The 6th Routes Americas, held by Routes in association with the Latin American & Caribbean Air Transport Association (ALTA) will commence on February 10th, in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia. It features the Strategy Summit, sponsored by the New Quito International Airport, and a stellar line-up of Speakers.

Routes Americas is the largest commercial aviation event of its kind for the entire Americas region and the Strategy Summit brings together leading industry experts to debate aviation and route development issues across the Americas region in a series of moderator led panel discussions. The event will showcase high-calibre speakers from top regional and global airlines, air transport and tourism associations and dignitaries from throughout the Americas, including:

• Sergio Diaz-Granados, Minister of Trade, Industry and Tourism, Republic of Colombia,
• Alex de Gunten, Executive Director of ALTA, the Latin American & Caribbean Air Transport Association
• Estuardo Ortiz, COO of AviancaTaca
• Hernan Pasman, CEO of LAN Colombia
• Michael J. Bell, Partner, Spencer Stuart
• Michael Miller, Vice President, Strategy, American Aviation Institute
• Nicolás Rhoads, Senior V.P. Commercial Planning Aeroméxico
• Juan Emilio Posada E. Chairman and Co-Founder of VivaColombia.
• Fabricio Cojuc, Senior Vice President Network Planning & Corporate Development, AEROMAR
• Nigel Mayes, Vice President and Commercial, Routes
• Minister Richard Skerritt, Minister of Tourism and International Transport, ST. KITTS & NEVIS
• Beverly Nicholson-Doty, Commissioner, U.S. Virgin Islands Department of Tourism
• Philippe Baril, General Director, Quito International Airport
• Brian J. Hedberg, Senior Air Services Negotiator, US Department of Transportation’s Office of International Aviation
• Fatih Ciģal, Director of Network Planning at Turkish Airlines
• David P Scowsill, President & CEO, World Travel & Tourism Council
• Amaya Rodríguez González, Director Marketing Latin America & Caribbean, Airbus Central Entity (Toulouse)
• Dr. Zhihang Chi, Vice President and General Manager, North America, Air China

Nigel Mayes, VP & Commercial for Routes, said, “It is great to bring Routes Americas to a country and a destination that is at the beginning of a new era of economic and tourism development, liberalisation and exponential aviation growth. The open skies policy between Colombia and the USA from the 1stJanuary this year provides the perfect backdrop to developing links between this city and the rest of the USA. During the Routes Americas Strategy Summit the issue of liberalisation is prominent alongside Consolidation and Mergers, New generation Aircraft and the perennial Low Cost vs. Full Service Carrier debate. Our partnership with ALTA goes from strength to strength and we are delighted that so many senior attendees have agreed to speak during the conference including Estuardo Ortiz, COO of AviancaTaca and Alex de Gunten, ALTA’s Executive Director giving the keynote addresses.”

Alex de Gunten, ALTA´s Executive Director, added, “Routes America and the Strategy Summit present an invaluable opportunity for addressing the necessary alignment between our key partners and industry stakeholders, Airports. We can´t realize the full potential of aviation´s contribution to our economies if we don’t work together to have ample, efficient and customer-friendly infrastructure. We are proud to collaborate with Routes in the execution of this Summit and to be part of it.”

This annual networking event will take place from 10-12 February 2013 in Cartagena, Colombia, gathering key players in the airline and airport industry from all the Americas. The conference will be hosted by Sociedad Aeroportuaria de la Costa S.A, and its partners; Cartagena de Indias, ProExport Colombia and The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Tourism, Colombia. Senior decision makers attend Routes Americas to develop new routes to, from and within the Americas and are open to discussing new market opportunities, existing air services within the region and will devise strategies to maintain and improve them.