Held for the first time in Martinique, ACI Airport Day brought together Caribbean and international decision-makers to discuss the major challenges facing air transport. Thanks to the joint efforts of the ACI-LAC and SAMAC teams, this event offered a relevant and enriching program, designed for all players in the airport ecosystem. The event, marked by the desire to enhance the passenger experience and strengthen regional connectivity, confirms Martinique as a strategic player in the Greater Caribbean.
An opening driven by collective ambition
ACI Airport Day 2025 in Martinique was much more than just a business meeting: it offered a strategic snapshot of the Caribbean’s airport ambitions. Led by Valérie Césarine, Sales and Marketing Director of SAMAC and The event’s master of ceremonies, Nathalie Sébastien, CEO of SOCIETE AEROPORT MARTINIQUE AIME CESAIRE (SAMAC), and Rafael Echevarne, CEO of Airports Council International – Latin America and the Caribbean (ACI-LAC), laid the foundations for a collective reflection on the role of airports in the attractiveness, economic development and connectivity of our regions. Held in Fort-de-France, the ACI Airport Day brought together key players from across the region and Europe.
Making the airport a lever for experience and development
Right from the opening of ACI Airport Day, Nathalie Sébastien, representative of Société Aéroportuaire de Martinique (SAMAC), set the tone. In a speech punctuated with inspirational quotes – including one from Maya Angelou reminding us that we never forget what we feel – she expressed an ambitious vision: to make Aimé Césaire airport an exemplary place of welcome and an engine of economic development for the whole island.
She stressed the need to analyze passenger expectations and act to continuously improve services. The airport is thus set to become a high value-added space, where customer experience, business partnerships and innovation go hand in hand. “The future will be built on a close relationship with our economic, tourism, institutional and regulatory ecosystems,” she asserted, underlining the importance of cooperation in transforming air travel into a veritable regional powerhouse.
Improving connectivity to unlock Caribbean potential
For his part, Rafael Echevarne, General Manager of ACI-LAC, reminded the audience of the central role played by his organization: to federate over 2,500 airports worldwide, including 350 in the Latin America-Caribbean region. The aim of this network is clear: respond to common challengesstrengthen cooperation and share expertise.
One of the priorities highlighted at ACI Airport Day was air connectivity. air connectivityA specific study, commissioned by ACI-LAC, is due to analyse in depth the political and administrative obstacles to such connectivity, with a view to proposing concrete solutions. A specific study, commissioned by ACI-LAC, is to carry out an in-depth analysis of the political and administrative obstacles to this connectivity, with a view to proposing concrete solutions. The “passenger experience” and “air connectivity” were thus presented as two inseparable pillars of future airport transformation.
A full day focused on the strategic challenges facing the Caribbean air industry
Throughout theACI Airport Day, presentations focused on key themes for the future of air transport in the region: enhancing the passenger experience, optimizing non-aeronautical revenues, inter-island connectivity, airport commercial offers, tourism destination positioning and integrating innovative technologies into airport services.
Panels featuring international experts, airport managers, consultants, hotel operators and technology solution providers shed light on these issues from a variety of angles, combining global perspectives and local realities.
The ACI Airport Day program also highlighted concrete initiatives undertaken by major players in the region, illustrating the shared desire to make airport hubs part of a dynamic of sustainable transformation, at the service of local communities. Guests from several Caribbean islands, as well as from Europe and Latin Americacontributed to enriching exchanges and laying the foundations for future collaboration.
Local know-how in the spotlight
In addition to technical presentations and strategic panels, ACI Airport Day Martinique also provided an opportunity to highlight the dynamism of local entrepreneurs. A number of Martinique-based companies were invited to showcase their expertise, demonstrating the region’s wealth of talent.
The public was able to discover the ice creations ofExcellence Glaceschocolate sweets from Lauzéathe refined aromas of Parfums des Îlesas well as the emblematic Rhums de Martiniquegathered around the Coderum. A concrete way of associating the airport world with Martinique’s art of living, and a reminder that attractiveness also depends on the identity and authenticity of local products.
An invitation to act together to weave the future
The ACI Airport Day in Martinique was conceived as a moment of convergence, dialogue and impetus. The thanks expressed to participants from the Caribbean, Latin America and Europe underlined the importance of this regional dynamic.
Through Nathalie Sébastien’s call to “generate new ideas together” and Dr. Echevarne’s call to “remove obstacles to realize the full potential of Caribbean networks”, a shared vision of the future is taking shape.
This event confirms Martinique’s determination to become a strategic strategic hub in the Caribbean, while focusing on an integrated approach: innovation, quality of service, sustainability, and above all inter-territorial cooperation.
