The Puerto Vallarta airport, operated by Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico (GAP) is the first in Mexico to reach level 3 (Optimization) in the certification of the Airport Carbon Accreditation (ACA) Program, along with the airports of Guadalajara and Aguascalientes.
Of the 11 ACA Level 3 airports in Latin America and the Caribbean, three are operated by the GAP. With these actions, the airport administrator is positioned as a leader in the sustainable development of the airport industry in Mexico and one of the main leaders in Latin America.
Raúl Revuelta Musalem, general director of the Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico, said "in the sustainability objectives for 2030, the Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico prioritizes environmental measures that allow reducing the carbon footprint, therefore the certification processes ACA, from Airports Council International (ACI) are an essential tool to measure the progress of the implemented actions”.
The director of the Puerto Vallarta Airport Cryshtian Lizardi, made a call to continue advancing in the certification levels: "Each level achieved represents the ratification of a commitment to the environment to focus on doing what corresponds to us and with this, being an incentive for others to join the cause”.
Martín Zazueta, director of the Guadalajara Airport, highlighted the meaning of this certification focused on reducing the carbon footprint produced by airport activity: "Let's remember that level 3 of this program focuses on the participation of third parties in reducing the footprint carbon, so adding other members of the value chain has been one of the most complex and satisfying challenges that we have achieved as an airport," he said.
Alejandro Rojas, director of the Aguascalientes Airport, which was the first to obtain this certificate in the country, thanked the efforts that were made together for this certification to be carried out: "It is important to highlight that the actions required to achieve ACA accreditation mean teamwork, and in our case, we not only collaborate as an airport but as an airport group, since we work together for the same objective and the effort of the Group and the airport community is required," he said.
Currently, 13 of the 57 airports in the program that belongs to the Latin American and Caribbean regions are operated by the GAP. In other words, 13 of the 14 GAP airport terminals are certified at some level of the ACA program; the Guadalajara, Puerto Vallarta, and Aguascalientes Airports reached Level 3 (Optimization); Hermosillo, Tijuana, Los Mochis, and Guanajuato have Level 2 (Reduction); Los Cabos, Mexicali, La Paz, Manzanillo, Morelia, and Montego Bay are located at Level 1 (Mapping), and Kingston Airport is making adjustments and is in the process of receiving Level 1 in 2023.
The Carbon Footprint Accreditation Program (ACA) is the only carbon emissions management certification designed for airports, through which the efforts of aerodromes to manage and reduce their emissions are evaluated and recognized. The program has six levels of certification: "Mapping", "Reduction", "Optimization", "Neutrality", "Transformation" and "Transition", in which airports that are in different stages of development are measured and analyzed on the path to neutralizing carbon emissions.
