President of Aviation Organization Enjoys Bringing
26 AIRPORT VOICE, APRIL 2019
Employees Together
BY JESSICA MILITELLO
For 31 years Paula Ostuni worked
for KLM Dutch Royal Airlines in
various roles throughout her extremely
successful career before retiring.
She is currently the president
of the Secretaries of Kennedy Airport
Airlines Management Council
and continues to be involved with
the aviation industry.
Throughout Ostuni’s career,
when she worked for KLM airlines
she first started in their corporate
office, but upon earning a promotion,
she became exposed to the
multifaceted life of being front and
center in the daily activities of the
airport.
For Ostuni, this exposure provided
her with new insight that she
hadn’t previously known in her former
roles working for the company.
It certainly provided a different perspective.
“I realized that working at the
airport was entirely different than
working in personnel, public relations
and accounting.” said Ostuni.
“You’re right there in the center of
the entire operation.”
Before joining the aviation industry,
Ostuni held several roles in
organizations such as NBC/RCA records,
an engineering company, law
firm, and an advertising agency.
However, despite Ostuni’s inspiring
tenure in the aviation industry, her
impressive career actually started
by complete happenstance. In 1988,
Ostuni initially earned her role in
KLM from a temp agency and her
job was only intended to last about
two weeks based in one of KLM’s
offices in Elmsford, New York. The
role became a full-time position and
two years later, Ostuni found herself
in the center of the action in a role
based in John F. Kennedy Airport.
Even upon her recent retirement
from aviation, Ostuni is a board
member of SKAAMCO, which is an
organization that bring employees
who worked in the aviation industry
as executive assistants to station
managers together for networking
purposes. Aside from her prominent
role as president for SKAAMCO, Ostuni
also works in real estate, and
splits her time between the two endeavors.
Ostuni emphasizes the importance
of the bond between members
of SKAAMCO who dedicated their
careers to aviation and appreciate
the opportunity to stay in touch.
“There is a great camaraderie
with all our members past and present
and it continues to thrive today,”
said Ostuni.
WOMEN OF ACHIEVEMENT 2019
Aviation Development Council
salutes the 2019 Women of Achievement -
Clear skies ahead!