Aviation Logistics and Innovations with Greg Principato

Zebras to Apples

Host Bryndis Whitson welcomes Greg Principato, current president of the Federation Aeronautique Internationale World Airsports and former CEO of the National Aeronautic Association of the United States, to the show. Greg brings an extensive history of experience and lifetime of passion for aviation to his conversation with Bryndis. He shares his career journey, insight into aviation logistics, and thoughts about current air travel and airports with listeners.

Greg gives Bryndis a brief history of the aviation industry and discusses what his role at the National Aeronautic Association entailed, part of which included certifying aviation records set by daring people in the realm of flight feats. He stresses the economic importance of aviation, highlighting that it’s not just a form of travel for people’s pleasure and business, but a vital cog in the supply chain. Greg and Bryndis also talk about innovations in the aviation industry, from noise reduction at airports to efficiency in security measures, which include pre-check and automated passport controls. Greg offers a peek behind the curtain into the complexities and novelties of the aviation industry.

About Greg Principato:

Greg has enjoyed a more than 40-year career in government, NGO, business and association sectors. For the past 32 years, his focus has been aviation. He is currently the President of the Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI), the International Air Sports Federation (recognized as such by the International Olympic Committee). FAI is the oldest global aviation organization.

Greg previously worked on Capitol Hill, in state government, for an NGO, a law firm and as Executive Director of a Presidential Commission on Aviation. He held the President/CEO position for three major aviation associations, most recently the National Aeronautic Association, the nation's oldest national aviation organization. Greg’s prior position was President/CEO of the National Association of State Aviation Officials, representing the men and women who run the aviation offices and programs in the 50 states, Guam and Puerto Rico.

Greg previously served as President and CEO of the trade association for North American airports for eight years (Airports Council International - North America). He brought a more successful business-oriented focus to the association, resulting in a tripling of net assets, creation of a year's operating reserve; all while expanding staff and association offerings to members. He achieved, or made substantial progress on, all legislative and regulatory goals, as well as achieved full integration of U.S. and Canadian members into a full North American organization. Annual member surveys showed steady and increasing member satisfaction.

He was an effective builder and leader of a high quality and diverse staff. The quality and diversity of the association staff was widely noticed and well-regarded in the industry. Greg has been a leader in successful efforts to reform and re-focus the world airport association, which today is regarded as a major force in shaping global aviation trends.

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Contact Bryndis Whitson: Website: ZebrasToApples.com

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Contact Greg Principato:

• Website: FAI.org
• LinkedIn
  
  

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Transcript

Bryndis 0:02

Hi. My name is Bryndis Whitson, and you're listening to the Zebras to Apples podcast, the fun and fascinating stories of supply chain logistics. My guest for this episode is aviation expert Greg Principato. Greg's career has included being the President of the Airports Council International North America, the President and CEO of the National Association of State Aviation Officials, and most recently, was the president and CEO of the National Aeronautic Association of the United States. Greg is currently the president of the Federation Aeronautique Internationale World Airsports Federation. I was honored to have Greg join me via zoom from Virginia, and share with us his passion for aviation. I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I did, chatting with my friend Greg Principato. Have a wonderful day.

So I'm here today with Greg Principato, and we're talking a lot about aviation, but a lot of different areas that have kind of happened in the world and different discussions today. So thank you so much for being here.

Greg 1:10

Thanks for having me. It's great to be reconnected with you.

Bryndis 1:13

Yes, it's great. We had some good conversations over the years about various kinds of topics too. So tell me a little bit about your kind of career history, so you've kind of had a multi variety experience, which is excellent, so.

Greg 1:31

Yeah, I think it's funny. I've already talked to college students, for example, my two step daughters, and they say, you know, they want to know, they want to make a decision when they're 20 that'll affect where they are when they're 68 which is how old I am. And I just laugh, you know, and say I wanted to be ambassador to the Soviet Union when I was in college. And yeah, here we are. I didn't do well in the Russian language, so that took that away right away, anyway. But yeah, I started in politics. I worked for a US senator from Louisiana named Bennett Johnston, and back in those days, he was a Conservative Democrat. Here in the US, there used to be those, and he was probably more conservative than some of the liberal Republicans, and he was one of those people that helped make things happen. So it was great to jump right in and be part of solutions and not just write stuff saying the other side's terrible. Used to be like that in the old days. After a few years of that, I took a job as a legislative assistant to Joe Biden, who was the senator from Delaware at the time, and it was, it was long enough ago. He was still in his 30s when I got that job and worked for him for four years, doing a variety of domestic issues. And then I got the job that really was the fulcrum of my career. Everybody's got that one job that everything else turns on. And so I got a job with the governor of Virginia, a fellow named Jerry Beliles, who we remained friends with until five years ago. And he was very interested in economic development. He was very interested in transportation and aviation. As a part of that, one of the first things that he did, and it was fun to be part of, was pass the biggest tax increase in the history of the state, and all of it went to transportation. Oh, wow, highways, airports, seaports and rail. By the way, it had 85% approval in the polls, because people understood that it was going to improve their lives, and that we worked on the legislation creating the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority. So we worked on the project that led to the Smithsonian opening the Big Air and Space Museum over by Dulles. So really was a sort of an immersion in aviation, along with all the other issues. And then I went with him to the private sector. And sort of the big moment came in 1993 when President Clinton and the Congress created a commission. We had Pan Am Eastern and Braniff going out of business, McDonnell Douglas was on i...