Routes Asia heads for Kunming

KUNMING  Routes Asia, a major aviation related exhibition and conference is expecting a record attendance when the event opens here in Yunnan province, China 15 March.
Yunnan province and its capital city Kunming are part of the Mekong sub-Region where tourism and aviation are expanding at a fast pace. The group includes five nations that belong to ASEAN (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar Thailand and Vietnam) plus two provinces in China.
More than 100 airlines, 250 airports and 30 tourism authorities along with a number of other industry stakeholders from across the Asia-Pacific region are registered to attend the 13th edition of Routes Asia, 15 to 17 March.
This is the fourth Routes Asia to be hosted in China after events in Hainan, Macau and most recently Chengdu in 2012.
inside no 6The organisers confirmed 109 airlines, represented by senior delegations, have confirmed their attendance at the event in Kunming. The most recent registrations include: ORENAIR, Kunming Airlines, Sichuan Airlines, Thai Smile Airways and Lufthansa.
A number of major out of region carriers will also be represented at the event including British Airways, Finnair, Turkish Airlines, Lufthansa, Etihad Airways, LOT Polish, Thomas Cook Airlines Group and Qatar Airways.
The event will see 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.
The low-cost sector will also be well represented in Kunming with registrations currently received from AirAsia Group, Lionair, Spring Airlines, Scoot, Cebu Pacific Air, IndiGo, West Air and Vietjet Air.
This year’s Routes Asia will feature over 35 exhibitors, including 17 first time exhibitors and 8 Hosted Networking Stands making it the largest ever Routes Asia exhibition space in the history of the event.
First time exhibitors to Routes Asia include China Western Airport Group, Japan Tourism Agency, Dubai Airports, Toulouse Midi Pyrenees Region and Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport, who are also a first time sponsor at the event.
In addition to face-to-face meetings which form the heart of the event, Routes Asia will open with the Routes Asia Strategy Summit. Many high level industry speakers will take part in the Strategy Summit including Xiuzhi Zhang, CEO, Spring Airlines; Xia Xinghua, Chairman, China Civil Airports Association; Conrad Clifford, Regional Vice President, Asia Pacific, International Air Transport Association (IATA) and Senthil Balan, Regional Group Head, Route & Fleet Planning, AirAsia; along with other experts in the field.

sourced:ttrweekly.com