The Greater Miami Aviation Association has announced plans to honor Miami-Dade Aviation Director Emilio T. Gonzalez with the Juan Trippe Award later this year.
The Trippe award, named for the man who founded Pan American Airways in 1927, recognizes an outstanding industry professional who has made significant contributions to the development of international aviation in South Florida.
Trippe was an original member of the GMAA, also founded in 1927. He became a pioneer or international air travel soon after Pan Am’s iconic floatplanes too flight from South Florida, according to an airport news release. Trippe posthumously received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Ronald Reagan and the Yale University School of Management’s Juan Trippe Professor in the Practice of International Trade, Finance and Business is named in his honor.
“We look forward to recognizing Director Gonzalez with the 2015 Juan Trippe Award at our 88th annual gala,” says GMAA President Victor Bontorno. “His focused, strategic push for new international air service at [Miami International (MIA)] is in close keeping with the spirit of this award and with the aviation pioneer it was named for.”
The Wright Brothers Memorial Awards Gala will take place Oct. 10 at the Trump National Doral Miami Resort.
“I’m deeply honored that one of Miami’s pre-eminent industry organizations has selected me for this award,” Gonzalez says. “The aviation industry is an absolutely indispensible part of our local economy, and I join the GMAA and its membership in doing all that I can to promote its continued success.”
