advantages, Ahmet strongly believes that the most important part of designing the best customer journey is the human touch.

Ahmet is enthusiastic about building and maintaining robust customer experience frameworks in companies that have a prioritized focus on customer experience management. He considers agility and strong communication competence as one of the most valuable components to designing consistent excellence in customer experience. Ahmet and his team are constantly moving forward with multi-international award-winning solutions for Istanbul Airport.

Antonio is an executive with over 15 years of experience in product management, user experience, digital transformation, and customer service. As Chief Product and Customer Experience Officer of Qantas Loyalty, he oversees the entire suite of Loyalty propositions which spans travel, financial services, and retail verticals. Antonio is responsible for the product organization and the digital and contact centre channels. With a proven track record in transforming organizations into customer-centric businesses, he has served in key leadership roles at the Boston Consulting Group, Telstra, and ING Bank. Alongside his corporate career, Antonio funded a mobile SaaS startup in Australia and an e-commerce business in Brazil.

Antonio holds an MBA from IE Business School and an MS in Computer Science from Uppsala University. 

Before joining the team at Hamad International Airport in 2018, Levina had experience in the airline industry as Cabin Crew. Later, she transitioned to airport operations with Airports Company South Africa, where she held various positions ranging from front line staff to Airport Management Centre. During her time at Hamad International Airport, Levina focused on airport customer service, with a specialization in customer service training, contact centre management, and lost property management.

Andrew Tan is Director of Airport Operations and Service consultancy at Changi Airports International. He is responsible for the operational and service quality aspects of Changi’s airports worldwide. More recently, he led the successful opening of the new terminal at Clark International Airport, Philippines. This began from the takeover and operationalisation of a 25 year PPP* concession to operate the airport, including development and ORAT**. The airport not only was celebrated for its design, but also for raising the bar on passenger experience, including the first contactless check-in system in the country.

Andrew is currently involved in the operational planning and design of a new greenfield airport in SE Asia, including implementing a new CONOPS (Concept of Operations) with self-service technology and modern security screening technology. He has been providing operational advisory and due diligence for projects in the MEA region, Japan, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam. In the Middle East, Andrew was involved in the opening of the first City checkin terminal in Dammam and has conducted executive training for GACA and King Fahd International Airport. Prior to this role, he was responsible for risk management, planning, preparations and operations for the Rio 2016 Olympics / Paralympics handling at RioGaleao International Airport, ensuring sufficient capacity and a high level of service to the thousands of athletes, media and visitors for the Games.

Andrew brings with him nearly three decades in aviation, both in Singapore and a dozen countries, covering the airport, airline, customer experience, training and ground handling business, including with Singapore Airlines, Jet Airways, sats and Air India SATS. He holds a Bachelor of Science (Hons), from the National University of Singapore

Dr. Sheerah is a highly experienced and accomplished Chief Transformation Officer at the Saudi Arabian Airlines Holding (Saudia Group). He has been leading the group’s transformation since his appointment and is a subject matter expert in various areas such as Strategy, PMOs, Project, Program and Portfolio management, Public Private Partnership (PPP) and Privatization, emerging technologies, business models, financial modeling, and corporate governance.

Dr. Sheerah began his career in 1999 as an engineer and then transitioned into project management and strategy execution, where he has been working for more than 15 years in and outside the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, working for companies such as Advanced Electronics Company (AEC) and Saudi Railways Company (SAR), among others.

From 2016 to 2021, Dr. Sheerah held a series of leadership positions in the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 programs, including the Privatization Program and the Quality of life Program. He was the Chief Executive of Business at the Quality of Life Vision Realization Program before joining Saudia Group. He holds four academic degrees and more than 46 professional certificates, making him a highly qualified and experienced professional in his field.

In his current role at Saudia Group, Dr. Sheerah is leading the transformation of the group, which comprises Full Service Carrier airlines (Saudia Air Transport), Low Cost Carrier airlines (Flyadeel), MRO Company (SAEI), Saudia Cargo, Saudia Logistics SAL, Saudia Ground Services SGS, Prince Sultan Aviation Academy PSAA, Saudia Private Aviation SPA, Saudia Real Estate SARED, and other companies.

Kanu heads the Digital innovation and Airport line of business at IBS Software. He believes in the synergy between airport and airline operations that will deliver an integrated travel experience, increase the possibilities of retailing and expand revenue generation opportunities.

Kanu enjoys leading innovation and consulting partnerships with airports and airlines, creating technology that disrupts existing models. He has led several transformation engagements and supports some of the biggest airports, airlines, hotels, online travel agents, and cruise lines on their digital transformation initiatives.

Kanu believes that travel companies must invest in technology and customer experience to make a meaningful digital transformation. His interest in technology ranges from machine learning, natural language processing, and intelligent automation to cloud services and IoT.

Sumith De Silva is an experienced corporate strategist and marketer with over 16 years of experience. He currently serves as the Head of Marketing and Corporate Communications at Airport and Aviation Services (Sri Lanka) (Private) Limited, overseeing four international airports. He holds a Ph.D. in Business Management and Marketing, as well as an MBA in Marketing and a B.Sc. (Mgt.) degree.

Sumith is also a certified Practicing Marketer and Certified Professional Marketer (Asia). He is a member of various professional organizations, including the Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing and the Academy for Global Business Advancement. Sumith has served as a visiting faculty member for leading MBA, MSc, and bachelor’s degree programs, helping thousands of students, employees, business professionals, and entrepreneurs to develop through training, education, and coaching in Sri Lanka.