New Foundation of Air Transport Studies and Airports

The School of Aeronautics and Space Engineering hosts the presentation of its objectives, activities and as well as members of this association.

The School of Aeronautics and Space Engineering (EIAE) of the Technical University of Madrid (UPM) hosted the ‘coming out’ of the Foundation of Air Transport and Airports (in spanish, Fundación de Estudios del Transporte Aéreo y los Aeropuertos, FUNDESTA). It’s not by chance because its promoters are a group of aeronautical engineers involved with this school in Madrid, where the foundation is headquartered.

Rafael Sanjurjo Navarro, Chairman of the Foundation and Professor at the UPM, attended the ceremony which took place in the lecture hall called Torres Quevedo.

Objectives and activities of the Foundation, as well as the ways of collaboration, were reported in the event. Their goals and status will be:

  • Increased knowledge about the economic, technological, socio-political and environmental impact of air transport, especially when it affects Spain, including aspects related to the development and sustainability and to airport infrastructure and airspace.
  • Support for research, technological development and innovation and the transfer of knowledge in all aspects of air transport, especially at airports.
  • Information to public authorities, when required, commercial aviation, air transport and infrastructure (airport and airspace).

Rafael Sanjurjo, Chairman of the Foundation, explains how ‘the belief that air transport issues and their strategic role in the development must be studied in academic, professional and politicians directly involved. This has been the reason for the creation of a foundation by a group of people with knowledge and experience in the sector (us) that will serve this purpose, relying exclusively on our financial contributions and our work’.

Its activities include the development and implementation of research and innovation programs in general, learning courses and seminars, and participation in national and international projects related to air transport.

About the Foundation

‘We want to turn the Foundation into a platform for study and discussion with a new approach, less involved in the economic and power, emanating from civil society, with criteria of independence and neutrality’, summarizes Professor Sanjurjo.

The promoters of the Foundation are: Rafael Sanjurjo Navarro (Chairman), Manuel Drone Adámez (Vicechairman), Dolores Lizarraga Lacalle (Secretariat) and the vocals: Arturo Benito Ruiz de Villa, Rosa Maria Arnaldo Valdes, Marcos García Cruzado, Juan Antonio Fernandez Trapa Mario Garcia Dogfish, Hannibal Isidoro Carmona, Pablo de Miguel Rodriguez, Angel Paris Loreiro, Luis Perez Sanz, Francisco Javier Sáez Nieto, Francisco Salazar de la Cruz and Eduardo Sanchez Ayra.

The Foundation will have a publication to support communication, the Journal Fundesta, directed by Arturo Benito, an aeronautical engineer and journalist. It also has a website where you find all the news about their activities: http://fundesta.com/