The HCAA Governor, Dr. Christos Tsitouras, was honored by the Hellenic Aviation Society with the "Emmanuel Keramianakis" award.

Dr. Tsitouras expressed his great honor and joy for this award, stating the following.

"Emmanouil Keramianakis was a prominent personality who served in the Civil Aviation Service as an expert, among others, in special issues of Bilateral Relations for Air Transport and contributed, with his deep knowledge and his personality, both to the promotion and development of civil aviation in Greece as well as in the creation and consolidation of strong relations with abroad, third countries as well as European partners. At the same time, he became a role model as he dedicated himself and was distinguished in the field of civil aviation.

I sincerely thank the Board of Directors of the Hellenic Aviation Society, which at the meeting of January 16, 2024 unanimously decided to give me the "Emmanuel Keramianakis" Award for my institutional contribution to the aviation industry in our country.

This award does not belong to me alone. It belongs to all employees in the aviation industry who work intensively every day to ensure the safety of aviation. Civil aviation is a field that requires the cooperation and dedication of many people from various fields, and each achievement represents the unity and dedication of all.

I thank the Hellenic Aviation Society for this great recognition in my person. And, having the honor to serve as the Governor of one of the country's independent authorities, the Civil Aviation Authority, after a course of three years, I underline the importance, in the area of ​​the aviation ecosystem, of ensuring an asset of utmost importance, the safety of air transport. The Civil Aviation Authority, with completely distinct responsibilities and institutional independence, has a regulatory and auditing task, completely distinct from the provision of relevant services by the entities supervised by it.

It is worth noting that the results of the first and most important worldwide inspection of the global civil aviation organization ICAO in HCAA, as they were announced to us on December 18, 2023, were extremely positive and at the same time extremely encouraging for the future of Civil Aviation Authority, rewarding the efforts of the Authority's Management and staff for a successful outcome of the audit. In all safety-related areas inspected, the rating was high. Also, the objectives of avoiding SSC and improving, compared to the past, the percentage expressing the degree of satisfaction of ICAO technical requirements by the HCAA, were achieved.

In closing, I would like to emphasize that the "Emmanuel Keramianakis" award is yet another reward for the effort and intensive work I have done in the field of civil aviation oversight and regulation, and encourages me to continue to promote safety and excellence in this important sector.

I am proud to be part of the aviation community and hope that this award will inspire others to contribute to the development and safety of civil aviation. Thank you all for your support and the respect you show me with this extraordinary honor.”