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Airports Council International (ACI) World and the Duty Free World Council (DFWC) have today signed a Memorandum of Understanding fostering a closer strategic partnership for training of front-line and management staff.

The strategic cooperation will include the hosting of DFWC Academy online training courses in ACI’s Online Learning Centre to provide new staff training and advanced training for  professionals in the aviation sector and also in the maritime sector and across the broad sweep of brands found in travel retail – all accessible through the same platform.

ACI Global Training and the DFWC Academy will apply advanced training methods and modules to develop other future joint education programs that will benefit both organizations’ members.

The partnership will provide more opportunities for industry employees to access professional development and education, executive leadership, professional accreditation, subject-matter competency, and training courses.

“Around 60% of aviation jobs are at airports and airports recognize the importance of commercial activities as job generators, such as retail and duty free,” ACI World Director General Luis Felipe de Oliveira said. “The airport community recognizes that learning and development – how staff are developed, how they work, and how they are supported in their professional goals – is a key contributor to success and this partnership will help enrich this work. Working together with other organizations in our ecosystem will improve cooperation among the stakeholders and will help not only on the recovery of the industry but in forging the way forward into the future.”

DFWC President Sarah Branquinho said that learning and development will be more important than ever in the near future as our industry recovers from the enforced closures and disruptions of the last twelve plus months.

“A lot of retail experience and expertise has, unfortunately, been lost and our industry will welcome many new staff members as stores re-open across all travel sectors, aviation and maritime,” Sarah Branquinho said.

“The provision of high-quality training programmes that will enable retail staff to deliver the best possible in-store experience for travellers and optimise revenues for our industries will be critically important. Our partnership with ACI on online training recognises the key role the duty free and travel retail industry plays in the broader aviation sector and reinforces an already strong and valuable co-operation.”