The 9th Routes Europe will open in Marseille on Sunday 6th April 2014 with the Routes Europe Strategy Summit. Open to all attending delegates the Summit, which is sponsored by Edmonton International Airport, 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 effecting commercial aviation in Europe.

The specially developed content and interactive format will help to set the scene for the many Face-to-Face meetings which will take place through the rest of the event. Many high level speakers and panellists having already confirmed their attendance including: Fernando Estrada, Strategy & Alliances Director for Vueling; Tamur Goudarzi Pour, Director Network Planning for Lufthansa; John Hanlon, Secretary General of ELFAA; Athar Husain Khan, CEO of the Association of European Airlines; Mark Anzur, President of the Management Board and CEO of Adria Airways; Kjartan Jonsson, Director Network Planning at Icelandair and Vijay Poonoosamy, Vice President International & Public Afffairs, Etihad Airways.

The Strategy Summit will involve three moderator led sessions covering various aviation related subjects and The HUB can now reveal what these sessions will cover.

Session one, entitled Low Cost Carriers – The next frontier for innovation will take a look at the evolution of LCCs which continues to change. With other carriers beginning to offer similar services to passengers, the session will discuss whether, in future, price will be the only differentiator and whether the LCCs will continue to compete against each other or look to take market share from some of the legacy carriers.

The second session, Government Policy – can progress be made or is it just a case of Déjà Vu? will examine the restrictive regulations, high taxes and unfair subsidies that are stifling true competition. As Europe is not a level playing field the panel will discuss how industry bodies can work together to implement changes for the good of the whole industry along with what form consolidation will take and how the Alliances will emerge.

The global cruise industry is the fastest growing segment of the travel and tourism industry and the third and final session, Cruising at Altitude - working with the cruise and tour operator industry will ask how the cruise industry and aviation industry can work together more closely whilst asking what the future role of the wider tour operator industry is.

Keep reading the HUB for regular updates about the Routes Europe Strategy Summit and for more information and to register click here.