Chris Markou is Head, Technical Operations, for IATA's Operations department. A major part of Chris’s remit is Airline Operations Cost Management and Efficiency Improvement. He has worked on several initiatives to optimize airline operational costs using industry best practices and benchmarks on Airline and especially Maintenance Costs trends. Part of his focus is the “Paperless Aircraft Operations” initiative leading to simplifying the business through worldwide acceptance of electronic documentation and records. Chris is the Secretary to several groups on airline cost benchmarking and aircraft leasing. Before IATA, Chris worked at Delta TechOps. He held various positions in TechOps’ Strategy leading to General Manager for Technical Sales - Marketing. Chris holds a Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering from Georgia Tech and an Executive MBA from Emory University.