PT World | Sept 2025
Elizabeth Baker
29 September 2025
From closing doors to opening a 40-million-passenger terminal at KIX, Benoit Rulleau, co-CEO of Kansai Airports and former French embassy attaché, shows how a keen eye for detail can transform an airport
Please give us an overview of your career so far.
After graduating from École Polytechnique and École Nationale de l’Aviation Civile (ENAC), I started my career in the air traffic control department of the French civil aviation bureau. First, I was in charge of performance studies, then I moved to the human resources (HR) section. In 2008, I moved to Tokyo as the transportation, construction and energy attaché for the French embassy. At the end of this assignment I decided to stay in Japan, so I resigned from public service and studied Japanese business at Waseda University. Then I briefly worked for several Japanese companies before joining Vinci Airports as chief technical officer (CTO) of Kansai Airports in 2016. I was promoted to co-CEO in 2019.
What is the most important aspect of your job?
As the co-CEO, I cover all aspects of the company. Since I have a background in aviation, a taste for strategy and operations, and experience in HR, I tend to focus on the long-term vision and infrastructure development plan, the transformation of our airport operations and HR matters...I believe the most important part of my job is to give clear strategies and set the tone on what we do and don’t want to do. The staff are very diligent and deliver extremely well, as long as they understand the vision and where we want to go.
