13th Routes Asia opens this weekend in Kunming

The 13th Routes Asia, the largest route development forum for the entire Asia region, will open this weekend in Kunming, capital city of the Yunnan Province of China.

This year's event, which will take place from 15 to 17 March, is hosted by Yunnan Airport Group owners of Kunming Changshui International Airport, and supported by their partners Yunnan Provincial Civil Aviation Development and Management Bureau and Yunnan Provincial Tourism Development Commission.

The last time Routes Asia took place in China was in Chengdu in 2012, hosted by Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport who were subsequently selected to host World Routes, the 22nd World Route Development Forum in 2016.

Routes Asia will bring together 800 delegates representing 118 airlines, almost 230 airports and almost 60 countries to develop new air services to, from and within the Asia-Pacific region. The event attracts the highest level of decision-makers, including many industry leaders and senior policy makers.

Mr. Tang Xuefan, President of Yunnan Airport Group Co., Ltd. Commented: "We are greatly honoured to host Routes Asia 2015 in Kunming. This great event is a good opportunity for Yunnan Airport Group Co., Ltd. and all airports in Asia to communicate with and work with airlines and tourism organisations.

It is also a key platform to join the efforts of both the air transport industry and tourism industry for more sustainable development in Yunnan, China and the Asia-Pacific region. On behalf of YAG, I wish all delegates truly feel and enjoy the colourful Yunnan and paradise of tourism."

"We are very pleased to return this year to China with Route Asia 2015" said Katie Bland, Director Routes for UBM EMEA continuing: "Our Host, Yunnan Airport Group is very pro-active at marketing to airlines and has attended many Routes events. Through now hosting Routes Asia, they have the opportunity to showcase Kunming Changshui International Airport as well as the city of Kunming and Yunnan Province.

On behalf of Routes, I wish all delegates a productive and successful Routes Asia and hope that they will take every opportunity to explore Kunming – the ‘City of Eternal Spring' and the natural beauty of the Yunnan Province."

The region's leading airlines will be represented by senior delegations in Kunming including a strong representation from China with all four major carriers registered to attend; China Eastern, China Southern, Hainan Airlines and Air China alongside other major carriers such as Xiamen Airlines, Shenzhen Airlines, Sichuan Airlines, China Airlines, Shandong Airlines and Shanghai Airlines.

A high number of major Asian flag carriers such as Japan Airlines, All Nippon Airways, Philippine Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Garuda Indonesia and Air New Zealand are also registered to attend and the low cost sector will also be well represented in Kunming with confirmed carriers including AirAsia Group, LionAir, Spring Airlines, Scoot, Cebu Pacific Air, IndiGo, West Air and VietJet Air.

A number of out of region carriers have also confirmed their attendance at the event in Kunming such as British Airways, Condor, Etihad Airways, Finnair and LOT Polish Airlines.

The official opening ceremony of the event will take place on Sunday 15th March at 13:00 followed by the Routes Asia Strategy Summit which is open to all attending delegates.

Attendees of the Summit will hear from an impressive line-up of industry thought leaders including Xiuzhi Zhang, CEO of Spring Airlines and Xia Xinghua, Chairman of the China Civil Airports Association who will both deliver a keynote address.

A number of moderator led panel discussions, involving many high level industry executives, will then address key air service development issues affecting commercial aviation across the entire Asia-Pacific region. Confirmed speakers include Andrew Cowen, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Hong Kong Express; Senthil Balan, Regional Group Head, Route&Fleet Planning for AirAsia Group; Datuk Badlisham Ghazali, Managing Director of Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (MAHB) and Michael Burke, Assistant Director, Commercial of Hong Kong Airlines.