Taking place on Sunday 9th March 2014 and open to all attending delegates, The Routes Asia Strategy Summit will open Routes Asia in Kuching. The Strategy Summit will provide a valuable insight into aviation across the region as panels of leading industry experts take part in a number of moderator led discussions addressing key air service development issues affecting commercial aviation across the Asia-Pacific region.
Attendees of the Summit, which is sponsored by ATR - Avions de Transport, will hear opening remarks from Tan Sri Bashir Ahmad, Managing Director of Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad followed by a keynote address from Azran Osman-Rani, CEO of AirAsia X. Three moderator led sessions covering various aviation related subjects affecting the region will then take place.
Session one, The Future of LCCs in Asia – Innovate or Stagnate
How the LCCs will respond to the challenges and opportunities during the next decade and which LCCs will take the lead in the market? The discussion will also look at whether the traditional short-haul, point-to-point and quick turn operational model of LCCs can still guarantee their success and whether the long-haul LCC model will work. This session will see participation from Andrew Cowen, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Hong Kong Express; Girish Nair, Chief Commercial Officer of Goair; Sanjiv Kapoor, Chief Operating Officer of Spicejet; Senthil Balan, Commercial Director of AirAsia X and Tara Naidu, Chief of Commercial for Air India Express.
Session two, The Battle of the Hubs - Middle East vs Far East
Discussion covering the fact that airline mergers and joint ventures are shifting the patterns of traffic across the hubs and how the changes in traffic patterns will affect the hubs. Panellists will also look at what the Far East hubs are doing to respond to the continued and ambitious expansion plans of the Middle East hubs; who will the ultimate victors be in this fiercely competitive battle and whether Dubai will indeed become the world’s largest airport. The panel for this session will include Deannath Kulatunge, Asia-Pacific Regional Head for Member & External Relations, IATA and Tan Sri Bashir Ahmad, Managing Director of Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad.
Session three, Emerging Outbound Tourism Markets
How is the rapid expansion of outbound tourism from the new emerging markets of China, India and South-East Asia are changing the tourism market? Questions such as how are countries responding to the shift in the market, who is leading the way and how will these shifts affect air services and what are airports, airlines and destinations doing to respond will be asked. Confirmed panellists for this final session of the day include Chris Flynn, Regional Director – Pacific of Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA); Beatrice Lim, Director, Industry & Regulatory Affairs for AAPA; Dr Adam Wu, Chief Operating Officer of the China Business Network; Richa Goyal of the STIC Group and Vijay Poonoosamy, Vice President International & Public Affairs, Etihad Airways & Chair – IATA Industry Affairs Committee who will moderate this discussion.
The programme will also include presentations from Mario Formica, VP Sales Studies & Marketing of Summit sponsor ATR - Avions de Transport; a Market Focus, Presentation on the Philippines from Minister Ramon R. Jimenez, Jr, Tourism Minister of Philippines and a keynote presentation from Zhang Wu’an, Head of Marketing for Spring Airlines.
Routes Asia attracts the industry’s key decision makers and is the must attend event for all those interested in meeting with the industry's key players. The event, which is the annual gathering of air service decision makers for the entire Asia-Pacific region, is expected to attract over 90 airlines, 230 airports and over 20 tourism authorities along with a number of other industry stakeholders to discuss air service development.
Keep reading the HUB for regular updates on the Routes Asia Strategy Summit and for more information and to register for Routes Asia 2014 click here.
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