ONE of the leaders in Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) has been named as the first Airport Leader of the Future, besting other nominees from the United States and Europe-based airports.
The International Airport Review (AIR) recognized Ricia Vinelli O. Montejo, head of Customer Experience and International Terminal Operations in MCIA, as the Airport Leader of the Future during the International Airport Summit held in London on Nov. 14, 2023.
In an interview with SunStar’s online news and commentary program Beyond the Headlines last Dec. 1, Montejo said this is the first year that AIR granted the Airport Leader of the Future award.
Among the seven recognitions bestowed by AIR this year, the Airport Leader of the Future is considered as “the most coveted” award.
Montejo said the recognition was an initiative to recognize, celebrate, and campaign for the next generation of airport leaders.
Montejo’s journey
Montejo joined the GMR Megawide Cebu International Corp. (GMCAC) in 2016 as a procurement manager and was promoted to head of the International Terminal Operations when the MCIA Terminal 2 was completed in 2018.
Just this year, Montejo was appointed head of Customer Experience on top of her role as the operations head.
Montejo led in driving the accreditation process of MCIA in the Airports Council International (ACI), which resulted in the MCIA being the first airport in the Philippines to receive the Airport Customer Experience Accreditation for Airport Service Quality from the ACI.
Montejo said last November, AIR invited the aviation and airport leaders to speak about the efforts and initiatives being implemented in their respective airports, highlighting the measures being made as “extra mile efforts.”
Seven nominees, including Montejo, were selected by AIR from 40 entries worldwide.
Other nominees for the award included Jennifer Byrne-Smith from Manchester Airport, Laszlo Kopasz (Budapest International Airport), Luca La Porta (Verona Airport), Giulio Ranucci (Aeroporti de Roma S.p.A), Raelyn Krutbosch (Edmonton International Airport), and Stefan Dechow-Meyer (Hamburg Airport).
MCIA may not be able to compete with other airports in terms of infrastructure, but it stands out through the quality of its services, according to Montejo.
“(They’re looking for) out-of-the-box thinking. We cannot compete with the infrastructure, but how personalized our services are,” said Montejo.
She said MCIA ensures that the measures it implements are based on passenger experiences.