· More than 40 airlines and 300 delegates
attending first exhibition at ATM 2019
· Aviation industry to debate manufacturer,
airport, airline and regulatory issues at two-day conference
More
than 300 aviation and airport professionals will be heading to the first CONNECT
Middle East, India & Africa (MEIA) conference which gets
underway tomorrow (Tuesday 30 April).
The
two-day meet, which is co-located with Arabian Travel Market 2019,
unites airline and airport executives with manufacturers and suppliers,
providing a global forum for business and networking opportunities. More than
40 airlines have confirmed their attendance.
Alongside
the conference programme, delegates can book one-to-one appointments in airline
and airport meeting lounges and enjoy evening networking events.
Karin Butot,
CEO, The
Airport Agency, said: “CONNECT is a new addition to the route
development calendar and co-located with ATM is a natural choice given the
unprecedented growth in aviation across the region. We look forward to
welcoming delegates to what promises to be a series of lively debates and
discussions.”
The
Middle East’s airline seat count has doubled in the last 10 years, and last
year saw 264.31 million scheduled departing seats, according to anna.aero data.
Growth
has been fuelled by the major expansion of scheduled carriers and more
recently, low-cost airlines, which now accounts for 16 per cent of all
departing seats.
Dubai
International Airport, the world’s largest airport for international passenger
numbers, recording 89.1 million passengers last year, accounts for 22 per cent
of all departing seats in the Middle East.
Nick Pilbeam,
Divisional Director, Reed Travel Exhibitions,
said: “Two-thirds of the world’s population are within an eight-hour flight of
the GCC and the region’s airlines are continuously adding new routes, to
connect to fresh destinations.”
Kicking
off the two-day event will be a training workshop entitled ‘The Simpson Paradox
in Donut Crunching’ – showing how best to achieve better data accuracy when
estimating a route’s potential.
John
Strickland, Director, JLS Consulting,
will then give a keynote presentation on ‘The State of the Airline Industry’
which will be followed by a briefing from Airbus which will provide updates on
product lines, infrastructure regulation, airline technologies and airport
capacity challenges.
China
Southern Airline will hold a dedicated briefing highlighting its dual-hub
strategy in Guangzhou and Beijing Daxing International Airport.
After
lunch, the second keynote presentation will be European Union External Aviation
Policy, in which Annabelle
Lepiece, Partner, CMS DeBacker, will outline how ongoing
negotiations for comprehensive air transport agreements between the EU and GCC
are being “hampered by protectionist voices”.
Day
one rounds off with a panel discussion on the regional opportunities and
challenges, and a seminar on the relationship between air service development
and infrastructure, followed by a networking event at Palace Downtown Dubai
viewing deck.
The
second day will analyse how airports and their regions can work together to
attract new airline services and include a presentation on Dubai World Central
Airport from Nathalie Jongma, Head – Aviation Business Management, Dubai
Airports.
Panelists
will also discuss the opportunities and threats for the rapidly growing African
aviation market.
CONNECT MEIA forms part of Arabian Travel Week
2019, an umbrella brand that comprises three other co-located shows, including
Arabian Travel Market, ATM Holiday Shopper and International Luxury Travel
Market Arabia.
For more information
about ATM 2019, visit: https://arabiantravelmarket.wtm.com.
Tags:CONNECT Middle East, India & Africa (MEIA)
